During the French Revolution

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...

, modérantisme or the faction des modérés (faction of the moderates) was the name given to the Girondists and then to the Dantonistes by the Montagnards

The Mountain

The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...

. Modérantisme was denounced before the Jacobin and the Cordeliers

Cordeliers

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...

 Clubs, who then led the first attacks on it in 1794.

Jacobin and Cordelier orators soon demanded that the guillotine be used against those they saw as trying to stop the Revolution. One day Carrier

Jean-Baptiste Carrier

Jean-Baptiste Carrier was a French Revolutionary, known for his cruelty to his enemies, especially to clergy.-Biography:...

 shouted "The monsters! They want to break down the scaffolds - but, citizens, never forget, those who want no guillotines are those who should feel that they are worthy of the guillotine!" 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...

, who came to found the newspaper le Vieux Cordelier

Le Vieux Cordelier

Le Vieux Cordelier was a journal published in France between 5 December 1793 and 3 February 1794. Its radical criticism of ultra-revolutionary fervor and repression in France during the Reign of Terror contributed significantly to the downfall and execution of the Dantonists, among whom its author,...

in which he begged for clemency with Danton

Georges Danton

Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...

's consent, from then on laid himself open to their hatred and vengeance.

On 5 April 1794, the leaders of the moderate party were guillotined and modérantisme was returned to power after Robespierre's fall and its turn was to once again hold sway against the Montagnards who still supported Robespierre, with the Thermidorian Reaction

Thermidorian Reaction

The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...

 done in the name of modérantisme.

The crimes committed in Le Midi were also committed by men who claimed the title of "modérés", though this did not stop them carrying out excessive acts of violence.

Sources

• Elphège Boursin, Augustin Challamel, Dictionnaire de la révolution française, Paris, Jouvet et cie, 1893, p. 351.