Chapter 12 - The Spread Of The Terror Flashcards
How many victims of the Terror were there between 1792 and 1794?
40,000
How many of these were from the guillotine?
17,000
What was the guillotine seen as?
Was a new ‘humane’ method of execution now a sign of oppression
When was the period of ‘The popular Terror’?
Sept - Oct 1793
What law was established in Sept?
Law of Suspects
Before Sept how many people had the Tribunal sent to the guillotine?
66
How many had they sent 3 months after this?
180
(Only in Paris)
What had the desire for killing by the sc been inspired by?
The killing of the King
Political agitators - Herbert
What was made in response to the sc pressure?
Show trials
Who was first to be tried?
Marie Antoinette
What was she accused of?
Orgies
Squandering govt money
Conspiracy against int + ext secuity of state
Sharing intelligence with enermy
Incest with her son
Which crime was she not found guilty of?
Incest with her son
When was she guillotined?
16 Oct
What was the verdict of the 21 expelled Girodin leaders?
All condemned to death and guillotined 31 Oct
What was said in a speech from the CPS by Saint -Just 10 Oct?
‘The provisional government of France is revolutionary until there is peace’
What was the campaign used across the departements?
- local watch commitees (comites de surveillance)
- rev armies to stop federalists + counter-rev activities
- spies + agents from Comittee of General Security
- > 100 representants-en-mission to pursue rev cause
What happened even though activities were overseen by the CPS?
Officials and groups took law into their own hands, some acted with savagery
What were the worst affected areas?
Vendee + Toulon + Lyons
What happened in the Vendee?
7873 guillotined
2000 mass drownings (some nuns and monks in ‘mock marriages’)
What happened in Toulon?
700-800 prisoners shot or slain by bayonet in a massacre on Toulon’s Champ de Mars
What happened in Lyons?
Dec grape shot killed 2000
It was so brutal that the Convention ordered they ceased at the end of the month
What did the sc want to do with religion?
Close churches
Destroy all religious signs + symbols
When did the Paris Commune made dechristianisation a policy?
Oct
What replaced the crosses and religious ornaments that were destroyed and vandalised?
Busts of Marat
What other actions were made to dechristianise?
Churches stolen to do ‘mock ceremonies’
Bells + plates melted for coins or weapons
Street names changed
Attacks on remaining religious buildings meant they closed
Royal tombs secrated + their bones put into a common grave
People changed their names to be non-religious
What did lots of Clergymen do?
Resigned
What was the Notre Dame Cathedral become known as?
‘Temple of reason’
What was held there?
‘Festival of Reason’
They worshiped an opera singer on a paper mache mountain holding a torch and they sung hyms
Was the festival authorised by the convention?
No
Who thought faith could be a valuable ally?
Robespierre
Who wanted an completely secular society?
Fouche + Herbert
What decree reinstated toleration on religion?
‘liberty of cults’
How many priests had already been forced to renounce their positions?
20,000
What was the situation by the end of 1793?
Federalist revolt under control + war + economy (due to good harvest)
Why were new laws put in place to strengthen the positions of the CPS + CGS?
Robespierre + Montagnards thought F needed more ordered system of govt
It could control activities of sc who wanted more power + property - this didn’t help keeping support from big taxpayers + disruption from dechristianisation
What did The Law of 14 Frimaire II do?
Gave CPS centralised power
Departments only reposible for tax collection + public works
Armees revolutionaires disbanded
Popular societies + patriotic committees closed down
What did the law also do?
Destroyed sc influence by removing their most important channels for activity
What did the 2 laws of Ventose do?
Promised patriots a share of property + land seized from counter-revs
(but was carried out with little enthusiasm or ignored)
Who were the two extremists?
- Herbert - complained R setting up a dictatorship + called for sc to rise against ‘those who oppress us’
- Danton +Desmoulins - popular, suggested it was time for the Terror to be scaled back
What did R argue there needed to be be for a ‘Republic of Virtue’?
Self-sacrifice
Who were declared publicly evil by Saint-Just?
Herbertists + Indulgents
What made the Herbertists arrested and executed?
Rumours of a plot to massacre members of the NC
When were the Indulgents then arrested?
30 March
When were Danton and Desmoulins guillotined?
5 April
What did the removal of extremist mean?
Growing splits in the CPS and Convention
What did members of the ‘Plain’ in the Conv favour?
Reduction of Terror
(But didn’t want to be labelled as Indulgents)
What were R, Couthon + S-J known as?
A ‘Triumvirate’
What did R do to rid the country of corruption?
1000 guillotined
Prisons cleansed of refractory priests, nobles, men + women who couldn’t meet R moral standards
What did R announce in mar 1794?
New series of festivals celebrating Republican virtues
What was he trying to make them be rather than Athiest?
Deist
(with a belief in the existence in God)
What was R new State religion called?
The cult of the Supreme Being
What was shown in the festival of the Supreme Being?
Dancing
Parade
Speech on Republican virtues
Statue of Atheism burned to show wisdom
Liberty tree
Statue of Hercules
How was the war going in 1794?
Well as they were winning most wars
What started the intensifying of the Terror?
The Law of 22 Prairial
What did the Lof22P do overall?
Made convictions easier by simplifying judicial process
What was outlined in Lof22P?
- ‘enemies of the people’ put in front of Parisian Rev Tribunal
- Citizens denounce any suspects
- Trials no longer than 3 days
- No witness or defence, juries judge on accusation and accused defence
- 2 verdicts = acquittal or death
- Convention’s deputies immunity from prosecution disappeared
What months were the Great Terror?
Jun - Jul 1794
How many death sentences and acquittals were there in this time?
DS = 1284
A = 278
Why was this phase of the Terror more classed based?
Excutions:
Nobles = 35%
Clergy = 25%
Bourgeoisie = 40%
What other measures were looked at by R?
Maximum wage set - angered workers
Rise in price of bread as farmers planted less
Why was the CGS hostile?
Still subordinate to CPS
Weren’t consulted over Lof22P
R + S-J set up separate surveillance and police network to hunt for counter-revs (job of CGS)
Why was the CPS hostile?
S-J argued with Carnot about military tactics
S-J annoyed not being involved with Lof22P
Deputies scared R turning into dictator
Why was the local govt breaking down?
Overload of work + atmosphere of fear
Who disagreed with the Cult of Supreme Being?
Catholic Priests + Athiests
What is Thermidor?
July
What did R stop doing in July?
Attending CPS meetings
Why did he say he couldn’t attend?
He said he needed time to think
What did this make people?
More suspicious
Deputies carried pistols and employed bodyguards + spies
What happened 8 Thermidor?
(26 Jul)
R gave last speech to NC accusing people in govt of conspiring against ‘public liberty’ and suggested for more purges but refused to mention the names who he was accusing
What happened 9 Thermidor?
(27 Jul)
S-J wanted to say a speech but accusations and ‘Down with the tyrant’ chants interrupted him
A decree to arrest R + his bro, S-J, Couthon, Le Bas and were taken to separate prisons for the night
What fraction of people responded in the sections to defend R?
1/3
What did the Commune manage to do?
Liberate R + other deputies
What was then sent by the Convention?
A force to retake them
What happened in the room they were found?
- Le Bas = shot himself + died
- A’s bro = out the window + broke leg
- Couthon = in wheelchair down stairs + survived
- R = shot through jaw
- S-J = taken without resistance
What happened 10 Thermidor?
(28 Jul)
R + 22 associates found guilty
All apart from Le Bas went to guillotine that day
In total how many Commune members lost their lives?
87/95
