During the depths of the French Revolution, the anarchist violence of the Jacobins got so bad that they ended up beseiging the parlimentarians in their chambers. They'd egged on maniacal demagogues like Robespierre since it either suited their own consolidation of power, or they were too cowardly to stand up for principles.

They were forced to recall a dashing and charismatic general, Napoleon, who'd been sent to Egypt, to break them out of their imprisonment. He loaded the cannons with grapeshot and forced the legislators to light the fuses, saying: "you started this, you finish it; this is on your conscience!"