Consolidated or Challenged Authorities ? Border administrations facing the king's flight.

The king's flight was a crucial event, specially for the strategic territories from Pas-de-Calais to Ardennes. Local authorities were aware of the political and military threat. As a result, they tried to control information and, subsequently, collective reactions to the event. They supervised the mobilization in order to prepare a possible war. Their position of mediator between the Assembly and the local population was thus consolidated. However, the solidarity did not last and conflicts arose between legalistic authorities and activists who no longer accepted the constitutional monarchy. The event finally resulted in sustained divisions in northern France.