5. Government by Terror Flashcards

1
Q

What were the two periods of the Terror?

A
  1. Began with the attack on the Tuileries on 10 August 1792, included the September Massacres, and came to an end with the Battle of Valmy, when an allied invasion was held up and them pushed back.
  2. Began with the journée of 31 May to 2 June 1793, when Girondin deputies were arrested and ended with the execution of Robespierre and his supporters in July 1794. During this period, French armies were doing badly and there was the threat of invasion. It came to an end with the victory of Fleurus in June 1794, which secured France’s frontiers.
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2
Q

What caused the government to become closer to the people? What happened as a result?

A

In order to fight the war and crush the republics internal and external enemies.
The Montagnards realised this and drew closer to the sans culottes. It’s members shared the Girondin hatred of Robespierre and Marat, but held the girondins responsible for the failures in the war, the rising in the vendee and the economic crisis.

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3
Q

What was the purpose of the machinery of the Terror?

A
  1. To identify, place under observation and punish subjects.
  2. To make government more effective and ensure that its orders were carried out.
  3. To meet some of the economic demands of the sans culottes.
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4
Q

Who had responsibility for all anti-republican opposition through police, security, surveillance and spying?

A

COMMITTEE OF GENERAL SECURITY - 10th March 1793 a REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL was introduced in Paris to try counter revolutionary suspects. It was intended to prevent massacres like those in September 1792. “Let us embody terror” said Danton “to prevent the people from doing so”. Owing to the resistance to conscription, REPRESENTATIVES ON MISSION were sent to provinces. They had power over department administrations and the armies. They were intended to be the first stage in reasserting central control over the provinces. The vendee revolution was blamed on plots by royalists, so COMITES DE SURVEILLANCE were set up in each commune and major town; they provided many victims for the revolutionary tribunals. On 19 March, the SUMMARY EXECUTION DECREE provided the trial and execution of armed rebels within 24 hours of capture. This was held without a jury and there was no appeal. They condemned more victims than the RT. Harsh laws were passed against émigrés; they were executed if returned to France and their land was forfeited by government officials.

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5
Q

What committee was expected to supervise and speed up the activities of ministers?

A

On the 6th April, one of the most important decisions taken up by the convention was to set up the committee of public safety. This committee depended on the support of the convention, which approved its powers each month. Danton wanted a convention without extremists, so 7 of the 9 members were from the plain. There were two Montagnards, and no girondins. They won the support of the public by economic concessions. On 4 May, a maximum price was set for grain and by the end of the month, it was compulsory for the wealthy to loan money to the government.

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6
Q

What was the last straw for the Girondins?

A

Girondins were accused of supporting federalist revolts, thought to break the unity of the Republic and put France’s resources under severe strain.
On 2nd June 1793, 80,000 National guardsmen aimed their canon at the convention and demanded a maximum price to be set for all essential goods and the expulsion of all Girondin deputies. To avoid massacre or seizure of power, the convention was compelled to agree to arrest 29 deputies and 2 ministers. A young royalist assassinated Marat in the vain belief that it would end the revolution.

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7
Q

What resulted in increased power of the jacobins?

A

Many departments resented this power and the influence of Paris. The most serious revolt occurred in Lyon who turned against the jacobin clubs. 60 of the 83 departments experienced some form of disturbance. However these forces were very small, and didn’t want to move far from home. For example, Bordeaux had only 400 men.

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8
Q

When was the new committee of public safety set up?

A

Between July and September 1793. It consisted of 12 members who were either Montagnards or deputies of the Plain and all middle class. This was to become the first strong government since the revolution began.

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9
Q

Why did some people like Robespierre, but others didn’t?

A

He did not seek wealth or power for himself, but always but the good of the country above all else. He also put moral excellence above all human feelings.
Some couldn’t stand his self righteousness.

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10
Q

What were the main characteristics of the sans culottes?

A

Hatred of the aristocracy (anyone with great wealth);
Egalitarianism (equality);
Wearing bonnets rouges, symbolising the freedom of all citizens;
Passionate anticlericalism;
Direct democracy;
The meetings of the Assembly should be open, and deputies should vote aloud (s-c believed that insurrection should be a right).

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11
Q

How did the paris sections control the capital?

A

They controlled the National Guard, assisted the representatives on mission and issued certificates of citizenship (needed for employment). Of the 454 members of revolutionary committees, 65% were shopkeepers or independent craftsmen, while only 8% were wage earners. The Parisian Sans Culottes had the force to seize power, but they decided to intimidate or persuade the Convention.

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12
Q

Following the journee of the 2nd June 1793, what concessions were made to them by the CPS?

A

On 24th June 1793, a declaration stated the right of insurrection, to have assistance in the time of need and the right of education. All adult males had the right to vote and there was to be direct elections.
To fight the war effectively, the sections demanded conscription (part of the levee en masse).
Economic concessions - anti hoarding laws and a maximum fixed price.

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13
Q

What marked the appearance of total war?

A

The levee en masse was declared on 23 August 1793 which stated that every Frenchman was in a state of requisition for the army. Nearly half a million were conscripted; state factories were set up to make arms and ammunition; church bells were melted down for cannon and religious vessels for coinage. This was remarkably successful in the short term.

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14
Q

What happened following the economic problems in the summer of 1793?

A

The assignat had dropped in value by three quarters, and enragés (an extreme revolutionary group) demanded the convention deal with starvation and poverty. They demanded the execution of hoarders who pushed up the price of grain and a purge of ex nobles from the army. The leader (Roux) led a journee on 5th September 1793 which adopted an extreme approach to ensure the movement of food into paris. During this journee, he was arrested and died in February 1794.

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15
Q

What happened in the journee of the 5th September 1793 led by Roux?

A

A crowd marched onto the convention (after gathering at the hotel de Ville the day before), forcing it to accept a series of radical measures. The convention immediately authorised the formation of the armée révolutionnaire (s-c sent to the provinces to ensure the movement of food supplies). The purpose of this was to:
To ensure food supplies in Paris and the provinces;
Round up deserters, hoarders, refractory priests; political suspects and royalist rebels;
To mobilise France’s resources by confiscating church silver and bells;
To establish revolutionary justice in areas opposing the revolution (mainly the south and west).
Both the Paris and provincial armies were engaged in dechristianisation.
They were successful, until Spring 1794, in supplying Paris and the main provincial cities with food. However, there was enormous resistance in rural areas and their numbers were small. The CPS didn’t like these because they were anarchic and out of control of the authorities, and they created opposition to the Revolution because of their heavy handedness to the peasants.

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16
Q

How were prices controlled after the journée of 5th September 1793? What was wrong with this?

A

On 29th September, the law of the general maximum was passed to fix the price of bread and many essential goods and services. Wages were also fixed at 50% above the level of 1790. When peasants refused to keep to the maximum prices, the government had to requisition supplies. This caused a divide between the common people, peasants didn’t like it because the maximum was often below the price of production, and sans culottes did like it because they could afford food. Farmers would simply stop sowing if they couldn’t make a profit, so the cooperation of the wealthy peasants who controlled most of the harvest was needed (they were expected to oversee all requisition).
Where there was no armée revolutionnaire, the maximum was imposed by the rich. To respond to the farmers needs, they revised the maximum to a higher price. This caused hostility from the s-c, but worked in the short term because towns and armies were fed and the assignat rose to 48% in December 1793.

17
Q

How many deaths and cases did the revolutionary tribunal hear in September 1793?

A

260 cases and 66 deaths (25% of the total)

18
Q

Who were the most well known tried and executed by the revolutionary tribunal?

A

Marie Antoinette (16th October 1793) and twenty leading Girondin deputies (on 31st October 1793).

19
Q

How were rebels repressed in the provinces and when?

A

From January to May 1794, troops moved through the area shooting anyone in sight, burnt farms and crops and killed animals. The Vendee was left a depopulated wasteland and thousands who had surrendered crammed the prisons. They couldn’t have been released because they could rejoin the rebels, so they were shot without trial. In the ten departments involved, 87000 were condemned. 1800 were sunk on a raft in the mouth of the Loire and 800 were shot in Toulon. The rebellion in Lyon led to its destruction being ordered on 12 October 1793; 1900 victims were mown down by cannon fire or guillotined. 72% of the total deaths during the terror took place in these rebel areas which took over 16 departments.

20
Q

How did the government delegate some of its power to local revolutionary committees, to symbolise the terror at a local level?

A

In September 1793, the Law of Suspects was passed to hold any rebels in prison indefinitely without trial. They worked closely with the representatives en mission and revolutionary armies to deal with counter revolutionary activity. Mass arrests took place and they could be taken in front of the revolutionary tribunals to perfect local administration and remove moderates.

21
Q

How many official executions took place during the terror? (Excluding deaths from imprisonment, starvation, military action etc)

A

16,600, mainly peasants and urban workers.

22
Q

What resulted in the hatred of Catholicism by the Sans Culottes, Paris Commune, revolutionary armies and the representative on mission because of the thought that it fomented the cause for counter revolution?

A

Dechristianisation was an attempt between 1792 and 94 to destroy Christianity as the dominant cultural form of french society. This symbolised the revolutionaries attempt to destroy anything connected to the ancien regime. In May 1793, clerical salaries were stopped and in November, all churches in Paris were ordered to be closed and Notre Dame became the Temple of Reason. By spring 1794, nearly all churches in France closed. Up to 20,000 priests renounced their title. This uprooting of centuries of Christianity was deeply resented in villages. A revolutionary calendar was also introduced to replace the Christian calendar. Year 1 was between 22nd September 1792 to 21st September 1793.

23
Q

Evidence that the CPS was successful.

A

French armies were doing well in the war: by the end of September, they had driven Spaniards out of Roussillon and Piedmontese out of Savoy.

24
Q

Why did the government try to tame the popular movement without losing supporters among the sans culottes?

A

In the autumn of 1793, local revolutionary committees (revolutionary armies and representatives on mission) interpreted the law on a whim which undermined the authority of the government. Therefore, the CPS, in September 1793, agreed that the Sections should only meet twice a week. In October, the government decreed that it would be revolutionary until peace.

25
Q

How did the government try to restore central control?

A

When the law of Frimaire was passed on 4th December 1793, giving the two committees full executive powers:
The CGS was in charge of police and internal security;
The CPS was in charge of keeping control of ministers and generals, foreign policy and to direct local government.
The representatives on mission were put firmly under the control of the CPS. All revolutionary armies (but in Paris) were disbanded. This resulted in the first strong government since the ancien regime, breaking down the power of the sans culottes and the end of anarchy. This rejected the principals of 1789, because it established centralisation; Robespierre justified this by saying it was just to keep control while foreign and internal enemies of the revolution were repressed.

26
Q

What was the main opposition to the government following its centralisation?

A

HEBERT: wanted more hoarders to be arrested and property redistributed. This was popular among the sans culottes. At the beginning of March 1794, Hébert called for an insurrection and was arrested along with 18 supporters. They were accused of being foreign agents who wanted a military dictatorship and to restore the monarchy. Paris remained calm when they were executed on 24th March. To take advantage of this situation, the CPS disbanded the Parisian revolutionary army, closed the cordeliers club, forced other popular societies to disband, the commune was filled with robespeirre’s supporters and the representatives on mission who were accountable for the worst atrocities were called to Paris.
DANTON: wanted to halt the terror and the centralisation proposed in December to heal the revolutionary divisions by ending the war. He was accused of corruption, because he had become very wealthy after leaving office and 400,000 livres was missing from the Ministry of Justice. Desmoulins supported him in ending the terror and Danton had supporters in the convention. However the CPS thought that his call for peace would leave the door open for a return of the monarchy. Therefore he was brought before the revolutionary tribunal and executed with supporters on 5th April 1794.

27
Q

How did Robespierre eliminate any other suspects in Paris?

A

THE GREAT TERROR: lasted from 10th June to 27th July and the repression was ordered after the abolition of the provincial revolutionary tribunals in March 1794. Any enemy was brought to Paris by the city’s revolutionary tribunal and it is estimated that 1594 were executed.

28
Q

What was the response to the assassination attempts of Robespierre on 23 May 1794?

A

The Law of Prairal was passed on 10th June 1794. The definitions under it were so broad, the only verdict was death or acquittal and no evidence or witnesses were needed. This was drafted to speed up the rate of revolutionary justice. No one dared to criticise the CPS.

29
Q

Why did Robespierre lose support from Catholics?

A

Robespierre loathed the dechristianisation campaign, as the government needed support. Her tried to unite frenchmen by introducing the Cult of the Supreme Being accepted by a decree of 7th May 1794. He organised a festival celebrating this on 8th June 1794. This pleased no one: Catholics didn’t agree with it because it didn’t take into account the ceremonies, Catholic doctrine or the pope. Anti clericals opposed it because it appeared that Robespierre was reintroducing Catholicism. Many thought he was putting himself as high priest of a new religion.

30
Q

Why did Robespierre lose support of the sans culottes?

A

Number of reasons:
Execution of Hebertists (24th March 1794);
Dissolution of popular societies;
End of direct democracy in the sections;
The raising of the maximum in March which increased inflation;
The imposing of a maximum on wages (imposed on 23rd July to increase manufacturers’ profits) which led to a fall by 50%.

Many questioned by the ruthless policies of the terror were still imposed because by spring 1794, the republics armies had driven all foreign troops from french soil.

31
Q

Why did the COS and CGS lose support for Robespierre?

A

In April, the CPS set up its own police bureaux, led by Robespierre to prosecute dishonest officials. The CGS resented this as it appeared to be an interference with their control of internal security. Members in the CPS didn’t agree with the Laws of Ventose (the distribution of land to the poor from enemies) and some made sure it wouldn’t go into practice. Some members of the CPS were wary of Robespierre, because they supported Hébert or following the cult of supreme being (7th May).
Between 18 June and 27th July, he only attended the CPS three times. When he reappeared, he went to convention and made a speech claiming that his former colleagues were plotting against the government. He declined to name them, but any name denounced would result in arrest, so many moderates felt threatened. Therefore a number of former colleagues plotted against him before he could denounce them.

32
Q

What happened to Robespierre?

A

He was shouted down when he tried to speak to the convention on 27th July and the convention voted for his arrest along with four of his colleagues. Many in the commune were in favour of him and called for an insurrection. Following their release, he ordered the National Guard to mobilise. Barére proposed them outlaws, because they had ‘escaped’. This meant they could be executed without trial …

33
Q

What happened to the Girondins?

A

On 24th October 1793, the trial of the 21 expelled Girondin leaders started. They were all condemned to death and guillotined on 31st October. The remaining Girondins who had escaped Paris were captured or executed.

34
Q

What was used to justify the intense campaign across the departments?

A

The speech by Saint-Just on 10 October 1793 who said “the provisional government of France is revolutionary until there is peace.”