When?
Who?
Where?
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What?
Why?
KI3: The Terror 1793-1794.
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Why did rebellion
break out in 1792?
AS History Matters
Thursday, 09 April 2015
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• Explain the events
of the September
Massacres and La
Vendee.
• Assess the
significance of
the events of the
September
Massacres and La
Vendee.
AS History Matters
How significant were the events
during the September Massacres and
in La Vendee?
• On September 3 and 4, inflamed by radical
propaganda, on-going food shortages, and
fear of the invasion, crowds broke into the
prisons where they attacked the prisoners,
including refractory clergy, who were feared
to be counterrevolutionaries who would aid
the invading Prussians.
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• In late summer 1792, news reached Paris
that the Prussian army had invaded France
and was advancing quickly toward the capital.
Moreover, rumours circulated that the
Prussians would find ready support from
Parisians who secretly opposed the
Revolution, especially refractory priests.
AS History Matters
Why did the September Massacres
break out?
• To others, the event suggests the
unfortunate excesses to which well–meaning
and sincerely frightened revolutionaries
were willing to go to advance the cause of
social and political change, in the face of
difficult wartime circumstances.
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• This outbreak of violence in the name of
defending an imperilled Revolution from its
enemies within France has been cited by
some historians as evidence of an inherent
tendency toward bloodshed on the part of
the Jacobins.
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Why did the September Massacres
break out?
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I arose, distressed by the horror. The night had
not refreshed me at all, rather it had caused my
blood to boil. . . . I go out and listen. I follow
groups of people running to see the "disasters"—
their word for it. Passing in front of the
Conciergerie, I see a killer who I'm told is a sailor
from Marseilles. His wrist is swollen from use. I
pass by. Dead bodies are piled high in front of the
Châtelet.
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AS History Matters
• I start to flee, but I follow the people instead. I
come to the rue St.-Antoine, at the end of the rue
des Ballets, just as a poor wretch came through the
gate. He had seen how they killed his predecessor,
but instead of stopping in amazement, he took to his
heels to escape. A man who was not one of the
killers, just one of those unthinking machines who
are so common, stopped him with a pike in the
stomach. The poor soul was caught by his pursuers
and slaughtered. The man with the pike coldly said
to us, "Well, I didn't know they wanted to kill him..."
The number of active killers who took part in the
September massacres was only about one hundred and
fifty. The rest of Paris looked on in fear or approval, or
stayed behind closed shutters.
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AS History Matters
There had been a pause in the murders. Something was
going on inside. . . . I told myself that it was over at last.
Finally, I saw a woman appear, as white as a sheet, being
helped by a turnkey. They said to her harshly: "Shout
'Vive la nation!'" "No! No!" she said. They made her climb
up on a pile of corpses. One of the killers grabbed the
turnkey and pushed him away. "Oh!" exclaimed the illfated woman, "do not harm him!" They repeated that she
must shout "Vive la nation!" With disdain, she refused.
Then one of the killers grabbed her, tore away her
dress, and ripped open her stomach. She fell, and was
finished off by the others. Never could I have imagined
such horror. I wanted to run, but my legs gave way. I
fainted. When I came to, I saw the bloody head.
Someone told me they were going to wash it, curl its hair,
stick it on the end of a pike, and carry it past the
windows of the Temple. What pointless cruelty! . . .
Why?
Where?
When?
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What?
Who?
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Note at least 5 facts from the video on the events of
the Sept Massacres
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SyBGEjn8Q
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AS History Matters
Note at least 5 facts from the video on Federalists and
Vendee rebels
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SyBGEjn8Q
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• P. 97
• Make a list of all the reasons why
counter-revolution broke out in La
Vendee
AS History Matters
Explain why counter-revolution
broke out in La Vendee (12marks)