French+Revolution+Notes+Nicholas+Lim+09.07.10

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= = = War = = = = The Storming of the Tuileries =
 * War began on 20 April 1792, France declared waron Austria.
 * French armies attacked Austrian bases across the frontier in Belgium, wanting quick wins.
 * Austrians were better organized, better equipped and better led. Beat French armies
 * People blamed the French defeat on traitors, rumors spread there was an “Austrian Committee” in the Tuileries Palace.
 * Claimed that the “Austrian Committee” gave away France’s military secrets to the Austrians.
 * Fear grew even more when Prussia joined Austria in May.
 * The National Assembly took emergency measures and ordered every soldier in Paris to the frontier, watched all foreigners and expelled priests who still refused to take an oath of loyalty.
 * On 11th July the National Assembly declared “The Fatherland is in Danger”
 * King Louis XVI disagreed from expelling the priests, angered opponents and 20,000 people broke into the palace on 20 June to shout abuses at him.
 * Got even worse in July, the enemy commander Duke of Brunswick issued the Brunswick Manifesto, threatening punishments if King Louis XVI was harmed.
 * Did opposite of protecting them, National Assembly distributed weapons to people for defense, now that they had weapons, they could do anything, wanted to get rid of monarchy and set up a government in which they had power.
 * August 10, 20,000 armed men and women broke into Tuileries to dethrone King Louis XVI, helped by National Guards (Blue uniforms),
 * They broke in, ransacked the place and killed 600 Swiss Guards (Red) who tried to defend the king.

= The Overthrow of the Monarchy =
 * The attack led to the end of monarchy and King Louis XVI was suspended from office, his family thrown in prison.
 * New assembly called the Convention formed.
 * On September 21 1792, first action was to dethrone King Louis and declare France a republic
 * Two months later he was put on trial for high treason and beheaded in public on 21 January 1793

= The Sans Culottes =
 * The people who overthrew the king were called the Sans Culottes
 * Were the working class people of Paris, had similar ideas but varied standards of livings and jobs.
 * Hated nobles, wore trousers instead of knee breeches (culottes) which nobles wore.
 * Refused to use any word connected to nobles
 * Called each other as "citizen" or "comrade"
 * The Sans Culottes were republican and believed power should be in the people
 * They believed that everyone should have equal rights
 * Used "tu" instead of "vous" to say "you", this showed nobody was superior
 * Many renamed children after famous republicans.
 * They were allowed to carry weapons and use them
 * September 1792, they broke in to prisons of Paris and killed 1,400 prisoners accused of supporting Austrians.
 * Violence horrified foreigners.

= The War Spreads = = = = Inflation and Shortages =
 * The execution of King Louis shocked people all over Europe and enraged his fellow monarchs
 * In the first months of 1793, they joined Prussia and Austria to destroy the new French Republic.
 * Instead of being scared, the people declared war on the rest of the monarchs to spread the revolution around Europe
 * Declared war on Britain, Holland and Spain
 * French were severely beaten in battles and the French commander, General Dumouriez went to support the Austrians.
 * The support the war, they had to print more money (assignats).
 * Printed more and more and currency was suffering from inflation.
 * By February 1793 a bank note was worth only half the amount printed on it
 * Break was also scarce and expensive since farmers did not want to sell their grain for money that was loosing value.
 * Hungry Sans culottes began to raid shops and food stores to steal food.

= Rebellion = = = = The Reign of Terror =
 * Government ordered 300,000 extra men to join the armies.
 * Deeply unpopular order, in the Vendee (Western France), many royalists and thousands of peasants joined armed rebellion against the government.
 * War led to conflict between two groups of politicians in the Convention
 * The Girondins had the most important posts in the government
 * The Jacobins were supported by the sans coulettes
 * Jacobins blamed Girodins for France's defeats on battlefield and for rising food prices.
 * On June 2nd an angry crowd of sans culottes broke in to the Convention and explled the leading Girondins.
 * Triggered revolts in provinces which supported Girondins
 * By summer 1793, 60/83 departments had joined the rebellion against the government.
 * With all these disasters, the Convention set up emergency group called the Committee of Public Safety.
 * 12 memebers had to power to do anyhting to save France.
 * For the next 12 months they used this power to impose harsh punishments on opponents and ran the country strictly.
 * Known as the "Reign of Terror" for harsh rule.

= The Law of Suspects = = = = The Guillotine = = = = Terror in the Provinces = = = = Terror in the Armies =
 * "Reign of Terror" began with a "Law of Suspects" in September 1793.
 * Citizens in every town had to draw up lists of people they suspected of opposing the government.
 * Anyone could be on the list.
 * Quarter million were arrested and put in prison, many were sent to Paris for trial by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
 * Special court set up to deal with political offences
 * Around half of the people trialed were sentenced to death.
 * Invented by Doctor Guillotin to make execution less painful.
 * 17,000 suspects were executed during the Terror, one of the first executed was Marie Antoinette on October 1793.
 * The Committee of Public Safety tried to crush the revolts in the countryside
 * over a hundred Representatives of the Convention were sent to provinces to restor order.
 * In the Vendee, representative Jean-Baptiste Carrier executed people by drowning them in loads in the River Loire when the guillotine was too slow.
 * At least 2,000 killed in drownings.
 * In Lyons, nearly 2,000 more were executed, to speed execution, prisoners lined up in front of open graves and blasted in by cannon fire
 * August 1793, the Convention ordered a "Mass Levy" where every citizen had to take part in the war
 * Unmarried man had to join the armies
 * Married man made weapons
 * Women made tents and served in hospitals
 * Children made bandages and gunpowder
 * Increased the French army to 800,000, nearly 3 times the size of the Coalition's army
 * Representatives of the Convention kept discipline, generals were often replaced by younger officers when they lost battles.

= Economic Terror =
 * Committee tried to stop rise in food price with the Law of the Maximum on September 1793
 * Stated that prices of forty goods, eg.corn, flour, firewood and oil must stay fixed until told. People's wages also had to stay the same.
 * Changing prices would result in death penalty

= Terror and the Church =
 * The Terror caused Christianity to disappear in parts of France.
 * No more than a "superstition" to sans culottes who closed down churches, robbed them and sacked the prieests.
 * "Cult of Reason" based on ideas of revolution like Liberty took place of Christianity
 * Against Christianity, the Convention introduced new calendar.
 * Years no longer counted from the birth of Christ but from September 1792, where Republic was founded
 * Years divided into 12 thirty-day months, names describe weather or growing seasons
 * Three ten day weeks in a month and Sunday was abolished

= Results of the Terror =
 * The Committee of Public Safety achieved their goal to save France from collapse.
 * By the mid 1794, French armies drove enemies out of France and conquered Austrian Netherlands
 * Revolts were quelled, famines avoided. However prices still rose
 * Price of success was costly, 35,00 to 40,000 people were executed or killed from the filthy and overcrowded prisons.
 * Rights and freedoms were limited.
 * Prices still rising
 * The Committee became similar to a twelve-man dictatorship.

= The Coup of Thermidor =
 * Summer 1794, the Committee became very unpopular.
 * Too powerful
 * Fear of guillotine
 * No need for the terror since many problems solved and France was winning the law
 * Sans culottes also agreed because wages were held down by Maximum law as prices rose
 * On 27 July 1794-9 Thermidor, (Year Two on new calendar), the Convnetion decided to get rid of the Committee's leading member, Robespierre and his supporters.
 * 21 arrested and executed by guillotine the next day
 * 96 more executed the day after
 * Power of the Committee was reduced
 * Hundreds of suspects were freed
 * The Maximum was abolished and got rid of the Revolutionary Tribunal
 * The Terror came to an end.

= Summary = On April 20th 1792 France declared war on Austria. Austria easily beat off France's attacks. The National Assembly declared a state of emergency and decided to expel priests who have not taken the oath to be loyal to the French law. Prussia also joined Austria in the war to make matters worst. King Louis disagreed to this which angered the people, causing them to break into the palace and attack him. To protect King Louis XVI, the Duke of Brunswick issued the Brunswick manifesto, threatening harsh punishment to people who harm King Louis XVI. This angered the people further, and on August 10, 20,000 people ransacked the palace, bringing an end to monarchy. The new government body was now called the Convention, France was declared a republic and King Louis XVI was executed on January 21 1793. The sans culottes were the people who overthrew monarchy, they hated the nobles. However, King Louis XVI's fellow monarchs were enraged by such atrocities, they decided to join the war against France. To pay for the war, the government began printing more money, resulting in the inflation of the currency and sharp rises in food prices. France was also loosing a lot of battles and the French commander had abandoned their country. France was about to collapse. The prevent this, the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety, this began the "Reign of Terror". People's names could be written on papers claiming that they betrayed the country, over a quarter million people were tried and many were executed by guillotine under this strict law. Rebellions in the country side were also stopped, as mass drownings were held to execute people, while at other times, people were fired into graves. The church was also affected by the "Reign of Terror" as the sans culottes ransacked the place and shut the churches down. Christianity was replaced by ideas such as "Cult of Reasons" which were based on the thoughts of revolution. The Convention also ordered a "mass levy" where everyone was forced to actively take part in the war. This brought the population of the army up to 800,000. The "Law of Maximum" was also put into action, food prices and wages were not allowed to go up until further notice. The calendar was also altered to 1792 as Year one, the day France became a republic. The Committee was successful in many ways, it prevented France from falling into utter chaos and pushed enemies out of France, however they had become more like a 12 man dictatorship by the end of the "Reign of Terror". The Committee became unpopular from its massive amounts of power, so in 1794, the people decided to arrest its leader and 96 supporters, they were all executed. The power of the Committee was reduced significantly and the "Reign of Terror" ended.

= Questions = What happened to King Louis XVI's children after? Robespierre helped to quell a lot of problems in France, did people forget this when they executed him? Not much was said about the problems in the church through the revolution, what were they?



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