September massacre
The September massacres ( French Massacres de Septembre ) between September 2nd and September 6th of the year 1792 were murders of over 1200 detained opponents of the French Revolution and other prisoners who were held for it. The massacres are considered to be one of the darkest spots in the French Revolution .
prehistory
As part of the First Coalition War of the European monarchies against revolutionary France, the Prussian Commander-in-Chief Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel published the Duke of Braunschweig's manifesto named after him on July 25, 1792 . In it he demanded that the French submit to their king again and threatened bloody vengeance and the destruction of Paris in the event of attacks. However, the manifesto achieved the opposite of what was desired, sparking the Tuileries storm on August 10, 1792 and radicalizing the revolution.
In September 1792 Prussian-Austrian troops advanced on French territory under the command of Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand. After the fall of Verdun, the French feared a direct Allied march on Paris. The incumbent Justice Minister Georges Danton , the publicist Jean Paul Marat and the poet Fabre d'Églantine heated up the mood with their appeals and statements.
course
This led to mass hysteria in France with storming of the prisons. First, the detained opponents of the revolution were massacred in blind rage, then the other prisoners as well. The number of victims exceeded 1200, including numerous Catholic priests and religious who had refused to take the oath on the republican constitution. A good two thirds of the victims were not political prisoners but were imprisoned for other acts. According to tradition, women are said to have torn the hearts out of murdered aristocrats. About 90% of the murders took place in Paris.
rating
The historian Golo Mann has described the then Justice Minister Georges Danton as "directly guilty of the murders" because he failed to intervene.
literature
- Max Madörin: The September massacres of 1792 in the judgment of the French revolutionary historiography. 1792–1840 (= European university publications. Series 3: History of auxiliary sciences 58). Lang, Bern et al. 1976, ISBN 3-261-01690-6 (At the same time: Basel, University, dissertation, 1974).
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Frédéric Bluche: September 1792. Logiques d'un massacre. Robert Laffont, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-221-04523-8 , pp. 100-102.
- ↑ Golo Mann : Apprenticeship years in France (= memories and thoughts ). S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-10-047911-4 , p. 183.