Revolutionary France: From Monarchy's End to Terror's Fall
The Execution of Louis XVI
The execution of Louis XVI was proposed. The moderates objected and eventually forced a trial. Louis was accused of conspiring against France by communicating with foreign and émigré armies, and of instigating enemy attacks. Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and, in January 1793, was executed at the guillotine. Months later, in October 1793, Marie Antoinette met the same fate.
The Jacobins' Coup
The sans-culottes stormed the National Convention and accused the Girondins of representing the aristocracy. Robespierre took control of the Convention and installed the Jacobins in power.
In July 1793, some radical Jacobin leaders, including Robespierre, took charge of the Committee of Public Safety and immediately began to make drastic changes. Among these changes was the suspension of many clauses of the new constitution. One of the most important Jacobin policies was the Maximum, a decree that fixed prices in an attempt to curb inflation.
In August, military strategist Lazare Carnot was appointed head of the French war effort and immediately set about instituting conscription throughout France. Propaganda and discipline helped to re-energize the nation. Carnot’s efforts succeeded, and the new French army managed to push back the invading Austrian and Prussian forces and re-establish France’s traditional boundaries.
The Reign of Terror
In 1793, Robespierre and the Jacobins focused on addressing economic and political threats within France. In September, Robespierre began pointing an accusing finger at anyone whose beliefs seemed counter-revolutionary—citizens who had committed no crime but merely had social or political agendas that varied too much from Robespierre’s. The Committee of Public Safety targeted even those who shared many Jacobin views but were perceived as just slightly too radical or conservative.
During the nine-month period that followed, anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 French citizens were beheaded at the guillotine. Associates of Robespierre, such as Georges Danton, who had helped orchestrate the Jacobin rise to power, fell victim to the paranoia. When Danton questioned Robespierre’s increasingly extreme actions and tried to arrange a truce between France and the warring countries, he himself lost his life to the guillotine in April 1794.
Robespierre’s bloody attempt to protect the Revolution had the opposite result. The Reign of Terror prompted a weakening on every front. Robespierre even eliminated many former allies. People shifted their focus from equality to peace.
By the time the French army had completely defeated foreign invaders, Robespierre no longer had a justification for his extreme actions in the name of public “safety.” His final proposal was the foundation of a Republic of Virtue, which aimed to replace traditional Christian morals with a new set of civic values. In July 1794, a group of members of the National Convention arrested Robespierre. He, too, lost his head at the guillotine.