A summary of Victor Hugo’s "Ninety-Three" Automatic translate

Victor Hugo’s historical novel, completed in 1874, explores the stark conflict between human compassion and revolutionary duty at the height of the French Civil War of 1793. It is the author’s last major and seminal work. The plot focuses on dramatic episodes of the Vendée rebellion, capturing the spirit of the era and the irreconcilability of political ideologies.

The novel is not part of a book series. It hasn’t won any literary awards, but it has gained acclaim in cinema. Notable adaptations include a 1921 French silent film directed by Albert Capellani and André Antoine, and a 1962 television drama.

The landing of Lantenac and the beginning of the mutiny

In May 1793, in Brittany, the Red Cap battalion of Parisian volunteers, under the command of Sergeant Radub, combed the Saudrey Forest. The soldiers found a destitute peasant woman, Michalina Fléchard, with her three young children — René-Jean, Gros-Alain, and Georgette. Her husband had died in battle, and her house had been burned. The grenadiers adopted the children and placed them under the battalion’s care.

At the same time, the English corvette Claymore is heading for the coast of France. On board is the Marquis de Lantenac, an elderly aristocrat who has arrived to lead the royalist Chouan rebellion. During the voyage, a twenty-four-pounder cannon on the gun deck breaks loose, maiming sailors and destroying the sides of the ship. A gunner, risking his life, controls the weapon. Lantenac awards him the Cross of St. Louis for bravery, but then orders him executed for negligence, which endangered the entire crew.

The corvette is surrounded by a French squadron. Lantenac escapes in a lifeboat with the sailor Galmalot. On the high seas, Galmalot plans to shoot the Marquis, avenging the execution of his brother, a gunner. However, Lantenac’s firmness and persuasion force the sailor to submit. They disembark, and Galmalot goes to convey the Marquis’s order to the Vendéen leaders: "To arms! Give no quarter!"

Lantenac hides in the dugout of the beggar Telmarc, who refuses to hand over the aristocrat, despite the Republican authorities’ promise of a reward of sixty thousand francs in gold. The Marquis takes command of seven thousand rebels and captures the farm of Herbes-en-Pailles. On his orders, the royalists execute all Republican prisoners, including the women. Michalina Fléchard is wounded, and her three children are taken hostage. The beggar Telmarc finds his wounded mother among the corpses and nurses her back to health.

Conversation in Paris

In June 1793, the three leaders of the revolution — Robespierre, Danton, and Marat — met in Paris. In the back room of a tavern on Peacock Street, they debated the main threats to the republic. Danton pointed to external enemies, Robespierre emphasized the danger of the Vendée rebellion, and Marat spoke of internal anarchy.

Cimourdain, a former priest turned staunch revolutionary, intervenes in the conversation. Robespierre appoints Cimourdain as extraordinary commissioner of the Committee of Public Safety to the expeditionary force operating in Brittany.

Cimourdain is granted unlimited powers over the detachment’s commander, the young officer Gauvain. Gauvain is a former viscount, Cimourdain’s ward, whom he loves like a son. Gauvain is also the great-nephew of the Marquis de Lantenac.

The Battle of Dole and the Siege of La Tourgue

Gauvain wages a successful campaign against the rebels, pushing Lantenac deep into Brittany. During a night battle for the town of Dol, Gauvain uses cunning to route a 5,000-strong peasant army: with a small detachment and drummers, he feigns a deep envelopment, driving the enemy out of the town.

Cimourdain arrives to join the troops. He notices that Gauvain is showing generosity to the vanquished, freeing prisoners and pardoning nuns. The commissar warns his student, declaring that mercy toward the republic’s enemies is tantamount to treason.

Having recovered from her wounds, Michalina Fléchard sets out in search of her children. She wanders through the devastated province, asking everyone for directions to the Château de La Turgue, where, rumor has it, the orphans are being held.

Lantenac and the nineteen surviving Chouans take refuge in the ancestral tower of La Tourgue. Gauvain and Cimourdain’s troops surround the castle. Lantenac threatens to burn three children in the library building adjacent to the tower unless the besiegers release the defenders. Gauvain refuses to deal with the rebels and gives them one day to surrender unconditionally.

Assault and rescue of children

After the deadline, Gauvain leads soldiers in an assault through a breach in the wall. The rebels put up a desperate defense. Tower defender Imanus lights a fuse leading to barrels of resin and straw beneath the library.

When the besieged’s situation becomes hopeless, Galmalo opens a secret door in the wall — a rotating stone. Lantenac and the rest of his detachment escape through an underground passage into the forest. Imanus remains to cover the retreat and dies of his wounds, having managed to fan the flames.

The library building is engulfed in flames. The children wake up in a burning room. Michalina Fleshar runs to the castle and lets out a desperate scream, seeing her sons and daughter in flames.

The rescue ladder is destroyed in the ambush, leaving the Republicans powerless to help. Hearing his mother’s screams, Lantenac, now safe in the forest, returns through the underground passage. He unlocks the iron door with his key, enters the burning library, extends the existing ladder through the window, and rescues René-Jean, Gros-Alain, and Georgette one by one, handing them over to Sergeant Radub.

Having descended the stairs last, Lantenac surrenders himself into the hands of Cimourdain, who immediately declares him under arrest.

Moral choice and ending

The Marquis is locked in the tower’s dungeon. His execution by guillotine, brought from Fougères, is scheduled for the morning.

That night, Gauvain comes to his uncle’s cell. The young military leader ponders what happened. Lantenac committed numerous brutal crimes, but his voluntary action and the rescue of his three children elevated him above mere hostility. Gauvain is convinced that the Republic must not respond to self-sacrifice with execution.

Gauvain puts his commander’s hooded cloak on Lantenac and leads him out of the castle, taking his place in the dungeon.

In the morning, Simurdain discovers the substitution. He convenes a court-martial. Sergeant Radub demands that Gauvain be acquitted for his nobility, while Captain Geshan votes for the death penalty. Simurdain, overcoming deep personal pain, also votes for the execution of his protégé in the name of the law.

At dawn, Gauvain is led to the scaffold. The soldiers weep and beg for mercy for their beloved commander, but Cimourdain, standing on the tower, declares adamantly: "Let justice be done!"

Gauvain blesses the Republic. At the very moment the guillotine’s blade cleaves off Gauvain’s head, a pistol shot rings out from the tower: Cimourdain has shot himself in the heart.