THESE ARE GOOD ONES HISTORIANS OPINIONS Firstly consider that a historians ideas often applies to more than one aspect of the Revolution For example a central truth of the French Revolution its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends ID: 565419
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Slide1
HISTORIANS’ OPINIONS: THESE ARE GOOD ONES!
Slide2
HISTORIANS’ OPINIONSFirstly, consider that a historians’ ideas often applies to more than one aspect of the Revolution. For example:
‘ a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends’ (
Schama
)
Massacre at the Champs de Mars
Invasion of the
Tuilleries
September Massacres
Civil War: The
Vendée
, Lyons etc
Considering this, you really shouldn’t need to memorize more than 5 or 6 quotes
!Slide3
Historians’ opinions: ActivityOn the following slides there are one, two or three quotes for each aspect of the Revolutions. For each of the following:
Take down the name and date of the aspect of the Revolution (good revision!)Use the ‘Adcock technique’ to get your
quote: Either summarise the historians’ view in your own words OR take a small ‘chunk’ you think is powerful
See if you can link that quote to one or more other aspects of the Revolution.
As you go, tick of the aspects of the Revolution on your SAC or traffic light handoutSlide4
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens(27 August 1789)
‘In the country at large millions welcomed the end of feudalism and indirect taxes, while hundreds of thousands of bourgeoisie eagerly seized the opportunity by the new regime to participate in public affairs’ (Doyle)
‘produced no significant transfer of social power [but simply] accelerated trends that had been taking place over a long period of time’ (
Schama
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide5
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy(August – July 1790:
Clerical Oath 27 November 1790) ‘The French Revolution had many turning points, but the oath of the Clergy was, if not the greatest, unquestionably one of them. It was certainly the Constituent Assembly’s most serious mistake. For the first time, it forced fellow citizens to choose; to declare themselves publically for or against the new order’ (Doyle)
‘This was fated to divide the nation more than any other single measure... The clergy in general objected to a reorganisation on which the Church had not been consulted’ (
Bosher
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide6
The King’s Flight to Varennes(20 – 21 June 1791)
‘[I]n opting to flee from Paris at a critical moment, when the constitution was almost complete, and in repudiating his solemn oath to uphold the revolution, the King had greatly contributed to the destabilisation of the state and the society. In the short term, is action exerted a deeply traumatic effect on this whole population (
Thackett
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide7
Massacre at the Champ de Mars(17 July 1791)
‘In terms of the social history of Paris the Champ de Mars affair both represented the first bloody clash within the third estate... and the culmination of several months of social upheaval and of revolutionary agitation’ (Rudé
)
‘ a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends’ (
Schama
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide8
The Constitution of 1791: The Legislative Assembly(14 September 1791)
‘The ambiguity about the meaning of citizenship in the Declaration of the Rights of Man was resolved by excluding women and ‘passive’ citizens – perhaps 40 percent of adult men – paying less than three days labour in taxes and by imposing sharp property qualifications on those eligible to be electors and deputies’ (
McPhee
).
‘This form of government contained the seeds of future conflict, but in 1789 and 1790 Louis XVI and some of his ministers were... in sympathy with the national Assembly’s fundamental principles. King, ministers, and a majority of deputies shared the enlightened principle of social mobility they had learned from
philosophes
of their generation’ (
Bosher)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide9
Declaration of War on Austria: Rising tension in Paris(20 April 1792)
‘The National Assembly did not speak for all Frenchmen but only for a certain public. Its gospel did not appeal to the dispossessed noble and clergy, some of whom schemed to destroy the assembly and to restore the old order of things’ (
Bosher
)
‘Given his [the King’s] plight he had hardly anything to lose (or so he imagined). Should a war go well, it would be a means to concentrate power in his hands as commander in chief and might even give him the military force he needed to restore power at home’ (
Schama
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide10
Invasion of Tuileries (10 August 1792) and the Imprisonment of Louis XVI (13 August 1792)
‘The tenth of August became by far the bloodiest of the revolutionary insurrections... It was also among the most decisive politically’ (
Popkin
).
‘Immured in the medieval keep of the Temple, and deprived of newspapers, Louis was largely protected from the festering hatred of the city outside’ (
Schama
)
‘ a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends’ (Schama
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide11
September Massacres (2 – 6 September 1792), Progress of War
‘These killings stained the Revolution’s reputation throughout Europe; they also made the incoming Convention acutely aware of the need to convince the sans-cullotes that it was doing everything necessary to defend the Revolution’ (
Popkin
)
‘ a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends’ (
Schama
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide12
The trial of Louis XVI (26 December 1792)
The Execution of Louis XVI(21 January 1793)
‘It was the citizen who had become the heroic immortal; it was the death of the King that was made to kill Kingship. The intention was to obliterate the remains of Louis Capet so thoroughly that nothing at all would survive except mortal dirt’ (
Schama
).
‘Louis XVI was generally a well-beloved monarch... He was everywhere respected when travelling... in June 1786... And the
cahiers de
doleances
showed little hatred of the King.... The republican views expressed at the trial and execution of the King had developed during the revolutionary years, not earlier. Republicanism in France was a result of the Revolution, not the cause of it’ (Bosher
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide13
Death of Marat(July 1793)
‘The assassination of Marat on 13 July 1793 added to the Montagnards
sense of being under
seige
and made them even more reluctant to compromise with opponent’ (
Popkin
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide14
Counter revolution and the extension of war(1793 and 1794)
‘In both the rhetorical dehumanisation of the enemy and the extreme ferocity with which the war was waged, the Vendée
anticipated a cycle of peasant uprisings... What began in western France was repeated [in other areas]. ’ (
Schama
)
‘The Convention responded to the crises by issuing a series of emergency decrees... Rebels captured bearing arms were to be executed; so were emigres
who returned to France’ (Hibbert)
‘The armies of the Vendée
were hordes of men, women and children led by ‘generals’ in attacks upon towns and villages... Badly armed, lacking the sustaining forces of the state, vainly hoping for allies at home and abroad, these movements were soon exhausted, annihilated, and the survivors driven to underground warfare... So cruel and devastating was the repression [of the National Convention] that some of its students are ready to describe it as genocide’ (
Bosher)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide15
The Committee of Public Safety and the Legislation of the Terror(1794)
‘There was little to admire in them; no motive higher than self-preservation inspired their desperate attacks, no ideals justified their executions, no laurels crowned their victory’ (
Cobban
)
The committee of public safety rapidly turned itself into the most concentrated state machine France had ever experienced. It grasped the nettle of revolutionary government with a determination that had eluded all its predecessors. ‘ (
Schama)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide16
The influence of significant individuals: Robespierre
‘At no time was he able to present the kind of revolutionary credentials... that many a street radical offered and demanded as a certificate of patriotism (Jordan)
‘
Robespierre’s
personality – his tendency to think in abstractions, his faith in his own righteousness, and his suspicion of other’s motives – made him especially prone to resort to punitive measures, regardless of the human cost’ (
Popkin
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide17
Dechristianisation and the Revolutionary Calender
‘The new calendar was part of program of rationalisation that included the introduction of the metric system on 1 August 1793... But is also related to the de-Christianisation campaign that reached it’s height in 1793. Whereas the National Assembly had intended to reform the Church, the de-Christianises aimed to abolish to abolish it altogether’ (Popkin
)
‘The de-
christianising
campaign was forced upon the government by the sans-
cullotes
and a minority of enthusiasts among the Jacobins.’ (Bosher
)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide18
The Great Terror (October to December 1793 and March to July 1794 )
‘The Sans-
Cullotes
wanted their enemies silenced at whatever cost, No compromise seemed possible with men who were denounced as patriotic Parisians as anarchists,
blooddrinkers
,
septembriseurs’ (Doyle)
‘ a central truth of the French Revolution: its dependence on organised killing to accomplish political ends’ (
Schama)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide19
The Convention of year III: The return of the Girondins
(And the constitution of 1795)
‘The fall of
Robespeirre
led to something of an anti-climax. The Revolution continued, though at a slackened pace; and the Republic – a new republic of proprietors – lingered on in the streets of crises... The Sans-
Cullotes
were once more disarmed and disenfranchised; and the rulers of 1795... tried to revert to the principles of 1789’ (
Rudé)
‘As the Revolution overthrew the old social and economic order, it also destroyed the state structure of the old regime, sweeping away the vestiges of separatism, abolishing local privileges and provincial autonomies. It thus made possible the establishment of a modern state under the directory... corresponding to the need and interest of the bourgeoisie’ (Soboul
) ‘It transformed men’s outlook. The writers of the Enlightenment,... had always believed it could be done if men dared to seize control of their own identity. The men of 1789 did so, in a rare moment of courage, altruism and idealism which took away the breath of educated Europe’ (Doyle)
Look at the list of topics. Can the quotes be used for another aspect of the Revolution? If so, list it!Slide20