Flight to Varennes

The Flight to Varennes ( 20-25 June 1791 ) was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family were unsuccessful in their attempt to escape, disguised as the servants of a Russian baroness, from the radical agitation of the Jacobins in Paris. Their destination was the fortress town of Montmédy in northeastern France, a Royalist stronghold from which the King hoped to initiate a counter-revolution. This represented a turning point after which popular hostility towards the monarchy as an institution, as well as towards Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as individuals, became more pronounced. They were only able to make it as far as Varennes.