The Move to Radicalism

• When the new government was faced with many internal crises and external threats, it broke into factions.

The royal family had to seek the protection of the Legislative Assembly.

Rumors circulated that the French nobility were conspiring against the revolution.

In September, 1792, riots in the streets left thousands dead.

Jean-Paul Marat
Publisher of a radical journal, Friend of the People, Marat defended the massacre.  He was sometimes called the “drinker of blood”, because he urged the poor to take what they needed by force.  He died a martyr to the Revolution.  He was murdered by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin sympathizer who asked for an appointment with him and then stabbed him to death as he sat in his bathtub.

The First Republic
The National Convention began meeting in September.  It not only worked on a new Constitution, but also it ruled France.
On September 21, it abolished the monarch and instituted the French Republic.

The Fate of the King
After 1789, French citizens formed social and political organizations, or factions.  The different factions wanted to influence the citizens of the Republic to follow their interests.

The two dissenting factions within the National Convention were the Girondins and the Mountain.

The Girondins represensented the areas outside Paris. Many deputies joined the Girondins, who feared the Paris mobs and wanted to keep the king alive.

Jacobins
Another club, the Mountain, represented the interests of the Paris radicals.  Many of them belonged to the Jacobins, and wanted the king executed so that he could not rally the opponents of the Republic.

In early 1793, the Mountain convinced the National Convention to pass a decree condemning King Louis the XVI to death.

On January 21, 1793, the king was beheaded on the guillotine.  After his death, the Revolution entered an even more radical new phase.

Crises and Responses
Disputes between the Girondins and the Mountain blocked the writing of a new constitution.  The Paris Commune pressured the National Convention to adopt more radical measures: price controls on food and universal male suffrage.  Uprisings began in the west and spread to the south.

After the execution of Louis XVU, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch Republic went to war against France.  The French armies retreated.

Confronted with these threats, the National Convention gave the Committee of Public Safety broad powers.

The Committee was first dominated by Georges Danton, then by the radical Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre.

Robespierre preached democracy and universal male suffrage.  He was called “The Incorruptible” because of his reputation for integrity.  He was self-righteous and did not tolerate dissenting opinion.  He said, “How can one reproach a man who has truth on his side?”
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
Who was appointed Minister of Justice in 1792? Who had led the attack on the Palace by the sans-cullotes of the Paris Commune? What happened in Paris in September of 1792? Who was Jean-Paul Marat? Who murdered him? What did it mean that the murderer was a Girondin?	Who were the Mountain? Whom did the Mountain represent? Who were the Jacobins? What happened to the King of France in Jauary 1793? Who was the first leader of the Committee of Public Safety? Who dominated the Committee after him? Was he a Girondin or a Jacobin?
	See here for answers.

The Reign of Terror

• While the Committee of Public Safety was in power, thousands were executed.

The Committee of Public Safety originally implemented the Reign of Terror to defend France against foreign armies.
 

Crushing Rebellion
Revolutionary Courts were set up to prosecute counterrevolutionaries and traitors.

During this time, nearly 40,000 people were executed or killed by the government.

16,000 people, including the French Queen Marie Antoinette herself, and writer Olympe de Gouges, died by the guillotine alone.

Revolutionary Armies were set up to bring rebellious cities under the control of the National Convention.  When the Committee of Public Safety decide to make an example of Lyon, 1,880 citizens of that city were executed.

In western France, revolutionary armies were brutal in defeating rebels.  The commander of the revolutionary army ordered that no mercy be given.  “Women, priests, monks, children, all have been put to death.  I have spared nobody.”  In the city of Nantes, the most notorious violence occurred, where victims were executed by being sunk in barges in the Loire River.  People from all classes were killed.  Clergy, nobles, and scientists—including Antoine Lavoisier—as well as members of the Third Estate.

Robespierre defended the Terror, saying that it was “nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible... an emanation of virtue.”

The Republic of Virtue
This new order brought about by the Committee of Public Safety was called the Republic of Virtue.  The terms “citizen” and “citizeness” were meant to replace “mister” and “madame.”  Women wore long dresses inspired by the Roman Republic.

Price controls were put in place.  Women took active part in the National Convention.

The National Convention’s policy of weakening Catholic power in France was called de-Christianization.

Religion was seen as superstition, and was disregarded in favor of reason.  The cathedral of Notre Dame was designated a “temple of reason.”

A new system of measurement, the metric system, was devised.  A new calendar was introduced.  Instead of beginning the year dating from the birth of Christ, the years would begin with September 22, 1792—the birth date of the French Republic.
 
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
When did the Committie of Public Safety take control of the French Repubic? What was the period of their control called? Why was this policy implemented? What was the purpose of the Revolutionary Courts? How many people were executed or killed by the government? How many died by the guillotine? (What is a guillotine?) Name the most most prominant person executed up to this point (after the king, of course).	What was the mission of the Revolutionary Armies? Who contolled the armies? How many citizens of the city of Lyon were executed? How were the victims of the city of Nantes executed? Were any clergy executed? How did Robespierre defend the Terror? What was the Republic of Virtue? What was de-Christianization?
	See here for answers.

A Nation in Arms

• A huge revolutionary army defended France against invasion.

Rise of the Revolutionary Army
By 1794, the new French army had over a million soldiers—the largest army ever seen in Europe.  It pushed back the invaders across the Rhine River and conquered the Austrian Netherlands.

End of the Terror
In June, 1794, the Law of 22 Prairial was passed, giving Robespierre more power to arrest and execute the enemies of the Revolution.

Deputies in the National Convention, who feared they might be his next victims, gathered enough votes to condemn him, and Robespierre was arrested and guillotined on July 28, 1794.  This ended the Reign of Terror.  The Law of 22 Prairial was repealed and the release of prisoners began.
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
How many soldiers were in the Revolutionary Army by 1794? How did that compare to other armies in Europe? Did the army conquer any lands? What was the Law of 22 Prairial?	What did the Deputies of the National Convention finally decide to do? What was the fate of Robespierre? When did the Reign of Terror end?
	See here for answers.

The Directory

• The Constitution of 1795 set up a new government, but it was unable to inspire trust or solve economic problems.

In the Constitution of 1795, two legislative houses were created.  The Lower House, the Council of 500, drafted laws.  The Upper House of 250 members, the Council of Elders, accepted or rejected proposed laws.

Members of both houses were chosen by electors, or qualified voters.  Only citizens who owned or rented property worth a certain amount of money could vote, and only about 30,000 people in the entire country qualified.

Under the Constitution of 1795, the executive power was in a committee of five called the Directory. 
The Council of Elders chose the Directory from a list presented by the Council of 500.  The Directory lasted only from 1795 to 1799, and became known for being corrupt.  The wealthy, in a reaction against the Revolution, used it as a way to further enrich themselves.

During its rule, the government of the Directory was opposed by both conservatives and radicals.

Finally, one military leader turned on the government.

The successful and popular General Napoleon Bonaparte toppled the Directory and seized power in a sudden overthrow of government known as a coup d’etat.
 

REVIEW & DO NOW Answer the following questions in your spiral notebooks:
What did the National Convention do after the end of the Terror? What was the structure of the government set up by the Constitution of 1795? How were the legislative houses composed and how did they operate? How were the members of the government chosen? Who were electors, and what were their qualifications?	What was the Directory? How were they chosen? How long did it last? What was its reputation? Who opposed the Directory? How was the Directory ended? By whom? What is a coup d’etat?
	See here for answers.