Radical Revolution and
Reaction
11-2
Move to Radicalism
 Unrest
 Food shortages
 Military setbacks
 Rumors of royalist conspiracies
 Aug 1792—monarchy over
 Minster of justice, George Danton, rallied sans-culottes
attacked palace
 King and family had to seek refuge with the Legislative
Assembly
Radicalism
 Panic and fear
 Imprisoned nobles and traitors suspected to be conspiring
to defeat the revolution
 Violence in Sept left thousands dead
The First Republic
 New elected National Convention members (Sept 1792)
 Draft new constitution
 They are the ruling body of France
 Comprised of lawyers, professionals, and property owners
 2/3 are under 45
 Abolished monarchy and established a republic  French
Republic
The Fate of the King
 Political Clubs
 Girondins
 Outside Paris
 Feared radical mobs
 Wanted to keep king alive
 Jacobins  The Mountain (radical faction)
 Wanted to execute king (might rally opponents)
 Inside Paris
The Fate of the King
 Factions tried to influence independents
 1793  Convention convinced to behead king
 Jan 21, 1793  Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
beheaded by guillotine
 Creates new enemies home and abroad
 This is a continuation of the trend towards radicalism
Crises and Responses
 Girondins and The Mountain (Jacobins) have many
disputes which prevents a new constitutions from being
writen
 Paris Commune wanted Nation Convention to be more
radical
 Price controls on food
 Universal male suffrage
Crises and Responses
(con’t)
 Peasants in west France and inhabitants of major
provincial cities refused to accept authroity of the
Convention
 Uprisings
 Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Dutch
Republic took up arms vs. France
 Looked bad for rebels
Crises and Responses
(con’t)
 Domestic uprising and external threats led the National
Convention to give the Committee of Public Safety
broad powers
 Georges Danton
 Then, Maximilien Robespierre (a Jacobin)