Welcome back everyone, my name is Robius and today I present to you the seventeenth episode
in this renewed iteration of Assassin's Creed the Real History.
Continuing onwards with the sequence presented in previous episodes, this video will be part
of my ongoing sub-series, whereby I chronologically explore each of the time periods chosen as
the backdrops for the various Assassin's Creed titles, reviewing their major historical
events, discussing any gaps in the history left by the games, and introducing you to
the individuals who actually existed.
It is for that reason that today's episode will concentrate on the historical period
depicted in the handheld-turned-console accessible title; Assassin's Creed Liberation.
Therefore, please be aware of story spoilers throughout the entire video.
Just before officially beginning, I'd like to preface this episode by stating that when
preparing this video I was again faced with a dilemma in terms of establishing my topic.
Technically speaking, the game's span from 1765 to 1777 wasn't necessarily encompassed
by a quote-on-quote historical period or overall major event per say, and therefore I needed
to make a difficult decision on what subject would best tie together the events presented
in Liberation.
In consequence, I ultimately settled on discussing the Louisiana Rebellion.
Although this event technically only occurred in 1768, my intention is to elaborate on the
years leading up to its occurrence and covering its later aftermath, all while making reference
to how this tied into the story of the game's fictional assassin Aveline de Grandpré.
However, please keep in mind that this will only incorporate the first half of Liberation's
predominantly fictionalized story, however I'll still do my best to associate the later
portions of Aveline's adventure to any related history that I can.
Having said that, we can now properly start this video by going over some of the background
information which was integral in setting the stage for the Louisiana Rebellion.
To begin, we'll actually pick up immediately where we left off in the previous video with
the technical closing of the French and Indian War.
Following the unofficial loss of their colonial control in 1762 and the winding down of the
larger-scale Seven Years' War, later that year France eventually signed the Treaty of
Fontainebleau with Spain.
Although the exact conditions surrounding the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau
are sometimes argued, it is generally accepted that this settlement, in which France ceded
its colony of Louisiana to Spain, fundamentally represented an attempt to compensate their
ally for their losses during the War, while also encouraging them to cease fighting.
By February of 1763 the Treaty of Paris was signed and Britain quickly took ownership
of the majority of France's other North American colonies, while Spain was officially
granted control of Louisiana.
However, unlike the British, the Spanish were rather passive in their attempts to establish
their presence within the colony.
Consequently, while they waited for the British to occupy Eastern Louisiana, as was their
right according to the signed treaties, and the Spanish to occupy Western Louisiana, as
per the aforementioned Treaty of Fontainebleau, the French installed Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie
as the colony's new director-general, or de-facto governor.
His main task within this new role was to prepare Louisiana for its new occupation while
also organizing the local French forces for their eventual departure.
To his surprise, what they thought would be a quick turnover period soon developed into
a very drawn-out process in which d'Abbadie completed most of his tasks over the following
months but was still left to govern the Western portion of the colony while waiting for the
Spanish to arrive and officially take possession.
Throughout his unexpectedly extended tenure, he eventually came into conflict with certain
merchant groups in New Orleans for the way he allocated various trade agreements with
native tribes to particular factions.
In addition, the governor was also faced with the overwhelming disdain of many immigrants,
who'd travelled to Louisiana after the British took control of Canada, only to discover later
that the once-French colony had since been handed-over to Spain.
Although exact dates aren't provided, this would be around the point in history where
Assassin's Creed Liberation would begin, with the fictional Aveline de Grandpré awaking
from a nightmare in early 1765.
The game proceeded to depict an entirely invented plot in which Aveline worked towards freeing
slaves in New Orleans.
However, these efforts quickly led her to discover a Templar plot occurring within the
colony, compelling her to investigate further in hopes of neutralizing her adversaries'
endeavors.
This fabricated mission had Aveline eventually help the then-merchant and veteran of the
French and Indian War, Gilbert Antoine de Saint-Maxent, who the game presented as a
one of her father's business associates.
Nevertheless, during this undertaking she eavesdropped on a meeting between a Templar
conspirator and the colony's governor Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie, who the game equally portrayed
as a member of the Templar order.
With the meeting coming to a close, after overhearing that both men served the imaginary
"Company Man", Aveline proceeded to assassinate the governor.
In his dying breath, d'Abbadie revealed that his reason for working with the Templars
was that they promised he would maintain his role as Louisiana's governor, while also
ensuring that the colony would remain in French hands.
Although this entire portion of the game up until now was fictionalized, the governor's
assassination did coincide approximately with the period in which d'Abbadie actually died
in February of 1765 from an illness.
Historically speaking, following his death, d'Abbadie was succeeded in his role as governor
by the French military officer, Captain Charles Philippe Aubry.
Now, before proceeding it is important to understand the political structure of the
colony at the time, as it will come into play within the later historical developments.
Having said that, Louisiana's government was segmented between three bodies.
The first was the governor, the post now held by Charles Philippe Aubry, who adopted d'Abbadie's
responsibility of handing over the colony to the Spanish.
The second was the commissaire-ordonnateur, a position occupied by Denis-Nicolas Foucault,
an individual who opposed the Spanish occupation of Louisiana.
Lastly, the third body of government was the Superior Council which had at its head Nicolas
Chauvin de Lafrénière, Louisiana's attorney general and another opponent to the upcoming
Spanish occupation.
This tense environment continued to stew over the following months until the Spanish occupation
finally technically began in March of 1766.
To the further surprise of the colonists, this occupation solely consisted of the military
officer and scientist Antonio de Ulloa, Spain's first governor of the colony, who was accompanied
by a small detachment of civil servants and fewer than 100 soldiers.
The festering feeling that the Spanish weren't actually invested in properly managing this
colony was only worsened in the following months which embodied the beginning of Ulloa's
governing period.
Evidently, when considering how limited his resources were, especially in terms of man
power, it should be remembered that this wasn't really Ulloa's fault, with the blame rather
residing with the Spanish government who saw fit to send such a small expedition to occupy
the colony and thereafter demonstrate no inclination in providing additional support, despite the
governor's requests.
Having said that, Ulloa's political approach to the situation was also a disaster unto
itself.
Recognizing the oppositional stance to his rule held by many important figures in New
Orleans, the governor opted to establish himself outside of the city at the fort of La Balize.
This quickly came to symbolize a pattern of isolationism and separation from the populace
that, accompanied by his inability to truly enact a proper transition of power, led to
a growing discontentment among the masses.
Perhaps the earliest example of this was his failure to establish a new governing body
within New Orleans, thus leaving the existing Superior Council to its own affairs, and not
even bothering to exchange the French flag in the city with a Spanish flag.
Within Assassin's Creed Liberation, this was the timeframe in which Aveline continued
her fictional investigation into the regional Templar affairs.
This led the assassin to fight off an imaginary cult, living in the Louisiana Bayou, that
was led by a Templar-affiliated impersonator of the Maroon leader François Mackandal.
After successfully dismantling this operation, she returned to New Orleans.
Interestingly, although this whole sub-plot was purely fictitious, the cult that Aveline
fought was likely inspired by the multiple Maroon communities that existed in the Bayou
region outside of New Orleans during that period.
Either way, back in the real history, a few more months into their so-called occupation,
the Spanish situation had not improved.
In late 1766 Ulloa sought to implement new trade laws on the colony, however he soon
faced considerable push-back from key local figures.
Many of these settlers or next-generation settlers, referred to as the Creole, were
powerful regional merchants who saw these laws as restrictions which would put a strain
on their profits.
Making this dissatisfaction known, this group of merchants quickly enlisted the support
of the commissaire-ordonnateur, the attorney-general and much of the Superior Council in preventing
these laws from being implemented.
In fact, the only real support Ulloa ever received was from the former technical governor
Charles Philippe Aubry, who'd transferred the sovereignty of the colony to the Spanish,
as was his duty, but was still placed in the awkward position in which he wielded more
power than Louisiana's actual governor.
For that reason, in a continued attempt to support Ulloa, Aubry is recorded as having
essentially acted in the capacity of a puppet government for the Spanish, using the French
troops still under his command to help maintain the colony for them.
This became the status quo for over a year with the colony's economy suffering in the
meantime, while Aubry continued to aid Ulloa, despite the attempts of Louisiana's other
governing bodies to undermine the Spanish authority.
This tension finally culminated in late 1768 as multiple factors all came into play around
the same time.
During the summer months, Ulloa initiated another attempt to introduce new trade regulations,
following the direction of the Spanish government, in tandem with a plan to hamper regional smuggling
operations.
In particular, it was an amendment that would forbid trade between Louisiana and French
colonies that truly baffled and enraged the territory's merchants.
It is believed that for many of these individuals this was the final straw.
A movement quickly formed within New Orleans and was led in part by the attorney general
Nicolas Chauvin de Lafrénière, and the commissaire-ordonnateur Denis-Nicolas Foucault, both of whom were
men that had maintained their positions of power despite the turnover from French to
Spanish rule.
These individuals were soon joined by a small group of key allies within the city's merchant
class, and together they planned a coup.
The conspirators, or revolutionaries depending on your perspective, rapidly enacted their
plan which primarily consisted with centralizing the Louisiana militia and inciting widespread
opposition to the Spanish occupation.
Although sources disagree on the extent to which this was performed, some state that
misinformation was spread, indicating the Spanish governor's intention to crack down
on the rights of French, German and Acadian colonists, quickly turning the situation into
a struggle against tyranny.
Nevertheless, whatever their methodology may have been, enough resentment towards the Spanish
arose to incite rioting in New Orleans and allow individuals within the Superior Council
to present a petition to eject the Spanish from the region.
This would coincide with the portion of the game in which Aveline was further investigating
the widespread disappearance of slaves from New Orleans.
The fictional plot led the assassin to discover that these vanishings were tied to the Spanish
occupation.
Therefore, realizing that Ulloa was apparently an associate of the Templar order, Aveline
decided to take advantage of the revolutionary atmosphere against the Spanish to cause some
chaos which would force the governor out of his hiding place in fort La Balize.
She accomplished this task by exploding a wine storehouse and destroying a Spanish military
vessel.
With the governor forced out of hiding, she ambushed his caravan, killed his guards and
interrogated Ulloa until he divulged everything he knew about the slaves being transported
to a Templar worksite in Mexico.
In the end, Aveline spared his life on the condition that he go into exile.
Although this made for a rather intense sequence in Liberation, this entire portion of the
story was wholly fictionalized.
Here's how it actually played out.
By the end of October 1768, New Orleans was in open revolt against Ulloa and the Spanish.
Without the military might to put down this rebellion, even with the potential support
of Aubry, governor Ulloa was left powerless.
Speaking on behalf of Louisiana's population, the Superior Council soon voted and declared
that the Spanish were to be banished from the colony and that the governor would have
to leave within three days.
Ulloa agreed to these conditions and under the protection of Aubry, he and his family
were escorted to a vessel and left the colony within the allocated timeframe, but not before
accusing the revels of treason.
After the Spanish departed, the rebelling colonists established their own temporary
government, although this new authority structure swiftly lost the support of most local settlers,
ultimately leading to a period of chaos in Louisiana.
The Spanish counter to this uprising began soon afterwards in mid-1769 with the arrival
of Captain-General Alejandro O'Reilly.
Accompanied this time by over 2,000 soldiers, he landed in Louisiana and marched on the
rebel position.
O'Reilly's forces were met by rebel representatives and intermediaries who sought a peaceful resolution
to these hostilities, going so far as to remind the populace to remain civil and not incite
any fighting.
The main claim made by the rebels seeking clemency was that Ulloa had left them with
no choice given his disastrous governing method, and that they had succeeded in expulsing him
peacefully in a bloodless rebellion.
With support from Aubry, O'Reilly was able to gather all the original conspirators.
After holding a trial, he had a portion of them executed, while the remainder were either
imprisoned back in Cuba or deported to France for imprisonment.
Formally taking control of New Orleans without any fighting, O'Reilly became the temporary
Governor of Louisiana at which point he initiated reforms that would clearly define the Spanish
authority.
This included replacing the city's French flag with a Spanish flag, abolishing the Superior
council and replacing it with a more traditional Spanish-style city council and offering a
general pardon to the citizens of New Orleans who may have participated in the original
rebellion.
Over the following months, he strengthened the Spanish position, made Louisiana more
dependent on Cuba and established a series of regional military and trade alliances,
concluding his reforms in early 1770.
Although this would be the historical end to the Louisiana Rebellion and its aftermath,
as I mentioned earlier though this did not represent the conclusion of Assassin's Creed
Liberation.
In fact, the game's predominantly fictional story continued for seven more years, following
Aveline's hunt for the Templar known as the Company Man and her acquisition of the
missing Prophecy Disk segments.
Despite the majority of the game's closure having no real ties to the Louisiana Rebellion,
one point that I did notice was the increased Spanish presence in the colony immediately
following Aveline's return to New Orleans, which coincided with O'Reilly successful
suppression of the rebellion and the subsequent re-establishment of Spanish control.
Having said that, I believe it is now reasonable to proceed to the final chapter in the video,
which consists of reviewing everything we've learned today while comparing its depiction
in the game to the actual history.
As a quick prelude, I'd like to re-iterate that the Louisiana Rebellion was not an all-encompassing
event that covered the entirety of Aveline's story in Liberation, but rather just one of
the main developments during her mission, which is important to remember when considering
how it was portrayed in the game.
Therefore, keeping in mind that the vast majority of Aveline's main story was fictionalized,
I'll be concentrating on how components tied to the Louisiana Rebellion were represented
in the game.
In terms of blatant falsehoods, aside from the inventive Assassin vs Templar narrative,
the main point which comes to mind is the violent nature of the rebellion shown in Liberation.
Within Liberation, the Spanish attack certain protesting civilians and Aveline responds
by attacking Spanish troops in the streets, some stationed at a fort and others aboard
a vessel.
Overall, although this was clearly a necessary gameplay component, one of the most remembered
elements of the Louisiana Rebellion was that it occurred essentially without bloodshed
on either side.
Tying into that point, it can also be said that the destruction of the wine storehouse
and the sinking of a Spanish vessel as parts of the revolt were also complete exaggerations
by the game.
Now that I've cleared up those entirely fabricated components of the story, I'll
briefly go over the portions of the history that the Ubisoft writers manipulated to better
fit the game's Assassin versus Templar narrative.
At its core, these are all tied to the Templars controlling the colony and being opposed in
their endeavor by Aveline.
This initially embodied by the rule of Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie.
As oppose to crediting his extended-governorship to the historically delayed Spanish arrival
in the colony, Liberation instead attributed this development to a deal he had made with
the Templars whereby they would ensure Louisiana would technically stay in French hands, under
his command, as long as he ran the colony in accordance with their agenda.
Thereafter, following d'Abbadie's death, the eventual arrival of Antonio de Ulloa in
the capacity of Louisiana's new governor was again associated with a Templar response
to the loss of their previous agent, as opposed to the Spanish government's slow and unenthusiastic
attempt to occupy the colony.
Interestingly, both of these governors' rules were marked by unpopular trade regulations
and policies, a factor which the writers again used as an element to tie them together and
represent d'Abbadie and Ulloa as puppets for a hidden Templar regime that used the
governors to help supply slaves as a labor force during their hunt for a precursor artifact.
Nonetheless, the final historically-manipulated component of the Louisiana Rebellion was crediting
Aveline as being one of its instigators, helping light the fuse for the already-enraged population,
as opposed to acknowledging the Creole merchants and their allies within the Superior Council
for orchestrating this uprising.
Taking that information into consideration, we can now determine whether the Louisiana
Rebellion was fairly depicted in Assassin's Creed Liberation.
In general, due to its covering of certain elements building up to the actual revolt,
and its handling of Ulloa's expulsion, I'm inclined to say that it was a fair, albeit
rather exaggerated representation of this popular uprising.
To be fair, as I've mentioned early, the Louisiana Rebellion only crossed into Liberation's
main storyline for a short period, which makes it understandable that there was a limited
approach to covering its underlying causes and development.
Interestingly, as often tends to be the case with these types of conflicts, there are two
schools of thought when evaluating the Louisiana Rebellion.
French sources tend to label it as the first recorded popular revolution against a tyrannical
European regime within North America, while their Spanish counterparts instead see it
as a coup d'état organized by the wealthy merchants of New Orleans who refused to lose
money while living under Spanish law.
Whether intentional or not, it appears that perhaps for the sake of supporting their Assassin
vs Templar plot the writers seem to have adopted the more French interpretation of history,
with a popular uprising being incited against a tyrannical Spanish regime, which in this
case was also accused of kidnapping slaves for their Templar allies.
Overall, despite its indiscretions and exaggerations, I still enjoyed the portions of Liberation
that tied together the odd transition of power from the French to Spanish in Louisiana, culminating
in the scene where Aveline interrogated the broken Antonio de Ulloa.
For me personally, that interaction succeeded in conveying how in-over-his head Ulloa was
in trying to enact his rule while simultaneous being denied the military authority and financial
backing required to do so, leading to his eventual expulsion.
Just before I wrap this up, I'll quickly list a few anecdotal points about Liberation
that I found interesting.
First among these was the representation of Aveline's fellow assassin Gérald Blanc
as one of the Acadians who'd been deported during the French and Indian War.
I found this to be a compelling tie-in to that period, as he would have been among the
first Acadians to be historically deported to Louisiana, since most of the others wouldn't
be shipped there until years later.
Secondly, although Aveline's story about liberating slaves was wholly invented, it
is worth saying that certain small Maroon communities living in the Louisiana Bayous
at the time did make attempts to free slaves during that period.
Nevertheless, with that final thought we have reached the end of today's video.
As I mentioned in our last update video, there won't be an upload schedule for these videos
anymore, so if you are interested in getting updates on when to expect them, or you want
a place to ask about the progress on the next video, please be sure to follow us on Twitter
@OnlineKnights.
Having said that, if you enjoyed the content, please share this series with your friends
and be sure to explore out other videos.
Although my plan is to finish covering the franchise's time periods, I will continue
to accept any of your requests for future video topics in the comments, which will be
taken into consideration once I wrap up this sub-series.
As always, my sources consulted for making this video will be in the description bar
below.
Thank you for watching!
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