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!Personalities of the French Revolution

Personalities of the RevolutionPersonalities of the Revolution• Most of the time,

textbooks go too heavy on “personalities” and leave the details behind

• If books didn’t center so much on King Louis XVI, this may not be a problem…but many other personalities get barely a glance

Dr. Joseph Ignace GuillotinDr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin • Dr. Guillotin was a

professor of literature who sought to banish the death penalty

• The poor were consistently treated as worth less than the rich, even in death

• The “guillotine” did not claim its first political victim until August 1792

Storming the BastilleStorming the Bastille

• Launay ordered his troops to surrender…Historians differ on whether he was ignored or he didn’t issue it…what we do know is 98 of the attackers died

Marquis Bernard Marquis Bernard de Launayde Launay

Popular RemembrancesPopular Remembrances

Victor HugoVictor Hugo

The fall of the The fall of the Bastille touches off a Bastille touches off a half century of half century of revolution, a period that revolution, a period that includes Hugo’s classic includes Hugo’s classic tale of love and loss…tale of love and loss…Les MiserablesLes Miserables

Common People of FranceCommon People of France The basic cell of the Revolution for men, especially

in Paris but also in the provinces, was the club or secret society…the model of the revolutionary clubs was the Jacobin Club

Here the masses debated the issues of the day, to listen to leaders, to cheer and hiss, to argue and decide…through their clubs, the masses put pressure on the elected deputies

By the end of 1790 the Jacobin Club in Paris had 1,100 middle-class members…at the height of its influence, its membership was estimated at 500,000 in 5,500 local clubs throughout France

Maximilien de RobespierreMaximilien de Robespierre• Once Jacobins

controlled the National Assembly, Robespierre was actually out of office from September 1791 to September 1792

• During that year, he became the uncontested leader of the Jacobins, earning the nickname “The Incorruptible”

Jean-Paul MaratJean-Paul Marat Marat was the leader of

one of the two Parisian newspapers that had a great influence on the course of the Revolution, L'Ami du Peuple

“When a man lacks everything, he has the right to take by force the superfluities on which another is feasting…”

Louis Saint-JustLouis Saint-Just When his relations with

Robespierre became known, Saint-Just was dubbed the "St. John of the Messiah of the People“

Suspecting the enemy without was being aided by treason within, Saint-Just's remedy was to organize the Reign of Terror

Georges DantonGeorges Danton Danton stands out as a

master of commanding phrase and also easily sympathized with

“Il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace”

Before long, Robespierre (Jacobins) and Danton (Cordeliers) did battle as leaders of their respective clubs

The Girondist MovementThe Girondist MovementThe Girondists represented the principle of

democratic revolution…originally, they were all-powerful within the Jacobin Club

The Girondists were idealists…once King Louis XVI was overthrown, they were satisfied and called for a halt to the Reign of Terror

Robespierre, Danton, and Marat all realized that their influence depended on keeping the Revolution going as long as possible

Jacques Pierre BrissotJacques Pierre Brissot The strength of the

Girondins was due in large part to the personality and power of Brissot, as he threw himself heart and soul into the Revolution

Brissot was quick, eager, impetuous, and a man of wide knowledge…however, he was indecisive

Comte de Mirabeau Mirabeau was highly

critical of King Louis’ relationship with Marie Antoinette, seeing her as the controlling partner

He eventually began conducting secret negotiations with the king in order to reconcile the monarchy and the revolution

Marquis de LafayetteMarquis de Lafayette Using what he learned

during his stay in America, he drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Lafayette wanted to be a French George Washington, but the French didn’t want a George Washington

Charlotte CordayCharlotte Corday

Corday testified that she had carried out the assassination alone, saying “I killed one man to save 100,000”

Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette Anti-female sentiments

now turned the Revolution full force on the king's imprisoned widow

Contrary to popular belief, Marie Antoinette never uttered the phrase “Let them eat cake”

Fall of “The Incorruptible”Fall of “The Incorruptible”

On the 9th of July (Thermidor), Robespierre denounced the full Convention…on the 11th, he and 71 others were put to death

Remembering the RevolutionRemembering the RevolutionWe must try to put aside these images of the

French Revolution and remember that in 1790 and 1791 Paris was the brilliant and prosperous capital of the most powerful nation in Europe

The French Revolution was something not dreamed of by the philosophers of the Enlightenment…the Enlightenment, like a parent baffled by his own children, could not explain the Revolution it had sired