10th of August (French Revolution)
Encyclopedia
On 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution
, revolutionary Fédéré
militias — with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune
and ultimately supported by the National Guard
— besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI
and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly
. This proved to be the effective end of the French Bourbon Monarchy
(until it was restored in 1814, although the monarchical system of an empire
had been introduced ten years earlier). The formal end of the monarchy occurred six weeks later, as one of the first acts of business of the new Convention.
This insurrection and its outcome are most commonly referred to by historians of the Revolution simply as "the 10 August"; other common designations include "the journée of the 10 August" , "the insurrection of the 10 August", or even "the revolution of the 10 August".
. In April, the king had taken the unprecedented step of forming a cabinet of revolutionary Girondins. On 20 April, war was declared against Austria
.
The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia
joined Austria in active alliance against France (see First Coalition
). However, a delay in their preparations gave France an opportunity to improve its army.
The Revolution at this time was moving into a more radical phase. The Legislative Assembly
passed several decrees, notably one against non-juring priests
, which the king insisted he would veto. The King furthermore vetoed the Assembly's proposed creation of a 20,000-strong national guard outside Paris, composed of volunteers known as the Fédéré
s. This led in early June to a break between the king and his Girondist ministers, whom he dismissed. When the king formed a new cabinet mostly of constitutional monarchist
Feuillant
s, this widened the breach between the king on the one hand and the leaders of the Assembly and the majority of the common people of Paris on the other. Events came to a head on 16 June when monarchist general Lafayette sent a letter to the National Assembly, read two days later in that body, recommending the suppression of the Jacobins and other political clubs.
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The King's veto of the Legislative Assembly
's decrees was published on 19 June, just one day before the 3rd anniversary of the Tennis Court Oath
which had inaugurated the Revolution. On 20 June, the armed populace invaded the hall of the Assembly and the royal apartments in the Tuileries, but were pacified by the King. The failure of the insurrection encouraged a movement in favour of the king. Lafayette
attempted to use this opportunity to heal the breach, but was suspected by people, legislature, and court alike of mere personal ambition.
A last Girondist advance to Louis was rebuffed, and the Feuillants were in collapse. The Girondins now made a turn to the left
and joined those ready to use force to overthrow the monarchy. Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
, in a speech to the Assembly, directed toward the king the following rhetorical questions: "Did the constitution leave you the choice of ministers for our happiness or our ruin? Did it place you at the head of our army for our glory or our shame? Did it give you the right of sanction, a civil list and so many prerogatives, constitutionally to lose the empire and the constitution?" Jacques Pierre Brissot
was even more direct:
declared that La patrie est en danger—"The Fatherland is in danger". All citizens able to bear arms, and having already served in the National Guard
, were placed in active service; pike
s were given to those who were unable to procure guns. Banners were placed in the public squares, bearing the words, "Citizens, the country is in danger!" On 14 July—the third anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
—there were massive patriotic festivities, and the Legislative Assembly
openly defied the King's veto by allowing the fédéré
s to enter Paris. Pétion
, dismissed as mayor of Paris for his conduct during the events of 20 June, was restored to office. The constitutional monarchist grenadiers of the Filles-Saint-Thomas scuffled with the federates of Marseilles, but it was the last stand of the constitutional monarchist faction: the club of the Feuillants was closed; the grenadier and chasseur companies of the National Guard which formed the force of the bourgeoisie were disbanded.
Meanwhile, the allied Austrian and Prussian army of the First Coalition
was at length mustering on the frontier. The generally "constitutionalist" (monarchist) soldiers of the line, and a portion of the Swiss, were sent away from Paris. At the same time the National Guard—up to now middle-class in character—was opened to those from the lower classes. On 25 July 1792, the Prussian commander Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
issued a manifesto which announced that the Allies would enter France to restore the royal authority and execute anybody who opposed them or tried to injure the king and his family. The Brunswick Manifesto became known in Paris on 1 August and heated the republican spirit to revolutionary fury.
(Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen), which was popular in Paris. Danton and his friends and allies—Maximilien Robespierre
, Camille Desmoulins
, Fabre d'Églantine
, Jean-Paul Marat
, etc.—were assisted in their work by the fear of invasion.
Volunteers and fédéré
s were constantly arriving in Paris, and, although most went on to join the army, the Jacobin clubs
enlisted those who were suitable for their purpose, especially some 500 whom Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux
, a Girondin, had summoned from Marseilles. François Mignet
writes, "Their enterprise had been projected and suspended several times. On 26 July, an insurrection was to break out; but it was badly contrived, and Pétion prevented it. When the federates from Marseilles arrived, on their way to the camp at Soissons
, the faubourgs were to meet them, and then repair, unexpectedly, to the château. This insurrection also failed." It was resolved to strike the decisive blow on 10 August.
The political clubs openly discussed the dethronement of the king, and on 3 August Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
spoke to the Assembly, soliciting an end to the monarchy in the name of the commune
and of the sections. On 8 August, the accusation of Lafayette was discussed; he was acquitted; but (again quoting Mignet), "all who had voted for him were hissed, pursued, and ill treated by the people at the breaking up of the sitting"., as for example the comte de Vaublanc
or Quatremère de Quincy
. This harassment extended to death threats and invasions of their homes. Hector de Joly, the minister of justice wrote to the president of the Assembly, "I have denounced these attacks in the criminal court; but law is powerless; and I am impelled by honour and probity to inform you, that without the promptest assistance of the legislative body, the government can no longer be responsible."
On the night of 9 August a new revolutionary Paris Commune took possession of the Hôtel de Ville
(the seat of city government). The plan of the Jacobins of the Assembly, supported by the armed fédérés, was to dissolve the département of Paris, to dismiss Pétion, and to institute an insurrectionary commune
(municipal government), then to assault the Tuileries.
A portion of the Assembly, aroused by the tocsin, had gone into emergency session under the presidentship of Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
. Hearing that Pétion was at the Tuileries, they presumed he was detained there and wanted to be released. They now summoned him, as the king had earlier, to give an account of the state of Paris. He came, as requested. A deputation from the Hôtel de Ville inquired for him at the Assembly, also supposing him to be a prisoner at the Tuileries. He left with them and effectively became a prisoner of the insurrectionist commune, under a guard of three hundred men.
The new commune also summoned the marquis de Mandat, commander of the National Guard forces guarding the Tuileries. Unaware of the change of regime at the Hôtel de Ville, he obeyed the summons; he was accused of authorizing the troops to fire on the people. He was ordered to the Abbaye, but, in the event, the mob murdered him as he was leaving the Hôtel de Ville. The commune immediately conferred the command with force, and Roederer acquiesced.
Laschenaye, commanding the troops in Mandat's absence, said that the National Guard troops were ready on the defensive, but he protested the presence of the aristocratic irregulars. Mandat had earlier vainly urged the queen to dismiss these gentlemen, because their presence discouraged the zeal of the constitutionalists. Like Mandat before him, Laschenaye was rebuked by the queen: "I will answer for those who are here; they will advance first or last, in the ranks, as you please; they are ready for all that is necessary; they are sure men." De Joly and Champion were sent to the Assembly to apprise it of the danger, and to ask for its assistance and for commissioners.
The king's 5 am review of his troops showed that he could not count on all of his ostensible protectors. Cries of Vive le roi! mixed with cries of Vive la nation! and even Vive Pétion! The pike battalions were openly hostile, crying out "Down with the veto!" and "Down with the traitor!"; as Louis returned, they quit their position, placed themselves near the Pont Royal
, and turned their cannon against the château. Two other battalions stationed in the court imitated them, and established themselves on the Place du Carrousel
in an attitude of attack.
by the directory of the
département to prevent the union of these columns, but Manuel, the town clerk, had ordered them to be withdrawn, and the passage was accordingly free.
Early on the morning of 10 August the insurgents assailed the Tuileries. The vanguard of the Faubourgs, composed of Marseillais and Breton fédérés arrayed on the Carrousel, turned cannon against the château. De Joly and Champion returned from the Assembly, stating that the sixty or eighty members present were not sufficient in number to debate and that their proposition had not been heard.
Members of the département, headed by Roederer, the recorder of the department, presented themselves to the crowd, observing that so great a multitude could not have access to the king, or to the national assembly, and recommending them to entrust twenty deputies with their requests, but they did not listen to him. He turned to the National Guard, reminded them of the article of the law, which enjoined them when attacked, to repel force by force. A very small part of the National Guard seemed disposed to do so; and a discharge of cannon was the only reply of the artillerymen. Roederer, seeing that the insurgents were everywhere triumphant, that they were masters of the field, and that they disposed of the multitude, and even of the troops, returned hastily to the château, at the head of the executive directory.
Besides a few gentlemen in arms and a number of present and former National Guards (including recently dismissed officers), the palace was garrisoned by the Gardes Suisse Swiss Guard
, about 950 strong. Only a single company of these guards was normally on duty at the Tuileries but the remainder of the regiment (less a detachment of 300 sent to escort grain convoys in Normandy a few days before) had been brought into central Paris from their barracks during the night of 9–10 August. However, Mandat's departure and subsequent death significantly affected the situation. The National Guard would probably (at least according to Mignet) have obeyed orders from Mandat to employ force against the mixed crowd of provincial national guardsmen and Parisians, but finding themselves side by side with nobles and royalists and lacking their own commander, they now either dispersed or fraternised with the assailants.
The king announced to the defenders of the château his intent to go to the National Assembly and placed himself, along with his family, ministers, and the members of the département, between two ranks of national guards, summoned as an escort. While still on the grounds of the Tuileries, a deputation of the Assembly met him and offered asylum. Passing through an animated mob, the king and his family had great difficulty in reaching the hall, where they took the seats reserved for the ministers.
"Gentlemen," said the king, "I come here to avoid a great crime; I think I cannot be safer than with you." Vergniaud assured him that the members of the Assembly, "have sworn to die in maintaining the rights of the people, and the constituted authorities." The king then took his seat next the president, but Chabot reminded him that the Assembly could not deliberate in the presence of the king; the royal party retired into the reporter's box behind the president, whence all that took place could be seen and heard.
The king's departure removed all rational motives for resistance. The gendarmerie left their posts. The National Guard began to move in favour of the insurgents, who still surrounded the château. Meanwhile, the Marseillais and Bretons who occupied the first rank forced the Porte Royale on the Carrousel, and entered the court of the château. Led by Danton's associate François Joseph Westermann
, they faced off against the Swiss Guards who, lacking orders, remained at their posts in front of the main entrance stairs to the Tuileries and scattered throughout the building.
and faubourg Marceau battalions led by Charles-Alexis Alexandre advanced amicably, believing the Swiss Guards open to fraternization
following desertion by the artillery and the National Guard. The Swiss Guards however fired upon insurrectionary forces, inflicting heavy casualties, about half of the final 400 or so killed among the insurgents. The Swiss Guard, a disciplined professional regiment of the old Royal Army, had the early advantage, but were heavily outnumbered by the attacking force, who were backed by cannons. Advancing from the courtyard in front of the Palace, the Swiss were caught in flanking fire from the Louvre gallery and fell back to the main entrance of the Palace. The insurgent National Guard rallied and returned to the attack. The King had sent a note (which has survived) ordering the Swiss to cease fire and retire to their barracks. His intention appears to have been simply to avoid further bloodshed but the Swiss officers in command realised the futility of such an order in the midst of heavy fighting and did not immediately act on it. However the position of the Guard soon became untenable as their ammunition ran low and casualties mounted. The King's note was then produced and the defenders ordered to disengage. The main body of Swiss Guards fell back through the palace and retreated through the gardens at the rear of the building. There they were surrounded near the central fountain, broken into small groups and slaughtered piecemeal. The Gardes Suisse remaining in the palace were hunted down and killed, as were a number of servants and courtiers who were not able to melt into the crowd.
Of the 950 Swiss Guards at the Tuileries about 600 were killed in the fighting, or when attempting to surrender by the attackers, who were infuriated at their action in firing on the crowd. About 60 were escorted as prisoners to the Hotel de Ville but were massacred there. Others died in prison of their wounds or were killed during the September Massacres that followed. In all only about 100 Swiss are believed to have survived. The gentlemen at arms, who numbered only about 200, were inconspicuous in civilian clothing and were mostly able to escape in the confusion.
A shrunken remnant of the Legislative Assembly felt itself compelled to yield, but would not take upon itself the deposition of the king. Instead, at the initiative of Vergniaud, they unanimously voted measure to convoke the demanded national convention, dismiss the ministers, and suspend (but not depose) the king.
An ad hoc executive council was established. About four thousand non-juring priests were exiled. Commissioners were despatched to the armies to make sure of them. Louis XVI, to whom the Assembly had at first assigned the Luxembourg Palace
as a residence, was transferred as a prisoner to the Temple
, by the all-powerful commune, under the dubious pretext of his own safety.
, in which over 1400 of those arrested were killed in the prisons. Among those killed on the 10th were the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre
and the marquis de Mandat.
The ad hoc executive council of the Assembly had no root in law and little hold on public opinion
. When Lafayette's troops would not follow him to Paris to defend the Constitution of 1791
, he chose to surrender himself to the Austrians.
The elections to the Convention were by almost universal suffrage, but indifference or intimidation reduced the voters to a small number. Many who had sat in the National Constituent Assembly
and many more who had sat in the Legislative Assembly were returned. The Convention met on 20 September and became the new de facto government of France. One of its first acts was to abolish the monarchy
.
Mignet writes that the 10 August "marked... the insurrection of the multitude against the middle classes and the constitutional throne, as the 14 July
had seen the insurrection of the middle class against the privileged class and the absolute power of the crown. On the 10 August began the dictatorial
and arbitrary epoch of the revolution... The nature of the question was then entirely changed; it was no longer a matter of liberty, but of public safety; and the Conventional period, from the end of the Constitution of 1791, to the time when the Constitution of the Year III established the Directory
, was only a long campaign of the revolution against parties and against Europe."
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, revolutionary Fédéré
Fédéré
The term "fédérés" most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution...
militias — with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
and ultimately supported by the National Guard
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
— besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
. This proved to be the effective end of the French Bourbon Monarchy
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
(until it was restored in 1814, although the monarchical system of an empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
had been introduced ten years earlier). The formal end of the monarchy occurred six weeks later, as one of the first acts of business of the new Convention.
This insurrection and its outcome are most commonly referred to by historians of the Revolution simply as "the 10 August"; other common designations include "the journée of the 10 August" , "the insurrection of the 10 August", or even "the revolution of the 10 August".
The context
Through the first part of 1792, France had been moving slowly toward the first of the French Revolutionary WarsFrench Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. In April, the king had taken the unprecedented step of forming a cabinet of revolutionary Girondins. On 20 April, war was declared against Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
joined Austria in active alliance against France (see First Coalition
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
). However, a delay in their preparations gave France an opportunity to improve its army.
The Revolution at this time was moving into a more radical phase. The Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
passed several decrees, notably one against non-juring priests
Non-juror
A non-juror is a person who refuses to swear a particular oath.* In British history, non-jurors refused to swear allegiance to William and Mary; see Nonjuring schism...
, which the king insisted he would veto. The King furthermore vetoed the Assembly's proposed creation of a 20,000-strong national guard outside Paris, composed of volunteers known as the Fédéré
Fédéré
The term "fédérés" most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution...
s. This led in early June to a break between the king and his Girondist ministers, whom he dismissed. When the king formed a new cabinet mostly of constitutional monarchist
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
Feuillant
Feuillant
Feuillant, a French word derived from the Latin for leaf, has been used as a tag by two different groups:*Feuillant *Feuillant ...
s, this widened the breach between the king on the one hand and the leaders of the Assembly and the majority of the common people of Paris on the other. Events came to a head on 16 June when monarchist general Lafayette sent a letter to the National Assembly, read two days later in that body, recommending the suppression of the Jacobins and other political clubs.
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
's decrees was published on 19 June, just one day before the 3rd anniversary of the Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789...
which had inaugurated the Revolution. On 20 June, the armed populace invaded the hall of the Assembly and the royal apartments in the Tuileries, but were pacified by the King. The failure of the insurrection encouraged a movement in favour of the king. Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
attempted to use this opportunity to heal the breach, but was suspected by people, legislature, and court alike of mere personal ambition.
A last Girondist advance to Louis was rebuffed, and the Feuillants were in collapse. The Girondins now made a turn to the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and joined those ready to use force to overthrow the monarchy. Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud was a lawyer and statesman, and a significant figure of the French Revolution. A deputy to the Assembly from Bordeaux, Vergniaud was a notably eloquent and impressive orator...
, in a speech to the Assembly, directed toward the king the following rhetorical questions: "Did the constitution leave you the choice of ministers for our happiness or our ruin? Did it place you at the head of our army for our glory or our shame? Did it give you the right of sanction, a civil list and so many prerogatives, constitutionally to lose the empire and the constitution?" Jacques Pierre Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot , who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.-Biography:...
was even more direct:
I tell you to strike at the Tuileries… you are told to prosecute all factious and intriguing conspirators; they will all disappear if you once knock loud enough at the door of the cabinet of the Tuileries, for that cabinet is the point to which all these threads tend, where every scheme is plotted, and whence every impulse proceeds. The nation is the plaything of this cabinet. This is the secret of our position, this is the source of the evil, and here the remedy must be applied.
The Fatherland in danger
On 11 July the Legislative Assembly on the proposal by Jean DebryJean Debry
Jean-Antoine-Joseph de Bry, called Debry was President of the National Convention , famous for a slogan La patrie est en danger he proposed.....
declared that La patrie est en danger—"The Fatherland is in danger". All citizens able to bear arms, and having already served in the National Guard
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
, were placed in active service; pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
s were given to those who were unable to procure guns. Banners were placed in the public squares, bearing the words, "Citizens, the country is in danger!" On 14 July—the third anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
—there were massive patriotic festivities, and the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
openly defied the King's veto by allowing the fédéré
Fédéré
The term "fédérés" most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution...
s to enter Paris. Pétion
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was a French writer and politician.Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was the son of a at Chartres. Though it is known that he was trained as a lawyer, very few specifics are known about Petion’s early life, as he was virtually unknown prior to the French Revolution...
, dismissed as mayor of Paris for his conduct during the events of 20 June, was restored to office. The constitutional monarchist grenadiers of the Filles-Saint-Thomas scuffled with the federates of Marseilles, but it was the last stand of the constitutional monarchist faction: the club of the Feuillants was closed; the grenadier and chasseur companies of the National Guard which formed the force of the bourgeoisie were disbanded.
Meanwhile, the allied Austrian and Prussian army of the First Coalition
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
was at length mustering on the frontier. The generally "constitutionalist" (monarchist) soldiers of the line, and a portion of the Swiss, were sent away from Paris. At the same time the National Guard—up to now middle-class in character—was opened to those from the lower classes. On 25 July 1792, the Prussian commander Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
issued a manifesto which announced that the Allies would enter France to restore the royal authority and execute anybody who opposed them or tried to injure the king and his family. The Brunswick Manifesto became known in Paris on 1 August and heated the republican spirit to revolutionary fury.
Insurrectionism
The ruling spirit of this new revolution was Georges Jacques Danton, a barrister only thirty-two years old, who had not sat in either Assembly, although he had been the leader of the republican CordeliersCordeliers
The Cordeliers, also known as the Club of the Cordeliers, Cordeliers Club, or Club des Cordeliers and formally as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , was a populist club during the French Revolution.-History:The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a...
(Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen), which was popular in Paris. Danton and his friends and allies—Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
, Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins
Lucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins was a journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a childhood friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were influential figures in the French Revolution.-Early...
, Fabre d'Églantine
Fabre d'Églantine
Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine , commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine , was a French actor, dramatist, poet, and politician of the French Revolution.-Early life:He was born in Carcassonne, Aude...
, Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
, etc.—were assisted in their work by the fear of invasion.
Volunteers and fédéré
Fédéré
The term "fédérés" most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution...
s were constantly arriving in Paris, and, although most went on to join the army, the Jacobin clubs
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
enlisted those who were suitable for their purpose, especially some 500 whom Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux
Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux
Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux was a French politician of the Revolutionary period.-Early career:Born in Marseille, Barbaroux was educated at first by the local Oratorians, then studied law in Aix-en-Provence, and became a successful lawyer...
, a Girondin, had summoned from Marseilles. François Mignet
François Mignet
François Auguste Marie Mignet was a French journalist and historian.-Biography:He was born in Aix-en-Provence , France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendée, who enthusiastically accepted the principles of the French Revolution and encouraged liberal ideas in his son...
writes, "Their enterprise had been projected and suspended several times. On 26 July, an insurrection was to break out; but it was badly contrived, and Pétion prevented it. When the federates from Marseilles arrived, on their way to the camp at Soissons
Soissons
Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones...
, the faubourgs were to meet them, and then repair, unexpectedly, to the château. This insurrection also failed." It was resolved to strike the decisive blow on 10 August.
The political clubs openly discussed the dethronement of the king, and on 3 August Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was a French writer and politician.Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was the son of a at Chartres. Though it is known that he was trained as a lawyer, very few specifics are known about Petion’s early life, as he was virtually unknown prior to the French Revolution...
spoke to the Assembly, soliciting an end to the monarchy in the name of the commune
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
and of the sections. On 8 August, the accusation of Lafayette was discussed; he was acquitted; but (again quoting Mignet), "all who had voted for him were hissed, pursued, and ill treated by the people at the breaking up of the sitting"., as for example the comte de Vaublanc
Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc
Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc was a French royalist politician, writer and artist. He was a deputy for the Seine-et-Marne in the French Legislative Assembly, served as President of the same body, and from 26 September 1815 to 7 May 1816, he was the French Minister of the Interior.His...
or Quatremère de Quincy
Quatremère de Quincy
Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy was a French armchair archaeologist and architectural theorist, a Freemason, and an effective arts administrator and influential writer on art....
. This harassment extended to death threats and invasions of their homes. Hector de Joly, the minister of justice wrote to the president of the Assembly, "I have denounced these attacks in the criminal court; but law is powerless; and I am impelled by honour and probity to inform you, that without the promptest assistance of the legislative body, the government can no longer be responsible."
The insurrection
The populace were unwilling to wait on the result of Pétion's attempts to pursue matters through legislative channels. The section of the Quinze-vingts declared on 8 August that, if the dethronement were not pronounced that very day, at midnight they would sound the tocsin and attack the royal residence at the Tuileries. Of the forty-eight sections of Paris, all but one concurred. Pétion informed the Legislative Assembly that the sections had "resumed their sovereignty" and that he had no power over the people other than that of persuasion.On the night of 9 August a new revolutionary Paris Commune took possession of the Hôtel de Ville
Hôtel de Ville, Paris
The Hôtel de Ville |City Hall]]) in :Paris, France, is the building housing the City of Paris's administration. Standing on the place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the city's IVe arrondissement, it has been the location of the municipality of Paris since 1357...
(the seat of city government). The plan of the Jacobins of the Assembly, supported by the armed fédérés, was to dissolve the département of Paris, to dismiss Pétion, and to institute an insurrectionary commune
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French...
(municipal government), then to assault the Tuileries.
Provisional council
At midnight, the tocsin sounded. The insurgents named a provisional council of the commune, which proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville to direct the insurrection. Pétion was at the Tuileries, where he had been summoned by the king, who wished to ascertain from him the state of Paris, and obtain an authorization to repel force by force.A portion of the Assembly, aroused by the tocsin, had gone into emergency session under the presidentship of Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud was a lawyer and statesman, and a significant figure of the French Revolution. A deputy to the Assembly from Bordeaux, Vergniaud was a notably eloquent and impressive orator...
. Hearing that Pétion was at the Tuileries, they presumed he was detained there and wanted to be released. They now summoned him, as the king had earlier, to give an account of the state of Paris. He came, as requested. A deputation from the Hôtel de Ville inquired for him at the Assembly, also supposing him to be a prisoner at the Tuileries. He left with them and effectively became a prisoner of the insurrectionist commune, under a guard of three hundred men.
The new commune also summoned the marquis de Mandat, commander of the National Guard forces guarding the Tuileries. Unaware of the change of regime at the Hôtel de Ville, he obeyed the summons; he was accused of authorizing the troops to fire on the people. He was ordered to the Abbaye, but, in the event, the mob murdered him as he was leaving the Hôtel de Ville. The commune immediately conferred the command with force, and Roederer acquiesced.
Laschenaye, commanding the troops in Mandat's absence, said that the National Guard troops were ready on the defensive, but he protested the presence of the aristocratic irregulars. Mandat had earlier vainly urged the queen to dismiss these gentlemen, because their presence discouraged the zeal of the constitutionalists. Like Mandat before him, Laschenaye was rebuked by the queen: "I will answer for those who are here; they will advance first or last, in the ranks, as you please; they are ready for all that is necessary; they are sure men." De Joly and Champion were sent to the Assembly to apprise it of the danger, and to ask for its assistance and for commissioners.
The king's 5 am review of his troops showed that he could not count on all of his ostensible protectors. Cries of Vive le roi! mixed with cries of Vive la nation! and even Vive Pétion! The pike battalions were openly hostile, crying out "Down with the veto!" and "Down with the traitor!"; as Louis returned, they quit their position, placed themselves near the Pont Royal
Pont Royal
The Pont Royal is a bridge crossing the river Seine in Paris. It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after the Pont Neuf and the Pont Marie.-Location:...
, and turned their cannon against the château. Two other battalions stationed in the court imitated them, and established themselves on the Place du Carrousel
Place du Carrousel
The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre museum, a space occupied, prior to 1871, by the Tuileries Palace...
in an attitude of attack.
March on the Tuileries
Meanwhile, the insurgents had forced the arsenal and had armed themselves, and were advancing in several columns. The fifteen-thousand-strong column of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the Right Bank, and the five-thousand-strong column of the Faubourg Saint Marceau Left, began to march about six, gathering numbers as they advanced. Artillerymen had been placed on the Pont NeufPont Neuf
The Pont Neuf is, despite its name, the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. Its name, which was given to distinguish it from older bridges that were lined on both sides with houses, has remained....
by the directory of the
département to prevent the union of these columns, but Manuel, the town clerk, had ordered them to be withdrawn, and the passage was accordingly free.
Early on the morning of 10 August the insurgents assailed the Tuileries. The vanguard of the Faubourgs, composed of Marseillais and Breton fédérés arrayed on the Carrousel, turned cannon against the château. De Joly and Champion returned from the Assembly, stating that the sixty or eighty members present were not sufficient in number to debate and that their proposition had not been heard.
Members of the département, headed by Roederer, the recorder of the department, presented themselves to the crowd, observing that so great a multitude could not have access to the king, or to the national assembly, and recommending them to entrust twenty deputies with their requests, but they did not listen to him. He turned to the National Guard, reminded them of the article of the law, which enjoined them when attacked, to repel force by force. A very small part of the National Guard seemed disposed to do so; and a discharge of cannon was the only reply of the artillerymen. Roederer, seeing that the insurgents were everywhere triumphant, that they were masters of the field, and that they disposed of the multitude, and even of the troops, returned hastily to the château, at the head of the executive directory.
Besides a few gentlemen in arms and a number of present and former National Guards (including recently dismissed officers), the palace was garrisoned by the Gardes Suisse Swiss Guard
Swiss Guard
Swiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
, about 950 strong. Only a single company of these guards was normally on duty at the Tuileries but the remainder of the regiment (less a detachment of 300 sent to escort grain convoys in Normandy a few days before) had been brought into central Paris from their barracks during the night of 9–10 August. However, Mandat's departure and subsequent death significantly affected the situation. The National Guard would probably (at least according to Mignet) have obeyed orders from Mandat to employ force against the mixed crowd of provincial national guardsmen and Parisians, but finding themselves side by side with nobles and royalists and lacking their own commander, they now either dispersed or fraternised with the assailants.
The King flees
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica argues that even without the National Guards, the disparity of force was not so great as to make resistance altogether hopeless, but Louis let himself be persuaded into betraying his own cause and retiring with his family under the shelter of the Assembly. Mignet gives a more circumstantial account, based on Roederer's memoir:
The king held a council with the queen and ministers. A municipal officer had just given the alarm by announcing that the columns of the insurgents were advancing upon the Tuileries. "Well, and what do they want?" asked Joly, keeper of the seals. "AbdicationAbdicationAbdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
," replied the officer. "To be pronounced by the assembly," added the minister. "And what will follow abdication?" inquired the queen. The municipal officer bowed in silence. At this moment Roederer arrived, and increased the alarm of the court by announcing that the danger was extreme; that the insurgents would not be treated with, and that the national guard could not be depended upon. "Sire," said he, urgently, "your majesty has not five minutes to lose: your only safety is in the National Assembly; it is the opinion of the department that you ought to repair thither without delay. There are not sufficient men in the court to defend the château; nor are we sure of them. At the mention of defense, the artillerymen discharged their cannon." The king replied, at first, that he had not observed many people on the Carrousel; and the queen rejoined with vivacity, that the king had forces to defend the château. But, at the renewed urgency of Roederer, the king after looking at him attentively for a few minutes, turned to the queen, and said, as he rose: "Let us go." "Monsieur Roederer," said Madame Elizabeth, addressing the recorder, "you answer for the life of the king?" "Yes, madame, with my own," he replied. "I will walk immediately before him."
The king announced to the defenders of the château his intent to go to the National Assembly and placed himself, along with his family, ministers, and the members of the département, between two ranks of national guards, summoned as an escort. While still on the grounds of the Tuileries, a deputation of the Assembly met him and offered asylum. Passing through an animated mob, the king and his family had great difficulty in reaching the hall, where they took the seats reserved for the ministers.
"Gentlemen," said the king, "I come here to avoid a great crime; I think I cannot be safer than with you." Vergniaud assured him that the members of the Assembly, "have sworn to die in maintaining the rights of the people, and the constituted authorities." The king then took his seat next the president, but Chabot reminded him that the Assembly could not deliberate in the presence of the king; the royal party retired into the reporter's box behind the president, whence all that took place could be seen and heard.
The king's departure removed all rational motives for resistance. The gendarmerie left their posts. The National Guard began to move in favour of the insurgents, who still surrounded the château. Meanwhile, the Marseillais and Bretons who occupied the first rank forced the Porte Royale on the Carrousel, and entered the court of the château. Led by Danton's associate François Joseph Westermann
François Joseph Westermann
François Joseph Westermann was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars and political figure of the French Revolution.-Career:...
, they faced off against the Swiss Guards who, lacking orders, remained at their posts in front of the main entrance stairs to the Tuileries and scattered throughout the building.
Assault on the Tuileries
FédéréFédéré
The term "fédérés" most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution...
and faubourg Marceau battalions led by Charles-Alexis Alexandre advanced amicably, believing the Swiss Guards open to fraternization
Fraternization
Fraternization is "turning people into brothers"—conducting social relations with people who are actually unrelated and/or of a different class as though they were siblings, family members, personal friends or lovers....
following desertion by the artillery and the National Guard. The Swiss Guards however fired upon insurrectionary forces, inflicting heavy casualties, about half of the final 400 or so killed among the insurgents. The Swiss Guard, a disciplined professional regiment of the old Royal Army, had the early advantage, but were heavily outnumbered by the attacking force, who were backed by cannons. Advancing from the courtyard in front of the Palace, the Swiss were caught in flanking fire from the Louvre gallery and fell back to the main entrance of the Palace. The insurgent National Guard rallied and returned to the attack. The King had sent a note (which has survived) ordering the Swiss to cease fire and retire to their barracks. His intention appears to have been simply to avoid further bloodshed but the Swiss officers in command realised the futility of such an order in the midst of heavy fighting and did not immediately act on it. However the position of the Guard soon became untenable as their ammunition ran low and casualties mounted. The King's note was then produced and the defenders ordered to disengage. The main body of Swiss Guards fell back through the palace and retreated through the gardens at the rear of the building. There they were surrounded near the central fountain, broken into small groups and slaughtered piecemeal. The Gardes Suisse remaining in the palace were hunted down and killed, as were a number of servants and courtiers who were not able to melt into the crowd.
Of the 950 Swiss Guards at the Tuileries about 600 were killed in the fighting, or when attempting to surrender by the attackers, who were infuriated at their action in firing on the crowd. About 60 were escorted as prisoners to the Hotel de Ville but were massacred there. Others died in prison of their wounds or were killed during the September Massacres that followed. In all only about 100 Swiss are believed to have survived. The gentlemen at arms, who numbered only about 200, were inconspicuous in civilian clothing and were mostly able to escape in the confusion.
The demise of the Legislative Assembly
Upon the arrival of the victorious insurgents, the Assembly instantly made a proclamation imploring the people to respect justice, their magistrates, the rights of man, liberty, and equality. But the multitude and their chiefs had all the power in their hands, and were determined to use it. The new municipality came to assert its imperious authority, preceded by three banners, inscribed with the words, "Patrie, liberté, egalité". They demanded the deposition of the king and the institution of a national convention. Deputations followed, all with the same demand.A shrunken remnant of the Legislative Assembly felt itself compelled to yield, but would not take upon itself the deposition of the king. Instead, at the initiative of Vergniaud, they unanimously voted measure to convoke the demanded national convention, dismiss the ministers, and suspend (but not depose) the king.
An ad hoc executive council was established. About four thousand non-juring priests were exiled. Commissioners were despatched to the armies to make sure of them. Louis XVI, to whom the Assembly had at first assigned the Luxembourg Palace
Luxembourg Palace
The Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, north of the Luxembourg Garden , is the seat of the French Senate.The formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and provided with large basins of water where children sail model...
as a residence, was transferred as a prisoner to the Temple
Temple (Paris)
The Temple was a medieval fortress in Paris, located in what is now the IIIe arrondissement. It was built by the Knights Templar from the 12th century, as their European headquarters. In the 13th century it replaced earlier works of the Vieille Temple in Le Marais...
, by the all-powerful commune, under the dubious pretext of his own safety.
The aftermath
The aftermath was to be six weeks of chaos, resulting in the end of the monarchy and the replacement of the Legislative Assembly by the new Convention. During this six weeks, the insurrectionary Paris Commune held more actual power than the Assembly. It demanded and received custody of the royal family, obtained indefinite powers of arrest, and instigated the September MassacresSeptember Massacres
The September Massacres were a wave of mob violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. By the time it had subsided, half the prison population of Paris had been executed: some 1,200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys...
, in which over 1400 of those arrested were killed in the prisons. Among those killed on the 10th were the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre
Stanislas Marie Adelaide, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre
Stanislas Marie Adélaïde, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre was a French politician.-Early life and career:Born in Pont-a-Mousson, in what is today the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France...
and the marquis de Mandat.
The ad hoc executive council of the Assembly had no root in law and little hold on public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
. When Lafayette's troops would not follow him to Paris to defend the Constitution of 1791
French Constitution of 1791
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution of France. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America...
, he chose to surrender himself to the Austrians.
The elections to the Convention were by almost universal suffrage, but indifference or intimidation reduced the voters to a small number. Many who had sat in the National Constituent Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
and many more who had sat in the Legislative Assembly were returned. The Convention met on 20 September and became the new de facto government of France. One of its first acts was to abolish the monarchy
Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy
During the French Revolution, the proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy was a proclamation by the National Convention of France announcing that it had abolished the French monarchy on 21 September 1792.-Prelude:...
.
Mignet writes that the 10 August "marked... the insurrection of the multitude against the middle classes and the constitutional throne, as the 14 July
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
had seen the insurrection of the middle class against the privileged class and the absolute power of the crown. On the 10 August began the dictatorial
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
and arbitrary epoch of the revolution... The nature of the question was then entirely changed; it was no longer a matter of liberty, but of public safety; and the Conventional period, from the end of the Constitution of 1791, to the time when the Constitution of the Year III established the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
, was only a long campaign of the revolution against parties and against Europe."
See also
- The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchyThe Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchyThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring...
provides a slightly broader historical context.
External links
- The document by which the National Assembly formally deposed Louis XVI and called for the Convention, translated into English.