DEATH OF A QUEEN
Striking fear into the hearts of France
He suffered increasingly lengthy periods of nervous collapse correlating with moments of political crisis, yet he was tragically unable to step away from the crushing burdens of leadership.”
With a mission to save the Revolution, on 5 September 1793 the Committee for Public Safety declared France: “Revolutionary until peace.” This broad statement in short meant that a state of emergency was in force and that the Committee was prepared to use violence against its own citizens in a desperate attempt to bring stability to France. The Terror began in practice on 29 September, with the implementation of the Law of Suspects. This law identified ‘enemies’ of the Revolution and allowed for the creation of revolutionary tribunals, through which they would be tried and executed. In order to impose these new draconian
measures, the Committee for Public Safety mobilised the Armée Révolutionnaire, whose aim was supposedly to commandeer food supplies. However, in practice it was used for another, more sinister purpose as it became the brute weapon of the Committee and its paramilitary arm. The new law gave some 20,000 local police committees (named Comités de surveillance) the power to arrest anyone deemed to be an enemy of the Revolution and of liberty. How many were arrested during this time remains unknown. As Davidson describes in his book, The French Revolution: “The Law of Suspects was loosely drawn and no one knows exactly how many people were arrested during the period of the terror. It was certainly tens of thousands and may well have been hundreds of thousands.” Possible figures suggested range from 300,000 to 500,000. The Law of Suspects also called for the arrest of any one who, “by their writings have shown themselves partisans of tyranny”, therefore preventing any further criticism of the regime.
One of the factors that had led to the creation of the Terror and would soon be the focus of one of its bloodiest events was the overthrow of a political group known as the Girondins. This group had shown some leniency towards the monarchy and as a result had come into direct conflict with the radical Jacobins. Their reluctance to adopt emergency measures in the name of the Revolution, to satisfy the demands of Parisian workers and the fact that some had opposed the execution of the king, led to their downfall in June of 1793. Following the execution of Marie Antoinette on 16 October, 21 of the most prominent Girondins were brought to trial and executed. A number of others were tracked down and either committed suicide or were similarly sentenced. One of the most high-profile victims of the Terror, who faced the guillotine at the same time as the Girondins, was Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had actively supported the Revolution and voted for the death of his cousin, Louis XVI. Following the desertion of his son to the enemy, he was tried for the same charges as the Girondins and sentenced to death. As he met the executioner on the scaffold he stated dryly: “Really, this seems a bit of a joke.”
Yet, although most histories focus on these aspects, the Terror was not purely characterised by violence. There were other methods through which the Committee sought to save the Revolution. The Law of the Maximum, introduced in September 1793, had been demanded by the lower classes for some time and put strict restrictions on the prices that goods could be sold for. On 4 September 1794, slavery was abolished in the French colonies. However, one of the key factors of the Reign of Terror, was the de christian is at ion of France. The Catholic Church had always sat at odds with the Revolution; with its power to tax the public and extreme wealth it was seen as an artefact of the Ancien Régime. In October 1793 public worship was forbidden and slowly over the following months any signs relating to Christianity were removed. Items such as bells were melted down to be used in the war effort, while any valuables were seized in the name of the Revolution. Finally, on 23 November all churches were closed and some were converted into stables. Any street that bore the name of a saint was renamed, often with a Republican theme. A new calendar was even created, purged of any religious holidays and establishing a ten day week - eradicating Sunday as a day of rest. The following year Robespierre introduced the Cult of the Supreme Being, designed to be a new state religion. On 8 June 1794 the Festival of the Supreme Being was held, for which the artist Jacques-louis David constructed a huge mountain out of timber and plaster. Robespierre and the other members of the convention ascended to the top of the structure, where he delivered a speech, proclaiming his new religion. Following Robespierre’s death the cult faded into obscurity.
“How many were arrested during this time remains unknown, with figures ranging from 300,000 to 500,000”
Arguably the Terror’s most famous victim, Marie Antoinette was executed on 16 October 1793, nine months after the death of her husband King Louis XVI
The daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette was born in 1755, marrying Louisaugustus at the age of 15. Following the start of the Revolution in 1789, Marie became a hated symbol of the French royal family’s detachment from the situation in France. For example,she purportedly uttered the phrase: “Let them eat cake” after being informed that her subjects had no bread. While the story has often been debated and evidence suggests that it was not true, the legend provides an example of the ordinary people’s overwhelming discontent with the ruling monarchy.
Following the overthrow of the monarchy on 10 August 1792, Marie Antoinette spent the final year of her life in prison. Originally kept at the Temple, a luxurious prison-palace, she was soon transferred to the Conciergerie, a grim and depressing place, where she was kept mostly in solitary confinement. On 14 October, she was brought for trial. As an Austrian it was widely rumoured that she was in league with France’s enemies, and she had often been unpopular with the people. Two days later she was condemned to death and executed by guillotine.
“There would be no interrogation or evidence against them and the only choices the tribunal had were acquittal or death”
If it was not already apparent that no one was safe from the bloody anarchy unleashed upon the streets of France, then the downfall of Georges Danton would demonstrate how far those in favour of the Terror were prepared to go. Danton had been a key figure in the overthrow of the monarchy and was initially an important member of the Committee of Public Safety. In fact, in the early months he was effectively the Committee’s head but his failure to deal with foreign powers through negotiations meant he was quickly pushed to the margins. He had been instrumental in the creation of the revolutionary tribunal and had contributed to ending the power of the Girondins. However, Danton marked himself as a possible ‘enemy of the Revolution’ by challenging Robespierre, the Terror and the revolutionary government. He did this through increasing moderation, wishing to slow the Revolution and reinstate the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. His moderation made him the leader of Les Indulgents, a faction that openly opposed the Terror.
Before his arrest Danton met with Robespierre several times, but received only a stony silence. Despite Danton’s pleas for clemency, using old friendships and loyalty as leverage, Robespierre was defiant. Danton’s trial lasted four days, during which he was accused of involvement in a variety of different treasons including attempting to save the king, treacherous transactions with the Girondins and carrying on secret friendships with foreigners. To quote Davidson: “No one could have been in any doubt: this was to be another show trial.” On 5 April 1794, as he was led to the guillotine, Danton reputedly turned to the executioner and said: “Show my head to the people, it is worth seeing.”
Yet in many ways the worst was yet to come, and on 10
June 1794 the implementation of the conspicuously named Law 22 of Parisial Year II freed the Revolutionary Tribunals from control by the National Convention. Not only this, but it also limited the ability of a suspect to defend themselves, as well as broadening the number of criminal charges. The accused was allowed no lawyers, there would be no interrogation or evidence against them and the only choices the tribunal had were acquittal or death. The motivation behind this most brutal of laws was the attempted assassination of Jean-marie Collot D’herbois, a member of the Committee for Public Safety, and the arrest of a woman carrying a knife who was supposedly planning an attack on Robespierre himself. Perhaps the 33-yearold was feeling paranoid – his health was certainly in decline – but whatever the reasoning the result was ‘The Great Terror’. In a mere six weeks some 1,376 people were executed, as Chief Prosecutor Antoine-quentin Fouquier-tinville stated: “Heads were falling like slates off the roof.” The people became restless and discontent spread.
Yet there was hope on the horizon. On 26 June victory at the Battle of Fleurus ended foreign occupation of France, giving some hope that the Terror itself might soon end; after all, in 1793 the government had declared it would be, “revolutionary until peace.” Hadn’t that peace now been achieved?
If any single object has become associated with the Terror, if not with the Revolution as a whole, then it is that of the guillotine. In 1789, during a debate surrounding the Penal Code, Dr Josephignace Guillotin proposed that a more humane way of executing prisoners be found. He suggested that death, without torture, by decapitation would be an appropriate method. The proposal approved, Dr Antoine Louis set about designing a device that would sever the head clean and quickly, avoiding the botched executions often seen by sword or axe beheadings. In Guillotin’s own words: “The mechanism falls like lightning; the head flies off; the blood spurts; the man no longer exists.”
The prototype was tested on sheep and calves first, before human cadavers were used to provide a more accurate demonstration. On the 25 April 1792, the guillotine was used for the first time in an actual execution, that of Nicolas Jacques Pelletier, a highwayman sentenced to death for robbery and murder. Pelletier was forced to wait for the machine’s completion before his execution was carried out. On the day of his death, the crowd were purportedly disappointed with this new, cleaner method of dispatch and some cried out for the return of the gallows. The final person executed in France by guillotine was the murderer Hamida Djandoubi, in 1977.
Yet any indication that the progress of the terror would be halted never occurred. Instead Robespierre stepped back from public affairs and for the following three weeks was absent from the Convention and all other meetings. Quite why remains a mystery, though most likely it was due to ill health. Upon his return on 26 July Robespierre proceeded to denounce numerous members of the Convention and claimed there was a, “conspiracy against public liberty.” He had made many enemies and perhaps feared for his own security, but in doing so attacked all the key government institutions. His refusal to name any of the members of the supposed conspiracy angered the Convention and the following day, when attempting to speak, his voice was drowned out by booing. The Convention voted for his arrest, yet the prisons refused to accept him due to the mayor being a loyal devotee of Robespierre. Instead he went to the Hotel De Ville with his followers, while the Convention planned its next move.
At around 2:30am, the Convention’s forces entered the town hall. The troops found Robespierre in the middle of writing a desperate appeal to his own Section des Piques for help, but what happened next remains something of a mystery. Some historians believe that he may have attempted to commit suicide using a pistol, whereas others think that he was shot by a gendarmerie. Whatever the cause, the result was that a bullet was fired through his left cheek, smashing his teeth and jaw. As doctors inspected the horrific wound, one of the officers noted that, “the monster did not take his eyes off of us, but without uttering a word.” While this description paints the image of silent evil, it was most likely because Robespierre was unable to speak due to the pain. At his trial he made repeated requests for pen and paper but was consistently ignored. At 7pm on 28 July the