How Do We Think About the French Revolution?

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How Do We Think About the French Revolution?

• How did the French Jacobins use state power to
  achieve revolutionary goals during the Terror
  (1793-1794)?
• What were their goals?
• Why did extraordinary state power seem critical
  to attaining these goals?

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The Terror in The French Revolution Contrasting
Images
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The Terror as Genocide/Totalitarianism

• 250,000 Insurgents killed in Vendée Fighting
  Alone -15 population
• But 200,000 Revolutionary troops killed too
• Victims of Vendée describe the Terror as a
  Genocide of the Catholic Western France
• Probably 40,000 officially executed in all of
  France
• Others described coercion, the Jacobin
  Dictatorship, the price controls, and levée en
  masse (universal draft of all citizens) an
  example of early Totalitarianism

• Drowning Prisoners The Vendée

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The Terror as Desperate Measure to deal with
Crisis

• During Terror
• Universal Manhood Suffrage (womens clubs)
• Radical Constitution of 1793
• Abolished Serfdom
• Abolished Slavery
• Attempted Land Reform
• But
• At war with most of Europe
• In serious civil war with uprisings in the
  Vendée, major cities (Caen, Bordeaux, Marseille,
  Lyon)

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Key Problem Sovereignty

• Who are the sovereign people and how do they
  exercise sovereignty?
• Why had they not resolved the question between
  1789 and1793?

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First Hint at Potential of Popular Violence
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Bringing the Baker, the Bakers Wife, and the
Bakers Son Back to Paris
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• Key Questions
• How much would popular violence influence
  rational political debate?
• Is popular sovereignty possible?
• How do you incorporate working class Parisians,
  peasants, and women into the polity?

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August 10, 1792 Attack on King in Tuileries
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The National Convention

• Fall of Verdun to Prussians (September 2, 1792)
• September Massacres (September 2-6,1792)
• French Victory at Valmy (September 20, 1792)
• French Annexation of Savoy (27 November 1793)

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Trial of King Move to Terror
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Growing Split Between Mountain and Girondins

• Execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793)
• French Declare War on England, Holland, Spain
  (Feb-March 1793)
• Levée (Draft) of 300,000 (February 24, 1793)
• Creation of Special Revolutionary Tribunal (March
  10, 1793)
• Creation of Surveillance Committees (March 10,
  1793)
• Creation of Committee of Public Safety (April 6,
  1793)

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Counterrevolution in Western France, March 1793

• Number of Capital Sentences Passed

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Have People of Paris Become Source of Sovereignty?

• Law of Maximum (May 4, 1793)
• Invade Convention Persuade Mountain to Arrest
  31 Girondist Deputies for Treason (June 2, 1793)
• Ascendancy of Committee of Public Safety -
  Robespierre

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July- August 1793 Situation Dire

• Federalist Revolts in Caen, Bordeaux, Marseille,
  Lyon Provinces should be sovereign, not just
  people of Paris
• Charlotte Corday Assassinates Jean-Paul Marat
  (July 13, 1793)
• Toulon Surrenders to British Navy (August 27,
  1793)
• Defeat of French Revolution Seemed Certain
• Popular Movements in Paris pressure Convention to
  Take Radical Measures (September 5-6, 1793)

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Radical Measures of Terror

• Levée en masse (August 23, 1793)
• The young men will go in battle married men
  will forge arms and transport provisions women
  will make tents and clothing and serve in
  hospitals children will make bandages old men
  will get themselves carried to public places to
  arouse the courage of warriors and preach hatred
  of kings and unity of the republic.

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The General Maximum Organize Economy for War
(September 29, 1793)
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July 1794 Enemies Defeated

• Planned Economy Fixed Prices, Wages
• Food Rationing
• Equality Bread
• Organized Industry/Society to Produce Arms and
  Ammunition
• Emergency Socialism of a Profound Kind

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Ended Serfdom
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Constitution of 1793

• The aim of society is the happiness of all.
• Public assistance is a sacred debt. Society owes
  a living to the unfortunate among its citizens,
  either by finding work for them or by
  guaranteeing the means of subsistence to those
  who are not in a fit condition to work.
• Education is a necessity for all.
• When the government violates the rights of the
  people, then insurrection is the most sacred and
  necessary of duties.

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Womens Clubs

• Universal Manhood suffrage proclaimed with
  Republic (September 1792)
• Women actively involved in clubs, Parisian
  sections, Convention (as hecklers)
• Womens Clubs Closed (October 30, 1793)

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Divorce

• September 1792 Couple could divorce by mutual
  consent, or for reasons like insanity, battering,
  or criminal conviction
• April 23, 1794 Women could divorce husbands who
  abandoned them and remarry immediately

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Abolition of Slavery

• Abolition of slavery in French colonies (February
  4, 1794)

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The Revolution Devours Its Own

• Terror Put on Trial Enemies of the Nation for
  crimes against the nation, against the people
• Arrest and execution of Hébertistes (March 13-24,
  1794)
• Arrest and execution of Dantonists (March
  30-April 6, 1794)
• Law of 22 Prairial II (June 10, 1794)
• Every citizen is empowered to seize
  conspirators and counterrevolutionaries, and to
  bring them before the magistrates. He is
  required to denounce them as soon as he knows
  of them.
• 40,000 Killed, 300,000 arrested

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Thermidorian Reaction

• French defeat Austrians at Fleurus (June 26,
  1794) removal of external military threat
• 9th Thermidor (July 27, 1794) Execution and
  overthrow of Robespierre
• Wanted to create A Republic of Virtue
• Wrote early treatise against the Death Penalty
• How could the Revolution have gone so wrong?
• Abolition of General Maximum (December 24, 1794)
• Forced used to restrict Popular Political
  Activity
• Runaway Inflation
• Restricted Suffrage

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Question of Sovereignty Up for Grabs