The spread of the terror

Question 1

what did the convention declare in Sept 1793

Answer 1

it must destroy the enemies

Question 2

show trials

Answer 2

• in response to the SC’s pressure a series of show trials took place in Paris which featured prominent people including aristocrats
• only 9% came from the ranks of nobility
• the first was MA who was guillotined on 16 October
• 24th the trial of 21 expelled Girondin leaders and guillotined on 31st October and 6th November Duc d Orleans with his link to the royal family

Question 3

the death of ordinary citizens

Answer 3

• Saint-Just on 10 October was a speech to justify an intense campaign across the departments
• used local watch Comites to monitor residents, armee revolutionaries made up of around 40,000 men to roam the countryside, spies and agents
• The Vendee and those of the Federalist Revolts suffered. In the Vendee, 7873 were guillotined and in Toulon, 700-800 prisoners were shot or slain by a bayonet in a massacre

Question 4

dechristianisation campaign

Answer 4

• encouraged by Herbert and Chaumette, centered in Paris but it could be carried to the provinces
• Fouche, R-E-M, in Nievre wages a continuous campaign of religious terror in the region from Sep 1793
• October- PC made it an official policy- religious statutes, crosses removed or vandalised
• 7 Nov- Gobel, elected as Arch-Bishop of Paris under CC, wore bonnet rouge and resigned from his episcopacy out of love for the people
• Nov- Festival of Reason organized by PC and Herbert- the highpoint of Robespierre’s ascendancy
• it was not authorized by the Convention as Robespierre was fearful of excesses and that faith could be a valuable ally
• Liberty of Cults, religious toleration was affirmed

Question 5

law of frimaire

Answer 5

• 4 December 1793
• consolidate and highly centralise power, chain of authority under the CPS, making it supreme, direct power over ministers, generals, the representants-en-mission and local government
• stopped the R-O-M despotic power
• Armee Revolutionaries were disbanded from March 1794- destroying the SCs influence by removing their channels of activity, Popular societies were closed
• Varenne proposed this to bring Reign to the Terror

Question 6

why did the herbertists get purged

Answer 6

13 March 1794 Saint-Just accused the Hebertists of plotting to starve Paris, establish a military dictatorship and surrender the country to the enemy.

Question 7

why did the indulgents get purged

Answer 7

Danton, Desmoulins and their associates complained that Robespierre was setting up a dictatorship and called on the SCs to rise against ‘those who oppress us’.

Question 8

what happened to them

Answer 8

24 March Herbert was executed and the purging of Indulgents in 30 March

Question 9

how did the Parisian feel

Answer 9

The Paris Commune which had been dominated by Herbert and his supporters. was filled with those loyal to Robespierre and the Committee.

Question 10

what else happened

Answer 10

• The Cordeliers Club closed down.
• Popular debating clubs in the sections were disbanded.
• The Parisian armee revolutionaire disbanded.
• Representatives-on-missions were recalled to Paris.

Question 11

what are the wider implications

Answer 11

• Robespierre proved the conviction of his beliefs by executing his own friends;
• Robespierre demonstrated that he was willing to stop at nothing in his
  pursuit of his political control;
• The CPS had killed two of the most popular revolutionaries; and,
• Contributed to growing opposition to the CPS and, ultimately, contributed to Robespierre’s fall in July 1794.

Question 12

what happened in March 1794

Answer 12

• new series of festivals to be held on the national days of the calendar celebrate republican virtues
• Establish central control over religious ceremonies and give them a deist rather than an atheistic inspiration

Question 13

what happened in 8 JUne

Answer 13

• 8 June- the Festival of Supreme Being, a statue of atheism was set a light and burned to reveal a figure of wisdom
• High point of Robespierre’s ascendancy- high patriotic fervour

Question 14

why was there a Law of 22 Prairal

Answer 14

• 8th May- all provincial revolutionary tribunals were closed down- all political prisoners had to be transferred to Paris
• this measure was followed by the law of prairal

Question 15

what was it

Answer 15

• made in 10/06/94
• proposed by Couthon
• designed to make convictions easier by simplifying the judicial process, all those accused of political crimes were to be taken to the Rev Tribunal, no witnesses or defence

Question 16

law of ventose

Answer 16

• promised needy patriots a share of the property and land seized from the counter-revolutionaries
• Product of Montagnards idealism and hopes of creating a new kind of egalitarian society

Question 17

continuation of the terror

Answer 17

• Necessary part of the process of creating a utopian society.
• Robespierre provided the ideological justification for the Terror.
• He believed he held this higher truth, to oppose him meant that you were opposing virtue and were therefore an enemy of the revolution.
• ‘General will’ - the long-term good of society was more important than the short-term position of the individual.
• Terror was a necessity, all enemies and opponents had to perish.
• Saint-Just: all true patriots, true republicans had nothing to fear from the terror.
• The Terror was simply a means to an end, a necessary part of the revolutionary process.