The "Second Revolution" of 10 August 1792
The popular demonstration of 10 August 1792, occurred because the Legislative Assembly could not decide what to do about the King, the constitution, the ongoing war, and above all the political uprisings in Paris. On 4 August, the most radical Parisian section, "the Section of the 300s," issued an "ultimatum" to the Legislative Assembly, threatening an uprising if no action was taken by midnight August 9th. On the appointed evening, the tocsin (alarm) sounded from the bell tower, and a crowd gathered before the City Hall and headed toward the Tuileries Palace. The crowd overran the Swiss Guards defending the Tuileries Palace, from which the royal family fled. Here a member of the Paris municipality, Pierre–Louis Roederer, describes the scene. In Roederer’s account, it is the mob’s action rather than the vote of the assembly that deposes the King.
Pierre-Louis Roederer, <i>Chronique de 50 jours, du 20 juin au 10 août 1792</i> (Paris, 1832), 352–79.
August 10, 1792
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The September Massacres
In late summer 1792, news reached Paris that the Prussian army had invaded France and was advancing quickly toward the capital. Moreover, rumors circulated that the Prussians would find ready support from Parisians who secretly opposed the Revolution, especially refractory priests. On September 3 and 4, inflamed by radical propaganda, ongoing food shortages, and fear of the invasion, crowds broke into the prisons where they attacked the prisoners, including refractory clergy, who were feared to be counterrevolutionaries who would aid the invading Prussians. The writer Nicolas–Edme Restif de la Bretonne here describes what he saw on the second day of the massacres. This outbreak of violence in the name of defending an imperiled Revolution from its enemies within France has been cited by some historians as evidence of an inherent tendency toward bloodshed on the part of the Jacobins. To others, the event suggests the unfortunate excesses to which well–meaning and sincerely frightened revolutionaries were willing to go to advance the cause of social and political change, in the face of difficult wartime circumstances.
Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, <i>Les nuits de Paris</i> (Paris: Hachette, [1793] 1960), 247–53.
September 3, 1792
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A British Observer of the September Massacres
A British diplomat in Paris here describes, in dispatches back to London, the goings–on in Paris in early September, in light of news of advances by the Duke of Brunswick’s Prussian forces toward the capital. This diplomat was naturally most concerned with reporting the readiness of the Parisians to resist the British, which is evident in his focus on the National Assembly’s call to arms and the outbreak of popular violence.
Oscar Browning, ed., <i>The Despatches of Earl Gower</i> (Cambridge University Press, 1885), 213–16, 219–21, 223–28.
September 3, 1792
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Prudhomme’s Description of the Coup against the Girondins (31 May–2 June 1793)
Throughout the spring of 1793, radicals in the Convention, in the Paris Commune, and in the sections struggled for power against Jean–Pierre Brissot and his allies, known as the "Girondins." They differed over how the revolution should be affected by popular pressure. In late May, Robespierre proposed a motion that accused the Girondins of being a threat to the Republic and ordered their arrest. When the moderate deputies of the "Plain" resisted passing this measure, radicals from the sections mobilized over the course of three days, from 31 May to 2 June, culminating in a show of force by surrounding the Convention Hall. Duly intimidated, the Convention deputies voted for the measure. But even though the die was cast, most Jacobins were uneasy about resorting to such a direct threat that might later undermine their authority. Twenty–nine deputies from the Girondin faction were expelled from the Convention and placed under house arrest. In the aftermath of the coup, the radical faction known as "the Mountain," which usually followed Robespierre’s lead, took control of the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety.
<i>Les Révolutions de Paris</i> (1793), 422–29.
May 31, 1793
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The Eighth of Thermidor
By the summer of 1794, Revolutionary Tribunals had tried over 200,000 suspects, of whom approximately 20,000 had been convicted of treasonous behavior and sent to the guillotine. Moreover, the work of the Terror was intensifying, although the worst threats to the Republic of invasion from without and anarchy within had subsided. Fear and mistrust were widespread, even within the Convention, the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) and the Jacobin Club. In the excerpt below from the Jacobin Club meeting of 8 Thermidor Year II (26 July 1794), Collot d’Herbois, a member of the CPS, questions Robespierre’s motives, accusing him of seeking to become a dictator. (Indeed, rumors that Robespierre wanted to become a king were circulating in Paris.) However, Collot’s speech is poorly received, and those in attendance call for the "conspirators" to be sent to the guillotine.
From <i>THE NINTH OF THERMIDOR</i> by Richard Bienvenu. Copyright (c) 1970 by Oxford University Press, Inc., 181–83. Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
July 26, 1794
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The Ninth of Thermidor
Having carried the day in the Jacobin Club, Robespierre rose to speak the next day in the Convention, where he attacked members of the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security, until now his closest collaborators, for their extreme use of the Terror. He also hinted that such "terrorists" should be purged from the Convention. Fearing for their own safety, some members of those committees, a number of deputies noted for their harsh repressive measures, and others who feared for their safety introduced to the Convention measures they had prepared in advance that condemned Robespierre. In effect, the "Incorruptible’s" turn against immoderate use of the Terror created a conspiracy against him where one had not existed before. The resolution was passed and Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Louis–Antoine Saint–Just, Georges Couthon, and several others were arrested. Robespierre’s supporters, hoping to mobilize the sections to influence the Convention deputies on their own behalf, called for a general mobilization. As the text below shows, a crowd gathered outside the Convention Hall to demand "liberty" for the arrested leaders.
From <i>THE NINTH OF THERMIDOR</i> by Richard Bienvenu. Copyright (c) 1970 by Oxford University Press, Inc., 228–30.<i> Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.</i>
July 27, 1794
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The Eleventh of Thermidor
During the night of the 9th and 10th, with the outcome in doubt, deputies opposing Robespierre went to speak in the sections, hoping to convince the activists of the rightness of their cause. Whether out of political exhaustion, loss of their ability to organize rapidly, disbelief that the liberty of the Republic was any longer in doubt, or simply dissatisfaction with Robespierre’s leadership, not enough sections mobilized to turn the day, and the coup succeeded. It culminated on 10 Thermidor with the guillotining of Robespierre, Saint–Just, and the others. The Convention declared that "justice" should replace "terror" as the order of the day.
From <i>THE NINTH OF THERMIDOR</i> by Richard Bienvenu. Copyright (c) 1970 by Oxford University Press, Inc., 234–35.<i> Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.</i>
July 29, 1794
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Clubs for the People
By creating a fictional man named Jacques who must go to his workshop every day so he can support his family, yet who also wants to do his patriotic duty by following political events, the <i>Révolutions de Paris, </i>in this article that appeared in late 1790, calls upon the government to create and to support popular political clubs. The purpose is to ensure that the most patriotic elements of the "people" (and not just wealthy and well–educated professionals) can have their say in the course of the Revolution.
Les Révolutions de Paris, no. 73 (27 November–4 December 1790), 401–6.
November 27, 1790
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National Assembly Debate on Clubs (20 September 1791)
The "Champ de Mars Massacre" inaugurated a brief period of political repression directed at the popular movement and dramatized the growing tension between the claims of political activism and the desire of moderates to bring the Revolution to an orderly close. This issue was foremost in the minds of the representatives in the very last days of the Constituent Assembly, as they debated a proposal for a new decree limiting the political role of clubs. The decree was adopted but never implemented.
M. J. Mavidal and M. E. Laurent, eds., <i>Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, </i>première série (1787 <i>à</i> 1799), 2d ed., 82 vols. (Paris: Dupont, 1879–1913), 31:617–23.
September 20, 1790
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Police Report on a Session of the Cordeliers
In the passage below, a police observer of a Cordelier Club meeting notes the ongoing concern of the participants to identify and then to denounce "conspiracies" against the republic, even when the conspitators had been very recently integral to the club. In this case, the focus is on Hébert, editor of the <i>Père Duchesne</i>.
W. Markov and Albert Soboul, <i>Die Sanculotten von Paris Dokumente zur Geschichte ver Voksbewegung</i> (1957), no. 69.
March 16, 1794
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