Table of Contents
BACKGROUND
- On the evening of 9 August 1792, a Jacobin insurrection overthrew the leadership of the Paris Commune headed by Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve and proclaimed a new revolutionary Commune headed by transitional authorities.
- The next day the insurrectionists stormed the Tuileries Palace. King Louis XVI fled with the royal family, and his authority as King was suspended by the Legislative Assembly.
- Now, supported by a new armed force, the Commune took control of the city and dominated the Legislative Assembly and its decisions. For some weeks the Commune functioned as the actual government of France.
BACKGROUND
- The Commune took major steps towards democratizing the Revolution: the adoption of universal suffrage, the arming of the civilian population, absolute abolition of all remnants of noble privileges, the selling of the properties.
- Beginning on 11 August, every Paris section named its committee of vigilance. Mostly these decentralized committees, rather than the Commune, brought about the repression of August and September 1792.
- From 15 to 25 August, around 500 detentions were registered. Half the detentions were made against non-juring priests, but even priests who had sworn the required oath were caught in the wave. In Paris.
MASSACRES
- On 2 September, news reached Paris that the Duke of Brunswick’s Prussian army had invaded France (19 August), and had captured the key fortress of Verdun.
- The Manifesto threatened the French population with instant punishment should it resist the Imperial and Prussian armies, or the reinstatement of the monarchy.
- Such threats fueled this first wave of mob hysteria of the Revolution. By the end of August, rumors circulated that many in Paris such as non-juring priests who opposed the Revolution, would support the First Coalition of foreign powers allied against it.
MASSACRES
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- When news that Brunswick had captured Verdun reached the Convention, they ordered the alarm guns fired, which escalated the sense of panic.
- The first instance of massacre occurred when 24 non-juring priests were being transported to the prison of the Abbey of SaintGermain-des-Prés, which had become a national prison of the revolutionary government.
- They were attacked by a mob that quickly killed them all as they were trying to escape into the prison, then mutilated the bodies
- In the afternoon of 2 September 150 priests in the convent of Carmelites were massacred. On 3 and 4 September, groups broke into other Paris prisons, where they murdered the prisoners, From 2 to 7 almost 1,400 prisoners were condemned and executed
FRENCH REVOLUTION
- The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies that lasted from 1789 until 1799.
- The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon.
- The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy. In a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793.
FRENCH REVOLUTION
- The dictatorship imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror, from 1793 until 1794, established price controls on food and other items, abolished slavery in French colonies abroad, de-established the Catholic church.
- Religious leaders were expelled, and the borders of the new republic were secured from its enemies. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, with estimates ranging from 16,000 to 40,000, ranging from aristocrats to “suspected” enemies of the revolution.
- The Revolution resulted in the suppression of the feudal system, emancipation of the individual, a greater division of landed property, abolition of the privileges of noble birth, and nominal establishment of equality among men.
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