Highlights of material covered in lecture.

1. History of Europe:
Renaissance to 1815

2. J'ai vécu. (I have survived.)
∼ Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès,
When asked what he had done during
the Reign of Terror

3. The French Revolution
French Revolutionary Culture

4. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• Not just government policy
• Cultural development reflecting
ideas, values of Revolution
• Visual arts, literature, music, dress
• Dominated by ideas of
• Nationalism
• Progress
• Social unity
• Egalitarianism

5. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• Visual symbols more than just expression of ideas
• Used to demonstrate loyalty to Revolution
• Increasingly important as Revolution became more
radical
• Public shows of loyalty could save one’s life
• Cockade: common 18th c. device to show one’s loyalty
• National & class unity – insult to symbol serious
offense

6. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• Borrowed heavily from symbols of classical
mythology, Enlightenment, American Revolution
• Phyrgian Cap
• Derived from ancient Phyrgian cap
• Given to liberated slaves
• Used extensively in American Revolution
• Rimless, made of red felt or wool
• Symbolized liberty given to oppressed people
• Mainly worn by urban working classes
Marianne, symbol of new Republic: youth, regeneration, virtue

7. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• Shifts in Fashion
• Paris had been center of fashion in Ancien
Régime
• With Revolution, ornate clothing OUT
• Extravagance contradicted values of
Revolution
• Simple & restrained dress IN
• Especially during more radical phases
• Tricolour popular in clothing, accessories
• Mockery of victims

8. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• Formalities of pre-Revolution France
• Address:
• “Sire,” “Monsieur,” and
“Madame” abandoned
• Replaced with “Citoyen” and
“Citoyenne” – more egalitarian
• Greetings & shows of deference
• Bows, curtsies, genuflection
abandoned

9. French Revolution
• Culture of the Revolution
• La Marseillaise
• Anthem of the Revolution
• Written as a war song
• When new Republic went to war with
Austria
• Gained public support
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle sings la Marseillaise for the
first time

10. French
Revolution:
La Marseillaise
Verse 1:
Allons enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé !
(bis)
Entendez-vous dans les
campagnes,
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos
bras
Égorger nos fils, nos
compagnes!
Verse 1:
Let's go children of the
fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny's
Bloody flag is raised! (repeat)
In the countryside, do you
hear
The roaring of these fierce
soldiers?
They come right to our arms
To slit the throats of our sons,
our friends!

11. French
Revolution:
La Marseillaise
Refrain:
Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
Marchons ! Marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !
Refrain:
Grab your weapons,
citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march! Let us
march!
May impure blood
Water our fields!

12. The French Revolution
Phase 2: 1792-1794
The Jacobin Revolution

13. French Revolution
• Storming the Tuileries Palace
• 10 August 1792
• Armed mob attacked palace
• Swiss Guard overwhelmed,
massacred
• Louis XVI & family surrendered
• To Legislative Assembly
• Formally arrested 13 August
• Sent to Tour du Temple, a prison

14. French Revolution
• End of the Monarchy
• Declaration by National Assembly
• France a republic, monarchy abolished
• Louis & family stripped of titles & honors
• The question then: what to do with the
King?
• Girodins favored imprisonment
• Radical element called for immediate
execution
• Then – the incident of the iron chest

15. French
Revolution
• By 1791, 3 Major Political Factions:
• Girodins
• Republic w/o the bloodshed, not for
execution of the King
• Jacobins
• Radical, generally urban, lead the
Republic into its most violent stage
• Sans-culottes
• Working class, not members of one
of the above parties, radical

16. French
Revolution
• Girodins
• Going into early part of the
Jacobin Revolution
• Shared power with the
more radical Jacobins
• Dominated National
Convention
• But tensions grew late 1792
and early 1793
An artist’s depiction of the Girondins,
the dominant faction until mid 1793

17. French Revolution
• Madame Roland (1754-1793)
• Prominent member of Girondins
• Saloniére, writer, active member of Revolution
• Salons different from traditional – strictly
political
• Contributions to Revolution
• Writing, advising, political action, driving
force behind her husband’s work as Minister
of the Interior
• Split with Jacobins on question of war with
Austria

18. French
Revolution
• The Girodins (or Girondins)
• Moderate Republicans who supported a
republican government
• Believed it should involve entire nation, not
just Paris
• Radical Jacobins
• More influenced by the people of Paris
• Especially the sans culottes
• Including radicals like Robespierre, Marat,
Couthon, Barère

19. French
Revolution
• Jacobins
• Originally a club
• Men only, though women could watch
debates from balcony
• Favored abolishing the monarchy
• Need for strong centralized government
• Bringing about substantive change through
political rule
• And control of the economy, as in price
controls
• Allied with the Sans-culottes

20. French
Revolution
• Role of the Sans-Culottes
• What is a sans-culottes?
“He is someone who always goes about on foot… [He]
has no chateaux, no valets to wait on him… He is useful
because he knows how to till a field, to forge iron, to use
a saw… and to spill his blood to the last drop for the
safety of the Republic… In the evening he goes to the
assembly of his Section, … ready to support sound
proposals with all his might, and ready to pulverise
those which come from the despised faction of
politicians. Finally, a sans-culotte always has his sabre
well-sharpened, ready to cut off the ears of all
opponents of the Revolution.”

21. French Revolution
• The Role of the Sans-Culottes
• Working class people of Paris
• Democratic government with universal
suffrage
• Price controls on food, other essential goods
• Use of mob violence, intimidation for political
change
• Involved in almost all of the violent journées in
Paris during the early 1790s
• Stereotype: Backbone of the Revolution

22. French Revolution
• September Massacres of 1792
• Series of murderous riots &
rampages in Paris
• Targets: the prisons
• Housed suspected counter-
revolutionaries, royalist
soldiers, clergymen & nobles
• Precipitated by the Austro-
Prussian invasion of France
• 11,000-14,000 murdered
• Endorsed by radicals like
Robespierre

23. French Revolution • National Convention
• Governed France between abolition
of monarchy in Sept. 1792
• And creation of Directory in 1795
• Elected by broader voter base: all
men over 21 who were in
employment or receiving income
• 749 deputies – composed of radical
Jacobins, Girondins, and moderates
Monument to the National Convention

24. French
Revolution
• National Convention
• In first few months, the National Convention
• Created a new Republic
• All the elements of a new form of
government
• With little previous experience or examples
to draw upon
• Managed war with Austria and Prussia
• Tried and executed the King
• Faced radicalism and riots in Paris

25. French Revolution
• Trial & Execution of the King – late 1792
• Trial conducted by the National Convention
• Crimes against the French People
• Found guilty with no votes to acquit
• Split on sentence:
• Jacobins wanted execution
• Girondins wanted an “appeal to the
people”

26. French Revolution
• Execution of the King – late 1792
• Granted final visit with wife &
children
• Taken by cart through streets of Paris
to guillotine
“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
she may suffer the anger of the Lord”

27. French Revolution
• Execution of the King – late 1792
• Shocked Europe
• Great Britain, Russia, Austria,
Prussia expressed outrage
• Geared up for military action
• United States
• General reaction was to mourn
death of Louis the man
• But not mourning the end of
monarchy

28. French Revolution • The Guillotine
• Symbol for bloody period of Revolution

29. French
Revolution
• Counter Revolution
• Much of revolutionary violence occurred in Paris
• In the rest of the country, favored a Republic
• But with a more moderate revolution
• And began to rise up
• Jean-Paul Marat began publishing names of
counter-revolutionaries
• Calling for the death

30. French Revolution
• Leaders of the Jacobin Revolution
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Most significant revolutionary leader of the
radical period (1792-94)
• Critical figure in the Committee of Public
Safety (CPS)
• Architect of the Reign of Terror
• Represented Third Estate at Estates-General
• Rise to fame at the National Convention
• Admired by Sans-Culottes for his
democratic values

31. French Revolution
• Leaders of the Jacobin Revolution
• Georges Danton
• Lawyer, abandoned law for revolutionary politics
• Powerful public speaker
• Speeches contributed to September Massacres
• In National Convention, supported establishment of
• Tribunals
• Committee for Public Safety
• But views moderated, came to oppose excessive violence

32. French Revolution
• Leaders of the Jacobin Revolution
• Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
• Close friend of Robespierre
• Defended use of violence against those opposed to
government
• Prepared death sentences for prominent Girondins and even
former allies
• Helped write Constitution of 1793

33. French Revolution
• Leaders of the Jacobin Revolution
• Jean-Paul Marat
• Journalist, physician, & politician, among many other interests
• Failed to break into scientific elite, growing bitter
• Fought bitterly with the Girondins
• Believed they were covert enemies of republicanism
• Called for use of violence against them
• Suffered from skin disease
• Rarely seen in public

34. French Revolution
• Fall of the Girondins
• After execution of the king, influence of Robespierre,
Danton, Marat grew
• Growing hostility centered in Paris
• Girondins favored a republic serving interests of all of France
• And then the Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Cordray
• A Girondin & counter-revolutionary
• Believed by killing him excesses of violence would stop
• Instead, made a martyr out of him

35. French Revolution
The Death of Marat

36. French
Revolution
• Revolutionary Tribunals
• Politically motivated courts
• Formed by the National Convention in March 1793
• Judicial bodies for revolutionary justice to counter-
revolutionaries
• Composed of jury of 12
• One of the main organs of the Reign of Terror
• Accused persons stripped of their rights
• Reduced standards of evidence and required the
Tribunals to either acquit or sentence to death

37. French Revolution
• Revolutionary Tribunals
• Architect of the tribunals:
• Jean-Baptiste Carrier (1756-1794)
• Known for revolutionary zeal, cruelty
• Hatred for organized religion & clergy
• During Reign of Terror, atrocities
• Ordered mass drowning of hundreds
• Suspected royalists in Nantes
• Many were priests, nuns, women, children

38. French
Revolution
• March 1793, Carrier speaks to National Convention
• Proposal of a Revolutionary Court
• Based in Paris
• Designed to silence critics of the Convention
• And its radicalism
• While placating the sans-culottes
Let us be terrible, to dispense the people from being so.
- Danton, 1793

39. French
Revolution
• Paris Tribunal
• Extensive powers to deal with those accused
• Of opposing, undermining, or working against the
Revolution
• Soon numerous complaints about the Tribunal
• Too slow, too many acquittals
• So streamlined and reconstituted
• Increased in size from 1 to 4 courts
• Law of Suspects - Previously, required evidence
• Now, vague suspicion or accusations of
• Counter-revolutionary activities or political views
• Enough to be indicted

40. French Revolution
• Tribunals became political
courts
• With no real legal restrictions
• Radical political “clubs” put
forth names of the accused
• The Jacobins especially
targeted political
enemies
• Line between Jacobin
groups & Revolutionary
Tribunals blurred

41. French Revolution
• Committee of Public Safety
• 12-man committee of National Convention
• Formed April 1793
• Intended to function as a war council
• And a de facto executive cabinet
• Contained 9 seats, rotated monthly
• To prevent an individual or faction
• To become too powerful
• Within 6 months, dominated by radicals

42. French Revolution
• Committee of Public Safety
• Accumulated, expanded its power
• Eliminating its political enemies
• Through sham trials and executions
• Suppressed ideas that started Revolution
• Including Declaration of the Rights of
Man
• Endorsed & contributed to Reign of
Terror

43. French
Revolution
• Reign of Terror
• Most violent phase of the Revolution
• Committee had near dictatorial power
• To protect the Republic from foreign
attacks
• And from internal rebellion
• Between summers of 1793 & 1794, 50,000
French citizens were executed
• Argued necessary to protect the Revolution

44. French Revolution
• Trial & Execution of Marie Antoinette
• 14-16 October 1793
• Guilty of
• Depleting national treasury
• Conspiracy against security of state
• High treason, intelligence activities to
aid the enemies of the state
• Executed 16 October

45. French Revolution
• The “Grand Terror” begins 5 April 1794
• Robespierre in charge
• Saw terror as a bitter but necessary medicine
• Purge of reactionary elements so Revolution could
survive
• Revolutionary Tribunals
• Politically motivated courts

46. French Revolution
• Momentum of Terror
• September 1793: the Law of Suspects
• Outlined who could be targeted by
the Reign of Terror
• Included immediate detention of
anyone who
1. Hoarded grain
2. Harbored suspects
3. Evaded the draft
4. Possessed subversive documents
5. Spoke critically of government

47. French
Revolution
• The Law of the Great Terror – June & July 1794
• Allowed Tribunals to act swiftly, autonomously,
without review
• Ordinary citizens could denounce suspects directly
to Tribunals
• Accused persons had virtually no rights
• No depositions, no cross-examination, no defense
evidence
• Two choices: acquit or death penalty
• Marked increase in number of executions

48. French Revolution
• The Law of the Great Terror
• June & July 1794
• Accelerated the wheel of terror
• Executions increased tenfold
• Often dozens at a time
• Streets flowed with blood
• Victims were often accused by neighbors
with a grudge
• Or on the flimsiest of evidence

49. French
Revolution
• Sweeping Away Traces of the Ancien Régime
• Sought to institute
• New social and legal system
• New system of weights and measures
• New calendar based on ancient societies and
nature
• Dating from 22 September 1792: Year 1
• New religion

50. French Revolution
• Revolutionary Calendar
• 12 months, 30 days each
• Names based on nature
• Generally weather events in Paris
• Autumn: Vendémiaire, Brumaire,
Frimaire
• Winter: Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse
• Spring: Germinal, Floréal, Prairial
• Summer: Messidor, Theremidor,
Fructidor
French Revolutionary Calendar, 1794

51. French Revolution
• Revolutionary Calendar
• 10 days in a week, 3 weeks in a month
• Names based on numerals
• To replace influence of “saint’s days” in Catholic Church
• Rural Calendar created
• Each day of the year had a unique name based on rural economy
• Animals, plants, tools of agricultural
French Revolutionary pocket watch showing ten-day décade names and thirty-day month
numbers from the Republican Calendar, but with duodecimal time.

52. French Revolution
• Cult of Supreme Being
• Artificial religion created by
Robespierre
• Deist god who created the
world according to natural laws
• Celebration of the
Enlightenment and
regeneration
• Failed to catch on with the
people
• Overwhelmingly maintained
their Catholic ties

53. French
Revolution
Robespierre &
Religious Reform
Artist’s depiction of the fake
mountain, with Robespierre on peak,
at Festival of the Supreme Being

55. The French Revolution
Phase 3: 1794-1799
Thermidorian Reaction & The Directory

56. French
Revolution
• Thermidorian Reaction
• Began with downfall of Robespierre in July 1794
• Enemies began campaign against Robespierre
• Mocking his behavior at the Festival of the
Supreme Being
• Resisted escalation of the Terror
• Month-long absence gave enemies an opportunity
to plot

57. French
Revolution
• 1794 Coup d’état
• Against the leaders of the Jacobin Club
• Who dominated Committee of Public Safety
• Triggered by vote of National Convention to
execute
• Robespierre, Saint-Just, several other leading
members
• Ended most radical phase of the French
Revolution

58. French Revolution
• Downfall of Robespierre
• Spring of 1794: Committee of Public Safety
• Near absolute control over government
• But two rival groups emerged, critical
• Hébertists: more radical
• Executed March 1794
• Dantonists: more moderate
• Executed April 1794
• Violence escalated

59. French Revolution
• Downfall of Robespierre
• June 1794
• Acting more like a dictator
• Passing Law of 22 Prairial
• Any French citizen power to arrest, indict before
Revolutionary Tribunal
• No right of defense, no witnesses allowed
• Tribunal required to acquit or execute
• Result: Deaths at the guillotine more than tripled
Contemporary cartoon showing Robespierre executing the
executioner. The monument in the background carries the
inscription 'Here Lies All Of France'

60. French Revolution
• Thermidorian Revolution
• July 1794 to March 1795
• National Convention struggled to find its footing
• Greater freedom of the press led to conflict between factions
• Throughout 1795, factional rebellions, each suppressed
• Jacobins coup attempt in May, rebellions in June, July
• Royalists in October

61. French
Revolution
• Thermidorian Reaction
• Loose coalition of conservative Republicans
• Wanted to get rid of the radical Jacobins
• Focus on rebuilding the French economy
• Wound back the excesses of the Terror
• Repealed laws like Law of 22 Prairial & Law
of Suspects, & Law of Maximum
• Weakened Committee of Public Safety
• Embarked on a ‘White Terror’ to purge the
Jacobins

62. French Revolution
• Thermidorian Reaction
• Ended Constitutional Church
• Permitted freedom of religion
• Religious worship still strictly
controlled
• Rolled back the price controls initiated
by the National Convention

63. French Revolution
• White Terror Unfolds
• Jacobin Club shut down, outlawed
• Groups targeted by Reign of Terror
• Formed gangs or militias
• To get rid of the Jacobins
• Some were royalist in philosophy
• All wanted vengeance

64. French Revolution
• The Directory: 1795-1799
• Execution of Robespierre, 21 others
• Fear of return of Terror or the
oppressive Monarchy
The Convention Rises Against Robespierre
The Execution of Robespierre

65. French Revolution
• The Directory: 1795-1799
• Directory a Weak Government
• In place for 5 years
• A new Constitution
• Power in hands of propertied classes
• Return to rule by the bourgeois
• Executive body: 5 Man Directory
• Chosen by the Legislature Constitution of Year III
François Antoine de Boissy
d'Anglas, a principal author of
the Constitution of 1795

66. French Revolution
• The Directory
• Abbé de Sieyès reemerged as key player
• But unhappy with the progress of the
Directory
• Important time for French Revolution
• Economy stagnant, treasury empty,
constant crisis
• End to excesses of Reign of Terror

67. French
Revolution
• The Directory
• Two legislative bodies
• Council of Five Hundred (lower house)
• Council of the Ancients (upper house)
• Executive branch: Five Directors
• Joint power
• Real power was held by these directors

68. French Revolution
• The Directory
• Returned France to more conservative
government
• More exclusive, less democratic
• Power to bourgeois liberal-conservatives
• Members of Directory were
• Pragmatic
• Less flamboyant
• Less ideologically driven than Jacobins
“The Tyranny Crushed by the Friends of the Constitution of
the Year III”

69. French
Revolution
• The Directory
• Coup of 18 Fructidor
• Directory purged all the winners of the
1797 vote
• 57 leaders of Royalists banished to Guiana,
almost certainly to their deaths
• 42 newspapers closed
• Kept current leadership in place
• Essentially, not any better than the
monarchy they’d overthrown

70. French
Revolution
• The Directory
• Public Discord
• French people were war-weary, wanted
peace
• Distrust from the years of atrocities,
bloodshed
• And the collapse of the economy raised
question of what it was all for
• In 1797 elections, Royalists won majority &
poised to take charge of Directory
• Reaction: Coup of 18 Fructidor