Tribunal: set up in Paris in March 1793 by the Convention to judge the enemies of the Revolution, its power was extended thereafter notably with the law of the ‘great Terror’ (22 Prairial Year II—10 June 1794). It was suppressed several months after the fall of Robespierre on 31 May 1795.
Sans-culottes: originally a pejorative term, replacing that of canaille, for the lower classes. Literally the term refers to the absence of (aristocratic) knee breeches, thus indicating poverty and ignorance. With time, the term increasingly came to identify the ‘people’ as against the ‘aristocrats’. For Robespierre, more than anything, it designated ardent patriots of modest origins.
Sections: originally, the sections in Paris simply had a role as electoral districts. As activists from the popular movement threw themselves increasingly into the sections, the latter tried to widen their scope of activity. With these organs thus gaining in autonomy, the Revolutionary Government progressively curtailed them.
Terror: term used to cover different measures taken by the state during the period from the summer 1792 to July 1794. Originally taken in a disordered manner, these measures became more systematic with the Convention’s placing of the Terror on the ‘order of the day’ from 5 September 1793 onwards. The law of the ‘Great Terror’ of 22 Prairial Year II (10 June 1794) marked its climax. The repressive measures were indissociable from the context of internal and external warfare or from the economic measures aiming at greater equality.
Vendée: department in Western France which was the scene of an insurrection hostile to the Revolution – originally sparked off by the mobilization of 300,000 men for the armies – from March 1793 onwards. The insurrection was harshly repressed.
KEY FIGURES CITED IN THE TEXTS
Abbé Maury (Jean Siffrein) 1746–1817: elected to the Constituent Assembly, he was one of the principal defenders of the Ancien Régime against the Revolution. He emigrated to Rome in 1792.
Barère de Vieuzac (Bertrand) 1755–1841: deputy of the Constituent Assembly and then Montagnard deputy in the Convention. Member of the Committee of Public Safety, one of the organizers of the Terror; for a long time he was close to Robespierre but turned against him on 9 Thermidor.
Billaud-Varenne (Jean-Nicolas) 1756–1819: member of the Jacobin Club, he wrote texts in which he claimed to be a republican. Member of the Paris Commune after 10 August 1792, he then became a Montagnard deputy in the Convention and entered the Committee of Public Safety alongside Robespierre in September 1793, before becoming one of the instigators of 9 Thermidor.
Brissot (Jacques-Pierre) 1754–1793: member of the Jacobin Club, he contributed to the drafting of the petition calling for a republic which was carried to the Champ-de-Mars in July 1791. A deputy in the Legislative Assembly, he was one of the leaders of the Girondins and in favour of the war. Elected to the Convention, he opposed Robespierre and the Montagnards. He was tried and guillotined by the Revolutionary Tribunal.
Chaumette (Pierre Gaspard) 1763–1794: member of the Cordelier Club, he was the procureur-syndic of the Paris Commune in 1792. Robespierre opposed him on account of his de-Christianizing convictions. He was arrested and guillotined with the Hébertists.
Cloots (Anacharsis) 1755–1794: of Prussian origin, Cloots was in Paris and rallied to the Revolution in 1789. He named himself ‘the orator of humanity’ and he was a member of the Jacobins and a deputy in the Convention. A de-Christianizer, he was close to the Hébertists and was guillotined alongside them.
Danton (Georges Jacques) 1759–1794: a founder of the Cordelier Club in 1790, he became the Minister of Justice on 11 August 1792 after the fall of the monarchy. Elected to the Convention, he sat amongst the Montagnards. He was one of the instigators of the Terror but criticized virulently the Hébertist ultra-revolutionaries and, alongside other ‘Indulgents’, demanded an end to the Terror at the beginning of 1794. Implicated in a scandal, he was condemned to death and executed in April 1794 together with his supporters (including Camille Desmoulins).
Desmoulins (Camille) 1760–1794: member of the Cordelier Club and Montagnard deputy, he was close to Danton. At the end of 1793–beginning of 1794, he called for a softening of the Terror in his newspaper Le Vieux Cordelier. Condemned and executed in April 1794.
Dumouriez (Charles François du Périer) 1739–1823: member of the Jacobin Club, he became Minister for Foreign Affairs in March 1792 and then Commander in Chief of the armies of the North, winning the Battle of Valmy on 20 September 1792. During an offensive in March 1793, he was accused of treason and then handed over to the Austrians the agents sent by the Convention to keep an eye on him, before surrendering himself to the enemy.
Fouché (Joseph) 1759–1820: deputy in the Convention, he sat with the Montagnards. Charged alongside Collot d’Herbois with the repression of the federalists of Lyons, he distinguished himself by his ferocious application of the Terror. He was one of the instigators of the 9 Thermidor plot against Robespierre; thereafter, he became a loyal supporter of Bonaparte.
Hébert (Jacques René) 1757–1794: famous for his newspaper the Père Duchesne, he was Chaumette’s substitute in the Paris Commune and a key figure in the Cordelier Club. He came into conflict with Robespierre, whom he accused of moderation on social questions, and was arrested and then condemned to death in March 1794.
La Fayette (Marquis de) 1757–1834: left for America in 1777 to help the insurgents and pushed the French government to support the anti-colonialists in the American War of Independence. Elected as a noble deputy in the Estates-General, he led the National Guard in July 1789. La Fayette wanted to reconcile the king and the Revolution, and was responsible for the shooting of demonstrators at the Champ-de-Mars. He then set up the Feuillants Club which supported a liberal monarchy and opposed the dethronement in 1792.
Marat (Jean-Paul) 1743–1793: member of the Cordelier Club, he became a deputy for Paris in the Convention and was famous for his newspaper l’Ami du peuple [Friend of the People] founded in September 1789. Sitting with the Montagnards, he became a hate figure for the Girondins who tried unsuccessfully to get him condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal. He had a role in the sparking off of the September Massacres and especially in the overthrow of the Girondins. Assassinated on 13 July 1793 by Charlotte Corday, he became a cult figure amongst layers of the popular classes.
Priestley (Joseph) 1733–1804: important English chemist who supported the French Revolution; was accorded French citizenship and membership of the Convention.
Ronsin (Charles Philippe) 1752–1794: the author of a number of patriotic plays, he was a member of the Cordeliers and became General in Chief of the Parisian revolutionary army in September 1793. Fovourable to Hébert, he was executed alongside him and his supporters in March 1794.
Saint-Just (Louis Antoine) 1767–1794: deputy in the Convention, he sat alongside Robespierre and the Montagnards. Along with Couthon, Robespierre and Saint-Just formed a ‘triumvirate’ in the Committee of Public Safety. Very active in the factional struggle at the beginning of 1794, he tried to give the Terror a social edge with the ‘Ventôse decrees’. Arrested and guillotined with Robespierre.
6 May 1758: Birth of Robespierre in Arras.
8 November 1781: Robespierre becomes a lawyer.
8 August 1788: Robespierre publishes his first political text: A la nation artésienne on the necessity of reform in the Estates of Artois.
1789
26 April: Robespierre elected as deputy of the Third Estate of Artois.
May – June: Robespierre