The Terror Flashcards
Declaration of the French Republic
22nd September 1792
Jacobin and Girondin shared beleifs
Supported republican government
Supported the war
Believed in the need for further enlightened reform to improve government, society and the economy
Jacobin features
Strong support-base in Paris
Supported centralisation of power
Favoured by the sans-culottes, and were ready to act on their demands (eg. price controls on food and wages)
Adopted a radical, militant approach to bring about change
Wanted to see the King put on trial and executed
Girondin features
Wide support-base on the provinces
Supported decentralisation of power
Suspicious of sans-culottes activism, and believed that economic controls would curb liberty
Adopted a moderated approach to bring about change
Hesitant to support the death penalty for the King
Prominent Jacobins
Robespierre
Marat
Danton
Prominent Girondins
Brissot
Roland
Domestic effects of the war
Growing inflation
Outbreak of sporadic peasant rioting (Chouan rebellion)
Robespierre on the execution of the King
‘Louis must die because the country must live’
Votes taken on the fate of the King
15th-17th January 1793
King found guilty
Proposal for referendum on issue rejected
Death penalty wins majority of votes (361/721)
Execution of the King
21st January 1793
Opponents in the War of the First Coalition
Britain
Austria
Prussia
War of the First Coalition
1792-1797
Catalyst of the rising in the Vendée
Levy for 300,000 men which was being carried out in Angers
March 1793
Events of the rising in the Vendée
Vendee army formed (14th March)
City of Cholet seized
Local officials, priests and National Guards massacred
Guerilla warfare spread through the countryside
Response of the Convention to the rising in the Vendée
Sent 30,000 men from the frontline to the Vendée in May in an attempt to control the rebellion
With rebels continuing to march towards Paris, Convention decrees the destruction of the Vendee in August
Defeat of the rising in the Vendée timeline
1793
September - 100,000 troops arrived at Nantes
October - Troops gain the upper hand
December - Core of Vendéean army had been destroyed
Repression in the Vendee following the Rising
January - May 1794 Marseille, Lyon and Toulon crushed Peasants killed Crops burned and animals killed Women raped and mutilated 2000 killed in Angers 8700 executed by revolutionary tribunal, over half the total during the whole Terror
Reasons for implementation of measures which led to the Terror
Help win internal and external wars
Reassure the sans-culottes that the deputies were responding to their needs
Strengthened Jacobins and weakened Girondins, as it centralised power
Formation of CGS
October 1792
CGS features
Policing and administration of justice
Made up of 12 deputies
Reported to the National Convention
Appointment of représentants-en-mission date
March 1793
Représentants-en-mission function
82 in total, worked in pairs, travelling across France
Ensured the loyalty and effective functioning of the departments, and saw that public order was maintained
Reported to the CPS and National Convention
Establishment of Revolutionary Tribunal
March 1793
Revolutionary Tribunal function
Tried counter-revolutionaries
Comités de surveillance established
March 1793
Comités de surveillance function
Looked out for suspicious behaviour
Established in every commune or section
When was the CPS set up?
April 1793
CPS responsibilities
War
Diplomacy
Application of revolutionary laws
Had authority over the CGS, other ministers and government agencies
CPS features
Made up of nine men who were to be elected monthly by the National Convention.
Reported weekly to the National Convention
Jacobins siding with the sans-culottes
Criticised grain-hoarders and profiteers
Blamed the Girondins for France’s problems, portraying them as enemies of the Republic
Established price controls on wheat and flour following sans-culottes demonstration outside the Convention (May 1793)
Fall of the Girondins
26th May - 2nd June
What did Robespierre do on the 26th May 1793 to initiate the overthrow of the Girondins
Invited ‘the people to place themselves in insurrection agains the corrupt Girondin deputies’
2nd June 1793
80,000 National Guardsmen aim cannon at the Convention, demanding the expulsion of the Girondins from the Assembly and a maximum price imposed on all essential goods
Prevent the deputies from leaving until concessions guaranteed
First time armed force was used against an elected assembly
Convention agreed to arrest 29 Girondin deputies and 2 Girondin ministers
What was the Federalist Revolt?
Retaliation of Girondin suporters in the departments following the expulsion of Girondins deputies from the Convention
Events of the Federalist Revolt
Jacobins forced out of office in cities (Lyon / Marseilles)
Protests in 60/83 departements
Toulon appealed for help from the Anglo-Spanish fleet and proclaimed Louis XVII as King, but were defeated by Napoleon
When was the Federalist Revolt?
May - August 1793
Constitution of 1793 (Year I) date
24th June
Features of the Constitution of 1793
Endorsed by national plebiscite
Never put into practise because of the wartime situation
Aggressively egalitarian, stressing that society was more important than the individual
Concession to the sans-culottes
Decrees of the Constitution of 1793
All adult males had the right to vote
Every man had the right to express himself through direct political action
Everyone was entitled to state welfare if needed
When did the CPS decree for a levée en masse?
23rd August 1793
What did the levée en masse do?
Called up all single men aged between 18 and 25
Married men had to hand in their weapons
Women were to serve in hospitals
Helped the French war effort sigmificantly
Who was in charge of carrying out changes to the army?
Carnot
Saint-Just
Old general of the Ancien Regime executed by Carnot and Saint-Just
Custine
Led the French forces to the Rhine
Accused of passing secrets to the enemy
New general implemented by Carnot and Saint-Just
Pichegru
Appointed commander of the division of the Upper Rhine
Military successes following changes to the army made by Carnot and Saint-Just
Siege of Dunkirk lifted (September)
Defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Wattignies (October)
Key members of the CPS
Robespierre
Saint-Just - Laws of Ventose (property could be seized and re-distributed amongst the poor)
Carnot
Period when the CPS governed France virtually unchallenged
September 1793 - July 1794
What were the armées revolutionnaries, and why did the Convention establish them?
Sans-culottes paramilitary forces
To attack grain hoarders
To force farmers to surrender their grain
When did the Convention establish armées revolutionnaries?
September 1793
Jacobin concessions to the sans-culottes
Constitution of 1793
Levee en masse
Economic concessions - fixed prices and made grain hoarding a capital offence
The Law of Suspects
September 1793
Created a new definition of a suspect, making it easier to arrest someone
500,000 arrested
Symbolised the Terror at the local level
The Law of the General Maximum
September 1793
Laid down a maximum price for certain goods
Imposed wage regulations
How many victims of the Terror were there between 1792 and 1794?
40,000
Roughly 17,000 guillotined
When was the popular Terror?
September - December 1793
Evidence of escalation of the Terror in 1793
Revolutionary Tribunal heard 260 cases between March and September
Revolutionary Tribunal heard 500,000 cases between September and December
Famous show trials
Marie-Antoinette
21 Girondin leaders
Saint-Just on the CPS
‘The provisional government of France in revolutionary until there is peace’
Features of CPS campaign across the départements
comités de surveillance
Armées révolutionnaires
Représentants-en-mission
Evidence of Dechristianisation campaign waged by Hébert on behalf of the CPS
Religious statues removed
Church property stolen
Notre Dame Cathedral converted into the ‘Temple of Reason’
Law of 14 Frimaire II
December 1793
Gave the CPS more power
Limited sans-culottes influence by closing down societies
Hérbertists
Followers of the popular radical leader Jacques Hérbert
Complained that Robespierre was setting up a dictatorship
Called on the sans-culottes to rise against the CPS
Indulgents
Danton / Desmoulins
Popular in Paris
Beleived that the Terror should be scaled back
Enemies of the CPS
Hébertists
Indulgents
Execution of Hébertists
March 1794
Execution of Indulgents
April 1794
The Festival of the Supreme Being
8th June 1794
High point of patriotic fervour and Robespierre’s ascendancy
Pleased no-one - Weak Catholicism and first steps towards reintroduction of Roman Catholicism
Law of 22 Prairial
10th June 1794
All those accused on political crimes were to be taken before the Parisian Revolutionary Tribunals (provincial revolutionary tribunals had been closed down in May)
No witnesses or defence allowed
Acquittal or death only possible verdicts
Deputies could now be prosecuted
Initiated the Great Terror
The Great Terror victim composition
35% nobles
25% clergy
40% bourgeoise
Most class-bound phase of the Terror
Reasons for tension between CPS and CGS in the Summer of 1794
Promotion of the Cult of the Supreme Being angered atheists
CGS not consulted over the Law of 22 Prairial
Robespierre and Saint-Just set up a separate surveillance and police network to hunt for counter-revolutionaries, infringing upon CGS powers
Dissension within the CPS
Saint-Just v Carnot over military tactics
Factors contributing towards the weakening of Robespierre’s position
CPS v CGS
Dissension within the CPS
‘The Plain’ fearing that Robespierre was becoming a dictator
Breakdown of local government because of overload of work and atmosphere of fear
Robespierre last speech to the National Convention
8 Thermidor (26th July)
Accused different committees and groups of conspiring against ‘public liberty’
Suggested the more purges were needed
Events of 9 Thermidor (27th July)
Decree to arrest Robespierre and other members of the CPS passed unanimously
Commune managed to free them, but prisoners were retaken
Execution of Robespierre
10 Thermidor (28th July)
March 1793
Representants-en-mission
Revolutionary Tribunal
Comites de surveillance
September 1793
Armees revolutionnaires
The Law of Suspects
The Law of the General Maximum
The Great Terror
Centred on Paris
10th June - 27th July 1794
1594 executed
Barere in September 1793
‘Let us make Terror the order of the day!’
Factors behind Robespierre’s decreasing popularity amongst the sans-culottes
Execution of the Herbertistes
Raising of the Maximum on prices in March 1794 - caused inflation and the fall in the assignat to 36% of its original value
