"Assassin's Creed: Unity" - More Historicality Quiz

Answer: September Massacres

The September Massacres occurred on September 2-6, 1792, in Paris; an estimated 1100-1600 prisoners died. Most were not, however, political prisoners. Approximately 72% were more common criminals and 17% were Catholic priests. What precipitated the massacres? At the time there were about 200 Swiss soldiers who were being held prisoner in Paris, and there was fear that Paris would be invaded by a foreign government trying to free them. Georges Danton, one of the Revolutionary leaders at the time, gave a speech to stir things up, and members of one of his clubs, the Cordeliers Club, organized the incident.

A genetic memory in the game is one that a person has because it was passed down through his DNA. The Templars, under the guise of Abstergo Industries, devised a way to not only find these memories, but to also allow others to learn of them. These memories were important to Arno because they allowed him to find Frederic Roulle, a man who was a member of a radical faction of the Templars, and one of the instigators who stirred thing up to set the stage for the September Massacres.

Answer: Bastille

Construction of the Bastille began in 1357; it was to be used as a fortress that would protect France from English attacks during the Hundred Years War. By 1417, it was mostly used as a state prison. A tally of the prisoners shows that 5279 people had been imprisoned there by 1789, when complaints from prisoners about conditions there had led to a reduction in use. While Louis XIV used it for upper class prisoners, Louis XV and Louis XVI used it for a variety of offenders. When the prison was stormed on July 14, 1789, there were only seven prisoners found, but the mob wasn't really looking for prisoners. They wanted to find the stores of gunpowder reportedly stored there. Even so, they did release the seven prisoners after brutally killing the guards.

It did appear that Arno was Francois' murderer; he found the body soon after the deed was done. While he was in the Bastille, Arno met Pierre Bellec, who he noticed was in possession of a watch that had belonged to his late father, Charles Dorian. It was from Bellec that he learned his father had been an Assassin, and was subsequently invited to join the group. Arno passed the time spent in the Bastille training with Bellec, and when the prison was stormed at the beginning of the French Revolution, both men escaped during the chaos and confusion.

The other prisons listed were all constructed after the French Revolution.

Answer: Marquis de Sade

While he was better known for his lifestyle and liberal views, the Marquis de Sade was also a Revolutionary politician. He was elected as a delegate to the National Convention, the newest French parliament, which followed the National Assembly and the Legislative Assembly in 1792. Sade supported the ideals of the Republic and far left, despite the fact that he was a nobleman himself, and during this time referred to himself as "Citizen Sade". De Sade lost his position after criticizing Robespierre, and was accused of being too moderate. He was imprisoned for about a year, and was released after the Reign of Terror. By 1803 he was declared insane, and spent the remainder of his life in some sort of confinement, either in an asylum or prison.

In "Assassin's Creed Unity", de Sade became the new Roi des Thunes, or the King of the Beggars, after Arno killed the old one, after finding out that he had been partly responsible for the death of his stepfather. The Marquis de Sade had wanted to take over the Cour des Miracles, a group formed in the 1770s and run by beggars and thieves; when the group petitioned for membership within the Templar Order, they were denied by Francois de la Sierre, the Grand Master, and his assassination was their revenge.

Answer: Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle, a fine example of Gothic architecture, had served as the royal chapel of the Palais de la Cite, where the kings of France had resided from the sixth to the fourteenth century. Consecrated in 1248, King Louis IX used the chapel to store his collection of religious relics, which included Christ's Crown of Thorns. It is nothing short of a miracle that the chapel survived the French Revolution, as many religious buildings did not. It was used for storing grain, and the room was partially defaced by vandals. Some of the relics were melted down for the metals. Over time it was used as an archives for the Palace of Justice. Much of the stained glass was removed and sold. By 1840 King Louis-Philippe began a faithful restoration of the chapel, using drawings that had survived the Revolution.

Pierre Bellec had decided that Mirabeau, his own leader, had to die after he attempted to negotiate peace with the Templars. Believing that it would not be possible to achieve peace, Bellec killed Mirabeau and attempted to win Arno over to his side. Even though Bellec had been an important mentor to him, Arno killed him in a duel at Sainte-Chapelle, which had been the secret headquarters of the Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins for centuries. During their fight, the beautiful Rose Window was smashed. Over the course of the Revolution, Templars had attempted to steal many of the chapel's sacred belongings; the Assassins, however, were able to take most of them back.

Answer: Thermidore Reaction

The Thermidore Reaction took place after the downfall of the radical Jacobins at the end of July. The government of revolutionary France was still ruled by the National Convention, but people were fearful of the terrible violence they had witnessed and wanted to take back the power that had been given to the group.

By this time Arno had accomplished what he had set out to do. He had killed Germain, who was the Grand Master of the French Templars, but at the cost of losing his beloved Elise, the daughter of Francois de la Serre. There is a follow up game to "Assassins Creed: Unity", which is called "Dead Kings", that continues with Arno's adventure in France up to the demise of Napoleon.

Answer: Louis XVI

It has long been my opinion that Louis XVI became king at the wrong place and time. He was not especially interested in ruling France, favoring activities like clock-making and other hobbies. His marriage to Marie Antoinette became particularly damaging as she was a spendthrift with not much interest in anything other than partying and gaming. When Louis inherited the throne, he found that the country had grave economic problems, and although France's help was invaluable to the colonies during the American Revolution, the main gain was more economic crisis. By 1789 the country was nearly bankrupt and Louis took the poor advice of calling a meeting of the Estates General in hopes of gaining permission to increase taxes. The group hadn't been called to session for 175 years, however, and was not likely to give a rubber stamp of approval to anything Louis asked, putting him in the wrong place and time to be king.

In "Assassin's Creed: Unity", Louis did receive advice and correspondence with Mirabeau, who, unbeknownst, to him, was the leader of the Parisian Assassins. He tried to escape Paris with his family, and declared his innocence as portrayed in the game before his execution. His lack of a strong personality was easy to exploit, as revolutionary groups spread rumors that Louis would never give up his power or become anything less than an absolute monarch.

Answer: Tuileries Palace

The Tuileries Palace was built in 1564 by Catherine de'Medici after Henry II died, and it became the usual Paris residence of the king. Once Versailles was completed, however, it was rarely used, except as a theater or a place to have a stroll in the gardens. When the Revolution began, Louis XVI and his family were forced to stay there, as it was easier to monitor their affairs. They were returned there - more as prisoners - after their unsuccessful attempt to escape the country. Louis XVI kept an iron box, the infamous Armoire de fer, there with secret correspondence, including letters from Mirabeau, who had tried to give the king advice on how to handle the new revolutionary ideas, as well as financial documents.

These very documents, written by Mirabeau, the Mentor of the Parisian Brotherhood of the Assassins, were what brought Arno to the Tuileries Palace. Mirabeau was hoping to institute a constitutional monarchy, and, in return for the payment of old debts, was attempting to strength Louis' rather tenuous position as king. While he was disposing of the letters, Arno met Napoleon Bonaparte, who helped him escape the palace.

Answer: Maximilien Robespierre

On paper, it does not appear that Maximilien Robespierre was a terrible person. He was a trained lawyer, who spoke against slavery, voting rights, and enforced celibacy for priests. Chosen to represent his district at the meeting of the Estates General in 1789, Robespierre joined with other delegates to form the National Assembly to begin talks about creating a new form of government. It was late in 1789 when he began to associate with the Jacobin Club and was elected its president in 1790. At first, anyway, it appears that Robespierre was doing what he thought was best for France, which was, in his opinion, create a republic government. A gifted speaker, it was easy for him to use his speeches to incite action among the people. He was ready to resign his revolutionary position in 1793 due to his health when he was chosen to be a member of the Committee of Public Safety. He ultimately signed papers for the arrest of hundreds of people, so called enemies of the state, beginning the aptly named Reign of Terror from September 5, 1793-July 27, 1794. The next day he was executed by those who feared the radicalism and vicious nature of his rule, and revolutionary France experienced what is known as the Thermidore Reaction. The night before his execution, Robespierre apparently tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide. He was bandaged and bleeding when he was guillotined.

In "Assassin's Creed: Unity" Robespierre was invited to join the Templars by Francois-Thomas Germain, at about the same time he was chosen as a delegate to the meeting of the Estates General. Germain, you will remember, led the coup against Grand Master de la Serre, and Robespierre was at Versailles when de la Serre was assassinated. The Templars then began their quest to incite widespread revolution and paranoia with the intention of giving power to the middle class. Forty thousand people lost their lives during the Reign of Terror because of Robespierre. When Arno confronted Robespierre, demanding the whereabouts of Germain, Robespierre was shot in the jaw before he divulged the information. Was Robespierre a father of democracy in France or a villain? The game portrays him as a bit of a flunky to Grand Master Germain.

Answer: True

Talks about the construction of the Catacombs of Paris began in 1774. Louis XVI had tasked a committee with examining the problem; he decided to order the work because there was no more space in the cemeteries of Paris, and the underground mining and quarrying that had taken place under the city was causing buildings to collapse. It was 1780, however, before burials were forbidden and a decision was made to reinforce the walls of the underground mines. By 1785 workers began to transfer cemetery remains underground - largely at night. While artifacts were removed from the cemeteries, a process that took two years, it was not until 1810 until it was decided to create the displays of the headstones, skulls, and bones that can still be viewed today.

The technology used in "Assassin's Creed: Unity" made the regeneration of Germain's body a potential threat. When he was killed in the Temple, his body was left there. Arno returned in 1808 to find it mostly decayed, and with Napoleon's help took the bone remains to the Catacombs of Paris. That would make it difficult for the Templars to find them and attempt a DNA extraction. Although the displays in the Catacombs had not really been started, bones had been taken there for deposit by 1808.

Answer: Louis-Michel Le Peletier

A very wealthy lawyer, Le Peletier was chosen to represent the nobility during that fateful meeting of the Estates General that began it all in 1789. When the Revolution began, he possessed a more conservative view of the situation, and his ideas became more radical over time. His radical ideas earned him important appointments as the Revolution continued, in the National Constituent Assembly (1789-1790), the next revolutionary parliament, the Legislative Assembly (1791-1792), and finally the National Convention (1792-1795). Right before the death of the king in 1793, Le Peletier was assassinated, and he was highly honored. The ideal, however, that he cast the deciding vote to kill the king is not historically accepted. While he did cast a yes vote, everyone who did basically could be considered the deciding vote. The final tally of votes was 387-334, so the number was 21 votes over the simply majority of 361 that was needed. It also much be noted that in the final voting there were several opinions given with conditions attached, so it was not really the simple yes or no that the numbers might imply. Yes, there were 361 people who voted a yes with no reservations about killing the king, but there were 21 more who voted a yes with reservations.

In the game, Le Peletier was a member of the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order who had secretly joined with Francois-Thomas Germain's faction of the group. As a lawyer, he was responsible for drafting a new civil code, as well as suggesting educational reforms. While he had publicly denounced the use of the death penalty, he decided to cast his vote in favor of killing the king. Afterwards, Arno killed him the night before the king was to be executed. Before his death Le Peletier told Arno that his decisions were made for the good of France.