Political Manoeuvring

There is much talk as far as the timeliness which we are experiencing with the Russia Ukraine Crisis is concerned and beyond. Since history generally repeats itself, let's recall a historically famous expert of political manoeuvring: Talleyrand, somewhere around the 2nd half of the 18th and 1st half of the 19th century. So, this guy had a long political life of the 'where the wind blew' type. He had become an enduring value, "burying" all his masters... 

Remember that he started out by being a member of the Tennis Court Oath (in French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) which was a pivotal event in the French Revolution and even helped to draft the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

After the revolution he served abroad and avoided the purges. He "stuck" with Napoleon who brought him back from exile to make him Foreign Secretary, threw away the rags since he was a bishop (!) and when Napoleon was defeated, he deserted him and advised the Senate to demand Napoleon's resignation.

Then, he helped Louis XVIII. to take power, delved into convincing Metternich and Castlereagh that he was in charge in France, at the Congress of Vienna in 1814, etc. So, this diplomatic leopard, when he was in his old age serving king Charles X, the successor of Louis XVIII, had the following dialogue with his king, which indicates, precisely, the way in which Talleyrand had been managing the political affairs. King Charles who had to contend with heaps of demonstrations in Paris was engaged in the enactment of a series of authorial decrees and full of arrogance, said to Talleyrand: 'I would rather chop wood than reign like the king of England. I see no middle way between the throne and the scaffold'. Τalleyrand then replied soberly: 'Your Majesty forgets the stagecoach'. In a few days, Charles was so frightened by the riots that he fled to Britain, where he had since lived as a private citizen... Everyone may draw their own conclusions.