Transcript The Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror
Robespierre and the Republic of Virtue
Recap Video of what we spoke about
More detail
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhADTZ9_L_4
What do they portray? Why are They
Relevant?
Les Sans-Cullotes
“I support the Jacobins”
What’s the connection?
“ I used to pick locks”
Why is it relevant? What effect does it
have on France?
<3
 Review Questions:
 1) Did women have a role in the French Revolution?
 2) What is the National Assembly? Who do they represent?
 3) Name 2 causes of the Revolution and briefly explain
 4) Name the three estates, which estates had a better lifestyle?
 5) What is the declaration of the Rights of Man? Who put it in motion?
 6) Who were the Jacobins? Were they extremists? Or conservative? What did they want?
 7) Why was the guillotine an ideal choice of execution throughout the revolution?
 8) What is Feudalism, why did the National Assembly want to get rid of it?
 9) Who were the Girodins? Were they extremists? Or conservative? What did they want?
 Discuss with the people at your table
Fun Fact of the Day
 The first public zoo was created in Paris during the French
Revolution: the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes
They took Marie Antoinette’s animals
So the National Assembly is in power
 They have successfully removed the Monarchy from France
 King Louis is dead
 The Radical Jacobins are now in power
 Things have changed, but life is still pretty bad in France
(people are still hungry and France is still in debt)
 The war is not going so well…It is quite unsettling for both
the commoners and those in power
The National Convention/Assembly decide to create…
The Committee of Public Safety
(JACOBINS)
- After the death of Louis and severe
defeats on the battlefield, the
National Assembly created the
committee of Public Safety
- The committee of Public Safety is a
nine man group that would form the
executive leadership of the country
- (supervisory powers over military,
judicial, and legislative efforts)
- Their aim: To protect the newly
established republic against foreign
attacks and internal rebellion
Committee of public safety
- They were led by THIS DUDE
- As time passed, the committee
assumed more and more power
- Eventually, the committee gained
dictatorial powers and ruled the
country by emergency decree
- Once again, we have a group of
selected individuals ruling the
country “because they have to”
- But Danton was relatively
conservative
Georges Danton
The most important member of The
public safety committee
- One of the most influential members
and spokesman for the group was a
young lawyer named Maximilien de
Robespierre
-
Robespierre wanted a Republic of Virtue
based on his idealistic philosophy, while
Danton wanted a Republic slightly
different from pre-Revolutionary France
-
Robespierre would eventually
replace Danton as leader (after
Robespierre had Danton executed)
- Will talk more about him in a bit
Let’s talk about Propaganda
Why is propaganda important? Well…
1)
2)
3)
4)
It masks the truth (ex: Cake)
It spreads the word
It is effective
It sticks
Propaganda is usually:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Repetitious
Simple
Image based
Sentimental
Example of Propaganda
Simple
Effective because it relates to them
Image based
It will stick
“Taxes, work, poverty
Many forms of propaganda
 Some people believe that advertising is a form of propaganda
as it aims to persuade people to buy a certain product to
make them feel a certain way. Propaganda is communication
for the purpose of persuasion so they are linked in some way
But we will talk about political propaganda
The Word on the Street
- During the French Revolution, the new freedom of the
press allowed newspapers and pamphlets to do things they
had never done before
- They freely criticized the government and addressed the
concerns of the people
- These papers were people’s link to the revolution, a great
way of spreading propaganda
- Some of these papers were very radical and often
promoted fear and paranoia in the part of the people
(Towards the end; usually written by Jacobins and their
sympathizers)
- The most infamous writer during this time was Jean Paul
Marat
Meet Jean Paul Marat
- He supported the Jacobins and promoted
violence and intolerance towards anyone who
opposed radical reform
Marat said that if the conservative elements of the
National Assembly were not removed then . . .
“Five or six hundred heads would have guaranteed
your freedom and happiness but a false humanity has
restrained your arms and stopped your blows. If you
don’t strike now, millions of your brothers will die,
your enemies will triumph and your blood will flood
the streets. They'll slit your throats without mercy
and disembowel your wives. And their bloody hands
will rip out your children’s entrails to erase your love
of liberty forever.”
JACOBIN sympathizer
What do you think of Marat?
 What is he trying to tell the French?
 Is he right?
 Does he condone violence?
 How is he manipulating the public?
 Do you think it works?
 Talks amongst yourselves, I’m going to pick 3 groups at random
It does work, some examples:
 Marat caused many riots (The march on Versailles)
 Stirred a lot of commotion before the Estate General
 Made a lot of people favor the Jacobins
The death of Marat, what did it cause?
 We already know:
 Through his writing and political maneuvers, Marat attacked the
Girodins, who he blamed for starting the war
 He was influential in the destruction of Girodin power in the National
Assembly and then the persecution of Girodins as traitors
 He represented the Jacobins, he was utilized as a propaganda tool
 His death:
 One day, as Marat sat in a bath (because of a skin condition) he was
stabbed to death by a female Girodin sympathizer (Charlotte Corday)
 Marat became a martyr of the revolution and his death was the spark
that started the reign of terror
 The Jacobins became obsessed with destroying any elements in society
that opposed the revolution
What do you think happened to
Charlotte Corday?
"I knew that he was
perverting France. I have
killed one man to save a
hundred thousand."
This shows that people began to question their new leadership
Detail of The Death of Marat showing the paper held
in Marat's left hand. The letter reads (in French) "Il
suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a
votre bienveillance" or in English, "Given that I am
unhappy, I have a right to your help"
Jacques louis David
So the King is dead, the radicals are more or less in power, the war effort is not going so well and it
Has an economic effect on France and, the people are STILL HUNGRY, and MARAT IS DEAD
What do you think will happen? Will the National
Assembly sympathize and revolt against themselves?
Will they step down from power? Will they ignore
Marat’s death?
You’re completely right
But who will step up and help control the public?
Robespierre, remember him?
 Started out as a Lawyer and was
fairly conservative
 At first, he did not advocate the
use of violence
 Over time… he became one of
France’s most ruthless leaders
Maximilien de Robespierre
 Becomes the leader of the
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Jacobins
He is:
A brilliant Fanatical
A Visionary (Reformed France)
Uncompromising (No
tolerance)
Incorruptible (Lived a simple,
modest life
He could not be influenced by
money/les emigres
 As the leader of the nation, Robespierre faced a difficult
task because:
A)
The countryside was still starving and violent
B) There were enemies of the revolution everywhere (royalists who
wanted a return to monarchy, French Nobility plotting the downfall
of the revolution in hiding, foreign invaders that were routing the
French Army in every battle)
C) The war effort was not going well, people began to grow tired of
France’s devotion to the war effort
 So how does he “control” the situation?
Robespierre fought back with
“THE TERROR”
He was supported by these guys
-Radical left-wing partisans of the lower classes;
typically urban labourers, which dominated France
-They supported the Jacobins
- SYMBOLIC GESTURE AGAINST les culottes (silk
knee-breeches) of the moderate bourgeois
- The working class, sans-culottes, traditionally wore
pantalons (trousers)
THE REIGN OF TERROR
Who is this?
Robespierre demanded absolute
conformity from everyone in
society
Anyone who did not follow
Robespierre’s rules (even minor
infractions) were swiftly
executed
Example of Minor infraction:
Clothes
Robespierre’s reign of terror
 In his time as leader of France, 16,000 - 18,000 people were
beheaded in public
 He killed people for various reasons:
 Their clothes
 The way they spoke (if it resembled l’ancien regime, the months)
 Their beliefs (Religion, revolution)
 Why do you think he killed people for such minor things? Does it
make sense? Does it follow the principles of the enlightenment?
That being said… Robespierre did do
some good in France…
Robespierre Accomplishments
Through terror, Robespierre accomplished many things; for example
1. He calmed the countryside and provided stability for the first
time in years
2. He Turned the Tide of War (He started drafting soldiers from
the general public, he inspired them with the hope of the
revolution and a better life, defeat meant going back to tyranny.
France started to win against the combined Armies of most of
Europe)
Robespierre had other contributions as well . . .
 He was one of the major contributors to the declaration of the
rights of man, laws that we take for granted
More from Robespierre
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He instituted the “METRIC SYSTEM” (international)
Attempted to create a new Calendar (e.g. Thermador)
instead of August
Created new fashions (Against the style of l’ancien regime,
no more distinguishing between nobility, clergy, and
everyone else)
Created new language conventions and word usages (less
fancy)
Created a New Flag (France’s current flag)
He even created a new religion (The Cult of the Supreme
Being, love thy neighbor)
Basically…
 Robespierre wanted to get rid of everything that represented
France before the revolution, he wanted no reminders
 He believed that tolerance would allow their old ways to
creep back into society
 To him, terror was a great way of ensuring stability
What do you think happened to
Robespierre
 A) Reigned until he died
 B) Resigned
 C) Asked Austria to provide the new king of France
 D) ?
His Downfall
 Robespierre was too successful
 When the threat of military
defeat was gone and the
countryside was back in order,
there was no need for the radical
Robespierre and his grand vision
 When they went to arrest him he
attempted to commit suicide (he
shot himself but missed . . . He
only managed to blow off his
lower jaw)
 He was guillotined without trial
the next day
Downfall
 After the downfall of Robespierre and the Jacobins, a new
government took over: The Directory
 The Directory was more moderate and further stabilized
France
 However, the directory was weak and only managed to
survive for 4 years. They did the same things… without the
mass murder
 With that in mind, was Robespierre in the right? Were his
methods appropriate?
 In a way… they sort of represented the ideals of the
enlightenment
SO, let’s just go through this one more
time
The French Revolution (a brief gif summary)
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE A
BUNCH OF RICH FRENCHIES
WHO LIKED TO CORRUPT THE
GOVERNMENT AND HAVE PARTIES LIKE
BUT THE POOR FRENCH PEASANTS
WERE LIKE
AND THE MONARCHY/ARISTOCRATS
WERE LIKE
SO THE PEASANTS WERE LIKE
AND TOOK OVER THE COUNTRY LIKE
WHERE THERE WAS LOTS OF
AND THE PEASANTS WERE LIKE
THE END.
In a nut shell
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEZqarUnVpo
<3
 First Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyZsLYxaIuM
 Hero or Villain activity
 Second Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTvKwCylFY