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The Battle of Valmy, 20 September 1792

The shadow of the past played no role here. These were new forces coming to life, a new world that was rising. Let the Prussian army dig among its memories of glory in the way that a miner extracts whatever bit of gold is left from a long-exploited mine. The revolutionary souls bore a virgin treasure of enthusiasm and force. […]

According to the ordinary rules of war this was hardly a defeat. Upon setting out to attack an enemy position you realize that it is stronger and better defended than you had thought. You renounce the attack so as not to waste your forces. It’s an incident of no great importance and an easily repaired mistake.

And yet, from that moment the Prussian army’s momentum was decisively broken. Like a man who still maintains the appearance of vigor but whose physical and moral force is internally ruined by a long series of sorrows, fatigues, and trials and who suddenly succumbs to a new disappointment, the Prussian army and its leader, bent under the weight of the burden of sad impressions that had accumulated over the preceding month, became decidedly aware of its total exhaustion at Valmy. […]

Since the defeat was far more in the hearts of the invader than in their ranks, Kellermann and Dumouriez failed at first to grasp the full meaning of that great day. But Goethe, the great and clear-sighted poet who had accompanied the Prussian army, immediately saw the grandeur of the event: “From this place and day are dated a new era in world history.” It was September 20. The same day the National Convention held its first session at the Tuileries.

Socialist History of the French Revolution (J. Jaurès)

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    interesting to see the Prussian point of view

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