From TheBestLinks.com
9 Thermidor is a date under the French Revolutionary Calendar. It usually refers to 9 Thermidor Year II, July 27 1794. On this day Robespierre and Saint-Just came under a concerted and organised attack from members of the Committee of Public Safety; Robespierre gambled and appealed to the deputies of the right to support him, however the deputies of the Right rejected his appeal and the Committee almost unanimously voted against them, and Robespierre's totalitarian rule was overthrown, leading to his execution the following day.
Background
The 9 Thermidor represents the final throes of the Reign of Terror. With Robespierre the sole remaining strong man of the Revolution, (following the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, and the executions of Georges Danton and Jacques Hébert), his grasp on political power at this time appeared absolute. However, his rule was becoming increasingly despotic and tyrannical even by the standards of that period. He controlled the armed forces, and his support from the Right appeared rock-solid; yet, he was also the subject of a number of conspiracies, to a greater or lesser extent motivated by a fear that he would eventually assume dictatorship.
Conspiratorial Groups
Not all of the conspiratorial groupings were ideological in motivation; many who conspired against Robespierre did so for strong practical and personal reasons, most notably self-preservation. The surviving Dantonists, such as Merlin de Thionville for example, wanted revenge for the death of Danton and, more importantly, to protect their own heads.
The Left were opposed to Robespierre on the grounds that he supported the concept of God.
The prime mover, however, for the events of 9 Thermidor was a Montagnard conspiracy, led by Jean Lambert Tallien and Bourdon de l'Oise, which was gradually coalescing, and was to come to pass at the time when the Montagnards had finally swayed the deputies of the Right over to their side.
Events
On 9 Thermidor, in the Hall of Liberty in Paris, Saint-Just was impugned by Tallien whilst he was reading a report to the Committee of Public Safety, and who then went on to denounce the tyranny of Robespierre. The attack was taken up by Billaud-Varenne. Robespierre leapt to Saint-Just's defence. Cries went up of 'Down with the tyrant! Arrest him!' Robespierre then made his appeal to the deputies of the Right, "Deputies of the Right, men of honour, men of virtue, give me the floor, since the assassins will not." However, the Right was decided, and a debate to arrest Robespierre and his followers ensued which led to the end of Robespierre's rule.
The Death of Robespierre
Robespierre was declared an outlaw, and condemned without judicial process. The following day, 10 Thermidor, 28 July 1794, he was executed with 21 of his closest associates.
Consequences
Certainly, the events of 9 Thermidor were to prove a watershed in the revolutionary process. Although not the end of the Revolution itself, it marks the end of the Reign of Terror, the downfall of one of the prime movers of the Revolution, Robespierre and also the commencement of an altogether more liberal regime. This liberal regime expressed itself in a number of ways, both economic, paving the way for rampant inflation, and personal, e.g. in allowing for freedom of worship. Ultimately, power devolved to the hands of the Directory, an executive of five men who assumed power in France in year 3 of the French Revolution.
Sources:
- La republique jacobin (10 août 1792 - 9 thermidor an II) - Marc Bouloiseau (Paris 1972)
minor rewrite of first sentence,
Related links
Top visited
0 of
0 links
[no links posted yet]
>> place link >>
Discussion
Last posted
0 of
0 messages
[no messages posted yet]
>> post message >>
Watch
You can
add this article to your own "watchlist" and receive e-mail notification about all changes in this page.
