The French Revolution- 'The Terror'

That's the way we portray "Les sans culotte" :

Tu es mechant, Mon Vieux . . .

I was waiting for you, Set, to begin explaining that to Evil 1...

I just got back to the house, Mon Vieux, i have a baguette and some fresh butter, and two importunate dogs . . . Evil 1's term paper will have to wait . . .

Baguette and fresh butter...not bad...with the "sans culotte" beer...

As a rule, Evil 1, we don't do other people's homework on this site. But any member is free to make an exception to the unwritten rule. If Setanta deigns to point you in the right direction, you're a lucky student, indeed. Me, I'm going to have a couple of petit-fours with my cup of espresso.

Well, I had country ham and biscuits for breakfast, and just found out that there was a Les Sans Culottes Band whose fearless leader is Clermont Ferrand. Boy, do they ever bash the Americans.

Sorry, evil 1. I would try and help if I could.

It would be inaccurate to assume, and irresponsible to assert that the sans coulottes were directly responsible for the terror--and even less so that they had any part in the decisions which sent men and women to the place of execution. Although, for example, most of the septembriseurs who committed the slaughter of September, 1792 might have been described as members of the sans coulottes, and most of those awarded the title of vainqueur de la Bastille might also have been so described--the Paris mob was more exploited than in charge. Those who attacked the Bastille, and those who participated in the September massacres were distinctly a minority of their class. A list of the vainqueurs de la Bastille shows that those involved came from a wide variety of trades, and were largely members of the apprentice or the journeyman class. Sans coulottes, to be sure, but ambitious to rise above that station in life before the revolution arrived and changed their prospects. For most of the early years of the revolution, it was only necessary for someone who wished to exploit the mob to further their agenda to simply advertise a "journee" and when the mob was in place, events usually took an inevitable course, such as the slaughter of the Swiss Guard at the Tuileries in August, 1792, which preceeded the September massacres.

Those who exploited the mob, as well as those who plotted and pursued devious paths in the Assembly were not usually of the sans coulotte class. The Girondistes, the Dantonistes, the handful of followers of Mirabeau with their palid attempt at constitutional monarchy, and finally, the members Comite de salut publique, were members of the petite bourgeoisie. They were apothecaries, physicians, lawyers, accountants--the members of the emerging middle class. The Comite de salut publique was formed in the spring of 1793. France was already facing an invasion by Austria and Prussia, the battle of Valmy had already been fought (although a small affair in terms of casualties, the Brunswickers were driven from the field by the French artillery, and the revolutionaries made big play of both the threat and the victory). The Vendee was already in revolt. Although many of those denounced, condemned and executed were members of the noblesse, and therefore stand out as victims of a murderous program of leveling--that had more to do with the threat of emigres in the armies on France's frontiers. In fact, the recipient of the tender mercies of Dr. Guillotin's "wife" was just as likely to be a political enemy of a member of one of the revolutionary committees, the Committe of Public Saftety and the Committee of General Security. (La Guillotine would be what one would call the wife of Dr. Guillotin--but the device was actually already in extistence, and had been used in Germany--Guillotin only introduced it to France). Danton and Robespierre were two of the original members of the Committee of Public Safety, which quicly became the dominant body, and, effectively, the government. The Girondistes were arrested in June, 1793, and the Committee began the terror. With the murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday in July, 1793, the fever pitch of denunciation and execution increased. Soon, simply to be a member of the bourgeoisie was sufficient to be the object of denunciation, and it is alleged that petty revenge was often enacted in that manner.

The sans coulottes remained, throughout the revolution, the threat of the rabble-rouser, but the overthrow of Robespierre in July, 1794 and the eventual fall of the Committee for Public Safety more than adequately demonstrate that the power and threat of the mob could be dispensed with, or even successfully defied by those sufficiently adroit politically and militarily. The jeunesse d'ore soon filled the streets and terrorized the san coulottes successfully--they were the street fighters and vanguard of the counterrevolution which was enshrined in the Directory. In October 1795, the last hurrah of the sans coulottes occurred with the failed attempt to assault the Tuileries, turned back by the army, what Carlyle referred to as Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot."

For a detailed account of the political intruguing in the revolution, from a definitely conservative, biased and hostile source, i cannot recommend too highly Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution. Written in the 1830s, modern readers may find it difficult to read, but a more succinct brief yet detailed narrative in English is not to be found. For a notion of what the special days of the revolution were all about, what life was like in revolutionary Paris, i recommend The Days of the French Revolution, by Christopher Hibbert. Otherwise, there are literally thousands of works out there on the subject, and one is about as good (or bad) as the other.

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Take it or leave it, that's what i have to offer on the subject. There's material there for hundreds of web searches.