War, Revolt and the Overthrow of the Monarchy 1792–3

Question 1

What was the foreign reaction to the revolution?

Answer 1

• Leopold II, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, approved of many of the liberal reforms in the Revolution and did not want a return to absolutism in France. Was glad at the collapse of French power
• Prussia, Russia and Austria were busy fighting over Poland.

Question 2

What was the declaration of Pillnitz?

Answer 2

• 27th August 1791
• Austria said that it intended to restore the powers of the French crown by force if needed
• Seen as a threat
• Not likely to come to fruition as Austria knew Britain would not support

Question 3

Who supported the war?

Answer 3

1. Marie Antoinette- Hoped for a war in which France would be defeated so Louis could recover his power
2. King
3. Lafayette and Dumouriez- Lafayette was disillusioned by the failure of the revolution to produce political stability (Champ de Mars) and wanted the king’s power to be strengthened + to increase his prestige as a general. Dumouriez- a short successful war would increase his own personal power and prestige along with that of the Crown.
4. Brissotins- war would force traitors to reveal their true sympathies
5. Gerondins/ Jacobins/ Cordeliers- export revolution abroad

Question 4

Who opposed the war?

Answer 4

1. Robespierre- believed that foreigners would not support French invaders
2. Feuillants

Question 5

What was the ‘Austrian Committee’?

Answer 5

• Rumours that the country’s foreign policy was being run by an Austrian committee founded by Marie Antoinette and secret agents were being sent to plot counter-revolution
• well founded rumours

Question 6

Why were foreign powers confident of victory in a war against France?

Answer 6

7 February 1792: Austria and Prussia became Allies

1- Great confidence in their own armies:
1789- a small Prussian army had conquered the united provinces in under a month
1790- a small Austrian army occupied Belgium in under two weeks

2- Internal divisions in France that made it weak
Mutinies in the army, loss of 6000 officers who fled the country

3- Bankrupt mature of France’s finances- limit their purchase of ammunitions

Question 7

What led to war in 1792?

Answer 7

1. The Austrian committee- Austrian threats and Girondin attacks on the ‘Austrian Committee’ at Court forced the King to dismiss his Feuillant ministers in March 1792 and to appoint a more radical government, including some Girondins. Both the assembly and government wanted war now.
2. French army commanders wanted war- Lafayette and Dumouriez as foreign minister
3. Austrian interference- Death of Leopold in Austria (he was replaced by the impetuous Francis the II) + news of Marie Antoinette being put on trial + did not want absolutism to be threatened + Austria and Prussia’s alliance pledging 20k soldiers
4. Brissotins wanted war
5. Legislative assembly- wanted to unite the French people behind the government and divert their attention, expose and weaken counter-revolution, defend and expand revolution and establish legitimacy

Question 8

What was the Revolutionary War?

Answer 8

• Fought by France against other European powers between 1792 and 1802.
• last 10 years until the Treaty of Amiens 1802
• result in the loss of 1.4 million French people
• dramatically alter the whole direction of the Revolution

Question 9

How well prepared was France for the war in 1792?

Answer 9

• 6000/12000 officers had deserted and 150,000 volunteers were poorly trained
• 20 April 1792- the army panicked and retreated, murdered their commander and deserted
• The allies counter-attacked and invaded northern France.
• Marie Antoinette had sent details of French military plans to the Austrians.

Question 10

What were the royal vetoes?

Answer 10

The Assembly passed three laws:

1. Deportation of refractory priests
2. Disbanding the king’s guard
3. Setting up a camp for 20,000 national guards/ fédérés from the provinces

Louis dismissed gerondin ministers and vetoed the first and third law on June 19th 1792

Question 11

What was the June journee?

Answer 11

• 20th June 1792
• Following the vetoes about 8000 demonstrators, many of them national guards, poured in Tuileries in protest
• Louis responded calmly and drank to the health of the nation which saved his life
• The journee did not have its intended effect of making Louis withdraw the vetoes
• Showed the weakness of the king, assembly and power of the Paris sections

Question 12

What was the impact of the decree ‘la patrie en danger’?

Answer 12

• it tiled the balance in favor of those that called for greater democracy as how could they ask everyone to fight and not give them a vote
• The sections and fédérés demanded the admission of ‘passive citizens’ into the sectional assemblies and National Guard.
• Showed how the bourgeoisie were giving way to the popular democracy of sans culottes

Question 13

How did the fédérés and the Brunswick manifesto lead to the removal of the King?

Answer 13

1. King‘s inability to cooperate: the gerondins offered to help prevent an uprising if Louis called back the ministers he dismissed. He refused.
2. Robespierre’s cooperation with the federes:
   On 29 July, in a speech to the Jacobin Club, he put forward his proposals:
   Abandonment of the Constitution of 1791, overthrow of the monarchy, establishment of the national convention to replace LA and to purge the departments of royalists. He felt the time had come to strike.
3. The Brunswick manifesto was published by Austro-Prussian armies with the intent of helping the king but it was perceived as foreign intervention.
4. Pétion, the Mayor of Paris, went to the Legislative Assembly and demanded, on behalf of 47 out of the 48 Sections, the abolition of the monarchy. Yet the Assembly refused to depose the King and defeated a motion to put Lafayette on trial.

Question 14

Attack on Tuileries/ 10th August journee

Answer 14

• 10 August 1792, several thousand of the National Guard, which was now open to ‘passive citizens’, and 2000 fédérés, marched on the Tuileries.
• 600 Swiss (Louis’ defenders) were massacred. Among the attackers, 90 fédérés and 300 Parisians (tradesmen, craftsmen, wage-earners) had been killed or wounded. It was the bloodiest journée of the Revolution.
• Forced assembly to acknowledge the new revolutionary commune, agree to election of NC and hand over Louis

Question 15

What measures did the National Assembly pass in its last six weeks?

Answer 15

• Refractory priests who did not leave France were to be deported to the French colony of Guiana.
• Abolition without compensation of all feudal dues. It effectively ended the feudal system.
• House-to-house searches ordered for arms and suspects – many were arrested.
• Divorce legalised. Registration of births, deaths and marriages became a state responsibility rather than a Church one.
• Louis suspended from exercising his powers- royal documents found in the Tuileries confirmed that the King had behaved treacherously

Question 16

What were the main features of the National Convention?

Answer 16

• September 1972: elections for the NC
• All men over 21 could vote
• Royalist sympathizers were disenfranchised
• 180 Gerondins
• 300 Jacobins
• 256 Plains (uncommitted)
  Mostly lawyers, the proportion representing business and trade had declined

Question 17

What were the main divisions in the newly elected Convention?

Answer 17

• Gerondins v Montagnards
• As neither side had a majority in the Assembly, each needed to gain the support of the Plain who were also bourgeois, believed in economic liberalism and were deeply afraid of the popular movement. At first they supported the Girondins.

Difference in policies:
Gerondins- Liberal economic policy. Free market economics.
- Favoured federalism – more power given to the provinces
- Committed to winning the war

Montagnards- Tight control over wages and prices by central government. Policies of the ‘maximum’

• Favoured strong central government control from Paris
• Committed to winning the war but willing to make greater concessions to ordinary people

Areas of Support:
Gerondins- provinces (lost some because they did not fully back the 10 August journee)
Montagnards- Paris sections, sans culottes and popular movement

Beliefs and attitudes:
Gerondins- suspected Robespierre of wanting a bloody dictatorship and supporting counter-revolution
Montagnards- Believed that the Girondins were seeking to attract support from the Right – former nobles and royalists

Question 18

What did the trial and execution of Louis XVI reveal about divisions in the Convention?

Answer 18

• The Jacobins relied on the sans culottes who wanted Louis executed as they held him responsible for the 10 August journee bloodshed
• The Gerondins tried to prevent Louis’ death through proposing a referendum and reprieve but failed.
• The voting patterns of the appel nominal revealed that there was a solid bloc of moderates in the Convention who were reluctant to support the execution of the King.

Question 19

Why was Louis’ fate sealed for execution?

Answer 19

1. Incriminating royal correspondence between Louis and the Austrian royal family revealed in the armoire de fer documents
2. Marat’s proposal that a decision should be reached by appel nominal, ‘so that traitors in this Assembly may be known’.

Question 20

How did Louis’ execution benefit the Montagnards?

Answer 20

• Although over half the Girondin leaders, including Brissot, had voted for the death penalty, they were branded as royalists and counter-revolutionaries
• By securing Louis’ execution the Montagnards gained an ascendancy in the Convention which they rarely lost afterwards. Brissot hardly spoke there after the trial.

Question 21

How serious was the military crisis in August–September 1792?

Answer 21

• Lafayette had defected to the Austrians on 17th August (who could be trusted if the lead general deserted)
• Verdun Besieged: Beginning of September- Verdun the last major fortress on the road to France was about to surrender
  The French capital was under immediate threat

Question 22

What were the September massacres?

Answer 22

• The commune called upon patriots to take arms and thousands volunteered
• Once they had left for the front there was worry about the prisons filled with counter-revolutionaries and a rumour spread that they were plotting to escape
• Marat, a powerful figure in the Commune, called for the conspirators to be killed. - - - The massacre of prisoners was the first appearance of the Terror and the killers were the sans culottes of the sections
• The commune and Danton made no attempt to stop them for fear of another champ de mars
• This led moderates and foreign opinion to believe that montagnards and sans culottes were bloodthirsty savages- buveurs de sang (drinkers of blood)

Question 23

How did the course of the war change during the winter of 1792?

Answer 23

• Battle of Valmy: 20th September 1792- the French defeated Prussians at Valmy (this ended the first bout of the terror)
• The new forces summoned by ‘la patrie en danger’ were effective as they were sans culottes and had a greater commitment to the revolution
• In November, Dumouriez defeated the Austrians at Jemappes and occupied most of Belgium. This was the first major battle won by Republican forces.

Question 24

What was the decree of Fraternity and why was it passed?

Answer 24

• 19 November 1792 the Convention issued the Decree of Fraternity
• Promised ‘… to extend fraternal feelings and aid to all peoples who may wish to regain their liberty’.
  Passed:
  1. To export the revolution abroad (Conquered lands had tithes and feudal dues abolished)
  2. Propaganda to justify the change in policy of annexing territory: this was contrary to the policy laid down by the NCA in 1790
  3. To protect the Republic: as long as France was under threat from hostile monarchs there would be little prospect of security.
  4. To help the war: A revolutionary administration was set up in the conquered lands. French armies had to be paid for and fed at the expense of the local population. Church lands and those belonging to enemies of the new regime were confiscated.

Question 25

What factors led to war between France and the First Coalition?

Answer 25

1. Threat posed to European power through the decree of fraternity (annexation of nice and savoy)
2. Threat to Britain: Britain was concerned about France’s annexation to the Rhine as it would lead to an annexation of the larger parts of the united provinces (these possessed good ports that could be used to launch an invasion against Britain)
3. Misunderstanding of each other’s situation: The French thought there would be a revolution in Britain and it would crumble like Prussia at Valmy. The British thought France was bankrupt and on the verge of civil war. Both thought it would be a short and easy war.
4. Shock at execution of Louis: The Spanish royal family, who were related to the French Bourbons, were shocked at the execution of Louis and expelled the French envoy.

The first coalition emerged slowly between March and September 1793. Britain was the driving force binding the other powers together.

Question 26

What was the 1793 campaign?

Answer 26

1. Dumouriez was defeated by the Austrians in March and reached an agreement with them to march to Paris and restore the monarchy. The army refused to follow him so he deserted to the Austrians. This weakened the Gerondins as they had backed Dumouriez
2. France lost Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine- fighting on French soil again

Question 27

What contribution did Carnot make to military successes in northern France? ‘Organizer of victory’

Answer 27

• In the summer of 1793 he joined the Committee of Public Safety (CPS), studied the military problems facing the Republic and presented a number of reports to the CPS.
• He was sent by the CPS to the north to lend support to the army where he reorganized them and raised spirits
• Battle of Wattignies- October 16th 1793 the enemy forces were defeated

Question 28

Why did the Vendée rebel against the republican government?

Answer 28

1. Introduction of conscription: government ordered a levy of 300,000 troops
2. Peasants were paying more taxes under the new regime than the Ancien Regime
3. Against CCC- deeply attached to the Catholic Church
   4. Sale of church lands: bought by the bourgeoisie who raised rent
4. Peasants looked towards nobles for leadership who were royalists- rising got caught up in counter revolution

New local officials , constitutional priests and NG massacred. Rebels were not a serious threat as they were ill disciplined

Question 29

What economic issues did the war create?

Answer 29

• more assignats printed- value fell by 50%
• pushed prices up- made bread scarce
• led to demands from sans culottes for price controls, requisitioning + grain riots

Question 30

Why was France not defeated?

Answer 30

• If York and Coburg, the allied commanders, had joined forces and moved on Paris the French would have faced disaster.
• York- west
• Austrians- east
  This saved France