Rise of Radicalism during the French Revolution

1. Rise of Radicalism during the French Revolution Document A “Louis XVI lost his life on Monday at half past ten in themorning, and to the very last he maintained the greatestpossible courage. He was able to speak only these words: ‘Iforgive my enemies; I trust that my death will be for thehappiness of my people, but I grieve for France and I fearthat she may suffer the anger of the Lord.’ The King took offhis coat himself at the foot of the scaffold, and whensomeone sought to help him he said cheerfully, ‘I do notneed any help.’” Document B “His blood flows; cries of joy from80,000 armed men rend the air. Hisblood flows and there are peoplewho dip a fingertip or a scrapof paper in it. One tastes it: ‘It isvilely salt!’ An executioner at thescaffold side sells small bundles ofhis hair; people buy the ribbon thattied it. Everyone carries off a smallbundle of his clothing or someother bloodstained remnant. Thewhole population go by, arm in arm,laughing and talking as if fromsome festivity. The taverns on the bloody square had their winebottles emptied as usual. They soldcakes and patties around thebeheaded body, which was treated like a common criminal” Document C The guillotine, the new instrument of justice, was put to work. Public executionswere considered educational. Women were encouraged to sit and knit during trials andexecutions. The Committee of Public Safety ordered the execution of 2,400 people in Paris by July1794. Across France 40,000 people lost their lives, most of whom were peasants… The Terror was designed to fight theenemies of the revolution, to prevent counter-revolution from gaining ground. Most of thepeople rounded up were not aristocrats, but ordinary people… Robespierre was themastermind of the Reign of Terror. He was the leader of the Committee of Public Safety… Document E Jean-Baptiste Henry, aged18,journeyman tailor,convicted of having cut downa tree of liberty, executed in September, 1793. Marie Plaisant,seamstress, convicted of having exclaimed that she wasan aristocrat and that she didnot care for the nation,condemned to death and executed the same day. Jean Julien, wagoner , though in his head ‘long live the king’, condemned to death. Francois Bertrand, aged 37, bartender, convicted of having provided the leaders of the country with sour wine, condemned and executed the same day. Louis Catore, aged 60, retired soldier, convicted as an enemy of the Republic for looking at Jacobin leaders the wrong way. Executed by guillotine in January 1794 Document D The Jacobins controlled the Committee of Public safety. The leadingfigure in the Committee was Maximilien Robespierre TheCommitteeallowed for people to be convicted without hearingevidence. Later, the CPS passed a law calledthe Law of Suspects. People could now be put in prison without trial. There were many incidents of horror during the Terror. In Lyons, aJacobin ordered 300 people to be executed by cannon fire as theguillotine was ‘too slow’. At Nantes, barges containing 2000 peoplewere towed into the middle of the River Loire and sunk. Everyonedrowned. Birdshovered above the water, eating dead flesh. The riverwater was so contaminated that fishing was banned.

2. Name __________________ Rise of Radicalism during the French Revolution Directions:Use the sources on the other side of this sheet to answer the following questions. Describe how King Louis acted moments before his execution in one sentence or more. Using Document B, describe how the people responded and explain why they responded this way. Using Document C, why did the Jacobins want women to sit it on executions and why did they seem them as educational? In Document C, who are most of the people being killed? How is this surprising given what you know about the purpose of the French Revolution? What things in Document D that were carried out by the CP S contradict Enlightenment ideas? Explain. Choose three reasons why people were executed to list below from Document E. Why do you think people were being executed for ridiculous reasons? Using sources C and D, explain the purpose of the Reign of Terror. Using your notes we took today and these sources, explain why the Revolution became radical and its effects. (3 sentences or more)