Chapter 2: Robespierre & The Terror, 1793-1795 Flashcards
The Committee of Public Safety
12 men led measures to put France on a total war footing; the CPS was created to coordinate the war effort on 6 April 1793
Representatives on mission dispatched by CPS: two deputies sent to armies to improve morale and supervise generals: 1793-94, 84 generals guillotined or shot & another 352 dismissed on suspicion of treachery
The CPS was a war cabinet, initially dominated by Danton = later led by more extreme revolutionaries…
- Couthon (initially a Girondin) drafted harsh Law of primatial 1794, sent to Lyon, reluctant to order many executions - replaced
- St Just was the youngest, headed missions to restore discipline to the army of the Rhine, drafted a radical constitution of 1793 and passed decrees for redistribution of wealth in February 1794
- Lazare Carnot behind decree of 23 August that order the levée en masse (conscription), turned against Robespierre in 1794
- Robespierre became highly influential, because of popularity with Paris sections, and in the Commune, dominance of Jacobin club, and ability to sway the Convention.
THE TERROR
Growing threat of external war, internal revolt, and murder of Murat = support for more extreme measures = in September, ‘Terror’ was described to the assembly to be the ‘order of the day’.
Why? Need to be able to enforce unity, and to defend the revolution, belief that violence was necessary to ensure the purity of the republic and the revolution by purging corrupt and backward-looking elements, strong ideological element = Project for the reform of France in accordance with enlightened ideas, ROBESPIERRE “speedy, sever and inflexible justice”.
INCLUDED… Political Terror, Provincial Executions, Religious Terror, the Cult of the Supreme Being, Law of the General Maximum (in SEPTEMBER 1793 = conscription & requisitioning of food and supplies for army), sale of émigrés land, redistribution of common land to rural communities, drafting of more democratic Constitution which extended electorate (not implemented)
Political Terror
- 17th September 1793 Law of Suspects = widened definition of counter-revolutionaries that could be arrested (royalists, federalists, relations of émigrés, anyone without ‘civisme’)
- prison numbers rose = Paris Revolutionary Tribunal divided in 4 to speed up trial process = 1794 no defence was allowed so process again sped up = firstly political group was Girondins in OCTOBER 1793
- Queen executed 16 October 1793, & clamp down on anyone advocating for women’s rights
- Hébert beheaded 24 March 1794 for satirical magazine Père Duchesne (incited Paris crowds)
- Danton & Desmoulins executed April 1794 = ‘Indulgents’ (overthrew monarchy and support of execution of king but critical of extreme repression - personal vendetta (widows killed too))
- Law of Prarial reduced defendents’ rights in June 1794 = 1,584 deaths over next two months (1/2 number if execution in entire period of Terror in Paris)
- April 1793-July 1794 = 2,585 condemned to death in paris, 2,306 acquitted BUT national total at 16,639
Provincial Executions
- Vendée = over 8,7000 executed (guillotinée, shot by firing squad or drowned in River Loire) = caused guérilla tracks into 1794 = 200,000 had died in total at end of revolt
- Lyon = Jacobin Couthon executed 113 rebels in 6 weeks = too slow for CPS = replaced in November by Collet d’Herbois = 1,673 sent to death = December prisoners placed in front of cannons and mowed down by grapeshot
Religious Terror
Déchristianisation = religious symbols destroyed, removal of thousand of priests & closure/vandalism of churches = revolutionary hatred of Catholicism = driven by sans-culottes, revolutionary armies and representatives on mission NOT CPS (Fouché) = local terrorists getting out of control = Robespierre wanted to form new revolutionary religion & disliked attacks = CULT OF THE SUPREME BEING
Robespierre wanted to continue to respect God/Republican virtues = special rites and 4 festivals a year = made official in June 1794 = unpopular with Christians and atheist radicals !
The Committee of General Security (CGS)
12 deputies with a function to oversee state security (police, prosecute foreign agents and counterfeits of assignants)
Along with CPS, extended the power of central government to new levels, later, resorting to increase terror as threat of invasion and defeat grew
The Fall of Robespierre
Greatest number of political victims of the TERROR were supporters of Robespierre in the convention, the commune and the revolutionary tribunal. REASONS FOR FALL:
- By July 1794, military situation improved = no longer serious threat of provincial rebellion = need for Terror diminishing and becoming unpopular = law of Prarial and increased influence of radical members of CPS meant execution rate super high = DOUBTS began
- Robespierre had been ill and withdrawn from CPS and national convention, had long-standing quarrels with supporters of dechristianisation & Fouché
- Robespierre had became figure of ridicule over recent role as high priest of the cult of the supreme being - dislike from Christians & Atheist radicals
- Robespierre had lost sans-culottes support because of his attacks on Hébertists and threatened wage reductions
- 26TH JULY 1794 SPEECH = rapid acceleration of executions gave other revolutionaries reason to fear = in long speech, when he announced a ‘conspiracy against public liberty’ that involves deputies, and members of CPS = VAGUE, did not name them, everyone afraid = combined against him, and accused him of dictatorship
- 27TH JULY Robespierre, Couthon & St Just arrested = escaped & tried to rally support at Paris Commune = FAILED & re-arrested
Thermidorian Reaction
Surviving members of CPS and CGS, ex-supporters of the Terror, and deputies of the National Convention = THERMIDORIANS that labelled Robespierre and his associates as terrorists. They aimed to end the TERROR and reverse process of centralisation BUT Robespierre’s fall did not end all political disturbances!!
THERMIDORIANS…
- Released all suspects from prison.
- Abolish the Paris commune.
- Closed the Jacobin Club.
- Repealing the Law of Prairial.
- Re-organising the revolutionary tribunal.
- Setting up new committees to share government responsibilities.
- Ensuring membership of CPS and CGS changed frequently.
- Established freedom of worship for all religions.
Unrest under the THERMIDORIANS
THE WHITE TERROR = little political ideology, just revenge!
- In Paris, gangs attacked former Jacobins, militants, and sans-culottes.
- In the provinces, the violence was worse = in the south, massacres and street murders cost 2000 lives in 1795, in the west, guerilla warfare flared again in the Vendée
1795 Parisian Risings
- THERMIDORIANS abolished price controls in 1794 = fall in the value of the assignat and high inflation at the same time as harsh winter = food shortages = huge demonstration in Paris on 1st April = National Guard stayed loyal to Convention, and the demonstrators dispersed
- unrest in the revolutionary month Prairial (20-22 May) = demonstrators were armed and National Guard joined them = loyal army units gained control (1st deployment of army in Paris since 1789 = power of the sans-culottes FINALLY BROKEN (leader arrested/executed)
