Uprising of the Parisian sans-culottes from May 31 to June 2, 1793

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Uprising on May 31, June 1 and June 2, 1793: the convent in the Tuileries courtyard was threatened by insurgents and the National Guard

The uprising of the Parisian sans-culottes from May 31 to June 2, 1793 represents an important milestone in the history of the French Revolution (1789–1799).

In the spring of 1793 an economic and political crisis prevailed in France , which steadily intensified. The sans-culottes in Paris , especially small craftsmen, small tradesmen and the wage-dependent dispossessed, blamed the Girondins , the Jacobins ' strongest political opponents , for the crisis and became more and more radical the longer the economic misery lasted. At the same time, the Mountain Party succeeded through the agitation of its speakers and newspapers in the sections, local councils, the city administration and the Jacobin Clubrepresented Paris sans-culottes on their side and in the late spring of 1793 to mobilize against their enemies, the Girondins, in order to eliminate the Gironde as a relevant political force. In order to forestall this danger, the Gironde-dominated convention had some leading radical Jacobins and the president of an opposition section arrested in April and May 1793 and went against the Commune (city government and city council of Paris) and against the sans-culottes and Jacobins Sections of the capital. However, on May 31, 1793 this triggered an uprising of the radical urban action groups (sections, communes, people's committees) against the Girondin spokesmen in the convention, which ended on June 2, 1793 with the complete disempowerment of the Gironde. This established the rule of the Jacobins and radicalized the political situation in France even further.

causes

In the winter of 1792/93 and the following spring, there was a great increase in prices in France . Due to the constant issue of new assignats , this new means of payment constantly lost its value. The producers of food and goods were less and less interested in exchanging their products for devalued assignats. Grain and other goods and necessities were withheld , which caused a shortage and increase in the price of most goods. Much of the population of Paris , especially the lower classes, suffered hardship and hunger. The Girondins in the National Convention , whose representatives had in the past strongly advocated freedom of trade and against state intervention in the economy, were made responsible for the rise in prices and hunger (including the former Girondist Interior Minister Roland).

Many Girondist deputies had already lost some of its prestige among Jacobins and sans-culottes because they in the trial of the king had shown leniency (in many cases they had only his conviction to imprisonment or death with suspensive effect, or for the death penalty , subject to the approval of the People voted).

The poor economic situation, the military setbacks of the French Republic in Belgium and the Vendée uprising, as well as the indolence of the ministers, including the two Girondist ministers Étienne Clavière and Pierre Henri Lebrun-Tondu, caused bitterness, insubordination and political radicalization in many sans-culottes.

At the beginning of March 1793 Austrian troops under Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Prince of Coburg) and Archduke Karl had victoriously invaded the French-occupied Belgium and had conquered Tongeren and shortly afterwards Liège . On March 18, the French Revolutionary Army under its commander -in- chief Charles-François Dumouriez suffered a heavy defeat against the Austrian troops at Neerwinde , which resulted in the whole of Belgium being occupied by the Austrians and Prussians.

Shortly afterwards - the end of March 1793 - the commander in chief of Dumouriez in connection with his plans for a coup secret negotiations resumed with the Austrian army leadership in Belgium and 1 April 1793, sent to him four Convention representatives and also sent to him War Minister Pierre de Ruel to the Austrians surrendered and then even went over to the enemy, this betrayal caused on the part of the Parisian sans-culottes and Jacobins a surge of mistrust and hostility towards the Gironde because Dumouriez with the spokesman of the Girondins in the Convention, the well-known MPs Jacques Pierre Brissot had been friends , and consequently Brissot and other Girondists were associated with the treacherous activities of Dumouriez (including the Girondist MP Armand Gensonné had been in correspondence with Dumouriez until December 1792).

As early as April 3, 1793, Robespierre demanded that all accomplices of the traitor Dumouriez, especially his friend Brissot, be brought to justice, and a week later he severely accused the Gironde in the convent of alleged involvement in the betrayal of Dumouriez. Shortly afterwards, on April 15, 1793, a delegation from the metropolitan sections led by the Parisian Mayor Jean Nicolas Pache presented the convention with a threatening petition against 22 Girondi MPs who opposed federalism , calls for civil war , slander against the people of Paris and joining forces with Dumouriez Load were laid.

In view of the increasing successes of the insurgent population of the Vendée against the central Paris government, the unprecedented betrayal by a military commander in chief and the impending invasion of northern France by enemy armies, many convention members of the "Plaine" moved to the side of the mountain party to the left, although they were in disgust agreed with the Girondists on Robespierre and Marat. More and more the center agreed with the mountain party for the revolutionary emergency measures and criticized the resistance of the Gironde to these measures. The mountain party had long accused the Gironde of being too moderate. In addition, the Girondins had driven the influential MP and tribune Georges Danton into the arms of the Jacobins standing further to the left around Robespierre by accusing him of having made a pact with the traitor Dumouriez. In the political life of the capital, the Girondins increasingly isolated themselves and rapidly lost support.

Two actions by the Girondins ultimately led to the fact that they lost all sympathy and support from the capital's small craftsmen, small tradespeople and wage-dependent propertyless people: On the one hand, the Gironde committed the imprudence of the left-wing newspaper publisher and popular MPs of the Parisian sans-culottes The mountain party, Jean Paul Marat , was to be politically eliminated by indicting the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal , but this failed completely because Marat was acquitted of all charges by the tribunal on April 24, 1793 to the cheering of the audience . On the other hand, on the day after Marat's acquittal, Gironde opposed the introduction of a maximum price on grain, a key demand of the poorer population, who suffered great hardship due to the sharp rise in bread prices.

Further politically awkward and sometimes unwise actions by the Girondist MPs and the Convention, which was temporarily dominated by the Gironde, intensified the hostility of the lower classes and the opposition of the Paris city authorities, which were on the side of the people, to the Girondins.

On May 18, 1793, the Girondist Élie Guadet indicted the Paris city authorities in the convent and demanded their dissolution because he had learned that they had made preparations for an uprising. The then formed parliamentary commission of twelve members (the so-called " twelve commission "), which examine the decisions of the Paris city authorities, hear the ministers and investigate activities against public order, was unwise, especially with young members of the right and convinced Girondins occupied what was understood as an attack on the city administration and snub of all left forces in Paris.

Another challenge to the sections, sans-culottes and Jacobins of Paris was the resolution of the Convention of 25 May 1793, which goes back to the Commission of Twelve, to limit the duration of the section sessions to 10 p.m.

In view of the news of the increasing threat to Paris from the Austrian and English troops advancing steadily on the French northern border, the nerves of many sans-culottes and Jacobins were in any case blank. On May 23, 1793, combined Austro-English-Dutch units drove the French northern army from its camp at Famars ( Battle of Famars ) and enclosed the strategically important fortress Valenciennes on the Scheldt , which posed a great threat to the French army , which was only 200 km away The capital.

Many sans-culottes and Jacobins accused the Girondists of the unfavorable course of the war, probably also because the Girondists - although actually advocates of war - were not prepared to provide sufficient financial means for the war. By resisting this in the Convention, the Gironde encouraged the inaction and inability of the departmental administrations , which failed to promote the sale of emigrant goods - a main source of income intended to finance the war. Many sans-culottes and Jacobins were convinced that the Gironde was working into the hands of the internal and external enemies of the revolution through their sometimes waiting and sometimes refusing attitude.

The Jacobin press and radical speakers encouraged the sans-culottes and Jacobins in their hostile attitude towards the Gironde and incited many people against the Girondins. For example, on May 18, 1793, Marat violently pulled off the leather in a convention speech against the Girondins, mainly by claiming that the Gironde was a friend of the Vendée . The diatribe “Histoire des Brissotins ou Fragment de l'histoire secrète de la Révolution” (History of the supporters of Brissot or fragment of the secret history of the revolution) by journalist and Danton friend Camille Desmoulins also contributed a lot to the poor reputation of the Girondins in public opinion large parts of France, especially after the pamphlet was read on May 19, 1793 in the Paris Jacobin Club and sent to all Jacobin clubs in the province.

Escalation of the conflict between sans-culottes, Commune and Jacobins of Paris on the one hand and the Girondists on the other

Furthermore, on the night of May 24th to 25th, 1793, the Twelve Commission called upon the popular newspaper editor Jacques René Hébert (1755–1794), who had published anti-Girondist articles and appeals for insurrection in his left-hand paper Le père Duchesne , and immediately afterwards both of them Left revolutionaries Jean-François Varlet (a postal worker and well-known street speaker) and Jean-Baptiste Marino, who had called for an uprising against the Convention and the elimination of 22 Girondist representatives in meetings at the town hall and at the Cordeliers, was arrested the measure for many sans-culottes, Jacobins and left-wing members of the city administration full.

On May 25, 1793, the enraged commune appeared before the convention and demanded the release of Hébert and the death of "the slanderers of Paris" and the "Girondist traitors". The president of the convention, Girondist Maximin Isnard , then forgot himself and threatened the commune with the destruction of Paris if anything were done to the convention deputies.

Another level of escalation in the conflict between the commune, sans-culottes and Jacobins, on the one hand, and the Girondists, on the other, was reached when, on the following day, the Committee of Twelve surprisingly appointed the president of the Cité section and - in his capacity as a member of the judicial administration actually inviolable - judge at the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal, Claude -Emmanuel Dobsent, arrested and at the same time released five citizens whom Dobsent had recently arrested for their bad speeches about Robespierre and Marat. In addition, the Girondin-dominated convention forbade the Paris section commissions to call themselves “revolutionary” without any further discussion and ordered all committees to limit themselves to their statutory powers.

First violent actions against the Convention

After these renewed declarations of war, Robespierre openly called in a speech to the Paris Jacobin Club on the evening of May 26 for an uprising against the “bribed” convention members (members of the Gironde). The Paris Jacobins then declared themselves in a state of insurrection against the Convention and decided to meet permanently.

On the morning of May 27, 1793, discontented armed men from the sections of the capital had succeeded in seizing the outer entrances to the Tuileries , the meeting place of the convention, a crowd of the Cité section pushed forward to the meeting room of the convention and demanded there the release of Section President Dobsent and the transfer of the members of the Committee of Twelve to the Revolutionary Tribunal. However, the President of the Convention, Isnard, succeeded in clearing the entrances to the Convention through the National Guard and restoring the freedom of movement of the MPs. After Isnard and the Gironde deputies had left the meeting room, the Mountain Party, chaired by the new Convention President Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, continued the meeting and received two peoples' deputies, which released Hébert, Marinos, Dobsents and other prisoners and brought charges against him former Girondin interior minister Roland demanded. Under tumultuous circumstances and under the pressure of the crowd that was still present, the 100 or so MPs who had remained in the meeting room decided by decree around midnight to release the prisoners Hébert, Marinos and Dobsent, to dissolve the Committee of Twelve and to have its previous activities reviewed by the Supervisory Committee.

Cause of the uprising

In the next meeting of the convention (May 28, 1793), the deputy Jean-Denis Lanjuinais from Brittany asserted that the resolutions of the convention, which had been reached at midnight under the pressure of the crowd, were invalid because the people present in the hall had voted and the convention was not free has been. In the subsequent vote, the Girondins were able to effect the withdrawal of the controversial decree that the Twelve Commission dissolved with 279 to 238 votes, but the result of the vote showed that the Gironde had received only 41 votes more than the Mountain Party (mainly because approx . 140 members of the level had defected to the camp of the mountain party).

In view of the loss of support in the Convention and the continuing external pressure from sans-culottes and radicalized Jacobins, the Girondins became more and more aware that compromises were now inevitable.

At the same meeting, at the request of the Girondins, the Convention decided to temporarily release the citizens who had been imprisoned on the orders of the Twelve Commission (including Hébert and Dobsent).

However, this sign of giving in came too late, because in the meantime the result of the vote on the retention of the Twelve Commission had become public. For most of the dissatisfied, the reinstatement of the Twelve Commission was a welcome opportunity to strike.

On the same day the Cité section took the initiative and appealed to the other Parisian sections to appoint commissioners for a central assembly that was to meet in the episcopal palace.

Immediate preparations for the uprising

On the following day (May 29, 1793), the sections appointed commissioners with unlimited powers, including the radical Jean-François Varlet , who, as commissioner of the “Droits de l'Homme” section, propagated an immediate uprising against the Convention.

Immediately afterwards (May 30, 1793) the meeting of the section commissars in the episcopal palace (33 of 48 Paris Sections were represented here by commissars) decided that Paris would join the uprising in order to arrest the so-called “traitors” in the convention (elimination of the spokesmen the Girondins).

Nevertheless, the attitude of the sections on the question of whether to resort to insurrection was inconsistent. Some sections faced such a company with reservations or even negative. For example, delegations from the suburbs of Saint Antoine and Saint Marceau, including especially representatives of the Montreuil and Popincourt sections, had reservations about the uprising and demanded new powers. The Finistère section in the Faubourg Saint Marceau was against any violence against the Convention in general.

The commune, first and foremost Mayor Pache , General Procurator Chaumette and the recently released Hébert , tried in the meantime to moderate the uprising movement. The Paris department administration also pursued this goal. She tried to take the leadership of the uprising out of the hands of the predominantly radical section commissioners of the episcopal palace and invited representatives of the sections to the Jacobin Club on May 31st at 9 a.m. to establish a new higher authority. However, the invitations were not sent to the sections until the evening of May 30th and were announced shortly afterwards, at a time when the section commissioners who had gathered in the episcopal palace had already acted and created facts.

Both the Welfare Committee and the ministers were well informed of the imminent insurrection and related matters. Both authorities were leaderless and divided, most of their members unsure about the measures to be taken, full of concern about the sections and the General Council, but at the same time suspicious of the Gironde.

On the night of May 30th to May 31st, 1793, the assembly of the section commissars prepared to revolt took action in the episcopal palace and appointed a revolutionary central committee , known as the comité de l'échêvé , which consisted of nine (superordinate) commissars of public welfare including Claude-Emmanuel Dobsent, Jean-François Varlet , Andrés María Guzmán (Gusman) and Louis Pierre Dufourny de Villiers, a friend of Danton's. This gave the insurgents a leadership body. As a first measure, this ordered the arrest of all "suspects" and appointed a new (provisional) commander of the National Guard in the person of the captain of the "Sansculottes" section, François Hanriot .

The unsuccessful uprising of May 31, 1793

On 31 May 1793 came at 3am the tocsin of Notre-Dame de Paris and at 4 am drummed all reels several times to collect the citizens. At around 6 a.m., the section commissioners from the episcopal palace, Dobsent at the head, went to the Paris city administration and were welcomed there by Jacques René Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette and the Paris mayor, Jean Nicolas Pache . In the name of the people, Dobsent demanded and achieved that the city authorities and the General Council be dissolved and newly formed. The Paris Commune wavered between moderates and radicals. The revolutionary central committee, which consisted largely of supporters of Marat, and the General Council of Paris, which was predominantly Jacobean, issued contradicting instructions. Ultimately, however, the radicals were able to prevail. The newly appointed commander of the National Guard, Hanriot, who belonged to the radical group, fired the alarm cannon at around 9 or 10 a.m., giving the signal for an uprising.

Danton then demanded the abolition of the Twelve Commission in the Convention. The Paris Commune, however, was divided and could not bring itself to anything. It was not until late in the morning that a delegation appeared in front of the convention, claiming to be sent by the General Council of the City of Paris. It demanded the capture of the perpetrators of the "conspiracy" among MPs. A second delegation sent by the mayor and municipal council contradicted the first, expressed a relatively moderate attitude and approached the moderates in the convention.

The storm bells rang from all the churches and some sections struck the general march, but the uprising did not really break out despite everything. Only small armed groups formed and a few zealots rushed through the city. Since only a few responded to the storm bells, the General Council of the Commune had them silenced in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the MP Georges Couthon demanded in the convention - like Danton - the repeal of the Twelve Commission. Delegations that gradually arrived at the convent denied the uproar. A motion by MP Bertrand Barère to repeal the Twelve Commission and “appeal to the armed power” to protect the Convention was rejected by the right.

Through targeted false reports by Marat and his supporters, who proclaimed in the streets that the Butte-des-Moulins section - the section of traders, goldsmiths, watchmakers and jewelers - had declared a counter-revolution, the Faubourg (suburb) Saint Antoine became around five o'clock incited to rebellion in the evening. A large crowd then poured out through Rue Saint Antoine , across Grève Square and through Rue Saint Honoré .

Towards evening a delegation of the Jacobins appeared in the convent and announced that the Jacobins had taken possession of the commune and would consider themselves legitimate representatives of the city of Paris. The spokesman for the deputation, the community attorney Lhuillier, got upset with rampant accusations and hate speech against the Girondins. Shortly afterwards, a crowd armed with pikes and sticks broke through the barre of the convent and flooded the plenary chamber . Numerous invaders fraternized with the MPs of the Mountain Party. Because of the great onslaught, many MPs fled to the sparsely occupied benches of the right, whereupon the deliberations of the Convention were interrupted. The Girondist Pierre Vergniaud finally requested that the MPs leave the room and go under the protection of the National Guard at the nearby Carrousel; but he could not get his way with this proposal. While the center's convent deputies (the so-called “swamp”) sat paralyzed in their seats, Robespierre took the floor and demanded the repeal of the Twelve Commission and strict measures against its members. In addition, Robespierres violently attacked the Girondins and demanded the prosecution and arrest of all "traitors" in the convent.

After prolonged applause, the convention decided, among other things, to repeal the Twelve Commission, the permanent protection of the representatives of the people by the “armed forces” and the investigation of the reported “conspiracies”. The noise was so great that it was unclear to many of those present whether the decision had even been passed with the necessary majority.

In the meantime an armed crowd had set out from the Faubourg Saint Antoine to take action against the Butte-des-Moulins section, which was supposedly royalist and had taken the white cockade . At the news that powerful troops were advancing against their section, numerous residents of the Butte-des-Moulin section, supported by members of the 1792, Mail and Gardes-Françaises sections, took up arms and barricaded themselves in the garden of the Palais Royale . However, armed clashes were prevented after it became clear that the residents of these sections stood by the republic and the tricolor . In the end, there were even numerous fraternities in the garden of the Palais Royale.

After new - this time peaceful - masses of the people came into the meeting room of the convention and brought the news that the people of Faubourg Saint Antoine in the Palais Royale had convinced themselves of the good republican sentiments of their alleged opponents, the convention rose in the general ecstasy that broke out the session, whereupon many MPs went outside and fraternized with the people.

At 9 o'clock in the evening everything was quiet. All that Robespierre, the radical Jacobins and mountain party members, the sections and the commune could achieve on this eventful day was the dissolution of the Twelve Commission. For a large part of the revolutionaries, the mood that was ready to strike had given way to a more wait-and-see attitude. Many actors now refused an attack on the Tuileries and a violent repression against the Girondins, some even preached moderation, e.g. B. Pache, who said "Arresting the Twenty-Two would mean letting the departments take up arms and unleashing the civil war!" The judge at the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal Claude-Emmanuel Dobsent also advised moderation. However, radicals and fanatics launched the rumor that the Convention had reinstated the Committee of Twelve .

The uprising of June 2, 1793 and the end of the Gironde

After a delegation from the municipal administration and the department appeared in the Tuileries with a threatening petition, the convention decided on the evening of June 1, 1793 that the commune and all those who had evidence against the accused delegates were required to present them, and that the welfare committee should report on the petition within three days and request appropriate action.

This relatively long delay and the requirement of the Convention to provide factual evidence led the commune to believe that something could only be achieved by force. Radical revolutionaries made provocative speeches against the moderate Jacobins in the sections and at a session of the General Council, complaining about the moderation of Jacobin officials and criticizing the weakness and indecision of Jacobin actions.

Complaints were also raised against Danton, above all that his energy had slackened considerably since the abolition of the Twelve Commission.

Finally, radicals and moderates in the General Council agreed that during the night from June 1st to June 2nd across Paris, municipal officials would publicly proclaim the ordinances of the 31st by torchlight and drumbeat and call on the citizens to demand their rights.

Almost at the same time, the revolutionary central committee in the episcopal palace decided, based on a proposal by Marat, to surround the convent with troops and to only let the deputies out of the meeting room if they had accused the 22 Girondists by decree.

On the morning of June 2, 1793, the news of the counterrevolutionary events in Lyons arrived in Paris (elimination of the Jacobin Lyons Commune with around 800 dead patriots by royalists with alleged participation of Girondists). The news spread like wildfire and detonated the powder keg of the seething revolutionary popular movement against the Convention.

After the general march had been beaten in all the streets, a crowd entered the meeting room of the convention and demanded the temporary arrest of the "inciters" among the MPs (Girondists). The president of the convention, the Montagnard François René Mallarmé, rejected this request and demanded the delivery of evidence to expose and convict the alleged traitors in the convention. After a short time, the convent, besieged by an entire army of insurgents and national guards, ordered the matter to be referred to the welfare committee.

When a few spectators in the stands called for arms in the convention and a deputy of the right demanded the provisional arrest of the Girondist representatives, not only the right wing (predominantly Girondins), but also the center (level) and a large part emerged the left (supporters of Danton and non-Jacobin Berg including the MPs Henri Grégoire and Joseph Cambon ) a storm of indignation. In the end, however, the Jacobean mountain - especially the friends of Robespierre and the followers of Marat - made common cause with the central insurrection committee of the episcopal palace. The Montagnard René Levasseur gave a zealous, fanaticism radiant speech against the Gironde and demanded not only the temporary but also the final arrest of the Gironde MPs.

Finally, the MP Bertrand Barère , a Montagnard and member of the Welfare Committee, appeared at the convention and read out the opinion of the Welfare Committee, which, instead of being arrested, proposed a temporary voluntary resignation of the accused representatives, whose patriotism he appealed to.

Subsequently, several members of the Gironde expressed their consent to a voluntary waiver, including Maximin Isnard , the doctor François Xavier Lanthenas (a friend of the former Interior Minister Roland ) and Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux , the latter only on the condition that the majority of the Convention approve the removal of the Girondin deputies. Thereupon death threats rang out from the audience, also from a corner of the mountain party. The Capuchin François Chabot also uttered savage insults against Barbaroux. MP Marat disapproved of the de-escalation proposal made by the Welfare Committee. The deputy Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne , who belonged to the radical wing of the Mountain Party, called for charges to be brought against his Girondin colleagues by calling out by name. Meanwhile, some female visitors prevented various MPs from leaving the meeting room. When several deputies wanted to go outside for lunch at lunchtime, they were forcibly prevented from leaving the building by the aggressive crowd in and in front of the hall.

When the MPs summoned the commander of the parliamentary guard to protect them, he reported that his guards had been replaced by a battalion of extraordinary national guards and that he himself was being forced to take orders from other sources. Finally, it turned out that the captain who was now giving orders to the new guards was a follower of Robespierre and Lhuillier, the actual leader of the popular uprising. The Convention was now swooned by the angry crowd. Deputy Barère suggested that the captured members of the convention try to continue their deliberations in the midst of the 80,000-strong National Guard stationed a little further away, which was well-disposed towards the convention.

Shortly afterwards, led by the convent president Hérault de Séchelles , the members of the plain, followed by around 100 right-wing deputies (mainly Girondins) and the masses of the mountain party, but without the left-wing Montagnards, went outside to the Tuileries courtyard to try undertake to join the National Guard and place themselves under their protection. With three to four thousand armed insurgents and 150 gunners under the command of the drunken Provisional Commander of the National Guard, François Hanriot, in the Tuileries courtyard, there was no way of getting through to the more distant loyal National Guard. Immediately, Hérault de Séchelles and the mass of the convent François Hanriot and his armed men faced each other. When the president of the convention asked what the people wanted, Hanriot replied that the people needed 34 sacrifices (!). In order to emphasize his demand, he ordered the gunners to the guns and had six guns aimed at the 300 representatives gathered in the courtyard. At almost the same time, about two dozen insurgents jumped at the frightened MPs with swords drawn and bayonets felled . In this situation of extreme threat, the President of the Convention was characterized by weakness and indecision. He was also abandoned by his otherwise eloquent friend Danton, who was undecided.

Without a guide, the convent delegates drew back, walked through the Tuileries porch and the pavilion de l'Horloge and then hurried into the nearby garden to flee to the swing bridge over the Seine. With a bunch of ragged children, Marat followed the refugees to the large pool, caught up with them there, and asked them to return to the meeting room. The supporters of Danton's MPs, abandoned by Danton, and the Independents of the Mountain Party, answered Marat's call and returned to the meeting room to join the thirty or so Montagnards who remained close to Robespierre and Marat. Soon afterwards the delegates of the Gironde, realizing the hopelessness of escape, returned to the meeting room in the Tuileries Palace.

The paralyzed MP Georges Couthon then asked the Bank of the Thirty Radical Montagnards to arrest 22 representatives of the Gironde, including the Committee of Twelve and the two Girondist ministers Étienne Clavière and Pierre Henri Lebrun-Tondu. He did not know that Clavière had already been arrested on the night of June 1 to June 2, 1793. While the arrest warrant was read out in the convent, Marat said: "Add this one, delete that one ...". The reader added and deleted without caring about the convention. After a proper vote on the arrest decree did not come about, the deputies of the Mountain Party voted for the arrest decree together with the audience in the meeting room, which was actually illegal. An objection by a large number of MPs was recorded separately, but the minutes were later destroyed. Towards the end of the session a deputation appeared, claiming to represent the entire people of Paris, in order to express their gratitude to the convention.

29 members of the Gironde ( Barbaroux , Bergoeing, Bertrand de La Hosdinière, Birotteau, Boileau, Brissot , Buzot , Chambon, Gardien, Gensonné , Gomaire, Gorsas, Grangeneuve , Guadet , Henry-Larivière, Kervélégan, Lasource, Lanjuinais ) Lehardy, Lesage, Lidon, Louvet , Mollevaut, Pétion , Rabaut-Saint-Etienne , Salle, Valazé, Vergniaud and Viger), including 10 members of the Twelve Commission, as well as the two Girondist ministers Clavière and Lebrun-Tondu, placed under house arrest.

Consequential effect

Some members of the Girondists placed under house arrest in Paris (Barbaroux, Brissot, Grangeneuve, Lanjuinais, Mollevaut, Pétion, etc.) subsequently managed to flee to their home areas, from where they partially controlled the welfare committee and the convent under the control of the Jacobins tried to fight violently, which caused a further escalation of the uprisings and civil wars in the western and southern parts of France.

Just one day after Marat's murder, two Gironde deputies were arrested as alleged accomplices of Charlotte Corday and a written protest from 73 members of parliament against the elimination of the Girondins on June 2, 1793 was found at one of them, which since then has threatened the heads of his signatories as evidence suitable for trial . On July 28, 1793, the convention ordered the ostracism of twenty and the transfer of nine Girondist deputies to the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal . With the exception of the deputy Vallazé, who had stabbed himself in the courtroom, the representatives of the people handed over to the Revolutionary Tribunal were passed on by the Parisians on October 30, 1793, along with 14 other Girondists who were not prosecuted on June 2, 1793 (the number of 22 had to be met) revolutionary Tribunal sentenced to death and the following day in the Place de la Révolution, today's Place de la Concorde , guillotined .

The events of May 31 and June 2, 1793 eliminated the Gironde as the determining factor in French politics. It should never regain its former influence. The deeply humiliated representative body, the National Convention, ceased to be the center of politics until the end of the Jacobin rule (July 27, 1794). In its place came the Welfare Committee , the Paris Jacobin Club and the Paris Commune as decisive power factors . With the fall of the Girondins, the rule of the more and more radicalizing Jacobins began.

Technical terms for the uprising in French historiography

In French historiography , the uprising and the events of the uprising are often referred to as "journées du 31 mai et du 2 juin 1793" (memorable days of May 31 and June 2, 1793), "journées du 31 mai au 2 juin 1793" (memorable days from May 31 to June 2, 1793), “les journées d'émeute des 31 mai et 2 juin 1793” (the memorable days of the uprising of May 31 and June 2, 1793) or “journées insurrectionelles du 31 mai et du 2 juin 1793 " (memorable days of uprising of May 31 and June 2, 1793), sometimes also referred to as " les violences du 31 mai et du 2 juin 1793 " (the violence of May 31 and June 2, 1793), " les journées révolutionnaires des 31 mai, 1er et 2 juin 1793 ” (the memorable revolutionary days of 31 May, 1 and 2 June 1793) or “ la chute des Girondins 31 mai, 1er et 2 juin 1793 ” (the overthrow of the Girondins [on] May 31, June 1 and 2, 1793).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinz-Otto Sieburg: History of France, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne 1989, pp. 198–199.
  2. ↑ Axel Kuhn: The French Revolution, Stuttgart 2009, p. 99.
  3. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 126-127, 129.
  4. ^ François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, p. 255.
  5. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789-1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, pp. 237-238.
  6. ^ Gerhard Taddey (ed.): Lexicon of German history . People, events, institutions. From the turn of the times to the end of the 2nd World War. 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-520-81302-5 , p. 871; Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 224-226. - Karl Theodor Heigel: German story of the death of Friedrich the Elder. Size to the dissolution of the old empire, volume of two: From the campaign in the Champagne to the dissolution of the old empire (1792–1806), Stuttgart a. Berlin 1911, p. 92.
  7. ^ Adalbert Wahl: History of the European State System in the Age of the French Revolution and the Wars of Freedom (1789–1815), Munich a. Berlin 1912, p. 51.
  8. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789-1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 83.
  9. ^ François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, pp. 258–259. - Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 238-239.
  10. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 241-244.
  11. ^ François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, p. 256.
  12. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 239.
  13. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 243.
  14. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 240-241, 250-251 and the like. 253.
  15. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, vol. 2, p. 268. - Heinrich von Sybel: Geschichte der Revolutionszeit 1789-1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 360.
  16. ↑ Paris 1789. Journal of the perpetrators, victims and voyeurs, Baden-Baden 1988, p. 330. - Cf. also Heinrich von Sybel: Geschichte der Revolutionszeit 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 360.
  17. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 362.
  18. ^ Bernd Jeschonnek: Revolution in France 1789–1799. A lexicon. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000801-6 , p. 135.
  19. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 275-276.
  20. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 238, 267. - Bernd Jeschonnek: Revolution in France 1789–1799. A lexicon. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000801-6 , p. 37.
  21. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Bd. 2, S. 268, 270. - MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, after the fifth enlarged and improved original edition by Ferd. Philippi, Leipzig 1838, Vol. I, p. 534. - Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Period 1789–1800, 3rd Vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 360.
  22. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 270-271.
  23. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 270-271.
  24. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 272-273. - The Great French Revolution 1789–1795. Illustrated story, ed. by Kurt Holzapfel, assisted by Walter Markov, Autorenkoll. edited by Kurt Holzapfel, Berlin 1989, p. 246.
  25. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 272-273. - The Great French Revolution 1789–1795. Illustrated story, ed. by Kurt Holzapfel, assisted by Walter Markov, Autorenkoll. edited by Kurt Holzapfel, Berlin 1989, p. 246.
  26. ↑ Brief description of Hérault de Séchelles in “Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 279 “: Hérault de Séchelles was former Parliamentary Prosecutor, a friend of Danton's philanthropist who had made his way through the favor of the Queen and the wife of Polignac, with whom he was distantly related .
  27. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 278-280.
  28. ^ MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, translated from the eighteenth original edition by A. Walthner, Mannheim 1844, Vol. II, p. 418.
  29. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, vol. 2, p. 280. - In slippers through terror. The revolutionary diary of the Parisian citizen Célestin Guittard, from the French v. Claudia Preuschoft, selected a. initiated v. Wolfgang Müller, with an essay by Volker Ullrich, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, p. 183. - See also Archives Parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, recueil Complet des débats législatifs et politiques des chambres françaises, imprimé par ordre du Sénat et de la Chambre des Deputés, Première Série, Tome LXV du 17. may 1793 au 2. juin 1793, Paris 1904, p. 496 .
  30. ↑ Archives Parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, recueil Complet des débats législatifs et politiques des chambres françaises, imprimé par ordre du Sénat et de la Chambre des Deputés, Première Série, Tome LXV du 17 May 1793 to 2 June 1793, Paris 1904, P. 497 (it is not entirely clear whether the Girondist MP Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède , the MP Louis Joseph Charlier or the President of the Twelve Commission himself, the Girondist Mallevault, made the request).
  31. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 287.
  32. ^ François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, p. 260. - Bernd Jeschonnek: Revolution in France 1789–1799. A lexicon. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000801-6 , p. 136.
  33. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 283-284.
  34. ^ François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, p. 260.
  35. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 284-285.
  36. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 285. - François Furet, Denis Richest: The French Revolution. From the French. Translated by Ulrich Friedrich Müller, licensed edition, reprint, Munich 1981, p. 261.
  37. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 361.
  38. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 285-286. - The Great French Revolution 1789–1795. Illustrated story, ed. by Kurt Holzapfel, assisted by Walter Markov, Autorenkoll. edited by Kurt Holzapfel, Berlin 1989, p. 246.
  39. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 356.
  40. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 286.
  41. ↑ In slippers through terror. The revolutionary diary of the Parisian citizen Célestin Guittard, from the French v. Claudia Preuschoft, selected a. initiated v. Wolfgang Müller, with an essay by Volker Ullrich, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, p. 184.
  42. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 286-288.
  43. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 288-289.
  44. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 289-290.
  45. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 290.
  46. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 291.
  47. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 290-291. - MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, after the fifth enlarged and improved original edition by Ferd. Philippi, Leipzig 1838, Vol. I, pp. 550-551.
  48. ↑ MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, after the fifth enlarged and improved original edition by Ferd. Philippi, Leipzig 1838, Vol. I, p. 551.
  49. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 293-294. - Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, pp. 364–365.
  50. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, vol. 2, p. 294. - Heinrich von Sybel: Geschichte der Revolutionszeit 1789-1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 365.
  51. ↑ In slippers through terror. The revolutionary diary of the Parisian citizen Célestin Guittard, from the French v. Claudia Preuschoft, selected a. initiated v. Wolfgang Müller, with an essay by Volker Ullrich, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, p. 184.
  52. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 294.
  53. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 300.
  54. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 300.
  55. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 302.
  56. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 302.
  57. ↑ MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, after the fifth enlarged and improved original edition by Ferd. Philippi, Leipzig 1838, Vol. I, p. 554.
  58. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 303.
  59. ↑ MA Thiers: History of the French Revolution, after the fifth enlarged and improved original edition by Ferd. Philippi, Leipzig 1838, Vol. I, p. 554.
  60. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 304.
  61. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 306-307.
  62. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, pp. 308-309.
  63. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 309.
  64. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 309.
  65. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 310.
  66. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 310.
  67. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 310.
  68. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 311.
  69. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 313.
  70. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 313.
  71. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 314.
  72. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 314.
  73. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 315.
  74. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 316.
  75. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789-1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 367.
  76. ↑ Jules Michelet: History of the French Revolution. Translated from the French by Richard Kühn. New, edited edition, licensed edition, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, Vol. 2, p. 316.
  77. ↑ See article “Journées du 31 mai et du 2 juin 1793” in the French. WIKIPEDIA (especially individual proof 7).
  78. ↑ Marat was murdered in the bathtub by Charlotte Corday on July 13, 1793 (cf. also: Ruth Jakoby, Frank Baasner: Paris 1789. Journal der Täter, Opfer und Voyeure, Baden-Baden 1988, pp. 283-304).
  79. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 396.
  80. ^ Heinrich von Sybel: History of the Revolutionary Time 1789–1800, 3rd vol., Stuttgart 1898, p. 396.
  81. ↑ It was about the Girondin deputies Boileau, Brissot, Gardien, Gensonné, Lehardy, Valazé, Vergniaud and Viger (also written as “Vigée”), cf. Through terror in slippers. The revolutionary diary of the Parisian citizen Célestin Guittard, from the French v. Claudia Preuschoft, selected a. initiated v. Wolfgang Müller, with an essay by Volker Ullrich, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, p. 208.
  82. ↑ In slippers through terror. The revolutionary diary of the Parisian citizen Célestin Guittard, from the French v. Claudia Preuschoft, selected a. initiated v. Wolfgang Müller, with an essay by Volker Ullrich, Frankfurt a. M. 2009, p. 208.
  83. ↑ Axel Kuhn: The French Revolution, Stuttgart 2009, p. 101.