Pillnitz Declaration
The meeting at Pillnitz Castle in 1791. Painting by J. H. Schmidt, 1791.
On the 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden Frederick William II of Prussia and the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II announced that they would support the beleaguered Louis XVI of France. The actual wording of the statement was somewhat vague and stated the monarchs would go to war with France if other nations of Europe did so to. It seen as more of a sop to the emigres who were flooding into the courts of the two sovereigns. Perhaps they also hoped that this statement would cause the revolutionaries to stop and to think before any harm was brought to Louis and his family after the failed flight to Varennes in June 1791.
Although it was not meant to signal war it certainly escalated the feelings in France that there were plots from abroad to undermine the revolution and return the King to the fullness of his despotic powers. It was these feelings that were to fester and finally find relief when France declared on April 20 1792.