Notes+P39-49+amypx2013+9.7.2010

Revolution In France (5)



Original Awesome Stuff : A Time Line of Events media type="custom" key="6871289" align="center"

(In case if it does not show, here's a link: [|http://timerime.com/index.php?crypt=ZGU3ZDM5ZDFkZDU3NWJmYWYzNDhjZDFhNWZhZTVlNmE5NmFiNjJlMDIxNWU2MWNiZmVjMmFkYmUxZDI5YmNjNzlhNWY3ZDdjYT)]U4ZTE0NTRiZDk3ZTc1OGQxOGQ2MDlmODU3NWQxNzg4ZWI1ZjBkOGYzYWMzNmIwOThkMjExMTE=

War Begins
 * Emperor Leopold promised to regain Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's liberty and power
 * He gathered European forces with the King of Prussia to take action
 * Although Leopold did not have the intention to start a war, people in France all thought that the war was inevitable
 * The King's supporters wanted war because they believed that the French army was going to be defeated
 * People who opposed the king wanted war because they wanted to see which side Louis XVI is going to take upon
 * If he takes the side of the invaders, they can dethrone him and make France a republic-power in the assembly

 War
 * Began on April 17th, 1792
 * France's troops, hoping for quick win, attacked Austrian bases across the frontier in Belgium
 * But the Austrians were better organized and equipped so they defeated the French very easily
 * Rumors then spread that there are traitors in France.
 * There's a rumor saying that there was an "Austrian Committee" in the Tuileries Palace, passing France's military information to Austria
 * People's fear grew when Prussian troops joined forces with Austria in May

Assembly's Actions
 * Ordered soldiers to the Paris frontier
 * Put a watch on all foreigners
 * Priests who still decided to take the oath of loyalty were to be expelled
 * On July 11 it declared that "Fatherland is in Danger" and appealed to citizens to join the army
 * This angered Louis XVI (especially with the priests)
 * His disagreement angered his opponents who later gathered 20,000 and broke in to the Tuileries Palace to shout abuse at him
 * The enemy commander, the Duke of Brunswick, issued the Brunswick Manifesto
 * it threatened people with severe punishments if Louis was harmed in anyway
 * this instead put Louis in more danger
 * when people head about it they gathered weapons to defend themselves
 * this meant that they could do whatever they wanted
 * they wanted to get rid of monarchy

Storming of the Tuileries Palace
 * On 10 August 1792 20,000 armed people marched into the Tuileries Palace determined too dethrone the king
 * Helped by National Guards
 * Swiss Guards of the king were outnumbered-over 600 were slaughtered
 * This event ended monarchy-Louis was suspended from the office and was imprisoned with his family
 * The assembly called the Convention was set up as the country's new land-making body
 * The first action was on September 21, 1792, when they dethroned Louis and declared France a republic
 * They put Louis on trial and found him guilty
 * Louis was sentenced to death and was beheaded on January 21, 1793

Sans Culottes
 * People who overthrew the king called themselves the Sans Culottes
 * They were the working people of Paris
 * They hated nobles-refused any word that had noble connections
 * Instead of calling each other Monsieur or Madame, they addressed each other as Citizen or Comrade
 * They were Republicans- they hated monarchy and wanted the power to belong to ordinary people
 * They named their children after famous republicans such as William Tell
 * They believed strongly that every had equal rights
 * They addressed each other as tu rather than vous to show that nobody's superior to anyone else
 * They claimed the right to carry weapons against their opponents
 * In September 1792, they broke into prisons of Paris and murdered more than 1400 people whom they thought were related to Austrians
 * Their violence horrified foreigners (British)

Inflation and Shortages
 * A major problem was the high price of food
 * The government needed money for the army so they printed huge amounts of assignats
 * But the more they printed, the less they were worth
 * Currency was suffering from inflation
 * Bread was also scarce because farmers did not want to sell harvests for bank notes that were losing value
 * Hungry sans culottes raided shops and food stores

 Rebellion
 * To defend the country the government ordered 300,000 men to join the army, which was not a popular decision
 * In the Vendee in western France, royalists started armed rebellions against the government
 * It led to conflict between two groups in the Convention: Girondins and Jacobins
 * Girondins held the important posts in the government
 * Jacobins was supported by sans culottes
 * The Jacobins blamed the Girondins for France's defeat on the battle field and for allowing food prices to rise
 * On 2 June, angry sans culottes broke into the Convention and expelled leading Girondins
 * This started rebellions of people who supported the Girondins
 * By summer of 1793, 68/ 83 departments joined the revolution

All the Terror
 * Committee of Public of Safety
 * 12 members
 * they thought that they had the power to do anything to save France
 * Thus they used strict rules and harsh punishment
 * Their control over France was known as the "Reign of Terror"
 * "Law of Suspects"
 * 1793
 * Groups of citizens in towns had to draw up lists of people whom they suspected of opposing the government
 * over a quarter of a million suspects were arrested and put in prison
 * Many of them were sent to trials by the Revolutionary Tribunal, a special court set up to deal with political offenses
 * Could impose imprisonment, deportation, or death
 * over half the people were sentenced to death
 * The guillotine
 * meant to be quicker and less painful than the execution methods used before the revolution
 * named after Dr. Guillotine who invented it
 * 17,000 suspects were executed by the guillotine
 * The first was Marie Antoinette, because of treason, in October of 1793
 * [[image:the_guillotine_picture_2-0.png caption="The Guillotine"]]
 * The committee also took strong measures to crush revolts in the country side (terror in provinces)
 * In the Vendee where the biggest revolts were taking place, the representative on mission was Jean-Baptistc Carrier
 * The guillotine was too slow to be used on all the revolutionaries
 * Thus he drowned captured rebels- 2000 died at the Nantes
 * Other massacres of prisoner also occured
 * In August 1793 the Convention ordered a "Mass Levy" (terror in the army)
 * every citizen had to take part in the war
 * unmarried men went to the army
 * married men made weapons
 * women made tents and served in hospitals
 * children made gunpowder and bandages
 * army was increased to 800,000 men
 * Law of the Maximum (economic terror)
 * September 1793
 * prices of goods such as corn, flour, firewood, an oil were to remain fixed until further notice
 * same with people's wages
 * breaking the law results in death
 * Disappearance of the Christian religion (terror in the church)
 * Christianity was thought as superstition
 * Sans culottes closed down churches, sacked the priests, and robbed silver
 * "Cult of Reason" (revolutionary ideas such as liberty) took the place of Christianity
 * New Calender
 * Years were counted from September 1792, when the Republic was found
 * The Terror took place in year 2
 * Months were divided into three 10-day weeks
 * Sundays were abolished
 * [[image:revolutionary_calender_picture_1-0.png caption="Revolutionary calender"]]

 Results of the Terror
 * The Committee saved France from collapsing
 * Driven enemies out, occupying Austrian Netherlands
 * crushed all revolts in France
 * avoided a famine
 * However, between 35,000 and 40,000 people died
 * rights and freedoms were severely limited
 * the committee turned into somewhat of a 12-men dictatorship

Coup of Thermidor
 * By the summer of 1794 the committee was very unpopular
 * Convention thought it was too powerful
 * People also thought that terror wasn't needed anymore
 * Sans culottes were unhappy because their wages were held down by the Maximum Law
 * On 27 July, 1794, or Thermidor (11th month on the calender) 9, year two, the Convention decided to get rid of the committee and its leader, Robespierre, and its supporters
 * 21 were arrested and guillotined the second day, 96 followed
 * The Convention reduced the power of the Committee, abolished the Maximum Law,, freed hundreds of suspects, and got rid of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
 * Terror came to an end.

Summary: In the years of 1792 to 1794, France, though still had gone through chaos, finally restored some order after the Reign of Terror (under the control of the Committee of Safety). People still fought for rights, power, and everything else that they wanted...the King and Queen were also dethroned and put to death, while France was declared a republic on September 21st, 1792. [For a brief summary of events please see the timeline :) ]

Question: 1. Was the sans culottes a form of government or just an ordinary political party without much power?