InNo+France+before+the+REvolution+p.+39-49+michellel2013+09.08.10

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= = War =
 * It began on April 20 1792
 * France declared war on Austria
 * Hoping for quick win, French armies attacked Austrian bases across frontier in Belgium
 * Austrians were better organized, equipped, and led
 * Easily beat off French attack
 * Paris, people blamed French defeat on traitors
 * Rumors that there was an “Austrian Committee” in the Tuileries Palace, passing France’s military secrets to the Austrians
 * People were afraid, and increased when Prussian joined Austria in May
 * Assembly took emergency measures to deal with the threat
 * Ordered every soldier in Paris to the frontier, put a watch on all foreigners
 * Decided priests who refused to take oath of loyalty should be expelled
 * 11 July, declared The Fatherlands is in Danger, appealed to citizens to volunteer for army
 * Such measures put Louis in difficult position
 * Disagreed with actions against priests
 * 20 June, 20,000 opponents broke into Tuileries, shouted abuse at him
 * Louis’ position became more difficult in July
 * Enemy commander, Duke of Brunswick, issued statement called Brunswick Manifesto
 * Threatened people of Paris with punishments if Louis was harmed
 * Brunswick Manifesto put them in great danger
 * News reached Paris, Assembly ordered all citizens to have weapons
 * With weapons, people could do whatever they want
 * People wanted to get rid of monarchy
 * Wanted to set up an assembly where they had power


 * The storming of the Tuileries **
 * 10 August 1792, 20,000 armed men & women marched to Tuileries, wanted to de-throne Louis XVI
 * Broke into palace grounds with help of National Guards (blue)
 * Swiss guards (red) defended king
 * Tried to fight off National Guards but were outnumbered- Swiss retreated, but attackers caught up, slaughtered 600


 * The overthrow of the monarchy **
 * Attack on Tuileries led quickly to end of monarchy
 * Louis suspended from office, imprisoned with family
 * New assembly called Convention, country’s new law-making body
 * 21 September 1792, first action, de-throne Louis and declare France was a Republic
 * Two months later, put him on trial for high treason
 * Found guilty, sentenced to death, beheaded in public 21 January 1793


 * The sans culottes **
 * People who overthrew king called themselves sans culottes
 * Working people of craftsmen
 * Varied in work and money earned, but had similar ideas and behavior
 * Hated nobles
 * Men wore trousers instead of knee breeches (culottes) that nobles wore
 * Refused to use any word with noble connections
 * Called each other “Citizen” or “Comrade” rather than monsieur or madame
 * Republicans, hated monarchy and thought power should belong to ordinary people like them
 * Many re-named themselves or called children after famous Republicans
 * Believed strongly everyone should have equal rights, equal to vote
 * To show nobody was superior to anyone else, used familiar ‘tu’ for ‘you’ instead of ‘vous’, usual way for addressing people outside the family
 * Claimed right to carry weapons and use them against their opponents
 * September 1792, broke into prison in Paris and murdered 1400 prisoners they suspected of supporting Austrians
 * Readiness to use violence horrified foreigners


 * The war spreads **
 * Execution of Louis XVI shocked millions all over Europe
 * Louis’ fellow monarchs were outraged
 * First months of 1793, each joined forces with Austria and Prussia in war against France
 * Aim of the coalition or alliance was to destroy the new French Republic
 * Made the revolutionaries more war-like than before
 * Wanted to fight the ‘tyrants’ as they called all kings
 * Wanted to spread revolution all over Europe
 * Didn’t wait for attack, for declared war upon latest three members: Britain, Holland, and Spain
 * France was at war with most of Europe
 * Disaster immediately struck French armies
 * Austrian forces beat them in a series of battles in Netherlands
 * French Commander, General Dumouriez, abandoned them and went to Austrian side
 * France seemed on the verge of defeat


 * Inflation and shortages **
 * War was one of many difficulties facing the government
 * Major problem was high price of food
 * Price rising because gov’t printed huge amounts of paper money to pay for war
 * These were called assignats
 * More bank notes printed = less worth = currency suffering from inflation
 * By February 1793, bank note was worth half the amount printed on it
 * Bread was scarce – farmers didn’t want to sell their bread for bank notes that were losing value
 * Hungry sans culottes began raiding shops for food they couldn’t buy


 * Rebellion **
 * Third major problem hit when gov’t ordered extra 300,000 men to join army to defend country
 * Order was deeply unpopular
 * Many people were royalists in western France, and thousands of peasants joined in an armed rebellion against the government
 * Paris, war led to conflict between 2 political groups in the Convention
 * Girondins, held most important posts in the government
 * Jacobins, supported by the sans culottes
 * Jacobins blamed Girondins for France’s defeat on battlefield and allowing food prices to rise
 * 2 June, angry sans coluttes broke into the Convention and expelled leading Girondins
 * Triggered off revolts in provinces that supported the Girondins
 * Summer 1793, 60 our of 83 departments joined rebellion against government


 * The Reign of Terror **
 * Convention set up emergency group called Committee of Public Safety
 * Its 12 members had power to do anything they thought necessary to save France
 * Next 12 months, used this power to run France strictly and impose harsh punishments on opponents
 * It was so harsh that it was known as the ‘Reign of Terror’


 * The Law of Suspects **
 * September 1793, Terror began with ‘Law of Suspects’
 * Groups of citizens every town drew up lists of people they suspected of opposing the government
 * Almost anyone could fall under suspicion
 * Law said that suspects were people who ‘by their behavior, their contacts, their words or writings, show themselves to be… enemies of Liberty.’
 * In year that followed, over a quarter of a million suspects were arrested and put in prison
 * Many suspects sent to Paris for trial by the Revolutionary Tribunal
 * Special court set up to deal with political offenses
 * Judges could impose sentences of imprisonment, deportation or death
 * Half the sentences they passed were death sentences


 * The Guillotine **
 * Death sentences carried out by beheading prisoners
 * The guillotine, suggest by Doctor Guillotin, meant to be quicker and less painful than methods of execution before
 * How it worked:
 * Tied to plank of wood
 * Cords around arms, body, legs
 * Lies on belly, inserts head in the board, shuts the board
 * Pulls string fastened to a peg at top of machine, lifts up catch
 * Axe falls down, head and body fall in baskets read for the purpose


 * Terror in the provinces **
 * Committee of Public Safety took strong measures to crush revolts in countryside
 * Over 100 Representatives were sent to provinces with instruction to do anything necessary to restore order
 * In the Vendee, where biggest revolt was taking place, Representative on Mission was Jean-Baptiste Carrier
 * Guillotine was too slow to execute captured rebels, so he drowned them in boat-loads in River Loire
 * At least 2000 died in drownings at Nantes
 * To speed up executions, prisoners lined up in front of open gates and blasted into them with cannon fire


 * Terror in the armies **
 * August 1793, Convention ordered a ‘Mass Levy’ of French people
 * Meant every citizen had to take an active part in war effort
 * Unmarried men had to join armies to fight
 * Married men made weapons for them
 * Women made tents and served in hospitals
 * Children made bandages and gunpowder
 * Mass Levy increased French armies to 800,000 men, nearly 3x size of Coalition armies
 * Representatives made sure strict discipline was kept
 * Generals who didn’t win battles were replaced by younger officers who proved their ability in action


 * Economic Terror **
 * September 1793 Committee tried to halt rise in food prices with Law of Maximum
 * Said prices of forty goods (e.g. corn, flour, oil) must stay at fixed prices until further notice, as well as people’s wages
 * Breaking the Maximum carried the death penalty


 * Terror and the Church **
 * Terror led to disappearance of Christian religion in many parts of France
 * Sans cullotes claimed Christianity was just ‘superstition’ and closed Churches, robbed bells and silver, and sacked priests
 * In many towns, a ‘Cult of Reason’ based on revolutionary ideas such as Liberty, replaced Christianity
 * Part of campaign against Christianity, Convention introduced new calendar
 * Years didn’t count from birth of Christ, counted from September 1792 when Republic was founded
 * 1792-3 renamed Year One, Terror took place in Year Two
 * Each year was divided into twelve 30-day months with names describing its weather or growing seasons
 * Months were divided into three ten-day weeks
 * Sunday was abolished


 * Result of the Terror **
 * Committee of Public Safety achieved what it set out to do
 * Saved France from collapse
 * By mid 1794, French armies had driven enemies out of France, occupied Austrian Netherlands
 * Representatives on Mission crushed all revolts in Provinces
 * Prices were still rising, but Committee avoided famine
 * Price of success was high
 * Between 35,000 – 40,000 people were executed or died in prison
 * Rights and freedoms had been severely limited
 * Committee had become a kind of twelve-man dictatorship


 * The coup of Thermidor **
 * Summer 1974, Committee was very unpopular
 * Many deputies in Convention disliked it because
 * they thought it was too powerful
 * feared ending up in guillotine
 * could not see any need of it now that revolts were over and France was winning the war
 * Even san culottes, strongest supporters, were unhappy about limited wages while prices were still rising
 * 27 July 1794-9 Thermidor, Year Two in new calendar – Convention decided to get rid of Committee’s leading member, Robespierre, along with supporters
 * 21 were arrested and guillotined following day
 * 96 were executed a day after
 * Robespierre dead, Convention reduced power of Committee, freed hundreds of suspects, abolished the Maximum, and got rid of Revolutionary Tribunal
 * The terror ended