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Summary The Terror + Executions
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Notes on the Terror + executions during the French Revolution
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The Terror + Executions 1792-1794 there were around 40,000 victims of the Terror
- Many of these deaths were as a result of the internal war (part. In Vendée) but
estimated approx. 17,000 of these were guillotined
These years the newly-adopted guillotine was transformed from being a symbol of progress
as a ‘humane’ method of execution to a symbol of oppression
- Its history reflected the disappearance of early revolutionary ideals as the chaos and
paranoia created by war + fear of counter-revolution brought death and fear
The popular Terror- September- December 1793:
Sept 1793: NC declared it must destroy its enemies or they’d destroy the Republic
- Following the Law of Suspects (17/9) there was a rapid increase in the numbers of those
brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal (set up March)
- Between March + Sept the Tribunal heard 260 cases; between Sept + Dec it dealt with
500,000
- Mar-Sept: Tribunal sent 66 to the guillotine; Sept-Dec it sent 180 (this just in Paris)
Show trials:
- Sans-culotte’s desire for blood raised by execution of King + outpourings of political
agitators eg Hebert
- From October: in response to this pressure, a series of show trials took place in Paris
- These featured prominent people, most of them aristocrats, however only 9% of the
executions in this phase of Terror came from nobility, 7% from the clergy
- 14th October: The 1st trial- Marie-Antoinette
o Accused of orgies; squandering government money; conspiracy against the
internal + external security of the state; sharing intelligence with the enemy +
incest with her son
o 16th October: she was found guilty of all crimes except incest + guillotined
- 24th October: trial of the 21 expelled Girondin leaders began
o Result was a foregone conclusion and all were condemned to death
o 31st October: all guillotined in the space of 36 minutes
o Most of the remaining Girondins who’d escaped from Paris were captured +
executed or committed suicide
- 6th November: trial + execution of duc d’Orléans- Philippe Egalité
o Despite his support for the revolution + Republic, his son’s friendship with
Dumouriez along with his links to the royal family placed him under suspicion
- 8th November: Madame Roland (wife of disgraced Girondin minister Roland who’d fled)
conveyed to guillotine
o Her last words were ‘Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!’
Deaths of ‘ordinary’ citizens:
- 10th October: a major speech by Saint-Just in name of the CPS said that ‘the provisional
government of France is revolutionary until there is peace’; this was used to justify an
intense campaign across the départements using:
o Comités de surveillance to monitor residents in every municipality
o Armées révolutionnaires of around 40,000 men to roam the countryside + clamp
down on federalist + counter-revolutionary activity
o Spies and agents from the CGS
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