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| The French Revolution sucks | |||
| {{dablink|For the '']'' British TV serial, see ].}} | |||
| {{dablink|For other uses of ''reign of terror'', or ''the terror'', see ]}} | |||
| '''The Reign of Terror''' (], ] – ], ]) or simply '''The Terror''' (]: ''la Terreur'') was a period of about 10 months during the ] when struggles between rival factions led to mutual ] which took on a violent character with mass executions by the ]. It is generally associated with the figures of ] and ], and is popularly represented as an ] of revolutionary violence. | |||
| The Terror itself started on ], ]. The repression accelerated in June and July 1794, a period named ''la Grande Terreur'' (The Great Terror) and lasted until the executions following ] (] ]), in which several key leaders of the Reign of Terror were themselves executed, including ] and Robespierre. The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people (estimates vary widely, due to the difference between historical records and statistical estimates). In the single month before it ended, 1,900 ]s took place. | |||
| While some consider modern tyrannies to be the legacy of the Reign of Terror <ref>Shelia Fitzpatrick. ''Vengeance and Ressentiment in the Russian Revolution'', in '']''. Fall 2001.</ref> , others argue that this view overlooks the French Revolution's influence in the ascendency of representative democracy and constitutionalism <ref> The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.</ref> and assert that totalitarianism is marked by a strong state whereas in the Terror the bloodshed was caused by various competing factions radicalizing each other.<ref name=Martin> ], historian and professor at ], "France was cut in half by the Revolution", in '']'' n°311, July–August 2006</ref>. | |||
| ==Background== | |||
| {{French Revolution}} | |||
| ] | |||
| In the summer of 1793, the French Revolution was threatened by both internal enemies and conspirators, and by foreign ]an ] fearing that it would spread. Almost all European governments in that era were based on ] rather than the ] asserted by the revolutionary French. Foreign powers wanted to stifle the ] and ]an ideas, which they feared would pose a threat to their own respective countries’ stability. Their armies were pressing on the border of France, leading the new Republic into a series of ]. | |||
| Foreign powers had already threatened the ] with retaliation if they did not free King ] and reinstate him as a monarch. The ]n ] threatened to "pilfer" Paris if the Parisians dared to touch the royal family, which only infuriated Paris. Louis XVI himself was suspected of conspiring with foreign powers who wished to invade France and restore ]. | |||
| The former ], having lost its inherited privileges, had a stake in the failure of the Revolution. The ] as well was generally against the Revolution, which (through the ]) had turned the clergy into employees of the state and had required that they take an oath of loyalty to the nation. About half of the clergy, mainly in western France, refused the oath, making themselves known as ''refractory'' priests or '']s''. | |||
| Members of the Catholic clergy and the former nobility entered into conspiracies, often invoking foreign military intervention. In the western region known as the ], priests and former nobles led ], which began in spring 1793 and was supported by ]. The extension of civil war and the advance of foreign armies on national territory produced a political crisis, and increased the rivalry between the ] and the more radical ]; the latter were eventually grouped in the parliamentary faction called ], and had the support of the Parisian population. | |||
| ==The Terror== | |||
| ] by Briton ]. Titled "The Radical's Arms", it depicts the infamous '']''. "No God! No Religion! No King! No Constitution!" is written in the republican banner]] | |||
| On June 2<sup>nd</sup>, Paris sections — encouraged by the '']'' ("enraged ones") ] and ] — took over the ], calling for administrative and political purges, a low fixed price for ], and a limitation of the electoral ] to '']'' alone. With the backing of the ], they convinced the Convention to arrest 31 ] leaders, including ]. Following these arrests, the Jacobins gained control of the ] on June 10, installing the ''revolutionary ]''. On July 13 the assassination of ] — a Jacobin leader and ] known for his bloodthirsty ] — by ], a Girondin, resulted in further increase of Jacobin political influence.<ref>http://www.haciendapub.com/lnc6.html</ref> ], the leader of the ] against the ], was removed from the Committee. On July 27, Robespierre, self-styled as "the Incorruptible", made his entrance, quickly becoming the most influential member of the Committee as it moved to take radical measures against the Revolution's domestic and foreign enemies.<ref>http://www.haciendapub.com/lnc7.html</ref> | |||
| Meanwhile, on June 24, the Convention adopted the first republican constitution of France, variously referred to as the ] or Constitution of the Year I. It was ratified by public ], but normal legal processes were quickly suspended. | |||
| Facing local revolts and foreign invasions in both the East and West of the country, the most urgent government business was the war. On August 17, the Convention voted for general ], the '']'', which mobilized all citizens to serve as soldiers or suppliers in the war effort. On September 5, the Convention institutionalized ''The Terror:'' systematic and lethal repression of perceived enemies within the country. | |||
| On ], ], Robespierre stated: | |||
| <blockquote>''The goal of the constitutional government is to conserve the Republic; the aim of the revolutionary government is to found it... The revolutionary government owes to the good citizen all the protection of the nation; it owes nothing to the ] but death.. These notions would be enough to explain the origin and the nature of laws that we call revolutionary ... If the revolutionary government must be more active in its march and more free in his movements than an ordinary government, is it for that less fair and legitimate? No; it is supported by the most holy of all laws: Martin Guerre!(''Martin Guerre''; "safety/welfare/or salvation of the people").''<ref>Robespierre: «Le but du gouvernement constitutionnel est de conserver la République; celui du gouvernement révolutionnaire est de la fonder. Le gouvernement révolutionnaire doit au bon citoyen toute la protection nationale; il ne doit aux Ennemis du Peuple que la mort. Ces notions suffisent pour expliquer l'origine et la nature des lois que nous appelons révolutionnaires . Si le gouvernement révolutionnaire doit être plus actif dans sa marche et plus libre dans ses mouvements que le gouvernement ordinaire, en est-il moins juste et moins légitime? Non; il est appuyé sur la plus sainte de toutes les lois: le salut du Peuple.»</ref></blockquote> | |||
| He would later state, more succinctly: | |||
| <blockquote>''La terreur n'est autre chose que la justice prompte, sévère, inflexible.'' ("Terror is nothing other than prompt, severe, inflexible justice.") — Robespierre (17 pluviôse an II / ] ])</blockquote> | |||
| The result was policy through which the state used violent repression to crush resistance to the government. Under control of the effectively dictatorial Committee, the Convention quickly enacted more legislation. On September 9, the Convention established '']'' paramilitary forces, the ''revolutionary armies'', to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. On September 17, the '']'' was passed, which authorized the charging of counter-revolutionaries with vaguely defined ''crimes against liberty''. On September 29 the Convention extended ] from grain and bread to other essential goods, and also fixed wages. The guillotine became the symbol of a string of executions: ] had already been guillotined before the start of the terror; Queen ], the Girondins, ] despite his vote for the death of the King, ] and many others lost their lives under its blade.<ref>http://www.haciendapub.com/lnc5.html</ref> The ] summarily condemned thousands of people to death by the guillotine, while mobs beat other victims to death. Sometimes people died for their political opinions or actions, but many for little reason beyond mere suspicion, or because some others had a stake in getting rid of them. Most of the victims received an unceremonious trip to the guillotine in an open wooden cart (the ]). Loaded onto these carts, the victims would proceed through throngs of jeering men and women. | |||
| The victims of the Reign of Terror totaled approximately 40,000. Among people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent ], and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading ], ], rebellion, and other purported crimes.<ref></ref> Of these social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss. | |||
| Another ] uprising was made possible by the installment of the ] on October 24. Against Robespierre's concepts of ] and ], Hébert's (and Chaumette's) ] movement initiated a religious campaign in order to ] society. The program of dechristianisation waged against ], and eventually against all forms of ], included the ] of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death, the closing of churches, the institution of revolutionary and civic ]s, the large scale destruction of religious monuments, the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education, forced marriages of the clergy and forced abjurement of their ].<ref name="Latreille">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Latreille |first=A. |title=French Revolution |encyclopedia=New Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=5 |pages=972–973 |edition=Second Ed. 2003 |publisher=Thompson Gale |isbn=0-7876-4004-2}}</ref> The enactment of a law on ], ] made all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.<ref name="Latreille"/> The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in ] Cathedral on ]. Because dissent was now regarded as counterrevolutionary, extremist ''enragés'' such as Hébert and moderate ] ''indulgents'' such as Danton were guillotined in the spring of 1794. On ] Robespierre, who had previously condemned the '']'', advocated a new state religion and recommended that the Convention acknowledge the existence of ]. On the next day, the worship of the deistic ] was inaugurated as an official aspect of the Revolution. Compared with Hébert's somewhat popular festivals, this austere new religion of Virtue was received with signs of hostility by the Parisian public. | |||
| ==The End== | |||
| ] | |||
| The repression also brought thousands of suspects before the Paris ], whose work was expedited by the ] (] ]) which had led to the Terror. As a result of Robespierre's insistence on associating Terror with Virtue, his efforts to make the republic a morally united ] community became equated with the endless bloodshed. Finally, after June 26's decisive military victory over ] at the ], Robespierre was overthrown by a conspiracy of certain members of the Convention on ] (July 27). The Robespierrists and most members of the ] were ]d on July 28. This led to the '']'', which was characterized by a much lesser known ]. This reaction killed hundreds of Jacobins. This continued intermittently for some years afterward in the form of unchecked violence by gangs of ]s as well as rigged trials by the authorities. | |||
| ==Legacy== | |||
| The Terror has been often presented as a highly ] government prefiguring 20th century ], for example by Shelia Fitzpatrick.<ref>Shelia Fitzpatrick. ''Vengeance and Ressentiment in the Russian Revolution'', in '']''. Fall 2001.</ref> This interpretation has, however, been contested: French historian ] underscored the "absence of a strong state" from Spring 1793 to Summer 1794 and the fact that the state at the time was actually riven by factions <ref name=Martin/> — while totalitarianism is, to the contrary, characterized by a very powerful state. | |||
| According to J.-C. Martin, the ], created in ] ] and usually considered the ] of the Terror, did not control much, at least until ] ]. It was opposed by rival state institutions, such as the ], which controlled the police, and the ], which held military power after ], ] and was linked to the '']'' (the poorer working classes of ] — literally "without knee-breeches", the fashionable trousers of the upper classes), who themselves controlled the Ministry of War. Rather than the implementation of a strong state's policies, the Terror was the result of the struggle between these various competing powers who radicalized each other.<ref name=Martin> ], historian and professor at ], "France was cut in half by the Revolution", in '']'' n°311, July–August 2006</ref> | |||
| Furthermore, some scholars assert that to present the Terror as a prefiguration of totalitarianism does not take into account the French Revolution's influence in the ascendency of ] and ].<ref> The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05.</ref> | |||
| ==Treatment in fiction== | |||
| *], ''Danton's Death'' | |||
| *], '']'' | |||
| *], "Thermidor" (story in the ] comic book series) | |||
| *], '']'' | |||
| *], ''A Place of Greater Safety'' | |||
| *], '']'' and sequels | |||
| *], ''The Danton Case'' and ''Thermidor'' | |||
| *], '']'' and other '']'' novels | |||
| *], "]" | |||
| *], '']'' | |||
| *], "Les dieux ont soif" (The Gods are A-thirst) | |||
| *], '']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| *], '']'' | |||
| ==Treatment in film== | |||
| *], ''Danton'' (1983) | |||
| *Robert Enrico and Richard T. Heffron, ''La Révolution française'', part 2 (1989) | |||
| ==Treatment in television== | |||
| *'']'': "]" (1964) | |||
| *BBC series 1999–2000 ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'', based on ] by ] | |||
| ==Treatment in music== | |||
| *], "The Headless Waltz", from '']'' | |||
| *], '']'' | |||
| ==References== | |||
| <references/> | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *Andress, David ''The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-374-27341-3; paperback, ISBN 0-374-53073-4) | |||
| *Beik, William. "The Absolutism of Louis XIV as Social Collaboration: Review Article", ''Past and Present'', no. 188 (Aug. 2005), pp. 195–224. | |||
| *Kerr, Wilfred Brenton. ''Reign of Terror, 1793–1794''. London: Porcupine Press, 1985 (hardcover, ISBN 0-87991-631-1). | |||
| *Moore, Lucy. ''Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France''. London: HarperCollins, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0007206011). | |||
| *Steel, Mark. "Vive La Revolution". London: Scribner, 2003 (paperback new edn., ISBN 0743208064). | |||
| ** by Adam Thorpe in , December 23, 2006 | |||
| *] ''Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0-691-12187-7) | |||
| *Jordan, David P.'' The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre.'' New York, Free Press, 1985,(hardcover; ISBN 0-02-916530-X) pp. 150-164. | |||
| *Schama, Simon. ''Citizens - A Chronicle of the French Revolution.'' New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1989,(hardcover; ISBN 0-394-55948-7) pp. 714-716. See also pp. 678-847. | |||
| *Scott, Otto. ''Robespierre, The Fool as Revolutionary - Inside the French Revolution.'' Windsor, NY, The Reformer Library, 1974 (softcover; ISBN 9-781887-690058) | |||
| *Loomis, Stanley. ''Paris in the Terror.'' New York, NY, Dorset Press, 1964 (hardcover; ISBN 0-88029-401-9). The dramatic events surrounding the reign of terror and the fall of Robespierre are vividly described in this book. | |||
| *Hibbert, Christopher. The Days of the French Revolution. New York, Quill-William Morrow, 1981 (softcover: ISBN 9-780688-169787) , pp. 271-304. | |||
| ==External links== | |||
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Revision as of 17:58, 27 September 2007
The French Revolution sucks