The Spread Of The Terror Flashcards
The terror - what (4)
Name given to the period between 5 September 1793 - 27 July 1794
Local terrors = represents en mission + Comites de surveillance
Economic terror = bought about from the maximum
Religious terror = dechristianisation
The terror - victims (2)
40,000
Estimated 17,000 killed by the guillotine
What did the convention declare in September 1793
Must destroy all its enemies or they would destroy the republic
What did the conventions declaration lead to (3+)
Increase in the numbers of those bought to the tribunal
Between march - September = 260 cases + 66 to guillotine (paris)
Between September - march = 500,000 cases + 180 guillotined (paris)
Who + when first at the show trials (3)
Marie Antoinette
14 October 1793
Guillotined on 16 October 1793
What was Marie Antoinette accused of (5)
Orgies
Squandering gov money
Conspiracy against internal and external security of state
Sharing intelligence with the enemy
Incest with her son
When trial for Girondins (3)
24 October 1793
21 expelled Girondin leaders
31 October = all executed in space of 36 minutes
What + when speech by Saint-Just (2)
10 October 1793
Justify an intense campaign across the departments
What did Saint-Just campaign use (4)
Comites de surveillance = monitor every resident
Armees de revolutionaries = roam countryside and clamp down on federalist + counter revolutionary activities
Spies + agents from CGS
Atrocities and deaths in vendee (2)
7873 guillotined
November - January = 2000 killed through mass drownings
Atrocities and deaths in Toulon
700-800 prisoners shot or slain by bayonet in a massacre at Toulon champ de Mars
Atrocities and deaths at Lyons (4+)
December = Mitraillades
Condemned were killed using canons which propelled them into mass graves
So brutal the convention ordered it cease at the end of the month
1794 = 2000 had been executed
When was Toulon recaptured
19 December
When did Lyons surrender
October
What was the dechristianisation campaign by SC (3)
Supported a move to close churches + destroy all religious signs and symbols
Principally cantered in Paris
Encouraged by agitators Hébert and Chaumette
In October what did the Paris commune do
October 1793 = made dechristianisation an official policy
What happened to religious statues and replaced example (3)
Removed or vandalised
Figures on west front of north dame cathedral were beheaded
Busts of Marat were popular replacements
What happened to church property
Bells and plates were melted down to use for coins and weapons
Street names changed?
Street names with religious references (including saint) were changed
What happened to churches + when
November 1793 = churches closed altogether
What happened to the north dame cathedral (2)
Became the ‘temple of reason’
Movement = ‘festival of reason’ organised by the Paris commune
What was the festival of reason (5)
An opera singer representing liberty
Attended by young maidens
Vast displays of flowers and plants
Attendees paid homage to her
Sung republican hymns
Robespierre opinion on the festival (3)
Wasn’t authorised by the NC and they refused to attend as a body
Robespierre feared it would earn the revolution more enemies
Believed faith = maintain control and order
Why did religious toleration come back + when
December 1793 = peasants attacked local jacobin club
Decree on the ‘liberty of cults’ = religious toleration reaffirmed
Why was there a new law for CPS+CGS to increase powers put forward (3)
Robespierre + jacobins = France needed more ordered system of government since to many conflicting bodies had emerged
In reality = way of curbing activities of the SC
What was the law of 14 Frimaire (4 December 1793) (4)
Gave CPS direct power over ministers, generals, represents en mission and local gov
What did the law of 14 frimaire provide
Provided for a highly centralised structure and chain if authority in which CPS were supreme
What did followers of Herbert complain
Robespierre was setting up a dictatorship and called on SC to rise up against ‘those who oppress us’
Who wanted the terror to be scaled back (2)
Indulgents = Danton and Desmoulins + associates
Very popular but political views to scale back the terror at odds with Robespierre
What did Robespierre draw attention to (3+)
Need to eliminate the vices of the ancien regime
Corruption, extravagance and excess
Concern for good living, fashionable clothes and sensual pleasure (indulgents) weren’t compatible with the revolutionary goals
What report by Saint just + when
March 1794 = saint just read a report to NC = Herbert it’s and indulgents were denounced
Why + when herbetists executed (2)
Rumours of plot to massacre members of NC = Herbert + associates arrested
24 march = Hebert executed + 18 associates
Why + when arrest of indulgents (3)
30 march 1794 = arrested
Evidence Danton and friends involved in illegal financial deals
Danton, Desmoulins and 13 other guillotined on 13 April 1794
Why, when Robespierre set up a new series of festivals (3+)
March 1794
Celebrate republican virtues
Attempt to establish central control over religious ceremonies = give deists inspo not atheistic inspo
What was the festival of the supreme being (3)
Parade of groups from Paris and NC
Speech from Robespierre = elected president of NC to mark occasion
Statue of atheism was set alight
When + why festival of supreme being (2)
7 May 1794 = announced Robespierre version of a new state religion
8 June = festival took place
Progress of war in 1794 (3)
French drove Austrians, British and Dutch back
Reoccupied Austrian Netherlands, Rhineland
Inflation and supply problems = discontent
First step to intensifying the terror + when
8 May 1794 = all revolutionary tribunals closed down
What led to the Law of 22 Prairial III (2)
Tribunals closed = prisoners sent to Paris
Couthon proposed law to make convictions easier by simplifying judicial process
When the law of 22 Prairial III
10 June 1794
What did the law of 22 p state (5)
All those accused of political crime = taken to Parisian revolutionary tribunal
Citizens obliged to denounce any suspects
Trials take no more than 3 days
Tribunal had 2 verdicts = death or acquitted
No witnesses or defence
Enemy of the people meant what
People attempting to mislead public opinion and corrupting the publics conscience
When was the great terror (2)
Period of 2 months
Between the passing of the law 22 = 10 June and 8 Thermidor = 26 July
What was the great terror (3)
Revolutionary tribunal pronounced 1284 death sentences
Acquitted only 278
35% nobles, 25% clergy, 40% bourgeoisie = more class based
When was max wage set + what (3)
5 Thermidor = 23 July
Infuriated workers
Provided the context for the final political struggle of the terror
What was the concern with farmers due to law of maximum
Farmers were planting less due to their price being fixed
Why was gov critiqued concerning the economy (5)
Failed:
create a new tax system
Control money supply fully
Prevent inflation
End national debt
Develop new industries
What did king of economy did the gov want (2)
Planned economy
Control all aspects of distribution and exchange
Relationship between CGS and CPS (4)
CGS increasing hostile to CPS
Many anti-clerics and atheists in CGS dismayed promotion of cult of supreme being
Annoyed they weren’t consulted over law of 22
Robespierre and Saint-Just set up separate surveillance and police network = infringed on CGS
Why was local government breaking down
Overload of work and atmosphere of fear
Problems within the convention after the great terror (3)
The plain felt Robespierre was becoming a dictator
Uneasy about increasing number prosecutions
Feared that one of them could be next if they disagreed with the CPS
What rose suspicions on Robespierre in Thermidor (July) (2)
Stopped attending CPS at the beginning of July and didn’t reappear until three weeks later
Said he needed time to ‘think’
What 8 Thermidor = 26 July (3)
Robespierre reappeared before the NC + gave his last speech
Accused different committees and groups (CGS) for conspiring against ‘public liberty’
Suggested more purges needed
What 9 Thermidor (27 July) (3)
Chants of ‘Down with the tyrant’ followed - Robespierre
Decree to arrest Robespierre was unanimously passed
Decrees against Saint-Just, Couthon, Le Bas followed
Reaction to news of coup of Thermidor arrest in Paris commune
Raise NG to defend Robespierre = only 1/3 responded
How did the convention try to condemn the coup of Thermidor + what (2)
Convention passed a decree to outlaw those accused so they could be condemned with no trial
Some commune forces managed to liberate the coup
How did the force sent to retake them find the prisoners (4)
Le Bas shot himself + died
August in (Robespierre brother) threw himself out window and broke leg
Couthon (in wheelchair) hurled himself down stairs but survived
Saint - Just taken without resistance
How was Robespierre found by the forces sent to recapture the coup (2)
Suggested he tried to kill himself but only shot through his jaw
Others say he was shot by a gendarme (police officer in France)
What 10 Thermidor (28 July) (2)
Robespierre and 22 associates found guilty
Went to the guillotine that same day
What happened after Robespierre execution (3+)
29 July = 71 death sentences pronounced - mostly members of commune who tried to defend Robespierre
12 more the day after that = 30 July
In total = 87 of 95 members of commune killed
Positive of the terror between September 1793 and July 1794 (5+)
Successfully dealt with internal enemies and eliminated counter-revolutionary activities
Prevented economic chaos
Enabled the revolution to survive
Helped establish republican values
Enabled external war to be prosecuted successfully
Negative results of the terror (5+)
Time of violence, destruction and savagery
Measures wasted precious resources at a time of war
Economic development held back
SC favoured at expense of other groups
Caused more dictions = totally undemocratic
