WHAT IS THE TERROR? HOW WAS IT LEGISLATED?

 LEGAL USE OF IMPRISONMENT AND EXECUTION TO DEAL WITH  LAW OF SUSPECTS (SEPTEMBER 1793) TheENEMIES OF THE REVOLUTION. CLAIMED 30,000 French revolution  Economic policy – LAW OF MAXIMUM (Sept 1793) + and the ChurchHistory  EXPANDED TO BEING AN ATTACK ON POLITICAL GROUPS OTHER  DECREE OF REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT WHICH LED TO THE THAN JACOBINS AND MONTAGNARDS* (EVEN THEN, JACOBINS LAW OF FRIMARE (DEC 1793) AND MONTAGNARDS WEREN’T SAFE!)  LAW OF 22 PRAIRAL (JUNE 1794)

WHAT WAS THE IDEOLOGY BEHIND THE TERROR?

WHAT WERE THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE TERROR TOTAL PROBLEMS – IE.WAR AND COUNTER‐REVOLUTION, NEED TOTAL SOLUTIONS : CENTRALISED EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT FROM PARIS  THE BIG 2: THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL SECURITY AND THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY (ROBESPIERRE)  DANTON: ‘LET US BE TERRIBLE SO THE PEOPLE ARE NOT SO’  REPRESENTATIVES‐ON‐MISSION  ROBESPIERRE: ‘REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENTS OWE GOOD  REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL CITIZENS THE PROTECTION OF THE STATE; TO THE ENEMIES OF THE  COMMITTEES OF SURVEILLANCE PEOPLE, IT OWES ONLY DEATH’. HOW WAS TERROR USED TO CRUSH?..

GIRONDINS RELIGION THE VENDEE REBELLION THE FEDERALIST REVOLT

Girondins linked with the defection De‐Christianisation: replacing old Decree for Levy of 300,000 – would Trading cities in the South: of General Demouriez, (who hoped religious symbols with take men from Bordeau, Lyon, Toulouse, Toulon, war would restore Louis to throne) revolutionary icons. Movement farms/employment. Masrseilles set up on military defeats, and rising tensions supported by radical ‘Ultras’ ‐ Tribunals/Commissions to reject in the South – West. Herbert Action aimed first at local patriot Paris. priests and citizens Accused, by Marat: President of the As of Oct 1793, a new calender Savage backlash: Lyon surrounded Jacobins, friend of the people, of Guerilla action began March ended and starved, drowning at Nantes, being ‘criminal accomplices of Religious holidays disappear – Fete December burning of towns Royalty’ – ie Demouriez de la Federation 70% of all deaths in the terror

Girondins fire back, demanding he Virgin Mary – Marianne occurred in the Vendee and be brought to trial before the federalist province . Revolutionary Tribunal. Trial failed; Marat as revolutionary saint a collective disaster for the War against the bourgeoisie? Girondins’ (Schama) Schama slams Marxist argument

Journee 31 May‐2 June: the NOT the CULT OF SUPREME BEING expulsion of Girondins

WHY DID THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH/SOUTH WEST FRANCE RISE AGAINST THE REVOLUTIONARIES?

THE POLITICAL TERROR  Traditional  Conservative

 CATHOLIC OR The arrest and execution of Girondins  Trading towns being compromised by war The execution of the ultras – Herertistes – dubious evidence is presented to eliminate and Paris dictatorship critics who felt that the revolution had not gone far enough and thus threatened  Federalist Robespierre’s desire for strong, centralised government. However, these ultras were also friends of the sans‐culottes. THE TERROR Execution of Danton and the Indulgents – yes Danton! ‐ LET US BE TERRIBLE SO THE PEOPLE ARE NOT SO! Executed because he now believed the Revolution had gone far enough: Federalist Revolt and Vendee crushed, conscription was working. SOURCES:

‘perhaps the terror once served a useful purpose, but it should not hurt innocent Adcock, M ‘Analysing the French Revolution’, Cambridge people. No one wants to see a person treated as a criminal, just because he happens University Press, Melbourne, 2004 not to have enough enthusiasm Fenwick, J and Anderson, J, ‘Revolution: France’, An HTAV Publication, Collingwood, 2006.