"A revolution is a very interesting thing to read about in history, and even to watch, provided that one can keep one's distance; close up, one is revolted by all the injustice, unhappiness and crime that defile it".(Duc de Levis, Sept 1791. As Quoted in. D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 1)
Faced with overwhelming foreign enemies and internal revolt the republican government introduced a policy of repression and violence that became known as the Terror. The Terror was meant to prevent further trouble by instilling fear in any rebellious factions within the French populous. The Terrorists themselves were guided by a civic sense of duty towards the republic which must be preserved at all costs. The government needed the total loyalty of the people and sought to impose obedience upon its citizens.( M. Bouloiseau. The Jacobin Republic. Cambridge University Press. 1972. Pg 94) While the Terror was meant to destroy internal strife it infact caused more problems than it solved.(Olwen Hufton. The reconstruction of a church 1796-1801. G. Lewis & C. Lucas (eds.). Beyond the Terror. Cambridge University Press. 1983. Pg 37) Peasant communities rebelled against Terrorist policies which included conscription, dechristianization, taxation, price controls and requisitioning. In areas of France violence and intimidation were practised by both the Terrorists and those opposed to them. While in other areas open armed rebellion broke out against the republican government. The destabilising effect of the Terror eventually brought about a reaction that in the end destroyed many of the Terrorists and many of the institutions that they sought to defend. Why did the Terror become 'The order of the Day'? because faced with a disasterous war with the major European powers the republican government were willing to go to any extremes to secure internal peace and the survival of their control of France.
Why was a policy of Terror introduced? Revolutionary France in early 1793 was under threat from all sides. France was at war with all her major European neighbours Austria, Prussia, Holland, Spain and Britain while at home the revolution was threatened by counterrevolutionary risings in the provinces.( D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 66)The policy of Terror, which included a suspension of ordinary legal processess and mass arrests and executions (often on the flimsiest of evidence) was meant to destroy any threat to the internal stability of the Revolution. The French Republic faced the possibility of defeat at the hands of foreign and internal enemies and economic crisis. The Terrorist programme was in the eyes of the Terrorists unfortunate but necessary to guarantee the liberty and happiness of the people.(D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985. Pg 229) Economic crisis caused by the war and shortages of food and basic commodities in urban areas were major concerns and called for drastic measures. These measures which included fixing prices and wages (Maximum General) and columns of Revolutionary troops requisitioning food from the countryside did much to provoke further discontent and counterrevolutionary support amongst the French peasantry.( M. Bouloiseau. The Jacobin Republic. Cambridge University Press. 1972. Pg 105) A large scale revolt against the Revolutionary government in the Vendee region against the Conscription laws of February 1793 and attacks on the independence of the Catholic Church threatened the stability of the Republic.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. PG 70) There were also revolts in other rural areas and in the cities of Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Caen and Bordeaux where 'Federalists', (moderate republicans) seized control.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 36-7) With the Republic threatened from all sides and the radical Jacobins in the ascendancy in central government, the situation for the introduction of the Terror was ripe. The Terror was a policy created and enforced by the central government of the Republic. However due to the chaotic situation in France and the difficulty of communicating with distant provinces the centre was forced to rely on local institutions and individual representatives to carry out the Terror. In April 1793 the Convention (Revolutionary parliament) took action to strengthen central government in order to dea with the threats against the survival of the Revolution. These measures can be seen as the beginning of the Terror, the Committee of Public Safety was created to supervise executive government.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974.Pg 68) The twelve members of the Committee of Public Safety by October were in complete control of central government, following the removal of the more liberal members of the Convention (Girondins) in June 1793. (D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 76-81) The Committee of Public Safety (C.P.S.) aimed to bring the Provincial government under closer control and supervision of central government. At a local level the policy of Terror was enforced by Comites de Surveillance who assisted the local govenment authorities in the enforcement of Terrorist policies. The Comites had the right to arrest suspects, and enforce civic and revolutionary orthodoxy in their areas of operation. They were according to Lucas the 'cornerstone of the edifice of repression'. C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 125) Members of the Comites de Survillance were often recruited from local Societes Populaires, these 'patriotic', clubs and societies were most prevelant in urban areas and were organisations of local Republican militants. These Societes actions depended on the militancy of their members but they did provide a pool of local Republicans for various organs of the Terror.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 123) The Tribunal Revolutionnaire (Revolutionary courts) with the suspension of ordinary law the Tribunals became the main arm of 'Revolutionary justice', for the Terrorists the Tribunals were an expression of the'vengence of the people'.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 245) The Tribunals were meant to operate swiftly and the law of 22 Prairial (10 June) made their job easier. The law deprived the accused of defence council and the right to call witnesses and allowed the 'patriotic', jury to convict on the basis of moral certainty of guilt, the only sentence that could be passed was death.(D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985. Pg 242) The 45 armees revolutionnaires were independent military forces made up of loyal republican citizens. These armees revolutionnaires were under the control of the local institutions of the Terror and representatives of the central government they were responsible for much of the dechristianization campaign and food requisitioning in the countryside.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 84) These poorly disciplined military forces were mainly recruited in urban areas and were important in suppressing anti-revolutionary disturbances in rural areas.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 179) However their actions could also provoke such disturbances.(M. Bouloiseau. The Jacobin Republic. Cambridge University Press. 1972. Pg 96) The main connection between central government and the regional Terrorist structures was through the Representants en Mission who according to Lucas were the "most important single element in the structure of provincial Terror".(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 257) The representants en mission were agents of the C.P.S. and were attached to the army and the provincial departments (over a third of the members of the Convention were representants en mission).(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 82) The representants orders were regarded as decrees of the Convention and their job was to enforce the implementation of the policies of central government at the provincial level. The representants were representatives of the revolution and the republic however in some areas individual representants overstepped the powers invested in them by the Convention and the C.P.S. and carried out policies of their own.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 388) The Terror was a policy of repression intended to save the revolution and to enforce the economic and social policies intended to win the war. To defeat France's external enemies the Revolutionary government brought the national economy under its control for war production prices and wages were fixed, food and materials were requisitioned, the wealth of the church was taken to help pay for the army, taxation and forced loans on the rich introduced and mass conscription (levy on masse) imposed. However this national policy was implemented and shaped by local issues. In some areas the majority of the population were virtually untouched by the Terror, while in others tens of thousands were effected.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 387) Local conditions, the militancy of local republicans and the geographic location of an area effected how the policy of Terror was implemented.
Who implemented and supported the Terror and why? The radical supporters of the Jacobin Terror were often refered to as the sans-culottes, made up of a variaty of socially disparate urban elements was the radical popular voice of the revolution and provided many of the activists of the Terror. The sans-culottes were not a coherent social class they included members of almost all levels of society but mainly came from the lower levels of the commercial classes, master artisans small shopkeepers and craftsmen. They also included large numbers of radicalised urban labouring poor. The movement also included many merchants, lawyers and members of the liberal professions (R.B. Rose. The making of the Sans-Culottes. Manchester University Press. 1983. Pg 17) The sans-culottes believed in everyday direct popular sovereignty, they wanted the right to bear arms, legislation by referendum, binding mandates on the delegates of the Convention and the legal right to remove unpopular governments by popular insurrection. (R.B. Rose. The making of the Sans-Culottes. Manchester University Press. 1983. Pg 2) For the sans-culottes it was the duty of all citizens to participate in the political process and to be aware of ones duty to defend the revolution against threats from counterrevolutionaries and untrustworthy elements within the republican government.(R.B. Rose. The making of the Sans-Culottes. Manchester University Press. 1983. Pg 2) The sans-culottes were democrats they believed that the republic should be run for the happiness of the 'people' (those citizens who had suffered under the Ancien Regime) the poor majority in both town and country who produced and laboured.The sans-culottes provided the Terror with a large body of its supporters and activists.C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 89) Colin Lucas in his book 'The Structure of the Terror', looks at the role of the individual members of the Terrors structure. Lucas concludes that it is difficult to come up with any one definition of the sort of individual who was involved in the Terror. However he does conclude that the involvement in the revolutionary Clubs and societies which provided so many of the Terrors activists was usually the preserve of individuals with a certain amount of financial rescources. Many of those involved at administrative levels of the Terror had been in positions just outside the structures of power under the Ancien Regime. The excluded Bourgeoisie had seized the opportunities denied them under the monarchy and were now governing in the name of the people.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Chpt XI)
Both the policies of the republican government and the policy of the Terror were influenced by the work of the political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, particularly his book 'The Social Contract', Rousseau argued for a society to be organised along 'rational', lines and believed that man was naturally virtuous and perfectable. To Rousseau the sovereignty of a nation was held within its people, government must be directed by the general will of the people for the common good.(J.J. Rousseau. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right. Everymann. 1996 (ed). Pg 200) This common good would be expressed through a legislative body elected by the population it governed. The people (sovereign), legislative body and the executive would together produce the State. (J.J. Rousseau. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right. Everymann. 1996 (ed). Pg 193) The republicans attempted to implement many policies influenced by 'The Social Contract', including the legislative structure of government, however faced with the serious threats of military defeat and counterrevolution local government was increasingly subordinated by central government. While outside of Paris government fell increasingly under the control of the centre, the centrre still called for the participation of all citizens in its revolutionary programme. The executive had usurped the sovereignty of the people but still demanded the people's total loyalty and obedience.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 87) For many republican politicians the people needed the strong hand of the State to force them to be virtuous.
"Liberty must be established by violence, and the moment has come for the temporary organisation of the despotism of liberty, to destroy the despotism of kings".(Marat. As quoted in. D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 69) The belief that France could be rebuilt based on the ideas of Rousseau, a virtuous democratic republic allowed the Terrorists to justify their methods. The republics glorious future justified the terrible agonies of its birth.
One of the policies of the Terror was the attack on Christianity, which showed some of the differences between the popular revolutionary spirit of the sans-culottes and the Rousseau inspired Jacobin. Rousseau believed that Christianity was a weak religion that instilled the ideas of 'servitude and dependence', to its adherents. What was needed for the common good of society was a national cult that preached above all things obedience and love of the state and its laws. Rousseau wanted a national religion that united belief in a God with; "love of the laws, and, making country the object of the citizens' adoration, teaches them that service done to the State is service done to its tutelary god. It is a form of theocracy, in which there can be no pontiff save the prince, and no priests save the magistrates. To die for one's country then becomes martyrdom".(J.J. Rousseau. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right. & J.M. Dent & Sons. 1973. Pg 272) The Jacobin government originally sought to create a patriotic church through controlling the Catholic Church in the republics interests. However this failed due to the role taken by the clergy in many areas where they were vocal supporters of counterrevolution. Eventually Christianity was banned and theJacobins sought to replace it with completely new national cults. Sans-culottes armees revolutionnaires and other Terrorist structures suppressed the church and Christianity. The Jacobins went so far as to introduce a new revolutionary calender in October 1793, right down to renumbering the years and removing all references to deities from days and months.(D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985. Pg 209) During the dechristianization campaigns churches were stripped of valuables, relics and idols destroyed and church buildings commandered for other secular uses. While many of the Sans-culottes militants wished to destroy all religion the Jacobin wished only to replace Christianity with a more useful religion that would further secure the republic, the Jacobin regarded atheism as a dangerous aristocratic idea. The dechristianization campaign which was meant to strengthen the unity of the French people with its government caused disturbances and in some areas provoked counterrevolutionary action. However it must be remembered that Terrorist policies were not enforced nationally. In some areas which supported the revolution Christianity continued to be practised.(D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985. Pg 216) The counterrevolution was not one single phenomonon, like the Terror its outbreak and nature was shaped by local interests and incidents. The most famous and dangerous counterrevolutionary outbreak was in the Vendee region, to which much of the Terror was a reaction. The peasants and artisans of the Vendee welcomed the early stages of the revolution as it brought with it an end to feudalism and privilege. however the conscription laws, increases in taxation and the dechristianization campaigns provoked the region to rebellion.(Gwynne Lewis. Political brigandage and popular disaffection in the southern Massif central 1750-1804. In G. Lewis & C. Lucas (eds.). Beyond the Terror. Cambridge University Press. 1983. Pg 198) The revolt involved large numbers of peasants with the support of the local clergy and aristocracy, who had traditionally had far closer social and economic relationships than in other areas. The revolt spread and the republic had to use large numbers of troops and bloody repression to put down the rebellion and bring the Vendee under its control.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 72) The 'Federalist', revolt in the department of the Loire in 1793 was urban and conservative in character to protect citizens and property, primarily concerned with civil disorder and popular violence, forced loans the maximum general and the property rights of the bourgeoisie. The Federalist revolt developed into an anti-Parisian, anti-central government rebellion and spread to other urban centres in the south.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 37-49) In other areas counterrevolutionary activity included everything from the murders of republican officials to peasants hiding their produce from requisition. The actions of the revolutionary organisations at a local level united dispirate rural communities into various forms of resistance.(D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985. Pg 255) The rural counterrevolution was conservative in character, in defence of traditional customs and relationships that the revolution was undermining or outright destroying.(Gwynne Lewis. Political brigandage and popular disaffection in the southern Massif central 1750-1804. In G. Lewis & C. Lucas (eds.). Beyond the Terror. Cambridge University Press. 1983. Pg 196) There was no one counterrevolution rather many different local counterrevolutions against national and local republican government and policy.
The Terror claimed many thousands of lives, Wright claims 30,000 killed by the official government with a similar number murdered without any trial with a further 10,000 dying in custody.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 92) The majority of victims were ordinary men and women who had sided with counterrevolution in defence of their own interests rather than in support of the monarchy or against the republic. With the central government increasingly monopolising power and the republican armies on the offensive against Frances foreign enemies, the need for the Terror lessened. However the Jacobin dictatorship needed to continue its repression in order to preserve itself.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 92) The Terror was shaped by local issues and by the individual Terrorists its introduction was expedient and designed to save the revolution from its internal enemies. Once it was started however even with the war turning in the favour of the republic it was to difficult to stop. The Terror had to satiate and tire itself in blood, the repression provoked further counterrevolution which inturn provoked further Terror. Only when both sides were tired of killing could it stop. The Terrorists themselves were not drawn from one class or social group. While it can be seen as primarily an urban phenomonon its members were from as many different backgrounds as its victims.(C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973. Pg 324) The Terror shoked European opinion and sensibilities with its scale of slaughter, but it must be remembered that such a scale of killing was not exclusive to the Terror. The rising of 1798 in Ireland saw a similar number of people killed in only a few weeks in a country with a sixth of Frances population. While in Warsaw in 1794 at least 45,000 were killed in a single day.(D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974. Pg 92) What shocked many was that the virtuous and rational republic which claimed its right to exist and to govern from the the will of the people and from law could so brutally ignore the values of both.
D.G. Wright. Revolution and Terror in France. 1789-1795. Seminar Studies. Longman. 1974
R.B. Rose. The making of the Sans-Culottes. Manchester University Press. 1983
G. Lewis & C. Lucas (eds.). Beyond the Terror. Cambridge University Press. 1983
C. Lucas. The Structure of the Terror. Oxford University Press. 1973
D.M.G. Sutherland. France 1789-1815 Revolution & Counterrevolution. Fontana. 1985
M. Bouloiseau. The Jacobin Republic. Cambridge University Press. 1972
J.J. Rousseau. The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right. Everymann. 1996 (ed). & J.M. Dent & Sons. 1973