FRENCH REVOLUTION: REPUBLIC AND TERROR
1793
April: Institutions used in the Terror put in place by the Convention
REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL set up to hear cases of treason against
Revolution
COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY elected to monitor Convention Executive
Council
THE
TERROR July 1793-July 1794: CPS as chief administrative, policy making body
June 93 purge of Girondins in Convention as "enemies of the people"
govt. declared "revolutionary until the peace," extensive
new powers
granted by "law of revolutionary government" to
COMMITTEE OF
PUBLIC SAFETY: 9-12 members [see movie Danton]
famous names: ROBESPIERRE, SAINT-JUST, COUTHON
this committee enacts revolutionary and wartime legislation:
LEVÉE EN MASSE = universal conscription, unmarried
men 18-25
army increases: 1793: 650,000; 1794: 850,000
WAR EFFORT: army pushes back borders to "natural frontiers" of
France
Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees and Atlantic
LAW OF MAXIMUM: price and wage controls to limit inflation;
break with free trade policy; assignat rises to 50% of face
value
July 93 assassination of radical Jean Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday (Girondist)
LAW OF SUSPECTS: imprisonment for all suspected of Counter-Revol
activity
REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL executes Marie Antoinette, Mme du Barry;
Brissot...
Statistics: 14,000 executed in Revolutionary Courts throughout France
social origins of victims of terror:
clergy 7% upper bourgeoisie 14% working class 31%
nobles 8% lower bourgeoisie 11% peasants 28%
DECHRISTIANIZATION
CAMPAIGN:
radical
anti-clerical program begins with abolition of Christian calendar
REVOLUTIONARY
CALENDAR:
22 Sept 1792 = day 1 year 1; three 10 day weeks = month
months renamed in "naturalistic" style: vendemaire (grape
harvest)
brumaire (misty) frumaire (frosty) thermidor (hot)
fructidor (fruit harvest)
For the entire calendar, take a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar
ICONOCLASM
(= "breaking the idols"): attacks on churches, religious statues,
art
November 1793: all churches in Paris closed by Revolutionary Commune
Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris becomes "Temple of Reason"
"Festival of Liberty" celebrated; Rousseau & Voltaire = revolutionary
saints
ROBESPIERRE
(1758-1794) AND THE "REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE"
provincial
lawyer from Arras, 1788 elected as deputy to Third Estate
member Jacobin
Club; anti-monarchical republican & democrat; skilled orator
helps undermine the constitutional monarchy by proposing the "self
denying ordinance" in 1791 (which prohibited members of National
Assembly from standing for election to Legislative Assembly)
1792: opposes
war; part of revolutionary govt of city of Paris (Commune);
elected to Convention from Paris, key opponent of Girondins
Intellectual
influences: IDEOLOGY OF REPUBLICAN VIRTUE
1) classics:
Greece & Rome as models of republican virtue
2) Rousseau: sovereignty of people, republic of small property
holders;
civil religion to instill political unity, virtue; general will
3) Montesquieu: sees virtue as natural characteristic of a republic
Political
program: popular sovereignty will lead to virtue, public morality,
but first eliminate the corruption introduced under despotism through terror
JUSTIFICATION
FOR THE TERROR: Robespierre, Speech of Feb. 1794
"It has been said that terror is the means by which despotic governments
rule.
But when you put down the enemies of freedom by means of terror, you are
justified as founders of the Republic. Revolutionary Government is the
despotism of liberty against tyranny. Must might be used only to protect
crimes?”
February 1794: Abolition of slavery in French Colonies. Decree states: "the Convention
declares the slavery of the Blacks abolished in all the colonies; consequently, all men,
irrespective of color, living in the colonies are French citizens and will enjoy all the rights
provided by the Constitution." (However, Napoleon restored in 1802, only definitively abolished in
1848 by the Second Republic)
PROPAGANDA:
needed to encourage positive attitudes to the revolution
organized by
Jacobin Club: speeches, pamphlets, journals, newspapers
revolutionary pageants: e.g. dedication of Temple of Reason
national system of education: goal of universal primary education, literacy
CIVIL
RELIGION: inspired by 1) Deism; 2) Rousseau's idea of civil religion;
June 1794: establishes CULT OF SUPREME BEING;
religion of REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE
Robespierre opposed to Atheism and Cult of Reason: republic needs religion
PURGE
OF FACTIONS BY COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY (CPS):
Left:
Hebert & the Hebertists - executed March 1794, after disbanding of
"Revolutionary army" of 2-3,000 men radical enrages &
sans culottes in
Parisian commune forced requisition food from countryside, attack churches
Right: Danton executed April 1794; radical republican orator, but
falls due
reputation for financial corruption (bribes) & opposition to Robespierre
Acceleration
of the terror: March 1793-June 1794 = 1,251 executions
Law of 22 prairial (10 June 1794): no defense permitted before
Revolutionary
Tribunals; only two verdicts allowed -- acquittal or death
Result: 10 June 1794 - 27 July 1794 = 1,376 executions
COUP
D'ÉTAT OF THERMIDOR (July 1794): overthrow
of Robespierre by members of
Convention who fear they are next on list of CPS
"White
Terror" -- execution of 72 leading Jacobins in one day
new executive = Directory: beginning of counter revolution