FRANCE IN BETWEEN OF WAR (THE JACOBIN TERROR)

It was the spring of 1792, France experienced both war and revolution simultaneously. The ramifications for France were significant. In short, they were the restoration of the monarchy, the Robespierre dictatorship, the Reign of Terror, and General Bonaparte's ascent to power. The effects were extensive for Europe as well.

The French monarchy was the first to fall victim to the war. On September 21, 1792, the day following the battle of Valmy, in which the revolutionary army under the command of two generals, Dumouriez and Kellermann, decisively defeated the Prussians, the newly elected legislature known as the Convention convened. The next day, it declared to the end of the monarchy and set Sept 22 as the date of the Republic's first year. Following Jemappes' additional victory on November 6, which led to the French taking control of Brussels, the newly formed Republic became more self-assured and made the decision to put the King on trial. He was put to death on January 21, 1793. This action, along with a number of other incidents that heightened tensions between France and Britain, resulted in war declarations against Spain in March, Hungary in April, and Britain and Holland at the start of February. The conflict quickly spread to most of Europe outside of Scandinavia, and French setbacks quickly followed. March saw the French expelled from Holland, a rebellion in the western part of the Vendee, and the defeat of Dumouriez at Neer Winden. The surrender of Dumouriez to the Austrians on April 6th resulted in a situation of siege and emergency in France.

Because they ended the Girondins' control, these events had a significant impact on how the French Revolution unfolded. The reverses discredited them as the war party.
The renaming of the months from September to August with sometimes ridiculous titles as Vendemiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivase, Pluviose, Ventose, Germinal, Floreal, and Prairial; Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor well captured the romantic and inventive spirit of the period. Because the French used them to mark the major revolutionary and counter-revolutionary episodes, these have survived among historians. Wheezy, Sneezy, Freezy, Sippy, Drippy, Nippy; Showery, Flowery, Bowery; Wheaty, and Heaty, Sweety was a fitting translation of them in modern English. Failures paved the way for the most radical Jacobins, republicans, direct democracy proponents, and fervent supporters of a strong national defense against counterrevolutionary forces to come to power. The Jacobins found a leader of great brilliance and unwavering purpose in Maximilien Robespierre, whose brutality and fanaticism allowed him to rule the Convention. Robespierre was essentially in charge of France from July 1793, when he joined the Committee of Public Safety, until July 1794, when he was executed by guillotine. With the revolution on the defensive, Robespierre turned to personal tyranny, creating perhaps the first single-party dictatorship in modern history.

Despite being a more accomplished orator and statesman than Mirabeau, having a more impressive statecraft than Lafayette, and being an attractive figure who generously inspired national resistance to invasion and reaction, Robespierre somehow manages to be the most memorable and symbolic of all the great French revolutionary personalities. It is remarkable that this meticulous little provincial attorney, who is small and bespectacled and unglamorous, should continue to personify such a turbulent and heroic event as the French Revolution. Could it be that he embodied the exact blend of ideological and social forces that won out during the Revolution? Socially, he embodied the prototypical rural attorney who ruled the revolutionary assemblies, the feline party's instigator and critic, speaking with ease the idealistic words that echoed through those immature legislative bodies. He was the modest man raised to greatness by the turmoil of revolution. He embodied the goals and tenets of all that Jacobinism has stood for throughout modern history: a dogmatic idealism that exalts the notions of popular sovereignty, individual liberty, equality, and brotherhood, as well as the idea that the nation is "one and indivisible." In his career and personal life, he embodied the revolutionary inclinations of the Jacobins.

Analyzing the structure of his tyranny reveals the nature of future developments. In the century that followed, it established the framework for additional revolutionary activity across the majority of Europe. The club and secret society, with its headquarters in Paris but often having committees and branches in the provinces across France, continued to be the revolutionary cell. Primarily, the model was the Jacobin Club of the "society of Friends of the Constitution," where the respectable Parisian bourgeoisie had been listening to Robespierre's scolding moralizing since the beginning of the Revolution. It was ultimately victorious over its many rivals because of its capacity to sway elected national legislatures, incite discontent and disturbance in the provinces, and submit to even the most brutal and harsh leaders. By the end of 1790, the Jacobin Club had 1,100 mostly the members are of middle-class, and in the time of the overthrow of the monarchy, it was affiliated with over a thousand local organizations. It remained the only functioning and lawful political organization in all of France. It offered Robespierre the perfect environment in which to make the most of his guile, trickery, and persuasiveness.
End of part (1)
To be continued>>>

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

FRANCE AT WAR (THE DIRECTORY (GUIDE))

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AND ITS SATELLITES (1798-1799)

FRANCE IN BETWEEN OF WAR (THE JACOBIN TERROR) FINAL PART