Virtue and Terror. Robespierre Maximilien

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СКАЧАТЬ designation for the delegates from the Girondin départe-ments who were hostile to the authority of the Convention at the end of 1792—beginning of 1793.

      Fédérés: the armies of the Revolution included battalions of fédérés who comprised a volunteer revolutionary force often mobilized to intervene against internal subversion. They played a decisive role in the fall of the monarchy on 10 August 1792.

      Feuillants – Feuillantisme: the Feuillants Club was a split from the Jacobins at the time of the Champ-de-Mars affair (17 July 1791); it grouped together supporters of the constitutional monarchy, including La Fayette.

      Girondins (‘Brissotins’): ‘Girondins’ was the name given by the historiography of the nineteenth century to the supporters of Brissot and Vergniaud. During the Revolution they were known as ‘Brissotins’ or ‘Rolandins’ and they constituted the right wing of the Convention, favourable to economic liberalism and hostile to interventions by the popular movement.

      Jacobin Club: first representing a moderate tendency, this society included a range of political figures in 1789: Mirabeau, La Fayette and Robespierre, among others. After a split away by the more moderate elements in 1791, the Club increasingly moved towards republican positions. The Girondins left it after the September Massacres of 1792 and thereafter it became a powerful centre for the Montagnards (see below). Closed after 9 Thermidor, it was reconstituted several times until its definitive dissolution in 1799.

      Journées: The great journées of the Revolution were often synonymous with popular insurrections. The main ones were: 14 July 1789 (storming of the Bastille); 5–6 October 1789 (march of women on Versailles); 17 July 1791 (Champ-de-Mars Massacre); 10 August 1792 (fall of the monarchy); 31 May–2 June 1793 (fall of the Girondins), 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794, fall of Robespierre).

      Law of Suspects: the law of 17 September 1793 defined those suspected of being agents of the counter-revolution, principally priests, nobles and foreigners.

      Maximum: the sans-culottes demanded a maximum price limit (to fight against speculators).

      Montagnards: name given to the deputies sitting on the higher benches (the ‘Mountain’) of the Legislative Assembly and then of the Convention. They differed from the Girondins in drawing their support from the popular movement, by showing their support for regulation of the economy and finally by an equalizing vision of social relations. Robespierre was one of their most eminent representatives.

      Paris Commune (also known as the Insurrectionary Commune): on 10 August 1792 an insurrectionary commune composed of members of the far left (Chaumette, Hébert) was formed. It took part in the great journées of the revolution but at the end of 1793 its power was supplanted by that of the Committee of Public Safety under the influence of Robespierre. Purged by the elimination of the Hébertists, it tried unsuccessfully to mobilize Paris to save Robespierre on 9 Thermidor.

      Représentants en mission: members of the Convention who, from spring 1793 onwards, were sent alongside the armies and to the départements; they often played an important role in the local application of the Terror, although in a manner that varied greatly from individual to individual.

      Revolutionary Government: on 10 October 1793 a report by Billaud-Varenne proclaimed the government as ‘revolutionary until peacetime’ (a decree specified the modalities on 18 November), meaning that the 1793 Constitution should only be applied in times of peace. This latter constitution was not put into practice and another – less democratic – one, that of Year III, succeeded it fourteen months after the fall of Robespierre.

      Revolutionary Tribunal: set up in Paris in March 1793 by the Convention to judge the enemies of the Revolution, its power was extended thereafter notably with the law of the ‘great Terror’ (22 Prairial Year II—10 June 1794). It was suppressed several months after the fall of Robespierre on 31 May 1795.

      Sans-culottes: originally a pejorative term, replacing that of canaille, for the lower classes. Literally the term refers to the absence of (aristocratic) knee breeches, thus indicating poverty and ignorance. With time, the term increasingly came to identify the ‘people’ as against the ‘aristocrats’. For Robespierre, more than anything, it designated ardent patriots of modest origins.

      Sections: originally, the sections in Paris simply had a role as electoral districts. As activists from the popular movement threw themselves increasingly into the sections, the latter tried to widen their scope of activity. With these organs thus gaining in autonomy, the Revolutionary Government progressively curtailed them.

      Terror: term used to cover different measures taken by the state during the period from the summer 1792 to July 1794. Originally taken in a disordered manner, these measures became more systematic with the Convention’s placing of the Terror on the ‘order of the day’ from 5 September 1793 onwards. The law of the ‘Great Terror’ of 22 Prairial Year II (10 June 1794) marked its climax. The repressive measures were indissociable from the context of internal and external warfare or from the economic measures aiming at greater equality.

      Vendée: department in Western France which was the scene of an insurrection hostile to the Revolution – originally sparked off by the mobilization of 300,000 men for the armies – from March 1793 onwards. The insurrection was harshly repressed.

       KEY FIGURES CITED IN THE TEXTS

      Abbé Maury (Jean Siffrein) 1746–1817: elected to the Constituent Assembly, he was one of the principal defenders of the Ancien Régime against the Revolution. He emigrated to Rome in 1792.

      Barère de Vieuzac (Bertrand) 1755–1841: deputy of the Constituent Assembly and then Montagnard deputy in the Convention. Member of the Committee of Public Safety, one of the organizers of the Terror; for a long time he was close to Robespierre but turned against him on 9 Thermidor.

      Billaud-Varenne (Jean-Nicolas) 1756–1819: member of the Jacobin Club, he wrote texts in which he claimed to be a republican. Member of the Paris Commune after 10 August 1792, he then became a Montagnard deputy in the Convention and entered the Committee of Public Safety alongside Robespierre in September 1793, before becoming one of the instigators of 9 Thermidor.

      Brissot (Jacques-Pierre) 1754–1793: member of the Jacobin Club, he contributed to the drafting of the petition calling for a republic which was carried to the Champ-de-Mars in July 1791. A deputy in the Legislative Assembly, he was one of the leaders of the Girondins and in favour of the war. Elected to the Convention, he opposed Robespierre and the Montagnards. He was tried and guillotined by the Revolutionary Tribunal.

      Chaumette (Pierre Gaspard) 1763–1794: member of the Cordelier Club, he was the procureur-syndic of the Paris Commune in 1792. Robespierre opposed him on account of his de-Christianizing convictions. He was arrested and guillotined with the Hébertists.

      Cloots (Anacharsis) 1755–1794: of Prussian origin, Cloots was in Paris and rallied to the Revolution in 1789. He named himself ‘the orator of humanity’ and he was a member of the Jacobins and a deputy in the Convention. A de-Christianizer, he was close to the Hébertists and was guillotined alongside them.

      Danton (Georges Jacques) 1759–1794: a founder of the Cordelier Club in 1790, he became the Minister of Justice on 11 August 1792 after the fall of the monarchy. СКАЧАТЬ