Ancien Régime Puns

qui sont morts dans leur lit après avoir longuement fraternisé dans leurs associations régimentaires d'anciens SS

(5000 Words, Harvard)

I read a while back that one of the major causes of the French revolution was the fact that the tax burden fell almost entirely on the third estate, while nobles and clergymen paid almost nothing in taxes. To me this seems confoundingly illogical, why would those who possess the greatest wealth be exempt from being forced to contribute to state coffers, depriving the state of a significant portion of revenue? It also seems that such a blatantly classist policy would be a very easy rallying cry for malcontents (or basically anybody with the slightest since of justice) and foment unrest among the populace, which of course it eventually did.

Of course, I understand that the aristocracy and clergy held significant sway in government, and any attempt impose taxation upon them would be met with significant pushback. Still, it seems that trying to impose a less regressive system of taxation would have done wonders to alleviate the third estate's woes as well as raise revenue for a very wealth-deprived monarchy. Were all the Louis' and Charles who upheld this system short-sighted, prejudiced, or simply had their hands tied? Or were there deeper and more complex reasons?

Curls of smoke twisted round

The mounds of sound that

Sheltered a crooked cross

To bear for each of us

While corner-fulls of cursing

Cap tipping can't do's stare

Into bottomless glasses and

Bell jar belligerence till time

Sunday reprieve brings a gentle

Rest to the minds of the subdued,

Yet genuine nature of the whole:

Maybe that's a positive, noted.

Full fathomed females prowl the

Last of the kitchenware aisles and

Assail the beleaguered boys with the

Slight sexual pesterings of age

Commerce and Christ with a dash of

The vine, root, grain, leaf and wisp,

Willow where and why without the

Wonder of the world without hiding

A tightly banked river acts canal like

Channeling the aqua vita into mouths

Of into the gulf between promises that

Traverse between genuine opacity

The bathroom sink was purely porcelain,

Washing away my inequities, cleansing

Me of the original original sin, sickness

Is the new blasphemy don't you know?

Fighting upwards and then sleep.

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I was listening to the Revolutions podcast series on the French Revolution and in one of the first episodes, Mike Duncan (the podcaster) compares Ancien Régime France to the declining country of Poland-Lithuania, which would only survive a few more years until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. He goes so far as to say that France was in such disorder and financial ruin in the run up to the French Revolution other European Powers had begun to imagine a Europe without France.

Was there ever any real plans by, say England or Prussia, to annex French land in a similar fashion as the Partitions of Poland?

Old tyranny? An outdated way of life? Are any people nostalgic for it?

This is my first post in this sub so I hope the title is not too vague. I've been listening to Mike Duncan's podcast on the French revolution (which is amazing) and would like to know more about France around that time period or the time periods leading up to the revolution. Any book recommendations that cover these topics are highly appreciated! I prefer to read non-fiction but I'm open to anything. Thanks in advance!

Russia, one of two nations that have held great influence in politics around the world. Anyone bordering this giant generally has to align with Russian interests or risk war. Overtime the British and Russians came to a series of territorial agreements to avoid some of the tension between the two Global Powers. However, the era of greatness that Russia has gone through is put into question.The victory in the Great War has made the military overconfident and foolish, a Troubled Succession has destabilized the empire and Nationalists in the west are praying upon the weaknesses that are currently plaguing the realm. Not helping matters is that its industry compared to other Great Powers is severely lacking, with most men in their army still using weapons developed during the Great War.

The bear is currently lying dormant, unable to properly respond to what is going on around them. All is not without hope as it still is one of the largest empires on Earth with the largest standing army. Despite the internal weakness, few would be able to match the Russians in numbers.

Russian Political Situation

The biggest concern for the people right now is the Western Nationalists. It's only a matter of time until the spark ignites and they might attempt to throw off the shackles of their Russian overlords.

The Western Revolts

Now the Russian focus tree is mostly about stabilizing first and foremost, the closest comparison in the base game is the US at the start. A large potential industry, a large army and loads of resources but crippled at the start. However, once some of the problems have been fixed (or all) the Russians have more or less free reign to push their policies (especially in the Balkans).

The Alpha Russian Focus Tree

As with most countries, you might see changes compared to release but that was all for this dev diary.

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Announcement post [here]
Dev Diary #1 - France [[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/comments/e3wfab/vive_le_roi_survival_of_t

At the start of the game, 1936, a lot of European countries are still really young and have only removed their monarchic families from actual political rule for a few decades. Given the fact that since the French revolution there were lots of revolution waves nearly every thirty years, it would be interesting if Paradox explored the scenario where all the minor pro-monarchy/restoration movementq would actually succeed.

Similar to the Oppose Hitler - Return of the Kaiser focus chain, many European nations could have a choice to turn to their old Royalty for help in the chaos of (pre) WW1. Alternatively, you could also have a few nations with (restored) monarchic rule that renew the Mitternich-agreements and try and restore absolute monarchic rule in all of the European countries.

Examples of how this could be worked out:

• France: Return of the Bourbon/Bonaparte dynasty

• Russia: Restoration of the Romanov's

• Austria/Hungary: Return of the Habsburgers

• Bulgaria: return of the tsar

• Turkey: Restoration of the Ottoman Empire

• Belgium: A push for more power by Leopold 3, avenging "the theft of Congo" by the Belgian parliament from his grandfather Leopold 2.

• The Netherlands: a push for the return f absolute rule as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands under the House of Orange

• The UK: A push for the royal family to take control as they have direct diplomatic connections with the other monarchic families etc.

• Spain: return of the old Kingdoms etc

If you have better or other ideas and suggestions, please do comment them, this was just a quick write up without proper research. However, I think Paradox can really get to work on this, they already have lots of information on it due to their other historical games. There's been plenty of game-mechanic DLC's lately, perhaps a pure Focus oriented DLC would be happily applauded.

TL;DR: Make a pure focus DLC where the old Monarchic powers try to restore the Ancient Régime in honour of the old Mitternich Agreements.

I have creative control over the senior level French class at the school where I’m student teaching, which is exciting, but also daunting as I try to think of things for me and the students to actually do with the subjects they chose.

So, does anyone have recommendations for any texts, films, vids, podcasts, etc that would touch on the subject in the title and be more or less appropriate for high school seniors?

Merci

INTRODUCTION

Hundreds of years ago, tensions in France was at an all-time high. Violence plagued the streets, with the Ancien Régime being on the brink of collapse. The fires of revolution were burning brightly and the nobility would find itself under attack by an internal threat.But what if this hadn't been the case? What if the Ancien Régime had been able to barely scrape by without collapsing? Instead of continuing its rivalry with the British long into the 20th century.

Vive le Roi! - Survival of the Ancien Régime is an overhaul mod for Hearts of Iron IV, putting you in the position of one of the many monarchies (and some democracies/republics) that survived until the 20th century. In an era where the ideas of honour and prestige are slowly dying to modern arms while the grounds to modern diplomacy have been laid out.

With the Great War in recent memory for the former members of the Entente (France, Austria, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire) are rumoured wanting to return their monarchies to glory again.France gearing up for conflict while going against the Naval Treaty forced upon them, with a strong desire to reclaim its lost colonies.With conspiracies spreading around Austria, with nationalist elements threatening to take the country into a new direction that can clash right against the Prussians.Prussia seeking to end the Treaty of Venice which has taken a large toll on their economy, as they are forced to pay the victors of the Great War.The Ottoman Empire which is slowly collapsing in on itself, corruption at an all-time high and the Arabians seeking freedom.

Meanwhile, the Triple Alliance that had taken them down faces internal troubles. With the Russians are facing internal problems with the ascension of their new Tsar, but are nonetheless looking out to cement their hold on continental Europe. The British aren't in a position to pursue another war as their people are seeking peace and a chance to recover from the great conflict they were pulled into. While the Italian economy is on the brink of collapse, with promises by the king to introduce liberal reforms being is strongly ingrained the memory of his people.

Of course, the Europeans aren't the only ones having issues. There are disagreements within the Mexican government on the right way forward, with a lot of politicians wanting to take a more direct approach to their dominance of the New World. While the government in the US is a great source of contempt for its people, with

So far I wrote fun description, colours, names and picked foxes, but all I still think about is best suited government civics. (Take in mind that I'm still newbie yet quick learning.)

Hence, I'd like to have government of the empire modeled like 18th century Kingdom of France in terms of civics and government form.

What government civics are best suited for this case, roleplay-wise?

The world has just seen the horrors of the Great War, with a few countries coming out on top of the conflict stronger and others barely holding together. Some nations have begun to adopt new ways and others have bunkered down in their ideological beliefs.

In Vive le Roi! - Survival of the Ancien Régime there is only five primary ideologies to speak of.
Democratic, Nationalism, Communism, Paternal Authoritarianism and Enlightened Absolutism.

Example of Ideologies

For the most part, the map is largely filled with the simpler ideologies of Democratic and Pat. Authoritarianism. However etc. in China Communism is slightly more widespread and there are a number of smaller nations that might turn towards Nationalism.

Now the ideologies themselves are only part of what affects a nation's ability to conduct diplomacy, the second is its Diplomatic Policy. These give small bonuses (sometimes even some small penalties) that allow each nation to be ever so slightly different.

Some of the Diplomatic Stances (numbers may be adjusted)

Most nations default to Balance of Power, wanting to keep the current Status Quo as they benefit from it in some way or form. This is especially true for the winners, with the only nation on the winning side of the Great War not having such a policy being Russia who has kept its policy of Imperialism.

Going over what combination of Diplomatic Policies each nation has would at best be cumbersome and as such I'll choose to answer this individually in the comments.

Though this will be it for a while, as the release of the mod is somewhat rapidly approaching. Due to this (and a number of other reasons outside the mod's development), the next Dev Diary will be delayed.

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Announcement post [here]
Dev Diary #1 - France [here]
Dev Diary #2 - The Kingdom of Italy [here]
Dev Diary #3 - The Habsburgs [[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/comments/eaztn8/vi

The Nordic Countries, three constitutional monarchies that watched the horrors of the Great War unfold while keeping up a policy of neutrality. With Prussia and Russia being weakened the countries enjoy relative safety from those outside Scandinavia and each focusing on internal affairs.

Uneasiness is spreading throughout Sweden due to the current coalition government being in disagreement and with the upcoming election, there is little doubt that Gösta Bagge's time as Prime Minister is over. With this, the AVF is actively looking for parties to form a coalition government within the upcoming election. There seems to only be one alternative being on the table: The Swedish Monarchist Party (Svenska Monarkins Party) led by Ernst Trygger. If the coalition isn't made most agree it's likely that either the SMP or SAP will secure a majority government in the upcoming election.

(Some) Pre-Election Flavor Events

The political situation, compared to most nations, is fairly simple. With a 'troubled' election and a military budget that is in disarray, there are very few things that the Swedish government needs to address.

Swedish National Spirits

Now the election may go either way and with that depending on who is leading the Riksdag will affect primarily the foreign policy (and somewhat what internal policies are implemented).

The Swedish Focus Tree

That'll be all for this time around.Next time we'll be looking at something simpler: New ideologies and diplomatic stances.

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Announcement post [here]
Dev Diary #1 - France [here]
Dev Diary #2 - The Kingdom of Italy [here]
Dev Diary #3 - The Habsburgs [here]
Dev Diary #4 - Prussia [[here](https

The Kingdom of Italy, one of the glorious winners of the Great War and finding itself with a strong foothold in Africa, taken from France.

Italy and its African holdings

Despite the vast resources available to Italy, it's a fragile giant. Promises of reform and a strained economy due to overcommitment to the Great War is slowly bringing it down as a whole. While there are few republican movements present, the stability of the nation is questionable.Luckily Queen Elena is at least bringing peace of mind to her people, helping bringing unity to the trying times that the kingdom has found itself in.

National Spirits at Start

However, with the state of the economy, it's only a matter of time until...

The horror

The collapse of the economy is what ends up shaping the politics in the near future, with recovery being of utmost importance. It heavily limits how quickly the Italians can build up their strength, however, when it gets past such problems they will have a powerful economy to back itself up with.

With that said their focus tree:

The Italian Focus Tree

This makes the early game about recovering the economy. With the choice to industrialise further to forcefully create jobs, or implementing agrarian reforms for a more stable recovery. Afterwards, Italy should be strong enough to properly exert power around the Mediterranean Sea.

Next time we'll talk about one of the Italian neighbours and the home of the Habsburgs.

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Announcement post [here]
Dev Diary #1 - France [here]
Dev Diary #3 - The Habsburgs [here]
Dev Diary #4 - Prussia [[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/comments/eghlst/vive_le_roi_survival_of_th

There are quite a few German States within Germany, each struggling with the influence of Prussia and Austria. After the defeat in the Great War, most have treaties limiting their ability to expand their military. While this has stopped most from rising up as a serious contender as a regional power, most Germans would rather see themselves dead than part of a foreign nation.

Of the smaller German states, the one that has suffered the most after the Great War is Bavaria, with heavy strikes plaguing the kingdom and slowing down the economy considerably. While they have the largest military of the smaller German states these strikes serve to further limit their ability to expand it.

Political overview

National spirits from Political Overview

Like the Chinese warlords in the base game, the German States has a shared focus tree. Allowing them to change their ideology, choose a side over the fate of Germany and improve their military and industry.

The German States (Alpha) focus tree

It'll be up to the player to possibly steer one of the German States towards glory or try and weather the upcoming storm. Next time I will be looking away from mainland Europe and towards the United Kingdom.

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Announcement post [here]
Dev Diary #1 - France [here]
Dev Diary #2 - The Kingdom of Italy [here]
Dev Diary #3 - The Habsburgs [here]
Dev Diary #4 - Prussia [here]
Dev Diary #6 - The British Empire [here]
Dev Diary #6.5 - European 'Generic' Focus Tree \