France

Napoleon followed up his triumph in Paris by leading the French army as it crossed the Alps, and he conquered Lombardy, the Papal States, and Venice. Fresh victories brought optimism and a sense of honor to the long-suffering people of France. Looted treasures from defeated cities filled the treasuries of the government, which at the end of 1795 had composed a new constitution and reorganized itself with a bicameral legislative body and a Directory of five men as its executive branch. Without consulting this Directory, Napoleon took it upon himself to negotiate a peace treaty with Austria. He then lead a French army on an expedition into Egypt to counter British influence, and there he won a decisive victory over of the armies of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt at the Battle of the Pyramids.

Revolution! France – Chapter 16

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

Unsatisfied with Couthon’s efficiency in bringing retribution to the rebellious population, the Committee replaced him with Convention delegates Fouché and Collot d’Herbois, the latter of whom had recently declared, “The rights of man are made not for counterrevolutionaries but only for sans-culottes.” Soon the guillotine at Lyon—now renamed Liberated Town—was executing up to thirty-two condemned rebels per day. When this was deemed too slow a means of dispensing justice, a new method of execution was tried. On December 4, 1793, sixty of the condemned inhabitants of the city were tied together and blasted with grapeshot from cannons. Those left merely mutilated and moaning but not dead had to be finished off with bayonets and sabers by soldiers who became physically ill in carrying out their grim task.

Revolution! France – Chapter 15

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

Their charges against Marat were well-founded. In his vitriolic writings, Marat had violently railed against so many different “enemies of the people” that he had no allies left in the Convention. But he remained beloved by the people of Paris, and it was the people’s judgment that the Revolutionary Tribunal had been established to dispense. Marat was acquitted on April 24 and paraded back to the Convention by a crowd of sans-culottes carrying their hero on their shoulders. “We bring you the worthy Marat,” announced a man holding an axe. “Marat has always been the friend of the people, and the people will always be the friends of Marat. If Marat’s head must fall, our heads will fall first.”

Revolution! France – Chapter 14

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

The executioner pulled on the rope, and the twelve-inch blade fell. Instead of instantaneous death, there was an agonized scream, noted the king’s manservant, Jean-Baptiste Cléry, who witnessed the event and recorded “his head did not fall at the first stroke, his neck being so fat.” At 10:22 a.m., the severed head of Louis XVI, still spurting blood, was picked up out of the basket, held aloft, and shown to the crowd on all four sides of the scaffold. After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd broke into cheers. Schoolboys threw their hats into the air in celebration and shouts of “Long live the nation!” and “Long live the republic!” were heard.

Revolution! France – Chapter 13

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

With the end of martial law declared upon the signing of the Constitution, radical leaders and journalists returned to Paris. Most supported the proposed war with the notable exception of Robespierre, whose speeches at the Jacobin club failed to convince his peers that while defeat in war would surely bring an unthinkable return to despotism, even victory ran the danger of creating despots out of generals. The new Constitution had granted the king the exclusive power to propose war. Acceding to the will of the people, on April 20, 1792, the king came before the Assembly and announced, “Having done my best to maintain peace, as I was in duty bound to do, I have now come—in conformity with the terms of the constitution—to propose war.” Amid great cheers, war against Austria was declared.

Revolution! France – Chapter 12

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

The women agreed to travel to Versailles, but first they ransacked city hall to procure hundreds of muskets, pikes, sabers, and several cannons. A number of men joined with the women—including Maillard, who marched at their head. Other rabble rousing men dressed themselves as women and followed along. During the six-hour march to Versailles in the rain, more and more peasant women came out to join the mob carrying pitchforks and scythes. As they journeyed, the ambitions of the women increased: they would demand that the king return to Paris with them and take up residence among his people to ensure the availability of food in the city. Feelings toward the queen were less sentimental, with some openly calling for her death.

Revolution! France – Chapter 11

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

That same day, word also reached Paris that the Assembly-supporting minister of finance, Jacques Necker, had been exiled by the king to Brussels. Thousands of Parisians took to the streets and were whipped into a frenzy by spirited orators like the fiery twenty-six-year-old Camille Desmoulins, who stood atop a cafe table, shouting, “Citizens, you know that the Nation asked for Necker to be retained and he has been driven out! Could you be more insolently flouted? After such an act they will dare anything!” He then held a pistol aloft and put a hand over his heart. “To arms! To arms!” he cried. “Yes, it is I who call my brothers to freedom; I would rather die than submit to servitude.”

Revolution! France – Chapter 10

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling

The nobility was France’s Second Estate, comprising 2 percent of the population, but owning 20 percent of the country’s land. The nobility originated as a hierarchy of feudal lords who offered military service to the king and presided over fiefdoms where they policed and taxed the peasantry. Membership in the nobility was hereditary, but certain expensive offices within the government could be purchased, which conferred nobility on the holder. Enjoying a monopoly on top positions in the government, the army, and the judicial courts, the nobles formed an aristocracy that controlled much of the country’s wealth and power.

Revolution! France – Chapter 9

France, Revolution / By Elbe Spurling