THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

UNIT 3 AREA OF STUDY 2: CREATING A NEW SOCIETY

WEEK 12:The September Massacres and the extension of War

Where were we…

• With loss to Austria in early stages of war, Legislative Assembly declare ‘La Petrie en Danger’ (July 11 1792), homeland in danger. All able bodied men encourage to join war effort

• July 25 1792: Duke of Brunswick Manifesto: ‘Most severe punishment’ of Parisians if Louis and Marie are harmed

• Invasion of the Tuileries (10 August 1792) led to imprisonment of King and made 1791 constitution unworkable

• 17 August 1792: The Legislative Assembly established Committee of Vigilance, which could arrest counter-revolutions

• Monarchists and Constitutional Monarchists went into hiding. 300 left in Assembly. Brissotins, now referred to as Girondins, take control

• Understand the role of war and the press in influencing the September Massacres

• Identify who was massacred and under whose authority

• Explain why the September Massacres occurred

• Explain how France managed to repel the Austrians and Prussians

Learning Intention:Explain the causes and characteristics

of the September Massacres

The capture of Verdun

• 2 September 1792:Prussian armies captured the last fortress before Paris, Verdun. This was a great psychological pressure point of Revolution. Parisians, under the inspiration of Danton made military preparations

• Danton: Member of Insurrectionary Commune and minister of Assembly. Powerful speaking incites crowd to attack back rather than be fearful

The September Massacres (2 – 6 September 1792)

• As the French men made ready to depart Paris and attack the Austrian forces, fear of what would then happen in Paris took hold

• Popular press spread rumours that prisons were full of conspirators

• Marat urged people to murder conspirators in prisons: refractory priests, imprisoned Swiss Guards etc

‘Let the blood of the traitors be the first holocaust to liberty, so that as we advance to meet the common enemy, we have got nothing behind us to threaten us’

(Fabre d’Eglantine. Actor, dramatist poet July 28, 1750 – April 5, 1794)

The September Massacres (2 – 6 September 1792)

• Would prisoners escape and take over Paris until Austrians arrived?

• Vigilante juries condemned 1200 to death (including 240 parish priests)

• Execution by beating people to death with metal poles, and other barbaric means

The September Massacres (2 – 6 September 1792)

• No revolutionary authority tried to stop the massacres

• Historians argue that the stress of the impending war drove these actions, and it is more an expression of their fear than ‘brutishness’

Historian’s opinions: The September Massacres – Simon Scharma

‘A good case might be made for seeing the September massacres as the event which... exposed a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends. For however virtuous the principles of Kingless France were supposed to be, their power to compel allegiance depended, from the very beginning, on the spectacle of death’ (in Fenwick and Anderson p.157)

Turning tide of the War 1792 - 1793

• 20 September 1792: Battle of Valmy. The Prussian Army was devastated by disease and retreated

• By 6 November 1792, the Austrian Army were defeated and the French captured most of Belgium

• France later declared war on England, Holland and Spain in early 1793!!

France at War 1793 - 1799

Britain

Austrian/Prussian

Spain

• What role did war and the press play in influencing the September Massacres?

• Who was massacred and under whose authority?

• Why did the September Massacres occur?

• How did France manage to repel the Austrians and Prussians?

Learning Outcome:Explain the causes and characteristics

of the September Massacres