Maximilien Robespierre and the Reign of Terror (Part 2)

Video Description

The year is 1793, Louis XVI has just been executed. France is devastated by its civil war and is now threatened by the 1st Coalition. Paranoia and terror, oh, terror grips the country by its throat as the people ask for more and more purges. As a result, almost 17,000 are executed in just over a year. France now lives under the tyranny of the Committee of Public Safety, with at its head, Maximilien Robespierre. Hi there! This is Barris, a French – American that lived most of his life in France and is passionate about learning, exploring, hiking and cooking. It’s a vast and beautiful world out there so join us as we discover the historical, cultural and culinary heritage of France, Europe and the rest of the World. This, of course, will take a lot of resources and only you can make it happen! So, if you enjoy our content, please consider supporting the community by sharing, liking, commenting, and subscribing: https://www.youtube.com/c/thisisbarris?sub_confirmation=1 I post twice a month so make sure to check out the channel regularly. On April 1792, the largely Girondist Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria, thus starting the war of the 1st Coalition. Unprepared and weakened by the revolution, France quickly suffered disastrous defeats and Robespierre, along with Danton, another famous revolutionary, feared a military “coup d’état”. They were especially concerned by Le Marquis de LaFayette, who had openly advocated for the dissolution of the Jacobin Club. In September 1792, Robespierre was elected as First Deputy of Paris to the National Convention. There, he and his close supporters sat on the highest benches of the assembly, thus acquiring the nickname “Les Montagnards”. Later that year, following the capture of two fortresses by the Austrians, the Parisians were afraid the city would soon be captured, and its aristocratic prisoners freed to take part in the city’s sacking. As a result, more than 1,300 prisoners, most common criminals, were massacred in what would later be known as the “September Massacre.” The Girondins accused Robespierre of failing to stop this massacre as well as trying to install a dictatorship along with Marat, a radical journalist turned politician and Danton. Robespierre turned these accusations back to them by saying, “Citizens, do you want a revolution without a revolution? What is this spirit of persecution which has directed itself against those who freed us from chains?” On the 14th of January 1793, Louis XVI was voted guilty of conspiracy and attacks upon public safety after the discovery of compromising documents in his chambers. At his trial, Robespierre strongly pushed for the King’s execution by saying, “With regret, I pronounce this fatal truth: Louis must die so that the nation may live.” On the 21st, Louis XVI was executed. After that, France’s economic situation was deteriorated and the Girondins were blamed for failing to deliver the gains the revolution had promised. As a result, their influence wavered to the benefit of radicals such as Robespierre and Danton. They were also accused of Royalism following their “Appel aux Peuple”, a referendum to decide the King’s fate. The Girondins, which had been considered radicals just a couple of years prior, were now accused of being too conservative. One of these accusers was Marat, who decried, “Nous sommes trahis!”, a chant that was picked up all over Paris, which now largely supported the Montagnards thanks to their revolutionary zeal. Eventually, the capital’s hostility towards the leading party was such that riots arose in retaliation of the foolish arrest of Marat on the 18th of May 1793. His exoneration a few days later did little to calm public outrage and when on the 25th, Maximin Isnard, a Girondin leader, threatened “to march France upon Paris”, the Parisians marched themselves to the Tuileries Palace, where the National Convention was held. There, they demanded the removal of 22 leading Girondists from the Convention. Further protests would start on the 27th of May and culminate on the 2nd of June, a Sunday, when François Hanriot, at the head of 80,000 sans-culottes, lower-class Parisians that could not afford to wear “La Culotte”, surrounded and aimed 160 cannons at the Tuileries. The president of the convention sent a messenger to demand that Hanriot stops his intimidations, to which he replied, “Tell your fucking president that I don’t give a fuck about him and his Assembly, and that if in one hour, you don’t deliver me the twenty-two, I will blow you up!” As a result, the Convention attempted to escape, only to be pushed back by Hanriot’s order to man the guns. Finally, the situation was solved after the Convention voted in favors of the suspension and arrest of 29 Girondins, including their leader, Brissot. On the 24th of October, 22 of them were trialed by the Revolutionary Tribunal and seven days later, they were guillotined. It took only 36 minutes to execute them all.