National Convention

Elections were held on September 2–6, 1792, after the election of electors by primary assemblies on August 26. After the uprising of August 10 and the arrest of the king, the flow of immigrants increased. Monarchists, constitutional monarchists and open royalists were afraid to appear at polling stations and abstained from voting. Turnout was very low - 11.9% of voters, against 10.2% in 1791, while the number of voters almost doubled. In general, the electorate returned the same type of deputies as the “active” citizens elected in 1791 ^[1] . Across France, only eleven primary assemblies were in favor of the monarchy. Among the electoral assemblies there was not one that would not give preference to the republic, although only Paris applied the word itself. Among the elected deputies there was not one who represented himself at the elections as a royalist ^[2] .

The composition of the National Convention

The deputies of the Convention represented all classes of French society, but the most numerous were lawyers. Seventy-five deputies were representatives in the Constituent Assembly , and 183 in the Legislative Assembly . The total number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of which only a few managed to arrive in Paris by the time the meetings began.

The first meetings of the Convention were held in the Tuileries Hall, then in the Manezh and, finally, from May 10, 1793 in the Tuileries Theater Hall. In the meeting room was a gallery for the public, which often interrupted the debate with shouts or applause. By its own organizational rules, the Convention elected the president every other week. The President of the Convention had the right to be re-elected after two weeks. Usually meetings were held in the morning, but evening meetings often happened, sometimes until late at night. In extraordinary circumstances, the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without a break. The executive and administrative bodies of the Convention were committees with more or less broad powers. The most famous of these committees were the Committee of Public Safety ( Fr. Comité du salut public ) and the Committee of Public Safety ( Fr. Comité de la sûreté générale ) ^[3] .

The convention was legislative and executive power during the first years of the First French Republic and the time of its existence can be divided into three periods: the Girondins, the Jacobins and the Thermidorians.

The first meeting of the Convention was held on September 21, 1792. The next day, in absolute silence, the assembly was faced with the question of "the abolition of the monarchy in France" - and was adopted with unanimous cries of approval. September 22 came the news of the battle of Valmi . On the same day, it was announced that “in the future, acts of assembly should be dated to the first year of the French Republic”. Three days later, an amendment against federalism was added: "The French Republic is one and indivisible." The republic was proclaimed, the republican government remained to be activated. The country was not much more republican in feeling and practice than before or at any time since the king's flight to Varennes . But now she was obliged to become a republic, because the king was no longer the head of state ^[4] .

The military situation has changed, which seemed to confirm the Girondist prophecies of an easy victory. After Valmy, Prussian troops retreated, and in November French troops occupied the left bank of the Rhine . On 6 November, the Austrians who besieged Lille were defeated by Dumouriez at the Battle of Jemappes and evacuated the Austrian Netherlands . Nice was busy, and Savoy declared an alliance with France. These successes made it safe to quarrel at home ^[5] .

Girondins and Montagnards

Girondins was a geographical term given to the deputies of the provinces, and the Jacobins got their name from the Jacobin Club. Now a group of deputies from the Gironde gave its name to the assembly, and the name of the Paris club identified itself with a group of representatives of Paris. The leaders of the Jacobins differed little from their opponents in their background and upbringing. Like the Girondins, they believed in war, a republic and a convention. They were no less idealistic and no more humanitarian. But they listened more to the interests of ordinary people, they had less political and economic doctrinal studies, and they had additional potential for realistic and, if necessary, ruthless intervention to achieve the necessary goals ^[6] .

Three issues dominated the first months of the Convention: the dominance of Paris in the country's politics, revolutionary violence and the trial of the king.

The antagonism between Paris and the provinces created friction that served more as a propaganda weapon. The resistance of the centralization departments symbolized the desire to reduce the influence of the capital on the revolution to one to eighty-third of the influence. Most of the Gironde wanted to remove the congregation from a city dominated by “agitators and flatterers to the people” ^[7] .

King's Judgment

Since the opening of the Convention, the Girondins have not expressed any interest in the trial of the king. They were more interested in discrediting Paris and its deputies after the September massacre . And their decision to pursue the Jacobins was not just a choice of priorities; they sincerely wanted to save the king ^[8] . But in reality, the Convention had to declare him guilty if he wanted to avoid recognizing the uprising on August 10, 1792 , as a “wrongful”, of his own existence and proclaiming a republic. “If the king is innocent, then those who overthrew him are guilty,” as Robespierre reminded the assembly on December 2. After the Convention pleaded guilty of Louis, the Convention could not but sentence the death penalty of a man who, in order to suppress his freedom, called on foreign countries for help and whom the sans-culottes were considered responsible for the trap during the capture of Tuileries ^[9] .

The discovery of the secret safe in the Tuileries on November 20, 1792 made the court inevitable. The documents found in him, without any doubt, proved the betrayal of Louis XVI.

The trial began on 10 December. Louis XVI was classified as an enemy and “usurper”, alien to the body of the nation. Voting began on January 14, 1793. Each deputy explained his vote from the podium. The vote for the king’s guilt was unanimous. The chairman of the Convention announced the result of the vote: “On behalf of the French people, the National Convention declared Louis Capet guilty of an offense against the freedom of the nation and the general security of the state.” The proposal for a popular referendum on the punishment of the king was rejected. The fatal vote began on January 16 and lasted until the next morning. Of the 721 deputies present, 387 were in favor of the death penalty, 334 were against. Twenty-six deputies voted for death on condition of a subsequent pardon. On January 18, the question of pardon was put to the vote: 380 votes were cast against; 310 per. With each vote among the Girondins a split occurred ^[10] .

By order of the Convention, the entire National Guard of Paris was built on both sides of the road to the scaffold. On the morning of January 21, Louis XVI was beheaded on Revolution Square.

With few exceptions, the French people accepted the deed calmly, but it made a deep impression. The death of the king caused pity, but still it cannot be denied that a serious blow was dealt to the monarchical sentiment - the king was executed as an ordinary person; the monarchy was destroyed and its supernatural qualities could never be restored. Opponents and supporters of the deed swore eternal hatred towards each other; the rest of Europe declared war on extermination to the regicides ^[11] .

Fall of the Gironde

Assembly meetings began fairly calmly, but within a few days the Girondists began to attack the Montagnards. The conflict continued without interruption until the expulsion of the leaders of the Gironde from the Convention on June 2, 1793. At first, the Girondists could rely on the votes of the majority of deputies, many of whom were shocked by the events of the September massacre . But their insistence on monopolizing leadership positions and their attacks on the Montagnard leaders soon began to annoy those who tried to take an independent stance. One by one, deputies such as Couton , Cambon , Carnot , Landde and Barer began to montagnard, while the majority, “plain” ( fr. La Plaine ), as it was then called, tried to keep away from both sides. .

The Girondins were convinced that their opponents were striving for dictatorship, while the Montagnards believed that the Girondins were ready for any compromise with the conservatives, and even the royalists, to guarantee their being in power. Violent hostility soon turned the Convention into a state of perfect paralysis. Debate after debate degenerated into verbal altercations, because of which it was impossible to make any decision. The political deadlock discredited the national representative body and, in the end, forced the warring parties to rely on dangerous allies, monarchists in the case of the Girondins, sans-culottes in the case of the Montagnards ^[5] .

Thus, the fruitless struggle in the Convention continued. The decision had to come from the outside.

At the same time, the military situation has changed. The failures in the war, the betrayal of Dumouriez and the revolt in Vendee , which began in March 1793, were all used as an argument, depicting the Girondists as an obstacle to successful defense. The economic situation at the beginning of 1793 was deteriorating more and more, and unrest began in large cities. Sectional activists in Paris began to demand "maximum" on basic foodstuffs. The riots and agitation continued throughout the spring of 1793, and the Convention creates the Commission of the Twelve to investigate them, which included only Girondins.

By order of the commission, several sectional agitators were arrested, and on May 25 the Commune demanded their release; at the same time, the general meetings of the sections of Paris made a list of 22 prominent Girondists and demanded their arrest. In response, Inhar , who chaired the Convent, delivered a diatribe against Paris, which rather reminded the manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick : “... If you attempt to assassinate the people's representatives during one of these ongoing disturbances, then I announce to you on behalf of the whole of France - Paris will be destroyed! ... ”The next day, the Jacobins declared themselves in a state of rebellion. On May 28, the Cité section called for other sections to meet to organize an uprising. On May 29, delegates representing thirty-three sections formed a rebel committee of nine members ^[12] .

On June 2, 1793, 80,000 armed sans-culottes surrounded the Convention. After the deputies' attempt to go out in a demonstrative procession, and, encountering armed national guardsmen, the deputies submitted to pressure and announced the arrest of 29 leading Girondists. Thus, the Gironde ceased to be a political force. The Girondins declared war, not knowing how to lead it; condemned the king and demanded the republic, but did not dare depose the monarch and proclaim the republic; worsened the economic situation in the country, but opposed all the requirements of alleviating the life of the people ^[13] .

As soon as the Gironde was eliminated, as now the Montagnard, the Convention is between two fires. The forces of counter-revolution are gaining new momentum in the federalist uprising; popular movement, dissatisfied with high prices, increases the pressure on the government. Meanwhile, the government seemed unable to control the situation. In July 1793 the country seemed on the verge of disintegration ^[14] .

1793 Constitution

Throughout June, the Montagnards took a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for a reaction to the uprising in Paris. However, they did not forget about the peasants. The peasants made up the largest part of France and in such an environment it was important to satisfy their demands. It was to them that the uprising of May 31 (as well as July 14 and August 10 ) brought substantial and permanent benefits. On 3 June, laws were passed on the sale of property of emigrants in small installments subject to payment within 10 years; On June 10, an additional section of communal lands was proclaimed; and on July 17, the law on the abolition of seignoral duties and feudal rights without any compensation ^[15] .

The Montagnards also tried to reassure the middle classes by rejecting any accusations of terror, confirming property rights and restricting the popular movement to narrowly defined limits. They tried to maintain a delicate balance of balance, a balance that was destroyed in July with the worsening crisis. The convention quickly approved a new constitution in the hope of protecting itself from accusations of dictatorship and appeasing the departments. ^[16]

The Declaration of Rights that preceded the text of the Constitution solemnly reaffirmed the indivisibility of the state and freedom of speech, equality and the right to resist oppression. This went far beyond the 1789 Declaration , adding to it the right to social assistance, work, education and rebellion. No one had the right to impose his will on others. All political and social tyranny was canceled. The Constitution of 1793 became the bible of the nineteenth-century democrats ^[17] .

The main goal of the Constitution was to ensure the predominant role of the deputies in the legislative assembly, which was considered as a necessary basis for political democracy. Each deputy to the legislative assembly was to be elected by direct vote, by a simple majority of the votes cast and re-elected every year. The Legislative Assembly elected an executive council of 24 members from among 83 candidates elected by departments on the basis of universal suffrage and, in the same way, ministers who were also responsible to the representatives of the people. National sovereignty was expanded through the institution of the referendum — the Constitution had to be ratified by the people, as were the laws in certain precisely defined circumstances ^[18] .

The Constitution was introduced for universal ratification and adopted by a large majority of 1,801,918 in favor and 17,610 against. The results of the plebiscite were made public on August 10, 1793, but the application of the Constitution, the text of which was placed in the “sacred ark” in the convention hall, was postponed until peace was concluded ^[19] .

Federalist uprising and war

And indeed, the Montagnards faced dramatic circumstances - the federalist insurgency, the war in the Vendee, military setbacks, the deterioration of the economic situation. In spite of everything, civil war was not avoided ^[15] . By mid-June, about sixty departments were covered by a more or less open rebellion. The border areas of the country remained loyal to the Convention. Basically, the uprising raised departmental and district administration. The communes, which were more popular in the composition, reacted to the uprising rather cold, if not hostile; and the federalist leaders, despite their phraseology, lacked faith in their work, and soon they themselves began to quarrel among themselves. The sincere Republicans among them could not associate themselves with a foreign invasion and a rebellion in the Vendee. Those who were rejected on the ground sought support from the moderates, the Feuillans, and even the aristocrats ^[20] .

July and August were unimportant months at the borders. For three weeks, Mainz , the symbol of last year’s victory, capitulated to Prussian troops, while the Austrians captured the Conde and Valenciennes fortresses and invaded northern France. Spanish troops crossed the Pyrenees and began to attack Perpignan . Piedmont took advantage of the uprising in Lyon and invaded France from the east. In Corsica, Paoli raised a rebellion and, with British help, drove the French off the island. British troops began the siege of Dunkirk in August and in October the Allies invaded Alsace . The military situation has become desperate.

In addition, the escape of the Girondists from house arrest and other events of the summer aggravated the fury of the revolutionaries and convinced them that their opponents had abandoned all norms of civilized behavior. July 13, Charlotte Korde killed the idol of sans - culottes Jean-Paul Marat . She was in contact with the Girondins in Normandy and they are believed to have used her as their agent ^[21] .

The Convention’s hesitations, caution and indecision during the first few days were redeemed by the power of the insurrection suppression organization. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the insurgent leaders of the Gironde, the insurgent members of the administration departments were deprived of their powers ^[22] . The regions in which the uprising was most dangerous were those in which the greatest number of royalists were located. There was no room for a third force between the Montagnards, who were associated with the Republic, and royalism, which was an ally of the enemy. If the federalist uprising succeeded, it would lead to the restoration of the monarchy. The royalist insurgency in Vendee has already forced the Convention to take a big step towards terror - that is, the dictatorship of the central government and the suppression of freedoms. The federalist uprising now forced him to take an even more decisive step in the same direction ^[23] .

Revolutionary government

The executive and administrative bodies of the Convention were committees. The most famous of them were the Committee of Public Safety ( fr. Comité du salut public ) and the Committee of Public Safety ( fr. Comité de la sûreté générale ). The second, which had more powers, is less known than the first, which was a real executive power and was endowed with enormous prerogatives. Formed back in April, its composition was greatly changed in the summer of 1793 ^[24] .

Under the double banner of price fixing and terror, the pressure of sans-culottes reached its peak in the summer of 1793. In addition to all this, the news of unprecedented treason came: Toulon and the squadron there were surrendered to the enemy ^[25] . The food supply crisis remained the main cause of discontent of the sans-culottes, the leaders of the “ mad ”, with Jacques Roux at the head, demanding that the Convention establish a “maximum”. The Convent and the Montagnards, among others, were against any economic regulation, as were the Girondins. In the adopted constitution, the inviolability of private property was confirmed. But the invasion, the federalist insurgency, and the war in the Vendee — the whole revolutionary logic of resource mobilization — were infinitely more powerful than economic doctrines. In August, a series of decrees gave the committee the authority to control the circulation of grain, and also approved fierce penalties for their violation. “Storehouses of abundance” were created in each district. On August 23, the decree on mass mobilization ( Fr. Levée en masse ) declared the entire adult population of the republic “in a state of constant requisition” ^[26] .

On September 5, the Parisians tried to repeat the uprising on June 2. The armed sections again surrounded the Convention, demanding the creation of an internal revolutionary army, the arrest of “suspicious” and purge committees. This was probably the key day in the formation of a revolutionary government: the Convention succumbed to pressure, but retained control over the events. This put terror on the agenda — September 5, the 9th — the creation of a revolutionary army, the 11th — a decree on the “maximum” for bread (total price and wage control — September 29), the 14th reorganization of the Revolutionary Tribunal , the 17th the law on "suspicious", and the 20th decree gave the right to local revolutionary committees the task of drawing up lists ^[27] .

Finally, France saw its government take on a certain form. By a roll-call vote, the Convention renewed the composition of the Committee of Public Safety: July 10, Danton was expelled from it. Couton , Saint-Just , Jeanbon Saint-Andre and Priur of Marne constituted the core of the new committee. They were joined by Barer and Land , Robespierre was appointed on July 27, and then Carnot and Prieux from the Côte d'Or department on August 14; Collot d'Erbua and Billot-Varenna - September 6th. They had several clear ideas that they followed: struggle and victory. It was a committee, which was later called the Great Committee of the II year ^[28] .

The committee has always worked collegially, despite the specific nature of the tasks of each director: the division into "politicians" and "technicians" was a Thermidorian invention, to leave the victims of terror at the feet of some Robesperists. Much, however, distinguished the twelve members of the Committee; Barer was more a man of the Convention than a committee, and was closer to the "plain." Robert Landa had doubts about the terror, which, on the contrary, was closer to Collot d'Erbois and Biyo-Varennes, who joined the committee under pressure from sansculottes in September. But the situation that united them in the summer of 1793 was stronger than the differences ^[24] . First of all, the committee had to approve itself and select those demands of the people that were most suitable for achieving the goals of the assembly: crush the enemies of the Republic and cross out the last hopes of the aristocracy for restoration. To govern in the name of the Convention and at the same time control it, to restrain the sans-culottes without cooling their enthusiasm — this was the necessary balance of the revolutionary government ^[29] .

This sum of institutions, measures and procedures was enshrined in a decree of 14 fremer (December 4, 1793), which determined this gradual development of a centralized dictatorship based on terror. In the center was the Convention, whose executive power was the Committee of Public Salvation, vested with enormous powers: he interpreted the decrees of the Convention and determined the methods of their application; under his direct supervision were all public bodies and all public servants; he defined military and diplomatic activities, appointed generals and members of other committees, subject to ratification by the Convention. He was responsible for the conduct of war, public order, provision and supply of the population. The Paris Commune, the famous sans-culotte bastion, was also neutralized, having come under its control ^[27] .

Economy

Administrative and economic centralization went hand in hand. The blockade forced France into autarky ; in order to preserve the Republic, the government mobilized all the productive forces of the nation and, although reluctantly, accepted the need for a controlled economy, which was introduced impromptu as the situation demanded ^[30] . It was necessary to develop military production, revive foreign trade and find new resources in France itself, and there was little time. Circumstances gradually forced the government to take the lead in the economy of the whole country ^[31] .

All material resources became the subject of requisition. Farmers donated grain, fodder, wool, flax, hemp, and artisans and traders - manufactured products. Raw materials were carefully searched for - all kinds of metal, church bells, old paper, rags and parchment, herbs, brushwood and even ashes for the production of potash salts and chestnuts for their distillation. All enterprises were put at the disposal of the nation - forests, mines, quarries, furnaces, furnaces, tanneries, paper factories, textile factories and shoemaking workshops. Labor and value produced was subject to price regulation. No one had the right to speculate while the Fatherland was in danger. Armament was of great concern. Already in September 1793, an impetus was given to the creation of national manufactories for the military industry — the creation of a factory in Paris for the production of guns and personal weapons, the Grenelle powder factory ^[32] . Special treatment was made by the scientist. Monge , Vandermond , Berthollet , Darce, Fourcroix improved metallurgy and the manufacture of weapons ^[33] .

Only employees "maximum" was quite profitable. Their wages doubled in relation to 1790, while at the same time, goods went up only by a third ^[34] . Paris became calmer, because sans-culottes gradually found ways to exist; many volunteered for the army; many worked in the manufacture of weapons and military equipment, or in the bureau of committees and ministries, whose staff has grown quite strongly ^[35] .

Army II Year

The summer recruitment ( fr. Levée en masse ) was completed and by July the total army reached 650,000 . The difficulties were enormous. Production for the war began only in September. The army was in the process of reorganization. In the spring of 1794, an amalgam system was launched, a merger of volunteer battalions with a linear army. Two battalions of volunteers were connected with one battalion of the line army, making up a semi-brigade or regiment. At the same time, unity of command and discipline was restored. Cleaning the army excluded most nobles. In order to educate officers on the Decree of 13th Prerialele (June 1, 1794), the College of Mars ( Fr. Ecole de Mars ) was founded - each district sent six young men there. Army commanders claimed the Convention ^[36] .

Gradually, military command emerged that was incomparable in quality: Marceau , Gosh , Kleber , Massena , Jourdan , as well as the officer corps, different not only in military qualities, but also in a sense of civic responsibility ^[37] .

For the first time since the days of antiquity, a truly national army was engaged in combat, and for the first time, the efforts of the whole nation managed to arm and feed such a large number of soldiers — these were new characteristics of the II year army. Technical innovations and strategies stemmed and developed mainly from the masses themselves. The old cordon system has lost its significance. Moving between coalition armies, the French could maneuver along internal communications, deploying part of their troops along the borders and taking advantage of the inaction of any of their opponents to beat the others in pieces. “Act with the masses, suppress the enemy with a number”, these were the principles of Carnot . All these innovations have not yet been sufficiently tested and before the advent of Bonaparte could not yet boast of brilliant victories ^[38] .

Terror

Although the terror was organized in September 1793, it was, in fact, not used until October, and only as a result of pressure from the sans-culottes the new head of the Revolutionary Tribunal was opened after September 5: it was divided into four sections; Public safety and public safety committees appointed judges and jurors; Fouquier-Tenville remained as prosecutor, and Arrman was appointed president of the Revolutionary Tribunal ^[39] .

Great political processes began in October. The queen was guillotined on October 16th. A special decree limited the protection of 21 Girondist and they were killed on the 31st, including Vernio and Brisso ^[35] .

At the top of the apparatus of terror was the Committee of Public Security , the second body of the state, consisting of twelve members, elected every month in accordance with the rules of the Convention, and endowed with the functions of public security, surveillance and police, both civil and military. He used a large staff of officials, headed a network of local revolutionary committees and applied the law on suspects by sifting through thousands of local denunciations and arrests, which he then had to submit to the Revolutionary Tribunal ^[40] .

Terror hit the enemies of the Republic, wherever they were, was socially illegible and directed politically. His victims belonged to the classes that hated the revolution or lived in those regions where the threat of rebellion was most serious. “The severity of repressive measures in the provinces,” writes Matez, “were directly dependent on the danger of insurrection” ^[41] .

In the same way, the deputies sent by the Public Security Committee as “mission representatives” were armed with broad powers and acted in accordance with the situation and their own temperament: in July, Lend pacified the Girondist uprising in the west without a single death sentence; in Lyon , a few months later, Collo d'Erbua and Joseph Fouche relied on frequent summary executions, using mass executions, because the guillotine did not work fast enough ^{[42] [Ex 1]} .

Fall Fractions

From September 1793, two wings could be clearly identified among revolutionaries. One thing was what was later called the Ebertists — although Hebert himself was never the leader of the faction — and preached war to death, partially adopting the program of the “mad”, which was approved by sansculottes. They agreed to the Montagnards, hoping through them to put pressure on the Convention. They dominated the Cordeliers club , filled the Bushotta war ministry, and could carry the Commune with them ^[44] . Another wing arose in response to the growing centralization of the revolutionary government and the dictatorship of committees — dantonists; around the deputies of the Convention: Danton , Delacroix, Desmoulins , as the most notable among them.

By prioritizing national defense over all other considerations, the Public Rescue Committee tried to keep an intermediate position between moderantism and extremism. The revolutionary government did not intend to concede to the Ebertists at the expense of revolutionary unity, while the demands of the moderates undermined the controlled economy necessary for the conduct of hostilities, or at the expense of the terror that ensured universal obedience ^[45] . But at the end of winter of 1793, food shortages took a sharp turn for the worse. Hebertis began to demand the use of harsh measures, and at first the Committee behaved conciliatory. The convention voted 10 million to alleviate the crisis, 3 Wantoza Barer presented a new common "maximum" and the 8th decree on confiscating suspicious property and distributing it among the needy (Wantoz decrees). Cordeliers believed that if they increased pressure, they would triumph once and for all. There was a talk about the uprising, although it was, probably, as a new demonstration, as in September 1793. But the 22 years of the second year (March 12, 1794) the Committee decided to put an end to the Hebertists. Foreigners Proli, Kloots and Pereira were added to Eber, Ronsen , Vincent and Momoro in order to present them as participants in a “foreign conspiracy”. All four prisoners were executed (March 24, 1794) ^[46] . The Committee then turned to dantonists, some of whom were involved in financial fraud. On April 5, Danton, Delacroix, Desmoulins, Filippo were executed ^[47] .

The drama of the terminal has completely changed the political situation. Sansculottes were stunned by the execution of the Hebertists. All their positions of influence were lost: the revolutionary army was disbanded, the inspectors were dismissed, Bushhott lost the war ministry, the Cordeliers club was suppressed and intimidated, and 39 revolutionary committees were closed under pressure from the government. The Commune was cleared and it was filled with nominees of the Committee. With the execution of dantonists, the majority of the assembly was first horrified by its own government ^[48] .

The committee played the role of a mediator between the meeting and the sections. Having destroyed the leaders of the sections, the committees broke with the sans-culottes, the source of power of the government, which the Convention had feared the pressures since the uprising of May 31. By destroying the dantonists, it sowed fear among the members of the assembly who could easily turn into a riot. It seemed to the government that it had the support of the majority of the meeting. It was wrong. Having freed the Convention from the pressure of the sections, it remained at the mercy of the meeting. There remained only an internal split of the government in order to destroy it ^[49] .

Thermidor

The Jacobin dictatorship could hope to remain in power only as long as it successfully dealt with the state of emergency in the country. As soon as his political opponents were destroyed and the threat of invasion diminished, the significance of the causes that kept her together also decreased. But the fall would not have been so sudden and complete, if not for other, more specific and internal reasons ^[50] .

As long as the Committee remained united, it was practically invulnerable, but as soon as it reached the apogee of its power, signs of an internal conflict appeared ^[51] . The Committee of Public Safety was never homogeneous — it was a coalition cabinet. The sense of danger, teamwork in the conditions of the hardest crisis at first interfered with personal quarrels. Now the trivial differences were exaggerated to questions of life and death. Small disagreements alienated them from each other ^[52] . They were authoritarian people. Carnot, in particular, was annoyed by the criticism of his plans by Robespierre and Saint-Just, who, after months of hard work and over-excited by danger, were restrained with difficulty. The dispute followed the dispute ^[53] . Disagreements constantly flared up in the Committee of Public Salvation, when Carnot called Robespierre and Saint-Just “ridiculous dictators”, and Collot did veiled attacks on the “Incorruptible”. From late June to July 23, Robespierre stopped attending Committee meetings ^[51] .

Realizing that disagreements in the government lead to a split, 5 Thermidor attempted reconciliation. Saint-Just and Couton reacted positively to this reconciliation, but Robespierre doubted the sincerity of his opponents. In his last speech at the Convention, 8 Thermidor, he accused his opponents of intrigue and brought the question of a split to the court of the Convention. Robespierre demanded that he give the names of the accused, but he refused. This failure destroyed it, as the deputies suggested that it requires a blank check ^[53] . That night a coalition was formed between the deputies who were in immediate danger, and the deputies of the plain. The next day, 9 Thermidor, Robespierre and his supporters were not allowed to speak, and an accusatory decree was announced against them. The far left played the leading role: Billot-Varenn attacked, and Collo d'Erbois presided.

Upon receiving news from the Convention, the Paris Commune called for an uprising, freed the arrested deputies and mobilized 2-3 thousand national guardsmen ^[54] . The night of 9–10 Thermidor was one of the most chaotic in Paris, when the Commune and the Assembly competed for the support of the sections. The convention outlawed the insurgents; Barras was given the task of mobilizing the armed forces of the Convention, and the moderate sections supported the Convention. The national guardsmen and gunners, gathered from the town hall, were left without instructions and dispersed. At about two o'clock in the morning, a column of the section of Gravilla led by Leonard Bourdon broke into the town hall and arrested the rebels.

On the evening of 10 Thermidor (July 28, 1794), Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couton and nineteen of their supporters were executed without trial. The next day, seventy-one functionaries of the insurgent Commune were executed, the largest mass execution in the entire history of the revolution ^[55] .

Whatever the reasons for the 9th Thermidor: hostility to Robespierre, personal security, revenge - subsequent events went far beyond the intentions of the conspirators. Obviously, the remaining members of the committees expected to remain in power and continue the policy of the Jacobin dictatorship, as if nothing special had happened - another party purge, no more ^[56] .

Thermidorian Reaction

Subsequent events greatly disappointed them. It was possible to get rid of the robesperists and return the dantonists: the Convention seized the initiative and put an end, once and for all, to the dictatorship of the committees, which removed it from the executive branch. It was decided that no member of the steering committee should hold a position for more than four months. Three days later, the pre-rial law was repealed and the Revolutionary Tribunal was deprived of its emergency powers. The commune was replaced by the Convent Civil Administration Commission, and the Jacobin Club was closed in November. Not just an anti-robesperist, but an anti-Jacobin reaction was in full swing ^[56] .

Thus, the stability of the government was undermined, the main problem of the revolution from its beginning in 1789. Then it was the turn of concentration of power. The identification of the Public Rescue Committee with the executive branch was cut down on 7 Fructidors (August 24), limiting it to the former area of ​​war and diplomacy only. The Public Security Committee retained control of the police, but there will now be a total of sixteen committees. Realizing the danger of fragmentation, the Thermidorians, who had been taught by experience, were even more afraid of monopolizing power. Within a few weeks, the revolutionary government was dismantled ^[57] .

These measures finally reflected on terror and opened numerous gaps in the apparatus of repression. Sensing the weakening of the authorities and the return of freedom of the press, all sides began demanding the release of those arrested. The law of 22 prerials was repealed, prisons were opened and the "suspects" were released: 500 in Paris in one week. Several demonstration processes were carried out - including Karye, responsible for "naiads", drowning people in Nantes; Fouquier-Tenville, the notorious prosecutor of the Revolutionary Tribunal in the spring and summer of 1795 - after which the activities of the Revolutionary Tribunal were suspended ^[57] .

The destruction of the revolutionary government system eventually led to the end of economic regulation. "Maximum" was weakened even before 9 Thermidor. Now no one else believed in him. Because the black market was abundantly supplied, the idea was established that price control is equal to deficit and that free trade will return abundance. It was assumed that at first prices would rise, but then fall as a result of competition. This illusion was destroyed in winter. Formally, the Convention will put an end to the “maximum” of 4 nivoz III year (December 24, 1794) ^[58] .

The rejection of a controlled economy triggered a disaster. Prices soared, and the exchange rate fell. The republic was sentenced to mass inflation, and the currency was destroyed. In Thermidor III, the banknotes cost less than 3 percent of their face value. Neither the peasants nor the merchants took anything but cash. The fall was so rapid that economic life seemed to stop.

The crisis greatly aggravated the famine. The peasants stopped bringing products to the markets because they did not want to accept banknotes. The government continued to deliver food to Paris, but was unable to provide the promised rations. In the provinces, local municipalities resorted to a kind of requisition, subject to indirect coercion in receiving goods. The fate of rural day laborers, abandoned by all, was often terrible. Inflation ruined creditors in favor of debtors. This all caused unprecedented speculation ^[59] .

In early spring, the shortage of basic goods was such that, it seemed, unrest occurred throughout the country. Paris came to motion again.

Bread and the 1793 Constitution

Increased hunger brought the excitement sections to the limit. On March 17, a delegation from the outskirts of Saint-Marceau and Saint-Jacques complained in the Convention that: "We have no bread, we are ready to regret all the sacrifices we made for the revolution." A decree on police measures was adopted, imposing the death penalty for seditious slogans or calling for an uprising. The weapons were distributed to "good citizens." Trial of strength was approaching.

10 terminals, all sections are convened for a general meeting. The political geography of Paris clearly showed priorities. The debate of the Convention focused on two issues: the bringing to trial of Barer, Kollo, Biyo, Vadieu and the fate of the constitution of 1793. While the sections of the west and center called for punishment the Quartet, sections of the east and suburbs demanded measures to combat the crisis, the enactment of the 1793 constitution, the restoration of revolutionary committees and the release of arrested patriots ^[60] .

On the morning of the 12th terminal (April 1, 1795), crowds of people gathered on the island of Cité and, pushing aside the Convent Guard, rushed into the conference room. Among the noise and chaos, representatives of the sections expressed their wishes - the Constitution of 1793 and the adoption of measures against hunger. Reliable battalions of the National Guard from the sections loyal to the Convention were called in, and they easily dispersed unarmed demonstrators. For the majority, the constitution of 1793 was seen as a saving utopia and the solution to all evils. There were others who openly regretted the end of the "reign of Robespierre" ^[61] .

But that was not all. A new explosion was approaching on the horizon. The uprising was organized openly. On 1 May (May 20, 1795) the alarm sounded in the suburbs of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau. Armed battalions arrived at Karusel Square and broke into the convention hall. A terrible noise began, among which the rebels read the program of the uprising - “The Rising of the People”. In chaos, none of the ringleaders thought about the implementation of a key element of the program: the overthrow of the government.

The remnants of the Montagnards, "The Top" ( Fr. La Crête de la Montagne ), managed to make favorable for the rebels decrees. But at 11:30 pm two armed columns entered the hall and cleared him of the rebels. The next day, the rebels repeated the same mistakes and after receiving a promise from deputies to take urgent measures against hunger, they returned to their sections.

On 3 March the government gathered loyal troops, rangers and dragoons, national guardsmen selected from those “who have something to defend” - 20,000 in all; The suburb of Saint-Antoine was surrounded and 4 prerials surrendered and were disarmed. Fluctuations and indecision, lack of revolutionary leadership doomed the last movement to defeat ^[62] .

4 preriale III year is one of the most important dates of the revolutionary period. The people ceased to be a political force, a participant in history. This date can be called the end of the revolution. Its spring was broken ^[63] .

Constitution of 1795

The winners could now adopt a new constitution, the task for which the National Assembly was initially chosen. The Commission of Eleven ( Don , Lanjouin , Boissy d'Angla , Thibodeau, and Larevelier - the most prominent members) prepared a text that reflected the new balance of power.

The new Constitution of the year III created the Directory ( French Directoire ) and the first bicameral legislature in the history of France. The constitution has returned to the distinction between “active” and “passive” citizens. Universal suffrage in 1793 was replaced by limited qualifying law. The new constitution reverted to the principles of the 1791 constitution. The principle of equality was confirmed, but within the limits of civil equality. Numerous democratic rights of the Constitution of 1793 - the right to work, social insurance, universal education - were excluded. The convention defined the rights of citizens of the republic and at the same time rejected both the privileges of the old order and social equality. Only citizens over the age of twenty-five who paid the tax on income from two hundred days of work were eligible to be electors. This electoral body, which had a real electoral power, consisted of 30,000 people in 1795, half as much as in 1791. Guided by recent experience of the Jacobin dictatorship, republican institutions were created to protect against two dangers: the omnipotence of executive power and dictatorship.

A bicameral legislature was proposed as a precaution against sudden political fluctuations: the Council of Five Hundred ( Fr. Conseil des Cinq-Cents ) with the rights to propose laws and the Council of Elders ( Fr. Conseil des Anciens ), 250 senators, with the authority to accept or reject proposed laws. The executive branch was to be divided between five directors elected by the Council of Elders from a list made up of five hundred by the Council. One of the directors, determined by lot, was re-elected every year with the possibility of re-election in five years. As one of the practical precautions, it was not allowed to have troops 60 miles from the assembly’s meeting place and she could choose another meeting place in case of danger. The directory still retained much power, including extraordinary powers over press freedom and freedom of association in case of emergency. Amendments to the constitution had to go through a complex system of adoption in order to achieve stability, and the procedure of adoption could last up to nine years.

Elections of deputies of one third of both chambers were to be held annually. But how to make sure that the new elected body could not change the constitution, as happened with the Legislative Assembly? The Thermidorians stipulated this 5 Fructidor (August 22, 1795) according to the results of the vote for the resolution on the “formation of a new legislative body”. Article II stipulated: “All members of this Convention shall be eligible for re-election. Electoral assemblies cannot accept less than two thirds of them to form new legislative bodies. ” This was the famous two-thirds law ^[64] .

Vandemier

The results were announced on September 23: the constitution was adopted by 1,057,390 votes, with 49,978 against. The two-thirds law received only 205,498 votes in favor, 108,754 against ^[65] .

But the Convention did not take into account those Paris sections that voted against two-thirds and did not announce the exact voting numbers: forty-seven Paris sections rejected this law ^[66] . Eighteen of the Paris sections challenged the result. Section Lepeelet appealed to other sections to revolt. By 11 Vandemier seven sections were in a state of insurrection, sections that were the basis of the Convention with 9 Thermidor, and now with the overwhelming right-wing majority, if not of the royalists. The convention declared itself in a continuous session ^[67] . The convention survived all the uprisings. The convention knew the art of rebellion by heart, and it was easier to crush muscadels than sans-culottes ^[68] . Five deputies, including Barras , formed a committee to deal with the insurgency. Decree 12 of the Vandemier (October 4) abolished the previously declared disarmament of the former "terrorists" and issued an appeal to the sans-chulots.

With the connivance of General Man , commander of the internal army, the uprising began on the night of 12-13 Vandemier. Most of the capital was in the hands of the rebels, about 20,000; a central rebel committee was formed and the Convention was besieged. Barras attracted a young general, Napoleon Bonaparte, a former robiesper, as well as other generals — Carto, Brun , Loison , Dupont . The future marshal, Captain Murat, managed to capture the cannons from the camp in Sablon, and the rebels, having no artillery, were thrown back and scattered.

Moderate repression followed, and the white terror in the south was suppressed. 4 Brumaire of year IV, just before the end of its powers, the Convention declared a general amnesty for “affairs connected exclusively with the revolution” ^[67] .

The activity of the convention was not limited only to the struggle of parties, terror, the organization of protection against external enemies (see Revolutionary Wars ) and the drafting of a constitution. He took care of the proper setting of charity and food to the starving; issued new laws relating to family, property and inheritance law; engaged in the drafting of a new civil code, the draft of which was submitted to him by Cambaceres on August 9, 1793, and subsequently served as the basis for the Napoleonic Code .

Important improvements were made by the convention, at the suggestion of Cambon, in the financial department. Much was done in the field of education, in the field of which Lacanal played a particularly prominent role: the Normal School , the Central School of Public Works, the Special School of Oriental Languages, the Bureau of Longitude , the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, the Louvre Museum , the National Library of France , the national archives played a particularly prominent role. , French Antiquities Museum, Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance , art exhibitions, national institute. By decree of 30 Vandemier and 29 Frimer II (October 21 and December 19, 1793), the principle of compulsory and free primary education was proclaimed, but it did not receive implementation.

• List of Chairs of the National Convention of France

Comments

Sources

• Presidents of the National Convention: 1792-1795
• National Convention pamphlets and documents