SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit
1,631
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 11:
Line 11: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Added to page
By late July, a loose network of anti-Robespierre Jacobins had developed. Key members included Joseph Fouché, Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois, and Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, all of whom had been key functionaries in the Terror.
By late July, a loose network of anti-Robespierre Jacobins had developed. Key members included Joseph Fouché, Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois, and Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, all of whom had been key functionaries in the Terror.
==Coup of 9 Thermidor==
The coup that brought down Robespierre and his allies unfolded between 8-10 Thermidor (July 26-28), though the most critical events happened over the course of 9 Thermidor (July 27). It is also often referred to as "The Thermidor Coup," or simply "Thermidor."
'''Prelude'''
Action on the part of the anti-Robespierre faction was precipitated by a speech Robespierre delivered to the [[National Convention]] on the 26th. In this two-hour speech, he alleged that a conspiracy had formed against the French Republic, saying its members had "plunged patriots into dungeons and carried terror into all ranks and conditions." Though he clearly implied there was a real and concrete threat to the revolutionary government, he refused to make specific charges against individual members. In the aftermath of the speech, Robespierre was pressed to explain exactly who he was accusing, and of what, but he refused.
Robespierre repeated his speech at the Jacobin Club that night, and Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne, who were present and were known to have had a falling out with Robespierre, were assaulted by other members of the club and driven from the building, with some crying, ''À la guillotine!'' (To the guillotine!) Later that night, Billaud-Varenne and Lazare Carnot, another CPS member and opponent of Robespierre's, saw Saint-Just working on a speech of his own in the Committee offices. It was typical for Robespierre to make abstract declarations of principle and of need for action, and for Saint-Just to make specific denunciations based on those statements. Billaud and Carnot therefore concluded Saint-Just would identify members of Robespierre's alleged conspiracy in the Convention the next day, and they and their associates quickly made plans overnight to strike first.
'''Arrest'''
When the Convention met around 11:00 a.m. on the 27th, Saint-Just proceeded to deliver his speech. At a prearranged moment, however, he was interrupted by one of the opposition members, Jean-Lambert Tallien, who charged that he and Robespierre were speaking for themselves, not on behalf of the Committee, while Billaud-Varenne added that Robespierre's claims the previous day had been a threat against the Convention itself. Saint-Just, usually known for his eloquence and quick wit, seems to have shut down in the face of this unexpected counterattack, while Robespierre's attempts to regain control of the debate were shouted down. After cries of "Down with the tyrant! Arrest him!" and "The blood of Danton chokes him!" the Convention voted to arrest Robespierre, along with Saint-Just and three other Convention deputies--Georges Auguste Couthon, also on the Committee; Augustin Robespierre, Maximilien's younger brother; and Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas--and François Hanriot, commandant of the National Guard and known to be loyal to Robespierre.
The arrested deputies were taken to the Committee of General Security and interrogated, then escorted to separate prisons. Word of the Convention's actions had spread through the city by now, however, and the Paris Commune, still led by extremist Jacobins, sent instructions to the prison officials not to accept them upon arrival. After this, at some point in the early evening, the deputies were freed and took refuge in the Hôtel de Ville, while the various urban ''sections'' were mobilized to provide a small army that would march on and suppress the Convention.
By nightfall, the Commune troops, led by Hanriot, had surrounded the Convention. However, the Commune's ability to mobilize the Parisian population on Robespierre's behalf had itself been weakened by the mass killings of the Terror, and many ''sections'' from the western half of the city were in fact sending troops to protect the Convention. Inside, the deputies declared Robespierre and the other arrested men outlaws, meaning they could be executed on mere verification of identity. Realizing he lacked the force to take the Convention, Hanriot and his army fell back to the Hôtel de Ville, but his troops were already becoming demoralized and deserting in the darkness, and by about 2:00 a.m. there was no longer anyone left to defend the building. The Convention forces, led by Paul Barras, broke into the Hôtel and arrested those inside.
'''Execution'''
Practically none of the arrested men were taken alive and intact. Couthon, who was crippled and required a wheelchair, had fallen down a staircase and had broken several limbs. Hanriot and Augustin Robespierre had attempted to flee out an upper window, but either fell or jumped; Augustin landed near the front entrance, while Hanriot fell into an open sewer and lay there several hours before he was discovered. Inside the hall of the General Council, Le Bas had shot himself, and Robespierre had attempted to do the same, but owing to his inexperience with firearms and/or his own nervousness, the gun misfired and shattered his jaw, leaving him alive but, like the others, in excruciating pain. Only Saint-Just declined to flee or attempt suicide, merely rising to greet the Convention troops.
The prisoners were taken to the Conciergerie prison, while a hastily summoned meeting of the Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced all the survivors and twelve others to death. Late on the afternoon of the 28th, the condemned were escorted to the Place de la Révolution and guillotined. According to historian Simon Schama, the scene "was particularly gruesome, like some mad exorcism of horror." Saint-Just went to his death quietly and with dignity, but the other leading Jacobins died in agony, with Couthon and Hanriot having to be strapped to a plank and pushed underneath the blade. Robespierre's jaw had been bandaged that morning, but the executioner tore it away at the last moment, producing painful screams from Robespierre before the blade silenced him.
== Ending the Terror ==
== Ending the Terror ==