June is widely known as Pride Month by many LGBTQ+ people, but it is also the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, which is mainly used by Roman Catholics and some Anglicans and Western Orthodox. The Sacred Heart of Jesus was used by many as symbols and in flags, the most notable of these is the Vendee, so today we are gonna talk about them. In 1793, as the revolution was raging on, the Paris Government implemented a very unpopular draft. Peasants in the Vendee Region were already very discontent with the Anti-Catholic Policies and the execution of the King. Therefore they organised and created the Catholic and Royal army of Vendee and launched the rebellion against the French Republic. The French Government sent troops to suppress the rebellion, but it eventually turned into a full on War. During the early stages of the war, the Vendee were successful in capturing a few towns and cities. But the Vendee were slowly being pushed back, with many of their towns being captured. They were finally defeated in 1796, with many of their peasant leaders being executed or killed in battle. Many atrocities were committed by the Republic during the war. The Republicans used colonnes infernales ("infernal columns") to systematically destroy the region, resulting in a brutal guerrilla war and massive casualties before the region was finally neutralised. In Nantes, suspected counter revolutionaries were drowned without trial alongside their families, over 4000-5000 people died during the events that occurred there. Republican commanders bragged about running over children with their horses and massacring women to eliminate their population. (I won’t discuss anymore about the atrocities since Scratch will probably ban me.) Around 170,000 people were killed which was 20% of the region's population. This was probably the first instances of modern genocide, and it’s sad that not many people know about this since the rebellion is overshadowed by propaganda portraying the Republic as ‘heroes’ when in reality they were monsters.
Song from Victorian Chinese Flag from u/AzureFr
