(July 13, 2017 at 5:10 am)Fake Messiah Wrote: Well maybe they didn't have to kill him, especially the kids. If you look a the the French revolution they also killed the whole family, but it didn't stop them to have monarchy again during Restoration. Where there's a will there is a way, so they found King's cousin and made him a king, but then he ran away when Napoleon showed up and so on.
But yeah I guess you have to kill the king because there will be enough of his supporters, but maybe they could just dethrone him, like Chinese did with Puyi, and let him live like common folk.
I note in The Tudors, Henry VIII even had the grandson of Margaret Pole executed (off screen, I assume the kid was garroted) as he could grow up to be a threat, as Henry had already executed so many other relatives of his.
There's a "Logic of Empire" to these matters, and for rulers really into how it all works and what can go on to become a threat, finesse and attention to detail is a characteristic of 'winners'.
I'm not defending the practice, just pointing out how leaders perceive threats and how they might react to them, and there being some logic, if the cold blooded variety, that is in play.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
