FREV - Off With his Head! The Revolution turns Radical. (Lesson)

Off With his Head! The Revolution turns Radical. 

Before you start, watch this Khan Academy video summary of the Radical phase of the French Revolution. Please note the video is 23 minutes long, but you can return to it if you are unable to watch it in one sitting. When you are finished, review the abbreviated notes below.

In September 1791, under house arrest at the Tuileries Palace, Louis is left with no other choice but to accept the final version of the constitution. Maximilian Robespierre, a lawyer and member of the Jacobin Mountain party who eventually becomes the head of France leading the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror, remarks the revolution is over.

 

October 1791, the National Assembly is dissolved, as none of its members are eligible for Legislative Assembly. In a, perhaps, shortsighted move, the legislators in the National Assembly had agreed no one in their group would take part in the new government - leaving it up to the people to truly create a new government. However, with the new elections came a large group without experience and largely divided by political factions.  Out of the new representatives, many distrusted Louis and, overall, the group was inclined to proceed less cautiously than the National Assembly.

The new political spectrum:

Political Spectrum map denoting the Montagnards (Mountain) on the Left, Jacobins left to center, The Plain as moderates, Girondists as Conservatives and the Royalists as Right Wing.

 

April 1792 - France declared war on Austria. Prussia joined with Austria and France was near defeat until an argument between Austria and Prussia over Poland kept France from falling.

August 3, 1792 - the Duke of Brunswick issued the Brunswick Manifesto which stated if harm comes to the royal family, the Austrians would level Paris.

Rather than retreat from conflict, on August 10, 1792, a crowd attacked the Tuileries in search of the king. Louis fled to the Legislative Assembly, who suspended him, imprisoned him, and called for a new constitution. New elections, with universal male suffrage, were called for.

A second revolution began. The September Massacres resulted in over 1000 deaths. A new revolutionary calendar was created and Year 1 began.

Who are the sans culottes? Sans culottes literally means ‘without breeches.” It refers to those of the 3rd estate who can not afford satin breeches, but wear pants instead, laborers.In January of 1793, Louis sentenced to death.

Laborers were the ones who had driven the revolution, in particular, the san culottes. Their interest was always economic and by 1793, inflation, unemployment, and food shortages were rampant. By spring 1793, many became interested in politics. As san culottes become more politically active, the Mountain joined with them, and helped orchestrate an uprising - which resulted in 31 Girondists being arrested for treason - allowing power to be passed to the Mountain.

Members of the Mountain, including Robespierre, form the Committee of Public Safety, which the convention gave dictatorial power to in order to deal with the national emergency. Activities in Paris triggered revolts in other cities as peasants revolted and the Republican Army was driven back. (At the beginning of the war over half the officer's corps had emigrated, as a result troops were poorly trained and lacked discipline.)

By 1794, the Committee of Public Safety accomplished the following:

  • Planned Economy
    • maximum allowable prices for key products. The state was too weak to enforce all price regulation, but did fix the price of bread.
    • Rationing was introduced. The "bread of equality" - a bread made of a mixture of all available flours.
    • white bread and pastries were outlawed as luxuries
  • Total war
    • nationalized small workshops
    • requisitioned raw materials
  • Reign of Terror
    • special courts which ignored normal legal procedures and judged severely
    • 40,000 executed or died in prison
    • 300,000 more suspects in prison and came close to death

 

By August 1793 changes had come to the army as well.

  • all unmarried men were subject to the draft
  • 800,000 soldiers on duty
  • French army outnumbered opponents 4 to 1

Success of the army led the Committee of Public Safety to relax standards and in March 1794, they began to focus on Robespierre's opponents. Two weeks later, Danton, a former collaborator, is executed. As a result, several, fearing they would be next, join forces to bring down Robespierre. On the 9th of Thermidor (July 27, 1794), he is denounced and put on trial where he is not allowed to speak. The next What was different? The new constitution, written in 1795, established a bicameral legislature, almost universal male suffrage (they were allowed to vote for Electors) and a 5 member executive committee to govern France. day he is brought before the guillotine and executed, followed by his closest supporters.

 

Thermidorian Reaction

With the death of Robespierre, the middle class reasserted itself. The National Convention retook control - abolishing price controls and restricting political organizations in which the san culottes had found strength. Under the guidance of a new constitution,  the nation was officially ruled by a panel of 5 men known collectively as the Directory. Wealthy bankers and the noveau riche (the "new rich")  celebrate with self indulgence, in many ways replacing the old aristocracy with a new, non-titled one. The working poor attempt to revolt, but are quickly put down and given no concessions. The urban poor won't see political strength again until 1830. Many of the villages simply want peace.  

 

 

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.

POLITICAL SPECTRUM IMAGE USED WITH PERMISSION FROM SUE POJER, HISTORYTEACHER.NET