French Revolution: Phase 2

1. French Revolution: Phase 2 1792-1799

2. 1792: Start of Second Phase • Reorganization of clergy created national division over revolution and “refractory priests” • Louis XVI attempted to flee, showing his lack of support for constitutional monarchy • “Jacobins” pressed for republicanism, not constitutional monarchy • “Girondists:” a subset of the Jacobins, were determined to oppose counterrevolution Louis XVI apprehended at Varennes, as he attempts to escape France, in disguise

3. 1792: War with Austria • Assembly declared war on Austria; Louis XVI agreed • War radicalized the revolution, creating the Second Revolution • September Massacres: 1,200 jailed criminals executed by Paris mob who thought them counterrevolutionaries • Many of the executed were refractory priests Danton’s oratory spurred mob to storm jails and try prisoners as counter-revolutionaries

4. Major Political Groups • Sans-culottes: working people, demanded social equality, refused to wear stockings of aristocracy • Girondins: moderate reformers, by this phase opposed violence and execution of king (named for Gironde region where leaders originated) • Jacobins: increasingly radicalized, sought representative government, hated nobility but not wealth; encouraged violence and execution of king (named for monastery building in which they met) • “The Mountain:” Jacobins allied with sans-culottes to overthrow monarchy

5. Execution of Louis XVI • Louis XVI: symbol of ancien regime; feared to be colluding with foreign enemies • The Mountain tried Louis XVI for conspiring against liberty • Girondins argued against execution • Louis XVI executed 1793; Marie Antoinette executed several months later • Jacobins also executed 22 Girondins to consolidate power

6. Death of Marat, Painted by David • Marat: highly popular journalist, who • Sided often with Jacobins, as Parisians became more radical • In response to Jacobin execution of Girondin leaders, Girondin sympathizer killed Marat in his bathtub

7. Committee of Public Safety • Europe universally at war with France: defeat mob rule and threat to monarchy • Assembly created powerful executive committees to protect revolution and defend France • Committee of Public Safety: Dozen members included Danton, Robespierre, Carnot, but Danton was replaced by St. Just a few months later • Levée en Masse to raise an army

8. Convention to De-Christianize France • New Calendar: holidays every 10 days, instead of 7 • Notre Dame as “Temple of Reason” • Clergy persecuted, churches closed • Antagonized rural areas and created rift between Paris and rural France

9. Reign of Terror • Tribunals to try the “enemies” of the republic, first in Paris then throughout France • Victims were at first aristocrats, then Girondists, and even sans-culottes • Robespierre used The Terror to consolidate his power, by executing all who could oppose him, including Danton • Robespierre finally executed by members of the Convention who feared being next victim

10. Thermidorian Reaction, 1794 • 1794: the tempering of the revolution due to belief that revolution had become too radical • Former terrorists were themselves executed • Traditional non-virtuous life returned to Paris • Catholic worship revived

11. The Directory • Constitution of the Year III: bicameral, with propertied electors, not pure democracy • Thermidorians repealed price controls as to deregulate the economy: riots • National army artillery, under Napoleon, fired on rioters to end uprising • The five-person executive “Directory” ruled France, intent on preventing new change Cartoon lampooning the Directory, and its supposed frequent mistakes