Revolution+and+Terror+2+weiweil2013+06.02.10




 * War: 20 April, 1792**
 * French declared war on Austria, attacked first hoping for quick victory
 * Austrians = better organised, equipped, led, easily beat French
 * rumours of Austrian traitors in French gov, Prussia joined forces w/ Austria, roused fears
 * Assembly took emergency action to deal with foreign threat
 * ordered every soldier to Paris @ frontier, suspected all foreigners, expelled all nonloyal priests
 * 11 July: "The Fatherland is in Danger" (appealed to all citizens to apply for army)
 * Louis disagreed with actions (esp. priests), roused protests against him
 * Brunswick Manifesto: threatened people with punishments if Louis was harmed
 * put XVI's family in great danger
 * Assembly ordered weapons for people for defense
 * people could do anything with weapons
 * wanted to get rid of monarchy, set up new kind of gov where they had power
 * 10 August, 1792: storming of the Tuileries
 * 20 000 armed men and women stormed Palace to dethrone XVI
 * wiped out the 600 outnumbered Swiss Guards with help of National Guards, ransacked palace
 * the END of the monarchy: Louis overthrown quickly after storming
 * new assembly: the Convention
 * 21 September, 1792: dethrone Louis, declare France a Republic
 * 21 January, 1793: Louis tried for high treason, found guilty, executed
 * sans culottes (sans "knee breeches", wore trousers instead
 * working people of Paris, varied in work and money earned, but had similar ideas and behaviour
 * hated nobles, refused "noble words" (not monsieur or madame, but Citizen or Comrade)
 * Republicans: hated monarchy, power to the people
 * equal rights (eg: voting), nobody was superior to anyone else (tu, not vous)
 * claimed right to carry weapons and defend against enemies
 * September 1792: broke into prisons, murdered 1400 prisoners suspected to support Austrians
 * thought to be barbaric and readily violent
 * execution of XVI shocked/enraged other monarchs
 * joined forces w/ Austria/Prussia to destroy the new French Republic
 * French declared war immediately on UK, Holland, Spain, trying to spread revolution to rest of Europe
 * France beaten by several armies, abandoned by generals, almost at defeat
 * inflation of money and shortage of food
 * currency worth half of what it was printed, food stores raided by hungry sans culottes
 * rebellion against the government: 300 000 men ordered to defend country
 * Vendée, western France, royalist peasants rebel against government
 * Paris: Girondins (most gov officials) VS Jacobins (sans culottes)
 * Js blamed Gs for rise in prices, France's military defeats, expelled leading Gs from Convention (2 July)
 * triggered string of revolts in Gs
 * The Reign of Terror**
 * emergency group set up: the Committee of Public Safety
 * 12 members to save France; ran country very strictly, harsh punishments
 * Law of Suspects began: September 1793
 * everyone drew up lists of suspects of opposition of gov.
 * "by their behaviour, contacts, words, writings.... enemies of Liberty"
 * over 250 000 suspects arrested, sent to prison
 * sent to Revolutionary Tribunal, tried (imprisonment, deportation, death, about half were executed)
 * the guillotine
 * invented by Doctor Guillotin, first victim = Marie Antoinette, 17 000 victims total
 * TERROR IN**: the provinces
 * strong measures to crush revolts in countryside
 * Vendée: guillotines too slow, so mass-drownings in River Loire, at least 2000 killed
 * Lyons: blasted by cannon fire in front of open graves
 * TERROR IN**: the armies
 * August 1973: "Mass Levy" (every citizen had to take part in war effort)
 * unmarried men joined army, married men made weapons, women made tents, were nurses, children made bandages/gunpowder
 * increased French army to 800 000 men, three times the Coalition Army, strictly disciplined
 * TERROR IN**: the economy
 * attempted to halt rise of food prices with Law of Maximum (September 1793)
 * prices of forty goods (eg corn, flour, wood, oil) fixed until further notice
 * people's wages fixed also
 * breaking of the Law of Maximum = death penalty
 * TERROR IN:** the church
 * disappearance of Christianity in many parts of France
 * Christianity = "just superstition", closed down churches, robbed of bells and silvers, sacked priests
 * Cult of Reason = revolutionary ideas like Liberty, replaced †
 * new calendar: counted from year of revolution (when Republic was founded, September 1793)
 * Year One, Two, etc; twelve thirty-day months; three 10-day weeks; Sundays abolished
 * RESULTS OF THE TERROR:**
 * saved France from collapse
 * mid 1974: driven enemies out of France, occupied Austrian Netherlands
 * crushed all revolts in Provinces
 * avoided famine (though prices still rising)
 * price of success very high
 * 35 000 to 40 000 people died (executed, died in prison)
 * freedom/rights severely limited
 * prices still rising
 * France = 12-man dictatorship (led by Committee of Public Safety)
 * The Coup of Thermidor**
 * summer 1794: Committee = very very unpopular
 * deputies disliked it: too powerful
 * people disliked it: afraid of guillotine, Terror unneeded because threats (war) were over
 * sans culottes disliked it: wages held down, but prices still rising
 * 27 July, 1794: Convention executed Robespierre, plus 21 + 96 supporters (all guillotined)
 * reduced power of Committee, freed suspects, abolished Maximum, Revolutionary Tribunal
 * ended the Terror

With the failed escape of Louis XVI in 1792, the Emperor of Austria (Antoinette's brother) declared hostility against France; the French took this very seriously and were willing to wage war because they wanted to test the king's loyalty. With the threat of war from Austria, the Assembly took emergency action to defend itself; Louis opposed these actions, and because of his opposition the people, angered, stormed the Palace of Tuileries and removed Louis from power by force. Eventually the entire royal family was tried for treason and executed. A new kind of people, the working class, emerged calling themselves the sans culottes; they hated nobility and were thought to be wildly barbaric. Their actions against the monarchy enraged the other monarchs, and before the rest of Europe could declare war on France, the French army declared war on the UK, Spain and Holland. It was found that the French clearly were not winning, however, and thus the Committee of Public Safety was set up; the Committee consisted of 12 people who eventually became dictators, exerting a reign of terror over France. Over the course of a year, they succeeded in defending France from foreign threats, but became very unpopular; the leader was executed and so were his supporters, ending the Terror.
 * Summary:**

Why do the French feel the need to be so violent and kill anyone that they felt was a threat to themselves? What is the difference between this mindless violence and what Louis XVI was doing? What happened to Louis XVI's children?
 * Questions**