

APEURO Lecture 5B
Mrs. Kray (some slides taken from Susan Pojer)
Attitudes &
actions of
monarchy
& court
Fear of
CounterRevolution
Religious
divisions
The Causes of
Instability in France
1792 - 1795
Economic
Crises
War
Political
divisions



Members of the legislative assembly sat together in
separate sections of a meeting hall

This is where the terms right, center, and left come from
o Conservatives who supported the king made up the Right
o Moderates who comprise a large group sat in the Center
o Radicals who distrusted the king and wanted the revolution to
continue sat to the left

The Jacobin Club
o Political clubs grew in popularity in the early part of the revolution
o The Jacobins held their meetings in the library of a former Jacobin
monastery in Paris.
o Started as a debating society; membership mostly middle class; created
a vast network of clubs.

Jacobins were split into two factions: Montagnards and Girondins
Montagnards

Wanted to overthrow the
monarchy and create a
republic

Power base in Paris

Supported by the sansculottes
Important leaders: GeorgesJacques Danton, Maximilien
Robespierre


Considered the more radical
of the two factions
Girondins

Wanted to involve France in a
war that would discredit the
monarchy and extend
France’s revolutionary ideals
across Europe

Power base in the provinces

Feared the growing influence
of the sans-culottes and the
city of Paris

Crowd gathers to
demand overthrow of
the king and the
declaration of a
republic
o Lafayette’s National
Guard kills 50

Radicalized public
opinion and led to
further distrust of
the monarchy

Aug. 1791: Leopold II of Austria (Marie
Antoinette’s brother) and Frederick William
II of Prussia issued the declaration
o Declared that the “restoration of absolutism in
France was of “common interest to all
sovereigns of Europe”

April 1792: Legislative Assembly declared
war against Austria and Prussia
o Girondins believed the only way to save the
Leopold II
Revolution was to spread it across Europe by
force (feared emigres, actions of the king,
implications of Declaration of Pillnitz)
o Louis XVI supports declaration of war but for
different reasons

The French armies were illprepared for the conflict

½ of the officer corps had
emigrated

Many men disserted

New recruits were
enthusiastic, but ill-trained

French troops often broke
ranks and fled in disorder

By the summer of 1792
Austrian and Prussian forces
were advancing towards Paris
War of the First Coalition
FRANCE


AUSTRIA
PRUSSIA
BRITAIN
SPAIN
PIEDMONT
Duke of Brunswick issues manifesto declaring “if royal
family is harmed, Paris will be leveled”
The military crisis undermined the Legislative Assembly and
inflamed violent opposition to the monarchy
Battle of
Valmy
Sept. 1792


Faced with defeat, recruits rushed to Paris singing the
Marseillaise
The rejuvenated French forces stopped the Austro-Prussian
army thus saving the Revolution



Parisian working-class

Small shopkeepers; tradesmen;
artisans

They shared many of the ideals of
their middle class representatives
in government but opposed
Girondin half-measures.

Ripe for radical persuasion!

Jean-Paul Marat,
1744-1793
Journalist
Georges Danton,
1759-1794
Skilled politician


The Friend of the People


Demanded the deaths of
traitors and for heads to
roll
Worked to create a
revolutionary government
in the capital – Paris
Commune

Would play a major role in
forcing moderates to adopt
more aggressive measures

Summer 1792: Sans-culottes took control of
the Paris Commune
o The now revolutionary Paris Commune
intimidated the Legislative Assembly into
deposing Louis XVI and issuing a call for the
election of a national convention
o The new body would then form a more
democratic government

September Massacres, 1792
o Dark side of the revolution
o Rumors that the anti-revolutionary political
prisoners were plotting to break out & attack the
rear the armies defending France from the rear
o Buveurs de sang [“drinkers of blood.”] -- 1000s
killed!
o Discredited the Revolution among its remaining
sympathizers abroad.
This 2nd revolution
would be dominated
by radicals




Newly elected National Convention
abolished the monarchy and declared
France a republic
Debating Louis XVI’s Future
o For the Montagnards, the king was a
traitor.
o The Girondins felt that the Revolution had
gone far enough and didn’t want to execute
the king (maybe exile him).
o After a contentious debate, the National
Convention passed a resolution
condemning Louis XVI to death – passed
by one vote
• The trial of the king was hastened by the
discovery in a secret cupboard in the
Tuilieres of a cache of documents that
proved conclusively Louis’ knowledge and
encouragement of foreign intervention

Under pressure from sansculottes, the Jacobin
Montagnards branded the
Girondins as
counterrevolutionaries

The Paris Commune
arrested and executed
Girondin leaders

Spring 1793: First Coalition armies
converged on France

Girondin and royalist Catholics rebelled
against the National Convention and the
“tyranny” of the Montagnard Jacobins

Faced with foreign invaders and
domestic rebellion, the National
Convention established the Committee
of Public Safety to defend France and
safeguard the Revolution
o Robespierre given dictatorial power
o Carried out a Reign of Terror in the name
of creating a Republic of Virtue
o Executed his chief rivals, and thousands of
“dangerous” class enemies
Maximilien Robespierre
The Reign of Terror

Robespierre Quotes
o “Terror is nothing other than
justice, prompt, severe,
inflexible.”
o “Let terror be the order of
the day!”
7%
8%
28%
25%
The Revolutionary Tribunal
of Paris alone executed
2,639 victims in 15
months.
 The total number of victims
nationwide was over
20,000!

31%

Law of 22 Prairial
o Passed June 10, 1794
o Trials were now limited to
deciding only on liberty
OR death, with
defendants having no
rights.

Were you an “enemy of
the people?”
o the law was so broadly
written that almost
anyone could fall within
its definition!

It was premised upon Enlightenment principles of
rationality.

The metric system of weights and measures
o Was defined by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791 and
enforced in 1793.
o It replaced weights and measures that had their origins in the
Middle Ages.

The abolition of slavery within France in 1791 and
throughout the French colonies in 1794.

The Convention legalized divorce and enacted shared
inheritance laws (even for illegitimate offspring) in an
attempt to eradicate inequalities.

The Catholic Church was linked
with real or potential counterrevolution.

Religion was associated with the
Ancien Régime and
superstitious practices.

Therefore religion had no place
in a rational, secular republic!

Program was very popular
among the sans-culottes.

The adoption of a new Republican Calendar:
Temple of Reason
o abolished Sundays & religious holidays; months
named after seasonal features; 7-day weeks
replaced by 10-day decades.
o the yearly calendar was dated from the creation
of the Republic symbolizing a divorce between
state from the Church!!

Cult of the Supreme Being
o Public exercise of religion was banned
o Cathedral of Notre Dame renamed “Temple of
Reason” -- “Come, holy Liberty, inhabit this
temple; Become the goddess of the French
people.”

The Paris Commune supported the:
o destruction of religious & royal statues.
o ban on clerical dress.
o encouragement of the clergy to give up their
vocations.
o The deportation of priests denounced by 6
citizens.
New Secular Holiday – Festival of the Supreme Being
I
1792 – 1793
II
1793 – 1794
III
1794 – 1795
IV
1795 – 1796
V
1796 – 1797
VI
1797 – 1798
VII
1798 – 1799
VIII
1799 – 1800
IX
1800 – 1801
X
1801 – 1802
XI
1802 – 1803
XII
1803 – 1804
XIII
1804 – 1805
XIV
1805
New Name
Meaning
Time Period
Vendemaire
Vintage
September 22 – October 21
Brumaire
Fog
October 22 – November 20
Frimaire
Frost
November 21 – December 20
Nivose
Snow
December 21 – January 19
Pluviose
Rain
January 20 – February 18
Ventose
Wind
February 19 – March 20
Germinal
Budding
March 21 – April 19
Floreal
Flowers
April 20 – May 19
Prairial
Meadow
May 20 – June 18
Messidor
Harvest
June 19 – July 18
Thermidor
Heat
July 19 – August 17
Fructidor
Fruit
August 18 – September 21


While the Terror crushed domestic
dissent, Robespierre turned to the
danger posed by the First Coalition
1793: “levee en masse”
o Decreed compulsory military service for
French Victory at Fleurys
June 26, 1794.
France defeated Austria.
This opened the way to the reoccupation of Belgium
all men between 18 and 40
o Promotion based on merit
o Created a national military based upon
mass participation
o Marked the first example of the
complete mobilization of a country for
war

Motivated by patriotism and led by a
corps of talented young officers,
France’s citizen soldiers defeated the
First Coalition’s professional armies



Despite crushing internal dissent and defeating the First Coalition
Robespierre continued to pursue his fanatical dream of creating
a Republic of Virtue
Fearing for their lives and yearning for stability, the National
Convention reasserted its authority by executing Robespierre
Radical phase of the French Revolution ended






Curtailed the power of the Committee for Public Safety.
Closed the Jacobin Clubs.
Churches were reopened.
1795  freedom of worship for all cults was granted.
Economic restrictions were lifted in favor of laissez-faire
policies.
August, 1795  a new Constitution is written
o more conservative republicanism.


 The
Paris Commune
was outlawed.
 The
Law of 22 Prairial
was revoked.
 People
involved in the
original Terror were
now attacked 
“White” Terror
 Inflation
continues
 Rule
by rich bourgeois
liberals.
 Self-indulgence

frivolous culture;
salons return; wild
fashions.
 Political
 Revival
corruption.
of Catholicism.

5-man executive committee or oligarchy
o Trying to to avoid a dictatorship.

Tried to avoid the dangers of a one-house legislature.
o Council of 500  initiates legislation.
o Council of Elders [250 members]  married or widowed males over
40 years of age.
• They accepted or rejected the legislation.
o Both houses elected by electors who owned or rented property worth
100-200 days’ labor [limited to 30,000 voters].
o The electors were elected by all males over 21 who were taxpayers.

April, 1795  Inflation; bread riots.

May 20, 1795  Revolt of Prairial
[Year III]

October, 1795  Vendée and
Brittany revolted.
o Military suppressed them.

May, 1796  First “communist”
revolt
o Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of
Equals”
A British Cartoon about
Napoleon’s Coup in 1799
Land in
France owned
by each group
Each group as
a percentage
of the
population
Clergy
Nobility
Bourgeoisie
Peasantry
6-10%
20-35%
25-30%
40-45%
2%
1.5%
8.4%
82-87%