Revolution of 1792 why did it occur

It stamps a great character on the National Convention and renders it worthy of the confidence of the French …In vain did an audacious faction and some insidious orators exhaust all the resources of calumny, charlatanism and chicane; the courage of the republicans triumphed: the majority of the Convention remained unshakeable in its principles, and the genius of intrigue yielded to the genius of Liberty and the ascendancy of virtue.

Attitudes became still more polarised. The Convention organized a determined resistance to foreign invasion, combined with action against those in France still loyal to the cause of monarchy.

By France was not only at war with most of the European states, a war which continued until , but also in a state of virtual civil war — and with intensified civil war came mounting violence and extremism. Figure 5 shows the invasion points of the First Coalition against France Austria, Prussia, Holland, Britain, Spain and the kingdom of Sardinia and the locations of internal resistance to the Revolution in —3.

From this time, until the enemies of France have been expelled from the territory of the Republic, all Frenchmen are in a state of permanent requisition for the army. The Mediterranean port of Toulon, occupied by the British fleet, defected to the British. By August , 60 departments, or three-quarters of the total, were declared to be in a state of rebellion.

The Girondins, who dominated the Convention from September , were ousted in May by the Jacobins under Robespierre with the help of 80, armed sans-culottes. A further constitution was introduced in June , more democratic than that of , but it was suspended for the duration of the war. The twelve months from July to July were known as the period of war government, revolutionary government, or simply the Terror. Real power was vested in a so-called Committee of Public Safety , in effect a war cabinet of 12 members of the Convention.

The Committee took direct charge of mobilising France's material and human resources, fixing wages and prices, calling up and provisioning the army — and eradicating internal opposition. Making the decision to study can be a big step, which is why you'll want a trusted University. Take a look at all Open University courses. If you are new to University-level study, we offer two introductory routes to our qualifications. You could either choose to start with an Access module , or a module which allows you to count your previous learning towards an Open University qualification.

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Every year, thousands of students decide to study with The Open University. With enemy troops advancing, the Commune looked for potential traitors in Paris and sent a circular letter to the other cities of France inviting them to follow this example.

In Paris and many other cities, the massacres of prisoners and priests known as September Massacres followed. The Assembly could offer only feeble resistance. In October, however, there was a counterattack accusing the instigators of being terrorists. This led to a political contest between the more moderate Girondists and the more radical Montagnards inside the Convention, with rumor used as a weapon by both sides.

The Girondists lost ground when they seemed too conciliatory, but the pendulum swung again after the men who endorsed the massacres were denounced as terrorists.

Chaos persisted until the National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage and charged with writing a new constitution, met on September 20, , and became the new de facto government of France.

The Legislative Assembly ceased to exist. The next day, the Convention abolished the monarchy and declared a republic. The Insurrection of August 10, , was one of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution. The next day the Convention abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.

On November 20, opinion turned sharply against Louis following the discovery of a secret cache of documents of his personal communications. Most of the pieces of correspondence in the cabinet involved ministers of Louis XVI, but others involved most of the big players of the Revolution.

These documents, despite the likely gaps and pre-selection showed the duplicity of advisers and ministers—at least those that Louis XVI trusted—who had set up parallel policies.

The trial began on December 3. Louis XVI sought the most illustrious legal minds in France as his defense team. It was even suggested that Mailhe had been paid, perhaps by Spanish gold. Paris voted overwhelmingly for death, 21 to 3. There were voters in total. Louis was to be put to death. His royal seal was to go to the Dauphin and his wedding ring to the Queen. At 10 a. She was guillotined on October 16, The body of Louis XVI was immediately transported to the old Church of the Madeleine demolished in , since the legislation in force forbade burial of his remains beside those of his father, the Dauphin Louis de France, at Sens.

In April , members of the Montagnards went on to establish the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, which would be responsible for the Terror September 5, — July 28, , the bloodiest and one of the most controversial phases of the French Revolution. The time between and was dominated by the radical ideology until the execution of Robespierre in July Across Europe, conservatives were horrified and monarchies called for war against revolutionary France.

France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on February 1, , and soon afterwards against Spain. Thus, the First Coalition was formed. The period of the Jacobin rule known as the Reign of Terror, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, was the first time in history that terror became an official government policy with the stated aim to use violence to achieve a higher political goal. The Committee—composed at first of nine and later of 12 members—assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion.

As a wartime measure, the Committee was given broad supervisory powers over military, judicial, and legislative efforts. It was formed as an administrative body to supervise and expedite the work of the executive bodies of the Convention and the government ministers appointed by the Convention.

As the Committee tried to meet the dangers of a coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within the country, it became more and more powerful. In July , following the defeat at the Convention of the Girondists, the prominent leaders of the radical Jacobins—Maximilien Robespierre and Saint-Just —were added to the Committee.

The power of the Committee peaked between August and July under the leadership of Robespierre. In December , the Convention formally conferred executive power upon the Committee and Robespierre established a virtual dictatorship.

Influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, Robespierre was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie and a deist. He opposed the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution. In June , Paris sections took over the Convention, calling for administrative and political purges, a low fixed price for bread, and a limitation of the electoral franchise to sans-culottes alone. The Jacobins identified themselves with the popular movement and the sans-culottes, who in turn saw popular violence as a political right.

The sans-culottes, exasperated by the inadequacies of the government, invaded the Convention and overthrew the Girondins. In their place they endorsed the political ascendancy of the Jacobins. Robespierre came to power on the back of street violence. Meanwhile, on June 24, the Convention adopted the first republican constitution of France, the French Constitution of It was ratified by public referendum but never put into force. Because of this fear, several other pieces of legislation passed that furthered the Jacobin domination of the Revolution.

This led to the consolidation, extension, and application of emergency government devices to maintain what the Revolution considered control. Although the Girondins and the Jacobins were both on the extreme left and shared many of the same radical republican convictions, the Jacobins were more brutally efficient in setting up a war government. The year of Jacobin rule was the first time in history that terror became an official government policy, with the stated aim to use violence to achieve a higher political goal.

The Jacobins were meticulous in maintaining a legal structure for the Terror, so clear records exist for official death sentences. However, many more were murdered without formal sentences pronounced in a court of law. The Revolutionary Tribunal summarily condemned thousands of people to death by guillotine, while mobs beat other victims to death. Sometimes people died for their political opinions or actions, but many for little reason beyond mere suspicion or because others had a stake in getting rid of them.

The execution of the Girondins, moderate republicans, enemies of the more radical Jacobins. The passing of the Law of Suspects stepped political terror up to a much higher level of cruelty. This created a mass overflow in the prison systems. As a result, the prison population of Paris increased from 1, to 4, people over a three months. In October , a new law made all suspected priests and persons who harbored them liable to summary execution.

The climax of extreme anti-clericalism was reached with the celebration of the goddess Reason in Notre Dame Cathedral in November. In June , Robespierre, who favored deism over atheism and had previously condemned the Cult of Reason, recommended that the convention acknowledge the existence of his god. On the next day, the worship of the deistic Supreme Being was inaugurated as an official aspect of the revolution. This austere new religion of virtue was received with signs of hostility by the Parisian public.

Following a decisive military victory over Austria at the Battle of Fleurus, Robespierre was overthrown on July 27, His fall was brought about by conflicts between those who wanted more power for the Committee of Public Safety and a more radical policy than he was willing to allow and moderates who completely opposed the revolutionary government.

Robespierre tried to commit suicide before his execution by shooting himself, although the bullet only shattered his jaw. He was guillotined on July The reign of the standing Committee of Public Safety was ended. The National Convention , the first French assembly elected by universal male suffrage, transitioned from being paralyzed by factional conflicts to becoming the legislative body overseeing the Reign of Terror and eventually accepting the Constitution of The National Convention was a single-chamber assembly in France from September 20, , to October 26, , during the French Revolution.

At the same time, it was decided that deputies to that convention should be elected by all Frenchmen ages 25 and older domiciled for a year and living by the product of their labor. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by universal male suffrage, without distinctions of class. The election took place in September Owing to the abstention of aristocrats and anti-republicans and the fear of victimization, the voter turnout was low — The universal male suffrage had thus very little impact and the voters elected the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in The full number of deputies was , not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris.

According to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President, who was eligible for re-election, every fortnight.

For both legislative and administrative purposes, the Convention used committees, with powers regulated by successive laws. Most historians divide the National Convention into two main factions: the Girondins and the Mountain or the Montagnards in this context, also referred to as Jacobins. The Girondins represented the more moderate elements of the Convention and protested the vast influence held in the Convention by Parisians. The Montagnards, representing a considerably larger portion of the deputies, were much more radical and held strong connections to the sans-culottes of Paris.

Traditionally, historians have identified a centrist faction called the Plain, but many historians tend to blur the line between the Plain and the Girondins. Within days, the Convention was overtaken by factional conflicts. Girondins were convinced that their opponents aspired to a bloody dictatorship, while the Montagnards believed that Girondins were ready for any compromise with conservatives and royalists that would guarantee their remaining in power.

The bitter enmity soon paralyzed the Convention. The political deadlock, which had repercussions all over France, eventually drove both major factions to accept dangerous allies, royalists in the case of Girondins and the sans-culottes in that of the Montagnards. In June , 80, armed sans-culottes surrounded the Convention. After deputies who attempted to leave were met with guns, they resigned themselves to declare the arrest of 29 leading Girondins.

Thus, the Girondins ceased to be a political force. Throughout the winter of and spring of , Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention, occupied mostly with matters of war, did little to remedy the problem until April when they created the Committee of Public Safety.

In response, the Committee of Public Safety instated a policy of terror and perceived enemies of the republic were persecuted at an ever-increasing rate. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on the capital. Despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of , which was ratified by popular vote in early August.

The Committee carried out thousands of executions against supposed enemies of the young Republic. Its laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights—they introduced the revolutionary calendar in , closed churches in and around Paris as a part of a movement of dechristianization, tried and executed Marie Antoinette, and instituted the Law of Suspects, among others.

Shortly after a decisive military victory over Austria at the Battle of Fleurus, Robespierre was overthrown in July and the reign of the standing Committee of Public Safety was ended. After the arrest and execution of Robespierre, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated Thermidorian Reaction.

A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of They reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On November 3, , the Directory — a bicameral parliament — was established and the National Convention ceased to exist.

It was triggered by a vote of the National Convention to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, and several other leaders of the revolutionary government. The name Thermidorian refers to Thermidor 9, Year II July 27, , the date according to the French Republican Calendar when Robespierre and other radical revolutionaries came under concerted attack in the National Convention.

Thermidorian Reaction also refers to the period until the National Convention was superseded by the Directory also called the era of the Thermidorian Convention. The conspiracies came together on Thermidor 9 July 27 when members of the national bodies of the revolutionary government arrested Robespierre and the leaders of the Paris city government.

Not all the conspiratorial groupings were ideological in motivation. Many who conspired against Robespierre did so for strong practical and personal reasons, most notably self-preservation. The left was opposed to Robespierre because he rejected atheism and was not sufficiently radical. In the end, iRobespierre himself united his enemies. On Thermidor 8 July 26 , he gave a speech to the Convention in which he railed against enemies and conspiracies, some within the powerful committees.

Robespierre was declared an outlaw and condemned without judicial process. The following day, Thermidor 10 July 28, , he was executed with 21 of his closest associates. The Closing of the Jacobin Club, during the night of July , For historians of revolutionary movements, the term Thermidor has come to mean the phase in some revolutions when power slips from the hands of the original revolutionary leadership and a radical regime is replaced by a more conservative regime, sometimes to the point at which the political pendulum swings back towards something resembling a pre-revolutionary state.

The Thermidorian regime that followed proved unpopular, facing many rebellions after the execution of Robespierre and his allies along with 70 members of the Paris Commune. This was the largest mass execution that ever took place in Paris and led to a fragile situation in France.

The hostility towards Robespierre did not just vanish with his execution. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre , Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton, who began drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and for the trial of Louis XVI.

On the domestic front, meanwhile, the political crisis took a radical turn when a group of insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked the royal residence in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, The following month, amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries, the Legislative Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic.

On January 21, , it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate nine months later. In June , the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity.

They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror la Terreur , a month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands.

Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, Executive power would lie in the hands of a five-member Directory Directoire appointed by parliament.

Royalists and Jacobins protested the new regime but were swiftly silenced by the army, now led by a young and successful general named Napoleon Bonaparte. By the late s, the directors relied almost entirely on the military to maintain their authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

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