Government by Terror 1793 ~ 1794 Flashcards
Timeline of war as of 1794
20 April 1792, France declared war on Austria
July 1792, Prussia declared war on France
11 July 1792, decree ‘la patrie en danger’ issued, calling Frenchmen to fight
20 September 1792, France won Battle of Valmy
19 November 1792, issued Decree of Fraternity
January 1793, passed a decree annexing France’s national frontiers (e.g. Rhine, Alps)
1 February 1793, France declared war on Britain and Netherlands
1 March 1793, France declared war on Spain
Spring 1794, France recaptured Belgium
What happened to the Girondins?
- political crisis
- Girondins largely blamed for failures in war, military officer Dumouriez closely associated with them
31 May, uprising began, spreading rapidly to Paris on 1 June of news of the overthrow of Jacobins in Lyon
The Enragés, and journalists such as Marat led an attack on the Girondins, for failures of war and Girondins’ attacking of sans-culottes.
2 June, 80,000 National Guards surrounded the Convention with cannons, demanding expulsion of Girondins and a maximum price on all essential goods
Convention agreed to arrest 29 Girondin deputies and 2 ministers to avoid a massacre
young royalist Charlotte Corday murders Marat, hoping to end the revolution
What were the federal revolts?
- anti-Jacobins and anti-Paris
- in provinces, many who protested against the expulsion of the Girondins
- some Jacobins officials were executed
- The Convention had to cut off food supplies to stop the revolt, but town authorities resorted to appeal to the British enemy who occupied on 28 August 1793
What were the measures taken by the Convention to establish control?
March ~ May 1793
Revolutionary Tribunal
Committee of Public Safety (CPS)
Committee of General Security (CGS)
Law of General Maximum
Describe Robespierre
- member of bourgeoisie
- ‘incorruptible’ because he did not seek power or wealth for himself, consistently putting the good of the country above all other considerations
Who were the Enrages?
an extreme revolutionary group
What was the armée révolutionnaire?
4-5 September 1793, grain shortages, starvation and unemployment led the sans-culottes to form an unauthorised army, marching to the Convention, forcing them to accept a series of radical measures.
These unauthorised armies were sans-culottes sent to the provinces to confront counter-revolutionary forces and ensure movement of food supplies.
- successful in supplying food
- disliked by CPS because they were out of CPS control
- disliked because they were rough and aggressive when dealing with peasants
What was the Policy of Terror?
September ~ December 1793
anyone who was believed to be a…
- threat to the Republic
- hoarding
- evading state laws
…could be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without trial, or brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
Describe the Economic Terror
29 September 1793, Law of the General Maximum was passed, fixed prices of wide range food and commodities
- peasants hated it because it did not cover costs of production, sans-culottes wanted it because food becomes affordable
- caused conflict when sans-culottes in armée révolutionnaire went to the countryside to enforce this law
- in further countrysides, law was imposed by local bourgeoisie
- February 1974, Convention increased the prices to meet demands of farmers and produces
- this law allowed assignats to increase in value
What were the 3 forms of the Terror?
1) Terror, controlled by the CPS and CGS, centred in Paris, involved the Revolutionary Tribunal
2) federal revolt Terror, in places like Vendee and Lyon, the most atrocious of the 3
3) Terror in other parts of France, controlled by watch committees and representatives-on-mission.
What are watch committees?
- set up in major towns to watch foreigners and suspected traitors
- held wide power to try (without jury or appeal)
- execute armed rebels within 24 hours of capture
What are representatives-on-mission?
- deputies who go out to provinces to speed up conscription
- check up on army generals
- held wide powers to take over local government and enforce decrees
What are the CPS?
- coordinate war effort
- supervise activities during the crisis
- controlled ministers, generals, and foreign policy
- more extensive powers than CGS
What are the CGS?
- rooting out counter-revolutionaries
- control an extensive spy network
- secret revolutionary police force
What was the Revolutionary Tribunal?
accused counter-revolutionaries taken to trial
What is the basic definition of the Terror?
With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day (September 5 decree) and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution (nobles, priests, and hoarders) by the CPS.
Explain the CGS and the Revolutionary Tribunal
- celebrity trials
- CGS largely responsible for bringing cases to the Revolutionary Tribunal
- October ~ November 1793, held celebrity trials due to pressure from sans-culottes: a series of show trials consisting of the executions of Marie Antoinette (16 Oct.), 31 Girondin deputies (31 Oct.), Louis XVI’s distant cousin Philippe Egalite (6 Nov.), and Madame Roland (9 Nov.).
Explain the Anarchic Terror in provinces (e.g. Vendee, Lyon)
- end of 1793, federal revolt suppressed regular army, ensuing repression
January ~ May 1794
Repression included:
troops in the area
shooting peasants at random
burning farms and crops
killing farm animals
raping and mutilating women
those who surrender are crammed into prisons
noyades (drownings)
sent to guillotines
mown down by cannon fire
What is the Law of Suspects?
September 1793, any suspected counter-revolutionaries could be arrested and held without trial indefinitely
- government delegated its powers to local revolutionary committees, who consisted of Montagnards and their supporters
Explain dechristianisation
- ongoing from 1792 ~ 1794
- sans-culottes, revolutionary armies, and representatives-on-mission
- symbolised the revolutionaries’ determination to destroy everything connected to the ancien regime
included:
all churches in Paris closed by November 1793
church bells removed (melted to make weapons for war)
roadside shrines and crosses destroyed
Paris Commune stopped paying clerical salaries since May 1793
by spring 1794, most churches in France had closed
- not well received by villages, where there is deep rooted centuries of Christian belief
Who was Jacques Herbert?
- left wing journalist
- few supporters in the Convention, many in the Cordeliers Club and the Paris Commune
- demanded more hoarders should be executed and for the redistribution of property (sans-culottes supported this)
- him and his supporters were arrested in March 1794, accused of wanting to restore the monarchy
- Robespierre took advantage of this to disband popular societies like the Cordeliers, and fill the Commune with his supporters
Who was Danton?
- a leading Montagnard
- hoped to end the Terror, causing many to feel like he hoped to restore the monarchy
- large following in the Convention, Robespierre viewed him as a serious threat
What was the Law of Prairial?
Anarchic Terror –> Great Terror (10 June ~ 27 July)
Revolutionary Tribunals in provinces abolished, suspects had to be brought to Paris
a reform to the Revolutionary Tribunal to secure more convictions, causing a sharp increase in executions
Explain the downfall of Robespierre
1) Catholics:
- he did not support dechristianisation
- created the Cult of the Supreme Being, officially decreed on 7 May 1794
- this new religion disregarded Catholic doctrine, ceremonies, and the Pope
- anti-clericals saw it as a step towards the reintroduction of Catholicism
- ordinary revolutionaries saw it as Robespierre trying to get a higher position, such as the high priest of this new religion
2) sans-culottes disliked him because
- the execution of Herbert and the Herbertistes
- he raised the Maximum on prices
- he dissolved popular societies, including the Cordeliers Club
- Robespierre’s supporters in the Commune applied the Maximum to wages, leading to up to 50% decrease in wages
3) ordinary revolutionaries
- by spring of 1794, no foreign troops occupy French land, and government authority is restored over all parts of France, many felt like the measures of the violent terror were now unnecessary
4) among CPS and CGS
- the CPS (Robespierre) set up a police bureau to prosecute dishonest officials, causing resentment among the CGS at the interference
- especially after his new religion, many of the CPS became suspicious of him
Explain the Coup of Thermidor
Robespierre made a speech on 8 Thermidor (26 July 1794), accusing his colleagues of plotting against the government, though refusing to name any.
His colleagues felt threatened, fearing for their own safety, they conspired against him.
He was then arrested on 9 Thermidor before he could make another speech at the Convention, along with his supporters, to be put in the Commune prison.
Robespierre was popular in the Commune, and its leaders refused to accept him as prisoner, rising up in response. However, the authorities of the CPS and CGS reduced the number of support they received.
The National Guard supported the Convention.
Robespierre tried to shoot himself, but him and his supporters were arrested once again, executed on 10 Thermidor (28 July 1794).
Following this, over 100 Commune staff were executed as his supporters.
This marked the end of the Terror.
Thermidorians consequently dominated the Convention.
