InNo+seank2013+09.07.10

=The Revolution in France= toc Chapter 2: From Revolution to Terror 1789-1794 Pages 39 - 49 (37 - 47 on scanned)

Youtube clip on the **reign of terror**: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZmtnCqTWik //(can't get the embedded code)//

**Notes**

**I. War**

 * 1) April 20th, 1792 was when France (the people) declared war on Austria.
 * 2) Though they were easily beat off and lost the battle
 * 3) Rumor spread that there was an "Austrian Committee" in the Tuileries palace.
 * 4) They feared that they were passing their military secrets to the Austrians.
 * 5) Their fear increased when Prussia joined forces with the Austrians.
 * 6) The assembly ordered priests who didn't agree with their oath to be expelled from the country.
 * 7) On July 11th the Assembly declared that the **Fatherland is in danger**.
 * 8) This appealed to many people to join the Assembly army.
 * 9) Louis was put in a difficult situation and especially disapproved the measure with the priests.
 * 10) The enemy commander, Duke of Brunswick stated that if Louis came in any harm, they would punish Paris.
 * 11) Instead of protecting them in any way, it threatened the royal family.
 * 12) With the weapons in the hands of the people, they could do whatever they wanted.
 * 13) And they wanted to overthrow monarchy to bring up a new government.

**II. The storming of the Tuileries**

 * 1) On August 10th 1792, twenty thousand men and women marched to the Tuileries determined to overthrow Louis.
 * 2) Using knives, pikes and axes, they slaughtered 600 Swiss guards

**III. The Overthrow of the Monarchy**

 * 1) The attack of the Tuilleries quickly led to the end of monarchy in France, sending Louis and his family into imprisonment.
 * 2) A new assembly called the **Convention** was set up in France as the country's new law-making body.
 * 3) Its first action, on September 21, 1792 was to de-throne Louis and announce France a republic.
 * 4) Two months later, the Convention put him on trial for high treason.
 * 5) it found him guilty and he was sentenced to death.
 * 6) he was beheaded in public on January 21, 1793

**IV. The Sans Culottes**

 * 1) They were the people who overthrew the king.
 * 2) They called themselves the Sans Culottes
 * 3) the working class of Paris
 * 4) craftsmen
 * 5) laundry women
 * 6) clerks - porters
 * 7) fishwives - laborers
 * 8) These people hated nobles
 * 9) They refused to use any word that had connection with nobles
 * 10) instead of Monsieur or Madame, they called each other by addressing them 'citizen' or 'comrade'
 * 11) They were republicans who hated monarchy
 * 12) They renamed their children after famous republicans like Brutus or William Tell
 * 13) These people believed in equal rights such as the right to vote.
 * 14) Instead of saying vous "the formal you" they used "tu" to represent familiarity among people.
 * 15) They claimed the right to use weapons against their opponents
 * 16) an example of this is when they broke into prisons of Paris and murdered 1,400 prisoners that they suspected helping the Austrians.


 * V. The War Spreads**
 * 1) In the first months of 1793 people joined forces with the Austrian and Prussians because the execution of Louis angered many monarchs.
 * 2) Their aim was to destroy the new french republic
 * 3) Instead of frightening the revolutionaries, they wanted to destroy these tyrants, they called kings.
 * 4) France was now at war with most of Europe.
 * 5) Austrian forces beat them in a series of battles in the Netherlands and their French commander, General Dumouriez joined forces with Austria.
 * 6) France seemed on the verge of defeat.

**VI. Inflation and shortage**

 * 1) The war was only one of the many difficulties facing the government.
 * 2) Major problems such as high pricing foods and the government printing huge amounts of money made this new Assembly have inflation.
 * 3) By February 1793, a bank note was 1/2 as much as it said it was worth.
 * 4) Hungry Sans Culottes began raiding stores to get food they couldn't afford.

**VII. Rebellion**

 * 1) A third major problem hit the government when they ordered 300,000 men to join the army to defend the country.
 * 2) This was not appealing to the people.
 * 3) In Vendee, part of western France, where many people were royalists, thousands of peasants joined in on an armed rebellion against the government.
 * 4) This led to a conflict between to Politicians in the Convention
 * 5) **Girondins** were the ones who held most of the major important posts in the government
 * 6) **Jacobins** were people who supported the Sans Culottes
 * 7) The Jacobins blamed the Girondins for France's defeat on the battlefield.
 * 8) On June 2, an angry crowd of Sans Culottes broke into the Convention and expelled the Girondins.
 * 9) This triggered a string of revolts of those who supported the Girondins.
 * 10) By summer 1793, sixty out of 83 apartments joined the rebellion against the government.

VIII. Reign of Terror

 * 1) Faced with all kinds of disasters, the Convention set up a group called the Committee of Public Safety.
 * 2) It consisted of 12 people and they could do whatever they wanted that they thought necessary to save France.
 * 3) These included strict laws and punishments. It was so harsh that it was considered the Reign of Terror.

IX. The Law of Suspects

 * 1) This began in September 1793
 * 2) The law said that suspects of people who 'by their behavior, their contacts, their words, or their writings showed themselves to be... enemies of Liberty'
 * 3) In that year, a quarter of a million people were arrested and sent to prison
 * 4) Half of those people were sentenced to death.

**X. Guillotine**

 * 1) The death sentences were carried out by a recently invented machine called the guillotine.
 * 2) Around 17,000 people were executed by the guillotine.
 * 3) And one of the firsts was Marie Antoinette who was executed in October 1793

**XI. Economic Terror**

 * 1) The Committee tried to halt the rise of the food prices with a Law of Maximum in September 1793.
 * 2) This said that 40 types of goods such as corn had to be kept at a fixed price
 * 3) Any disobedience of this law was a death sentence.

XII. Terror and the Church

 * 1) The terror led to many dispearences of the Christian beliefs
 * 2) The Sans Cullotes claimed that Christianity was nothing more than a superstition.
 * 3) They sacked their priests, stole their bells and silver, and closed down their churches
 * 4) Years were no longer counted from the day Jesus was born, but the day the Republic came in place.
 * 5) 1792-3 was named Year - One, when the republic was made
 * 6) Year - Two was the year of Terror
 * 7) Months were divided into 3 ten-day weeks
 * 8) Sunday was abolished.

XIII. Results of the Terror

 * 1) The committee had successfully achieved what it set out to do.
 * 2) By mid 1974, they had overtaken their enemies and driven into Austrian Netherlands.
 * 3) The representatives on the mission crushed all the revolts in the province.
 * 4) Although the prices were rising, the committee avoided famine
 * 5) Between 35-45 thousand people were executed.
 * 6) Everyone's rights and freedoms had been severely limited.
 * 7) Prices were still rising.
 * 8) And the committee became a 12-man dictatorship.

XIV. The Coup of Thermidor

 * 1) Many deputies in the Convention disliked the Committee because they thought it was too powerful.
 * 2) The committee had become very unpopular.
 * 3) Some disliked it because the of the Guillotine.
 * 4) Even the Sans Culottes weren't very pleased because of the Maximum law.
 * 5) The convention decided to get rid of the Committees leader: Robespierre along with his supporters.
 * 6) With Robespierre dead, the convention reduced the power of the committee, freed hundreds of suspects, abolished the maximum, and got rid of the revolutionary tribunal.
 * 7) The terror had then come to an end.

**Summary**
Since the royal family had been kicked out, the government should've been pleased. But problems awaited them as soon as they came in power. Some of which were war, inflation and many others. They began a war with the Austrians and Prussians because they were displeased with the execution of Louis the XVI. However it ended badly for France, as they were defeated. Problems still arose even after the war because there were many interior conflicts such as the conflict between the Girondins and Jacobins. The Jacobins, having support of the Sans Culottes, expelled the Girondins which in turn created more disaster for those who supported the Girondins rebelled. After a while over half of the deputies in the Convention joined the rebellion. This was turning into a downfall for France so the Convention created a 12 man group called the Committee of Public Safety. This group then reinforced their laws with the death penalty: beheaded with the guillotine. This was the Reign of Terror and soon the Committee grew unpopular so the Convention executed their leader, thus bringing an end to the terror.

Question(s)
What was the law of Maximum? How long did the first rebellion end before the next one began?