1791-92
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
October: Legislative Assembly elected under terms of Robespierre's
"self-denying ordinance": members of National Assembly
ineligible
JACOBINS:
members of "Jacobin Club," political group in Paris after 1789
middle class (propertied) revolutionaries, left wing pressure group
public galleries installed in Assembly = influence of popular
opinion
1791: debate over going to war: ROBESPIERRE opposed; BRISSOT pro
war
FACTIONS
IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: (new terms right & left based on seating)
RIGHT: FEUILLANTS -- support constitutional monarchy, Constitution
of 1791;
(264 deputies) split from Jacobins over Republicanism
LEFT: GIRONDINS -- leader is BRISSOT; most belong to Jacobin club;
war party
(136 deputies) social origin: wealthy bourgeois, but republican
CENTER: no clear program; called independents or constitutionalists
(345 deputies) make up majority of Legislative Assembly
APRIL 1792: Legislative Assembly declares war; regiments formed across France
FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC 1792-1795
1792:
Fall of Constitutional Monarchy due to war, pressure of Parisian risings
Military problems: out of 9,000 officers of royal army, only 3,000 remain
Economic problems: assignat falls to 47% of face value by March
1792
food shortages, grain riots
SECOND
REVOLUTION (REPUBLICAN) (parallel to Paris rising of 14 July 1789)
20 June armed mob marches to Assembly, Tuileries, taunts King
9-10 August: rising of Parisian population, Marseillaise regiment leads
2cd attack on Tuileries (800 Swiss guards & nobles killed; 373 attackers)
Legislative Assembly dissolves itself, calls election of National Convention
French national anthemn: La Marseillaise -- marching song of regiment from Marseilles
Link to French/English version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K1q9Ntcr5g
SEPTEMBER
MASSACRES 1792 (parallel to Great Fear of 1789) popular fear of
"5th column" of priests, aristocrats, traitors to revolution
French Generals, incl. Duke of Brunswick & Lafayette, move against
Paris
Lafayette's troops rebel on order to attack Paris, he flees to Austria
2-7 SEPT MASSACRES of priests, prisoners (aristocrats thought to be using"brigands")
Statistics: 80 royal guards; 225 priests; 80 political prisoners,
1,300 ordinary criminals (= 1/2 prison population of Paris)
NATIONAL
CONVENTION: revolutionary, democratic republic; weak Executive Council
members to be elected by universal male suffrage, form new constitution
but peasantry abstains en masse, opposed to Revolution since Summer 1789
about 7.5% male population votes: Paris Jacobins; Provinces Girondins
WAR: Battle of VALMY 1792 Dumouriez' French army victory over Duke of
Brunswick
REPUBLIC:
monarchy abolished, September 1792 = YEAR I OF THE REPUBLIC
Factions in Convention: GIRONDINS: moderate bourgeois republicans;
MARAIS (The Plain): uncommitted center
MONTAGNARDS (The Mountain): radicals, supported by Parisian population
1793
JAN: EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI (Citizen Louis Capet):
MONTAGNARDS as REGICIDES
Feb: Defection of Dumouriez, French General and victor of Valmy
March: RISING OF THE VENDÉE:
armed provincial revolt against Revolution
provoked by conscription, economic crisis
Spring: ENRAGÉS Parisian radicals
push for price controls, bread rationing
leader is Jacques Roux: organizes bread riots by Paris
mob or
SAN CULOTTES (working class wears trousers); shopkeepers,
laborers
April: Institutions used in the Terror put in place by the Convention
REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL set up to hear cases of treason against
Revolution
COMMITTE OF PUBLIC SAFETY elected to monitor Convention Executive
Council