In June Louis XVI fled Paris but was recaptured swiftly at Varennes. His flight was perceived as a direct challenge to the revolution and public hostility was strong when he was brought back to the capital. However, probably due to fears of provoking a war with Austria, the National Assembly acquitted the king and pretended that he had been kidnapped by malicious advisers. His powers were also suspended.

See William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 151-53 and Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (London: Penguin, 2004), pp. 469-83.