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* Terror and Resistance Usually Hanged 1 789-1 800 deputies sat in the highest seats of the Na- creased divisions, which ultimately led to tional Convention), in contrast, was closely Robespierre's fall from power and to a dis- allied with the Paris militants, mantling of government by terror. The first showdown between the Giron- dins and the Mountain occurred during the Robespierre and trial of the king in December 1792. Although the Girondins agreed that the kingwas guilty the Committee of Public Safety of treason, many of them argued for clemency, The conflict between the Girondins and the exile, or a popular referendum on his fate. Af- Mountain did not end with the execution of ter a long and difficult debate, the NationaÌ Louis XVI. Milita¡rts in Paris agitated for the Convention supported the Mountain and removal of the deputies who had proposed a voted by a very narrow majority to execute referendum on the king, and in retaliation the king. Louis XW went to tlle guillotine. on the Gi¡ondins engineered the a¡rest of Jean- January 21, 1793, sharing the fate of Charles I Paul Marat, a deputy who had urged violent .We of England in 1649. have just convinced measures in his newspaper The Friend ourselves that a king is only a man," wrote oJ the People. When Marat was acquitted, one newspaper, "and tJlat no man is above the Girondins set up a the law." special commission to 'j,.j Review: Why did the French Revolution turn in e+.]Lo,.sasi"Èvt${ro5'¡,$artei:178e?,,.,. The Guillotine Before l7B9 only nobles were decapitated if condemned to death; commoners were * Terror and Resistance usually hanged. Equalization of the death penalty was first proposed by J. l. Cuillotin, The execution of the king did not end the new a professor of anatomy and a deputy for regime's problems. The continuing war re- the Third Estate in the National Assembly. quired even more men and moneJ¡, and the He also suggested that a mechanical device introduction of a national draft provoked be constructed for decapitation, leading to massive resistance in some parts of France. the instrument's association with his name. In response to growing pressures, the Na- The Assembly decreed decapitation as the tional Convention named the Committee of death penalÇ in June l79t and another Public Safety to supervise food distribution, physician, A. Louis, actually invented the direct the war effort, and root out counter- guillotíne. The executíoner pulled up the revolutiona¡ies. The leader of the committee, blade by a cord and then released it. Use Maximilien Robespiere,. wanted to go be- of the guillotine began in April tzsz and yond these stopgap measures and create did not end until 1981, when the French government a "republic of virtue," in which the govern- abolished the death penalty. The guillotine ment woulcl teach, or force, citizens to fascinated as much as it repelled. Reproduced in become virtuous republicans through a mas- miniature, painted onto snuffboxes sive program of politica-l reeducation. Thus and china, worn as jewelry and even began the Terror, in which the guillotine serving as a toy, the guillotine be- became the most terrifying instmment came a part of popular culture. of a government that suppressed How could the guillotine be almost every form of dissent símultaneously celebrated as (see The Guillotine, shown the people's avenger by sup- here). These policies only in- porters of the Revolution and vil- ified as the preeminent symbol of the Terror by op- 'guillotine: GIH luh teen ponents? Musée Cornovolet/ tRobespierre: roh behs PYEHR Photo Bulloz. ,:::ai:i:ri:i:Ì:l:.iirl ;ì :::i:1: ::..;::i::.:::'rr:ì'ì,:::-:tr irìvesügate the situation in Pa¡is, ordering the 1793, which set limits on the prices of thirty- arrest ofvarious local leaders. In response, nine essentia-I commodities and on wages. In Parisian militants organized an armed demon- a speech to the Convention, Robespierre ex- stration and invaded the Nationa-l Convention plained the necessity of government by terror: on June 2, L793, forcing the deputies to de- "The first ma¡<im of your policies must be to cree the arrest of their twenty-nine Girondin lead the people by reason and the people's colleagues. The Convention consented to the enemies by terror. Without virtue, terror establishment of paramilitary bands called is deadly; without terror, virtue is impotent." "revolutionarSr armies" to hunt down political Terror was not an idle term; it seemed to suspects and hoa¡ders of grain. The deputies imply that the goa-l of democracy justified also agreed to speed up the operation ofspe- what we now call totalitarian means, that is, cial revolutionary courts. the suppression of all dissent. Setting the course for government and Through a series of desperate measures, the war increasingly fell to the twelve-member the Committee of Public Safety set the ma- Committee of Public Safety, set up by the chinery of the Terror in motion. It sent deputies National Convention onApril 6, 1793. When out "on mission" to purge unreliable offìcials Robespierre (1758-1794) was elected to the and organize the war effort. In the first uni- committee three months later, he became in versal draft of men in history, every unmar'- effect its guiding spirit and tì:e chief spokes- ried man and childless widower between the man of the Revolution. A lawyer from north- ages of eighteen and twenty-fìve was declared ern France known as "the incormptible" for eligible for conscription. Revolutionary tri- his stern honesty and fierce dedication to bunals set up in Paris ald provincia-l centers democratic ideals, Robespierre remains one tried political suspects. In October 1793, the of the most controversial figures in world Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris convicted history because of his association with the Marie-Antoinetle of treason and sent her to the Terror. In September 1793, in response to guillotine. The Gi¡ondin leaders and Madame popular pressure, ttre deputies of the Con- Roland were also guillotined, as was Ol1'rnpe vention voted to "put Terror on the agenda." de Gouges. The government confiscated all Robespierre took the lead in implementing the property of convicted traitors. this decision. Although he originally opposed The Terror won its greatest success on the death penalty and the war, he was con- the battlefìeld. As of April L793, France faced vinced that the emergency situation of 1793 war with Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, required severe measures, including death Spain, Sardinia, and the Dutch Republic-all for those, such as the Girondins, who op- fearn;l of the impact of revolutionary ideals on posed the committee's policies. their own populations. The execution of Louis Like many other educated eighteenth- XW, in particular, galvanized European gov- century men, Robespierre had read the clas- ernments; according to William Pitt, the sics of republicanism flom the ancient Roman British prime minister, it was "the foulest writers Tacitus and Plutarch to the Enlight- and most atrocious act the world has ever enment thjnkers Montesquieu and Rousseau. seen." To face this daunting coalition of forces, But he took them a step further. He spoke the French republic tapped a new ald potent eloquently about "the theory of revolutionary source of power-nationalist pride-in de- government" as "the war of liberty against its crees mobilizing young and old alike: enemies." He defended the people's right to democratic government, while in practice he Tte goung men wiLL go to battLe; marrted men utílLJorge arms a¡uJ transport prouisiorts: usomen supported many emergency measures that uiLL moke tents and cLothing and serue in hos- restricted their liberties. He personally fa- píÍals: chidren tuíI1" make bandnges; old men toíll vored a free-market economy, as did almost get themselues canied to publíc pktces to aror¿se all middle-class deputies, but in this time of the corLrage oJ u.nrnors and preach hatred oJ crisis he was willing to enact price controls ktngs and unitg oJ the republic. and requisitioning. In an effort to stabilize prices, the National Convention established Forges were set up in the parks and gardens the General Ma;iimum on September 29, ofParis to produce thousands ofguns, and i,::i¡'r;;';¡¡ni1 :l:ii:l;ij'!: I:i r,l.ò,n ã ¡¡.¡,rn Èìii-iÑ #,::tS S t:¡'¡¡ì;::.:j:i{ 1 800 17 89-1 800 hty- citizens everJ¡where help ed collect s altpeter, By s. In a rock salt used to make gunpowder' the in arms had ) ex- end of 1793, the French nation Íror: stopped the advance of the allied powers, re to and in the summer of T794 it invaded the rle's Austrian Netherlands and crossed the Rhine n-or Ri\¡er. The army was ready to carry the :nt." gospel of revolution and republicanism to tlre Cto rest of Ðurope. ified Lt is, The Republic of Virtue, "1793-1794 tres, The program ofthe Terror went beyond prag- ma- matic measures to fight tJle war and internal rties enemies to include efforts to "republicalize :iaIs ever5rthing"-in other words, to effect a cul- uni- tural revolution. While censoring writings ûar- deemed counterrevolutionary, the govern- encouraged republica¡l art, set up civic , the ment ered festivals, and in some places directly attacked tri- the churches in a campaign known as de- Lters Christianization. In addition to drawing up plans for a new program of elementary edu- , the cted cation, the republic set about politicizing every of daily life, from the naming of babies ¡ the aspect aÌne to the measurement of space and time. mpe I all Republican Culture. R.efusing to tolerate opposition, the republic left no stone un- ìon turned in its endeavor to get its message rced across.
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