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97-675: Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downfall and execution of the moderate Dantonists. It comprised seven numbers, of which six appeared; the seventh remained unpublished for some forty years. Le Vieux Cordelier was published twice a "décade" and sold very well. Desmoulins was born 2 March, 1760, in Guise in Northern France. Desmoulins' role as

194-760: A civil war. Discontent in the Vendée lasted—according to some accounts—until after the Terror. On 6 April 1793 the National Convention established the Committee of Public Safety , which gradually became the de facto war-time government of France. The Committee oversaw the Reign of Terror. "During the Reign of Terror, at least 300,000 suspects were arrested; 17,000 were officially executed, and perhaps 10,000 died in prison or without trial." On 2 June 1793,

291-629: A concealed staircase to the third floor and his apartment. The great confusion that arose during the storming of the municipal Hall of Paris, where Robespierre and his friends had found refuge, makes it impossible to be sure of the wound's origin. A group of 15 to 20 conspirators were locked up in a room inside the Hôtel de Ville. In any case, Robespierre was guillotined the next day, together with Saint-Just, Couthon and his brother Augustin Robespierre . The day following his demise, approximately half of

388-717: A friend and ally of Danton, was expelled from the Committee of Public Safety, arrested and tried alongside them. On 5 April 1794, the Dantonists went to the guillotine. The elimination of the Hébertists and the Dantonists made evident the strength of the Committees to control and silence opposition. The creation in March 1794 of a General Police Bureau—reporting nominally to the Committee of Public Safety—served to increase

485-557: A journalist led him to the production of Le Vieux Cordelier. He personally struggled in his attempts to become a lawyer; despite his acceptance in law school as well into the Parlement of Paris , Desmoulins found himself inadequate to continue his career as lawyer. His stammer and lack of connections to the Parisian legal community proved obstacles to success in this arena. Nevertheless, he still continued his struggle to contribute to

582-430: A more dictatorial boss, would have ended up overthrowing him to put himself in his place; we also knew that we stood in the way of his projects and that he would have us guillotined; we had him stopped." The fall of Robespierre was brought about by a combination of those who wanted more power for the Committee of Public Safety (and a more radical policy than he was willing to allow) and the moderates who completely opposed

679-557: A new republican constitution, drafted by the National Assembly. The French Constitution of 1793 and its subsequent government would bring sweeping reforms to French politics and the French social order. Major reforms included comprehensive education, the recognition of rights for illegitimate children and improved rights for married women. The French Constitution of 1793 outlined the prevailing Enlightenment era ideology of

776-500: A newfound military power in France, which was used to defend against the future coalitions formed by rival nations. The event also solidified Robespierre's rise to power as president of the Committee of Public Safety earlier in July. On September 8, banks and exchange offices were shuttered to curb the circulation of counterfeit assignats and the outflow of capital, with investments in foreign countries punishable by death. The following day,

873-518: A proposal by Chaumette and supported by Billaud and Danton, decided to form a revolutionary army of 6,000 men in Paris. Barère, representing the Committee of Public Safety, introduced a decree that was promptly passed, establishing a paid armed force of 6,000 men and 1,200 gunners "tasked with crushing counter-revolutionaries, enforcing revolutionary laws and public safety measures decreed by the National Convention, and safeguarding provisions." This allowed

970-448: A reconstructed government. As a Jacobin radical, Desmoulins was not the only one who contributed to these efforts. His close friends Maximilien Robespierre , Pétion de Villeneuve and Georges Danton played significant roles alongside him. This friendship lasted up until both Desmoulins and Danton (among fifteen other revolutionists), were put on trial in early April 1794 for their alleged royalist tendencies, their executions exemplified

1067-621: A speech to the Jacobin Club that night, he attacked Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne, who had refused to allow the printing and distribution of his speech to the convention. On the following day, 27 July 1794 ( 9 Thermidor according to the Republican calendar ), Saint-Just began to speak before the Convention. However, he was almost immediately interrupted by Tallien and by Billaud-Varenne, who accused him of intending to "murder

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1164-499: Is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie [homeland, fatherland] . Marxist historian Albert Mathiez argues that such terror was a necessary reaction to the circumstances. Others suggest there were additional causes, including ideological and emotional. Enlightenment thought emphasized

1261-583: The Annals of the Roman historian Tacitus concerning the oppressive reign of the emperor Tiberius . While more likely drawn from the Discourses on Tacitus published in 1737 by Thomas Gordon , these terse portraits - describing a civilization turned sick by fear and brutality - were effective in drawing a powerful parallel between Rome under Tiberius and France during the Terror. Desmoulins openly advocated for

1358-586: The Catholic Church and given to the state. In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed or forced to leave France. Later in 1792, "refractory priests" were targeted and replaced with their secular counterpart from the Jacobin club . Not all religions experienced equal aggression, the Jewish community, on the contrary, received admittance into French citizenship in 1791. A Festival of Reason

1455-554: The Constituent Assembly were taken to the scaffold. Saint-Just and LeBas left Paris at the end of the month for the army in the north . On 21 May 1794 the revolutionary government decided that the Terror would be centralised, with almost all the tribunals in the provinces closed and all the trials held in Paris. On 20 May, Robespierre signed Theresa Cabarrus 's arrest warrant, and on 23 May, following an attempted assassination on Collot d'Herbois , Cécile Renault

1552-642: The Federalist revolts against the National Convention in Paris, which were ultimately crushed. On 24 June 1793, the Convention adopted the first republican constitution of France, the French Constitution of 1793 . It was ratified by public referendum , but never put into force. On 13 July 1793, the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat —a Jacobin leader and journalist—resulted in a further increase in Jacobin political influence. Georges Danton ,

1649-541: The First Coalition . The Coalition, consisting of Russia , Austria , Prussia , Spain , Holland , and Sardinia began attacking France from all directions, besieging and capturing ports and retaking ground lost to France. With so many similarities to the first days of the Revolutionary Wars for the French government, with threats on all sides, unification of the country became a top priority. As

1746-541: The First Republic , a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety . While terror was never formally instituted as a legal policy by the Convention, it was more often employed as a concept. There is disagreement among historians over when exactly "the Terror" began. Some consider it to have begun only in 1793, often giving

1843-538: The Jacobins , maintaining his calls for an end to the Terror. He accuses Hébert of aiming to prepare the counter-revolution through his extremism, with the assistance, although not explicitly mentioned, of Jean de Batz . Shortly after this issue appeared, on 21 Nivôse (10 January), Desmoulins was expelled from the Jacobin Club. The sixth number, though dated 10 Nivôse (30 December 1793), was further delayed due to

1940-542: The September Massacres of 1792 by taking violence into their own hands as an instrument of government. The monarchist Jacques Cazotte who predicted the Terror was guillotined at the end of the month. What Robespierre called "terror" was the fear that the "justice of exception" would inspire the enemies of the Republic. He opposed the idea of terror as the order of the day, defending instead "justice" as

2037-593: The revolt of Lyon against the National Convention , while Jean-Baptiste Carrier ordered the drownings at Nantes . Tallien ensured the operation of the guillotine in Bordeaux, while Barras and Fréron addressed issues in Marseille and Toulon. Joseph Le Bon was sent to the Somme and Pas-de-Calais regions. On 8 November, the director of the assignats manufacture and Manon Roland were executed. On 13 November,

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2134-627: The Austrians and their allies was feared. A widespread belief held that revolutionary France was in immediate peril, threatened not only by foreign armies and by recent revolts in the Vendée , but also by foreign agents who plotted the destruction of the nation from within. Dumouriez's defection lent greater credence to this belief. In light of this threat, the Girondin leader Maximin Isnard proposed

2231-546: The Austro-Prussian invasion. While the French military had stabilized and was producing victories by the time the Reign of Terror officially began, the pressure to succeed in this international struggle acted as justification for the government to pursue its actions. It was not until after the execution of Louis XVI and the annexation of the Rhineland that the other monarchies began to feel threatened enough to form

2328-551: The Comité de salut public was created, whose task was to monitor public servants, competing with both the Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety. Foreigners were no longer allowed to travel through France or visit a Jacobin club; Dutch patriots who had fled to France before 1790 were excluded. On 22 April Malesherbes , a lawyer who had defended the king and the deputés Isaac René Guy le Chapelier and Jacques Guillaume Thouret , four times elected president of

2425-687: The Committee due to illness (he all but ceased to attend meetings in June 1794) created the impression among some members that he was isolated and out of touch. Charlotte Robespierre reported in her memoirs that Robespierre had come into conflict with several of the representatives on mission due to their excessive use of violence, which likely also led to the unity of the Committee devolving. When it became suspected in mid-July 1794 that Robespierre and Saint-Just were planning to strike against their political opponents Joseph Fouché , Jean-Lambert Tallien and Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier (the latter two members of

2522-430: The Committee of General Security), the fragile truce within the government was dissolved. Saint-Just and his fellow Committee of Public Safety member Bertrand Barère attempted to keep the peace between the Committees of Public Safety and General Security. However, Robespierre delivered a speech to the National Convention on 26 July 1794 in which he emphasized the need to "purify" the Committees and "crush all factions". In

2619-420: The Committee of Public Safety itself had grown so violent that it relocated its meetings to a more private room to preserve the illusion of agreement. On 21 May 1794 the revolutionary government decided that the judicial system would be centralised, with almost all the tribunals in the provinces closed and all the capital trials held in Paris. The Law of 22 Prairial , proposed by the committee and enacted by

2716-494: The Committee of Public Safety was created on 6 April 1793 by the National Convention . It was charged with protecting the new republic against its foreign and domestic enemies, fighting the First Coalition and the Vendée revolt . As a wartime measure, the committee was given broad supervisory and administrative powers over the armed forces, judiciary and legislature, as well as the executive bodies and ministers of

2813-554: The Convention shut down the Paris Bourse and banned all commerce in precious metals, under penalties. Anti-clerical sentiments increased and a campaign of dechristianization occurred at the end of 1793. Eventually, Robespierre denounced the "de-Christianisers" as foreign enemies. In early December, Robespierre accused Georges Danton in the Jacobin Club of "too often showing his vices and not his virtue". Camille Desmoulins defended Danton and warned Robespierre not to exaggerate

2910-446: The Convention". Barère, Vadier and Stanislas Fréron joined the accusations against Saint-Just and Robespierre. The Convention ordered the arrest of Robespierre, his brother Augustin , and Saint-Just, along with that of their supporters, including Philippe Le Bas and Georges Couthon . A period of intense civil unrest ensued, during which the members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security were forced to seek refuge in

3007-537: The Danton Committee. Danton steered the Committee through the 31 May and 2 June 1793 journées that saw the violent expulsion of the Girondins and through the intensifying war in the Vendée. When the committee was recomposed on 10 July 1793, Danton was not included. Nevertheless, he continued to support the centralization of power by the committee. On 27 July 1793, Maximilien Robespierre was elected to

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3104-653: The French Revolution, the surrounding monarchies did not show great hostility towards the rebellion. Though mostly ignored, Louis XVI was later able to find support in Leopold II of Austria (brother of Marie Antoinette ) and Frederick William II of Prussia . On 27 August 1791, these foreign leaders made the Pillnitz Declaration , saying they would restore the French monarch if other European rulers joined. In response to what they viewed to be

3201-571: The French common classes such as the Sans-Culottes turned to radicalism and inspired militant activism among the French populace. On 5 April 1793, the French military commander and former minister of war General Charles François Dumouriez defected to Austria following the publication of an incendiary letter in which he threatened to march his army on the city of Paris if the National Convention did not accede to his leadership. News of his defection caused alarm in Paris, where imminent defeat by

3298-513: The French government at this stage of the revolutionary period. The constitution outlines a right to the resistance of oppression as well as the right to personal liberty. The equality of all French men is detailed as is the structure of the French Republic . The new constitution and the shift into a republican government centered on the National Assembly created the atmosphere for a radicalized governing authority to take power. Members of

3395-526: The French people, were replaced by views on reason and scientific thought. The radical revolutionaries and their supporters desired a cultural revolution that would rid the French state of all Christian influence. This process began with the fall of the monarchy , an event that effectively defrocked the State of its sanctification by the clergy via the doctrine of Divine Right and ushered in an era of reason. Many long-held rights and powers were stripped from

3492-475: The Laws defines a core principle of a democratic government: virtue —described as "the love of laws and of our country." In Robespierre's speech to the National Convention on 5 February 1794, titled "Virtue & Terror", he regards virtue as being the "fundamental principle of popular or democratic government." This was, in fact, the same virtue defined by Montesquieu almost 50 years prior. Robespierre believed

3589-459: The Montagnards gained control of the National Convention, they began demanding radical measures. Moreover, the sans-culottes, the urban workers of France, agitated leaders to inflict punishments on those who opposed the interests of the poor. The sans-culottes' violently demonstrated, pushing their demands and creating constant pressure for the Montagnards to enact reform. The sans-culottes fed

3686-559: The Paris Commune (70 members) met their fate at the guillotine. Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public ) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror , a violent phase of the French Revolution . Supplementing the Committee of General Defence, created early January 1793,

3783-468: The Parisian sans-culottes surrounded the National Convention, calling for administrative and political purges, a fixed low price for bread, and a limitation of the electoral franchise to sans-culottes alone. With the backing of the national guard , they persuaded the convention to arrest 29 Girondist leaders. In reaction to the imprisonment of the Girondin deputies, some thirteen departments started

3880-594: The Reign of Terror, the sans-culottes and the Hébertists put pressure on the National Convention delegates and contributed to the overall instability of France. The National Convention was bitterly split between the Montagnards and the Girondins . The Girondins were more conservative leaders of the National Convention, while the Montagnards supported radical violence and pressures of the lower classes. Once

3977-465: The Seventh Number rather than proceeding further. The Seventh Number, penned mid-March, even before the arrest of his Hébertist enemies, never saw the light during Desmoulins' lifetime, largely due to apprehension about its political stance. He addressed the members of the Committee of general security, which had stifled the case of François Chabot . It also contained a plea for the freedom of

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4074-574: The Terror and threatened insurrection, and the Dantonists , led by Danton, who demanded moderation and clemency. The Committee of Public Safety took actions against both. On 8 February 1794, Jean-Baptiste Carrier was recalled from Nantes, after a member of the Committee of Public Safety wrote to Robespierre with information about the atrocities being carried out, although Carrier himself was not put on trial. On 26 February and 3 March 1794 (8 and 13 Ventôse), Saint-Just proposed decrees to confiscate

4171-477: The borders of France, pushed the government to resort to drastic measures to ensure the loyalty of every citizen, not only to France but more importantly to the Revolution. While this series of losses was eventually broken, the reality of what might have happened if they persisted hung over France. The tide would not turn from them until September 1792 when the French won a critical victory at Valmy preventing

4268-423: The cause of the 200,000 defenceless civilians that had been detained in prisons as suspects and called for clemency: You want to remove all your enemies by means of the guillotine! Has there ever been such great folly? Could you make a single man perish on the scaffold, without making ten enemies for yourself from his family or his friends? ... I think quite differently from those who tell you that terror must remain

4365-557: The committee were codified by the Law of 14 Frimaire (also known as the Law of Revolutionary Government) on 4 December 1793. On 5 December 1793, journalist Camille Desmoulins began publishing Le Vieux Cordelier with the approval of Robespierre and the Committee . This newspaper was initially aimed against the ultrarevolutionary Hébertist faction, whose extremist demands, anti-religious fervor and propensity for sudden insurrections troubled

4462-509: The committee. At this time, the committee was entering a more powerful and active phase, alongside its partner, the Committee of General Security . The role of the Committee of Public Safety included the governance of the war (including the appointment of generals), the appointing of judges and juries for the Revolutionary Tribunal, the provisioning of the armies and the public, the maintenance of public order and oversight of

4559-492: The committee. However, Desmoulins quickly turned his pen against the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security, comparing their reign to that of the Roman tyrants chronicled by Tacitus and expounding the indulgent views of the Dantonist faction. Consequently, though the Hébertists were arrested and executed in March 1794, the Committees had Desmoulins and Danton arrested as well. Hérault de Séchelles ,

4656-485: The convention on 10 June 1794, went further in establishing the control of the Revolutionary Tribunal and above it the Convention and Committees of Public Safety and General Security. The law enumerated various forms of public enemies, required their denunciation, and severely limited the legal recourse available to those accused. The punishment for all crimes covered under this law was death; from its inception to its removal, more people were condemned to death in Paris than in

4753-482: The convention. As the committee, restructured in July, raised the defense ( levée en masse ) against the monarchist coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within France, it became more and more powerful. In December 1793, the Convention formally conferred executive power upon the committee . Among the members, the radical Montagnard Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre was one of

4850-538: The convention. The Robespierre brothers, Saint-Just, Le Bas and Couthon ensconced themselves in the Hôtel de Ville , attempting to incite an insurrection. Ultimately, faced with defeat and arrest, Le Bas committed suicide, while Saint-Just, Couthon, and Maximilien and Augustin Robespierre were arrested and guillotined on 28 July 1794. The ensuing period of upheaval, dubbed the Thermidorian Reaction , saw

4947-478: The creation of a nine-member Committee of Public Safety. Isnard was supported in this effort by Georges Danton , who declared: "This Committee is precisely what we want, a hand to grasp the weapon of the Revolutionary Tribunal ". After a proposal by Bertrand Barère on 18 March the committee was created on 6 April 1793. Closely associated with the leadership of Danton, it was initially known as

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5044-711: The date as 5 September or 10 March, when the Revolutionary Tribunal came into existence. Others, however, cite the earlier time of the September Massacres in 1792, or even July 1789, when the first killing of the revolution occurred. The term "Terror" used to describe the period was introduced by the Thermidorian Reaction , which took power after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794, to discredit Robespierre and justify its own actions. By then, 16,594 official death sentences had been dispensed throughout France since June 1793, of which 2,639 were in Paris alone. An additional 10,000 to 12,000 people had been executed without trial and 10,000 had died in prison. There

5141-551: The earlier, "old" Cordeliers, while simultaneously repudiating the violent, anti-religious Hébertists. In this goal, Desmoulins was supported by Robespierre, who viewed the Vieux Cordelier' s attacks on the Hébertists as an effective means of reducing the faction's power and popularity. However, later numbers of the journal introduced criticisms of the Revolutionary Tribunal , the Committee of Public Safety , and Robespierre himself. The first edition appears to be written to

5238-408: The enactment of the law, the number of executions greatly increased, and the period from this time to the Thermidorian Reaction became known as "The Great Terror" ( French : la Grande Terreur ). Between 10 June and 27 July, another 1,366 were executed, causing fear among Collot d'Herbois, Fouché and Tallien due to their past actions. Like Brissot, Madame Roland, Pétion, Hébert and Danton, Tallien

5335-402: The end of the Hébertists . Eventually, the more popular the newspaper got the farther he felt Desmoulins from their initial purpose nevertheless, leading him to requesting the right to proofread anything before it was published. In the fifth number, which appeared 16 Nivôse (5 January 1794) though dated 5 Nivôse (25 December 1793), Desmoulins addressed himself in a "justificatory discourse" to

5432-568: The entire previous history of the Revolutionary Tribunal. However, this statistic is accentuated by the fact that, as noted previously, all capital trials and sentences were carried out in Paris rather than being scattered across the provinces. Robespierre, a fervent supporter of the theistic Cult of the Supreme Being , found himself frequently in conflict with anti-religious Committee members Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne . Moreover, Robespierre's increasingly extensive absences from

5529-431: The event as a means to combat the "moral counterrevolution" taking place among his rivals. Additionally, he hoped to stem "the monster Atheism" that was a result of the radical secularization in philosophical and social circles. The tension sparked by these conflicting objectives laid a foundation for the "justified" use of terror to achieve revolutionary ideals and rid France of the religiosity that revolutionaries believed

5626-406: The extremists Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne were elected in the Committee of Public Safety. On 9 September the convention established paramilitary forces, the "revolutionary armies", to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. On 17 September, the Law of Suspects was passed, which authorized the imprisonment of vaguely defined "suspects". This created a mass overflow in

5723-408: The frenzy of instability and chaos by utilizing popular pressure during the Revolution. For example, the sans-culottes sent letters and petitions to the Committee of Public Safety urging them to protect their interests and rights with measures such as taxation of foodstuffs that favored workers over the rich. They advocated for arrests of those deemed to oppose reforms against those with privilege, and

5820-442: The gendarme Charles-André Merda . A change in orientation might explain how Robespierre, sitting in a chair, got wounded from the upper right in the lower left jaw. ) According to Bourdon, Méda then hit Couthon's adjutant in his leg. Couthon was found lying at the bottom of a staircase in a corner, having fallen from the back of his adjutant. Saint-Just gave himself up without a word. According to Méda, Hanriot tried to escape by

5917-547: The glory of Maximilien Robespierre. He denounced the Hébertistes as agents of William Pitt the Younger . In the second issue the writer claims to be a democrat for the first time. He attacked Anarchasis Cloots and Jacques-René Hébert who contributed to divide the patriots. The third number of the Vieux Cordelier , appearing 25 Frimaire (15 December 1793), changed tone, purported to quote without comment passages from

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6014-551: The government to form "revolutionary armies" designed to force French citizens into compliance with Maximilian rule. These armies were also used to enforce "the law of the General Maximum ", which controlled the distribution and pricing of food. Addressing the Convention, Robespierre claimed that the "weight and willpower" of the people loyal to the republic would be used to oppress those who would turn "political gatherings into gladiatorial arenas". The policy change unleashed

6111-416: The government was required to act for the general will , which represented the interests of everyone rather than a few factions. Drawing from the idea of a general will, Robespierre felt that the French Revolution could result in a Republic built for the general will but only once those who fought against this ideal were expelled. Those who resisted the government were deemed " tyrants " fighting against

6208-411: The hospitals; the children shall pick rags to lint [for bandages]; the old men shall betake themselves to the public square in order to arouse the courage of the warriors and preach hatred of kings and the unity of the Republic. On 5 September on the proposal of Barère , the Convention is supposed to have declared by vote that "terror is the order of the day". On that day's session, the Convention, upon

6305-405: The importance of rational thinking and began challenging legal and moral foundations of society, providing the leaders of the Reign of Terror with new ideas about the role and structure of government. Rousseau 's Social Contract argued that each person was born with rights, and they would come together in forming a government that would then protect those rights. Under the social contract,

6402-475: The leader of the August 1792 uprising against the king, was removed from the Committee of Public Safety on 10 July 1793. On 27 July 1793 Robespierre became part of the Committee of Public Safety. On 23 August 1793, the National Convention decreed the levée en masse : The young men shall fight; the married man shall forge arms and transport provisions; the women shall make tents and clothes and shall serve in

6499-487: The meddling of foreign powers, France declared war on 20 April 1792. However, at this point, the war was only Prussia and Austria against France. France began this war with a series of major defeats, which set a precedent of fear of invasion in the people that would last throughout the war. Massive reforms of military institutions, while very effective in the long run, presented the initial problems of inexperienced forces and leaders of questionable political loyalty. In

6596-478: The more militant members would advocate pillage in order to achieve the desired equality. The resulting instability caused problems that made forming the new Republic and achieving full political support critical. The Reign of Terror was characterized by a dramatic rejection of long-held religious authority, its hierarchical structure, and the corrupt and intolerant influence of the aristocracy and clergy. Religious elements that long stood as symbols of stability for

6693-429: The most well-known, though he did not have any special powers or privileges. After the arrest and execution of the rival factions of Hébertists and Dantonists , sentiment in the Convention eventually turned against Robespierre, who was executed in July 1794. In the following Thermidorian Reaction , the committee's influence diminished after 26 months and it disappeared on the same day as the National Convention , which

6790-407: The order of the day. In February 1794 in a speech he explains why this "terror" was necessary as a form of exceptional justice in the context of the revolutionary government: If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror

6887-490: The order of the day. The fourth number argued against the Law of Suspects , saying, "...in the Declaration of Rights there is no house of suspicion... there are no suspected persons, only those convicted of crimes fixed by the law." It also appealed for a "Committee of Clemency" to counter the excesses of the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security . So controversial were these views that Desmoulins

6984-537: The people " and accused of conspiring against liberty . Paris saw a doubling of death sentences, with two new mass graves dug at Picpus Cemetery by mid-July. There was widespread agreement among deputies that their parliamentary immunity , in place since 1 April 1793, had become perilous. On 14 July Robespierre had Fouché expelled. To evade arrest about fifty deputies avoided staying at home. According to Barère , who just like Robespierre never went on mission: "We never deceived ourselves that Saint-Just, cut out as

7081-421: The political concerns of its publisher Desenne, and did not appear until 15 Pluviôse (3 February 1794). Though Desmoulins had rephrased his demands for a Committee of Clemency and called instead for a "Committee of Justice," and turned his attacks again against the politically acceptable target of Hébert, his criticism of the Terror continued. Desene, hesitated to release this issue, ultimately deciding to withhold

7178-511: The power of the Committee of Public Safety. However, even as the period later known as the 'Terror' reached its height and with it the committee's political power, discord was growing within the revolutionary government. Members of the Committee of General Security resented the aggressive behavior of the Committee of Public Safety and particularly the encroachment of the General Police Bureau upon their own brief. Arguments within

7275-401: The press . In the early hours of March 31, Desmoulins was arrested under a warrant from the Revolutionary Tribunal. Alongside Danton, he faced trial on charges of counter-revolutionary conspiracy and, on April 5, 1794, met his fate at the guillotine. Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: la Terreur ) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of

7372-433: The pressure of the radical sans-culottes , the Convention agreed to institute a revolutionary army but refused to make terror the order of the day. According to French historian Jean-Clément Martin , there was no "system of terror" instated by the Convention between 1793 and 1794, despite the pressure from some of its members and the sans-culottes. The members of the convention were determined to avoid street violence such as

7469-489: The prison systems. On 29 September, the Convention extended price fixing from grain and bread to other essential goods, and also fixed wages. On 10 October the Convention decreed that "the provisional government shall be revolutionary until peace." On 16 October Marie Antoinette was executed. The trial of the Girondins started on the same day; they were executed on 31 October in just over half an hour by Charles-Henri Sanson . Joseph Fouché and Collot d'Herbois suppressed

7566-469: The property of exiles and opponents of the revolution, known as the Ventôse Decrees . In March 1794, the major Hébertists were tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed on 24th. On 30 March the two committees decided to arrest Danton and Desmoulins after Saint-Just became uncharacteristically angry. The Dantonists were tried on 3 to 5 April and executed on 5 April. In mid-April, it

7663-491: The reign of terror tumbling down. The title of the Vieux Cordelier ("Old Cordelier") refers to the Cordeliers Club, an influential revolutionary society that, from its relatively moderate origins under Danton, had come to be associated with ultra-revolutionary factions – principally the followers of journalist Jacques René Hébert . Desmoulins sought to ally his journal's arguments with the less extreme politics of

7760-404: The release of prisoners, a clear indication of a forthcoming peace-oriented policy. The fourth issue of Le Vieux Cordelier , published 30 Frimaire (20 December 1793), was explosive. He attacked the de-Christianisers and compared Maximilien Robespierre with Julius Caesar as dictator. Desmoulins counseled Robespierre not to attempt to build the Republic on such a rare quality as virtue. He took up

7857-722: The repeal of many of the previous year's most unpopular laws and the restriction of the Committees of General Security and Public Safety. The Committees ceased to exist under the Constitution of the Year III (1795), which marked the beginning of the Directory . During the May 1958 crisis in France , an army junta under General Jacques Massu seized power in Algiers on the night of 13 May 1958 and General Salan assumed leadership of

7954-520: The revolution. On 5 December 1793 (14 Frimaire) the National Convention passed the Law of Frimaire , which gave the central government more control over the actions of the representatives on mission . The Commune of Paris and the revolutionary committees in the sections had to obey the law, the two Committees, and the Convention. Desmoulins argued that the Revolution should return to its original ideas en vogue around 10 August 1792. A Committee of Grace had to be established. On 8 December, Madame du Barry

8051-507: The revolutionary government. They had, between them, made the Law of 22 Prairial one of the charges against him, so that, after his fall, to advocate terror would be seen as adopting the policy of a convicted enemy of the republic, putting the advocate's own head at risk. Between his arrest and his execution, Robespierre may have tried to commit suicide by shooting himself, although the bullet wound he sustained, whatever its origin, only shattered his jaw. Alternatively, he may have been shot by

8148-475: The state bureaucracy. The committee was also responsible for interpreting and applying the decrees of the National Convention and thus for implementing some of the most stringent policies of the Terror—for instance, the levée en masse passed on 23 August 1793, the Law of Suspects passed on 17 September 1793 and the Law of the General Maximum passed on 29 September 1793. The broad and centralized powers of

8245-419: The time it took for officers of merit to use their new freedoms to climb the chain of command, France suffered. Many of the early battles were definitive losses for the French. There was the constant threat of the Austro-Prussian forces which were advancing easily toward the capital, threatening to destroy Paris if the monarch was harmed. This series of defeats, coupled with militant uprisings and protests within

8342-400: The virtue and honor of the general will. The leaders felt that their ideal version of government was threatened from the inside and outside of France, and terror was the only way to preserve the dignity of the Republic created from French Revolution. The writings of Baron de Montesquieu , another Enlightenment thinker of the time, also greatly influenced Robespierre. Montesquieu's Spirit of

8439-408: The virtue needed for any democratic government was extremely lacking in the French people. As a result, he decided to weed out those he believed could never possess this virtue. The result was a continual push towards Terror. The Convention used this as justification for the course of action to "crush the enemies of the revolution…let the laws be executed…and let liberty be saved." At the beginning of

8536-450: The war continued and the Reign of Terror began, leaders saw a correlation between using terror and achieving victory. Well phrased by Albert Soboul , "terror, at first an improvised response to defeat, once organized became an instrument of victory." The threat of defeat and foreign invasion may have helped spur the origins of the Terror, but the timely coincidence of the Terror with French victories added justification to its growth. During

8633-447: Was 25 October 1795, but it probably continued till the end of the month. The French Revolution brought about an immense shift in society in which citizens desired to bring about a new age of critical rationality, egalitarianism , and patriotism amongst French men. Revolutionary ideals were spread throughout France and a belief in democracy and civilian government was heralded as the new era of French civilization. 1793 would bring

8730-407: Was a sense of emergency among leading politicians in France in the summer of 1793 between the widespread civil war and counter-revolution. Bertrand Barère exclaimed on 5 September 1793 in the convention: "Let's make terror the order of the day!" This quote has frequently been interpreted as the beginning of a supposed "system of Terror", an interpretation no longer retained by historians today. Under

8827-662: Was accused of participating in conspicuous dinners. On 18 June Pétion de Villeneuve and François Buzot committed suicide and Joachim Vilate was arrested on 21 June. On 26 June 1794 (8 Messidor), the French army won the Battle of Fleurus , which marked a turning point in France's military campaign and undermined the necessity of wartime measures and the legitimacy of the Revolutionary Government. In early July about sixty individuals were arrested as " enemies of

8924-405: Was arrested near Robespierre's residence with two penknives and a change of underwear claiming the fresh linen was for her execution. She was executed on 17 June. On 10 June (22 Prairial), the National Convention passed a law proposed by Georges Couthon , known as the Law of 22 Prairial , which simplified the judicial process and greatly accelerated the work of the Revolutionary Tribunal. With

9021-465: Was decreed to centralise the investigation of court records and to bring all the political suspects in France to the Revolutionary Tribunal to Paris. Saint-Just and Le Bas journeyed the Rhine Army to oversee the generals and punish officers for perceived treasonous timidity, or lack of initiative. The two committees received the power to interrogate them immediately. A special police bureau inside

9118-460: Was expelled from the Cordeliers Club and denounced at the Jacobin Club . Robespierre, hoping to present his friend "as an unthinking child who had fallen into bad company," recommended that the offending numbers of the journal be publicly burnt as an alternative to expelling Desmoulins from the Jacobins. Initially Robespierre supported Camille's new project, as long as he believed it would lead to

9215-528: Was guillotined. On receiving notice that he was to appear on the next day before the Revolutionary Tribunal Étienne Clavière committed suicide. Thomas Paine lost his seat in the Convention, was arrested, and locked up for his association with the Girondins, as well as being a foreign national. By the end of 1793, two major factions had emerged, both threatening the Revolutionary Government: the Hébertists, who called for an intensification of

9312-537: Was held in the Notre Dame Cathedral , which was renamed "The Temple of Reason", and the old traditional calendar was replaced with a new revolutionary one . The leaders of the Terror tried to address the call for these radical, revolutionary aspirations, while at the same time trying to maintain tight control on the de-Christianization movement that was threatening to the clear majority of the still devoted Catholic population of France. Robespierre used

9409-407: Was standing in the way. On 10 March 1793 the National Convention set up the Revolutionary Tribunal . Among those charged by the tribunal, initially, about half of those arrested were acquitted but the number dropped to about a quarter after the enactment of the Law of 22 Prairial on 10 June 1794. In March, rebellion broke out in the Vendée in response to mass conscription, which developed into

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