Reform & Terror

1. Reform & Terror The French Revolution A New Republic Is Born InBlood

2. The Assembly Reforms France • August 1789: National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen • Revolutionary leaders use the slogan, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”

3. The Assembly Reforms France - 1790 • National Assembly comes up with a short term fix for the financial crisis: seize Church lands and sell them! • Placed the church under the control of the State • Priests required to swear an oath to the new government; many refused and were arrested • Arresting priests worried many peasants and European nations Cartoon representation of theconfiscation of Church lands

4. The Assembly Reforms France • September 1791: Assembly finishes new constitution • Limited monarchy • Most power transferred to the Legislative Assembly • The Legislative Assembly was slowed down by the political spectrum that still exists today

5. “Flight to Varennes” • To get back to power, Louis XVI needed the help of a foreign army • June 20, 1791: King and his family, disguised as servants, try to flee! • At the village of Varennes, recognized and arrested • Brought back to Paris and imprisoned at the Tuileries Palace

6. Factions Split France • Debt and food shortages were still major problems • Émigrés (nobles who fled country) want Old Regime back in power • Sans-culottes “without knee breeches” (lower class) want more change from the Revolution Parisian sans-culotte. Drawing, 18th century.

7. The End of Louis’ Independence • August 10, 1792: mob attacked the Tuileries Palace • Royal family barely escaped with their lives • Fled to the protection of the Assembly • The Constitutional Monarchy is essentially over

8. France at War! European monarchs feared revolution would spread – they were contemplating war! • April 1792: France declared war against Austria hoping for an early win • Remember … Marie Antoinette is Austrian! • Prussia joins war as an Austrian ally • Prussian forces soon threaten to attack Paris!

9. September Massacres • September 1792: Parisian mob breaks into prisons, killing over 1,000 prisoners • Many killed were supporters of King • National Assembly gave up idea of limited monarchy • Deposes the king (removed him from power) • Called for new legislature to replace itself • “National Convention” took office in September, forming the French Republic

10. The Execution of Louis XVI • The National Convention decided to put Louis on trial for his crimes • It was known he would be found guilty, but there was still debate over what the King’s punishment should be • After a close vote, they decided on execution(regicide) • On January 23, 1793 Louis Capet went to the guillotine at the Place de la Concorde and was beheaded I forgive my enemies; I trust that my death will be for the happiness of my people, but I grieve for France and I fear that she may suffer the anger of the Lord.

11. Two Radical Groups • During the constitutional monarchy there had been two radical groups competing for power - the Girondins and the Jacobins • The Girondins were slightly less radical than the Jacobins • The Rise of the Jacobins • When the constitutional monarchy fell… • Girondins argued against his execution • Jacobins felt that he needed to die • When the Jacobins “won”, public opinion turned again the Girondins • The Jacobins had 22 Girondin leaders arrested and executed!

12. The Reign of TerrorJuly 1793 – July 1794

13. A New Dictatorship • Maximilien Robespierre—Jacobin leader gains power and rules France as a dictator • Tries to build a “republic of virtue.” • Tries to erase remnants of France’s past monarchy and nobility: • Playing cards changed to remove kings and queens • Churches closed all over France • Calendar changed- no Sundays (so that people could no longer worship)

14. “The first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the people by terror. If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.” Maximilien Robespierre (1758 – 1794)

15. The Reign of Terror • After the death of Louis XVI, the Reign of Terror began • Public executions were considered educational - women were encouraged to sit and knit during trials and executions! The Revolutionary Tribunal ordered the execution of 2,400 people in Paris by July 1794 Throughout France 30,000 people lost their lives during The Terror

16. Thousands were killed for being“enemies of the republic” and committing “crimes against liberty” • Most of the people rounded up were not part of the aristocracy, but ordinary people • Watch Committees and secret police throughout France were encouraged to arrest “suspicious persons”(Law of Suspects, 1793)

17. Suspension of Civil Liberties • Civil liberties were suspended • The promises of the Declaration of the Rights of Man were forgotten and tyranny returned • The Committee of Public Safety, twelve men led by Robespierre, was created to speed up the process of “trial” and conviction

18. 1819 English caricature titled The Radical's Arms. It depicts the infamous guillotine. "No God! No Religion! No King! No Constitution!" is written in the republican banner.

19. The Last Victim of the Reign of Terror • Robespierre called for an increased round of executions in 1794 • By now even the radical Jacobins had come to feel that the Terror must be stopped • The Jacobins decided they had had enough - Robespierre was arrested and sent to the guillotine • He was the last victim of The Terror

20. “The French Revolution was a gate through which the Western world passed into modernity. It was not the only passageway; neither did it represent a clean break with the past and a jump-start on modernity. But the Revolution took pre-existing conditions and ideas which had been developing, particularly since the mid-1700s, passed them through a cataclysm, and changed forever the way humanity saw society, religion, the state, and the nation.” Kendall W. Brown, “The French Revolution and Modernity”