September massacres

Question 1

What was the September Massacres and when were they?

Answer 1

2-6th of September 1792
-Mass killings of 1200-1500 people suspect of holding counter-rev sympathies
-The killings were to protect patriot families before they went to war

Question 2

What people were targeted in the September Massacres?

Answer 2

-Refractory priests
-swiss guards
-common criminals

Question 3

Where did the September Massacres take place?

Answer 3

-started in Paris but spread to the province
-250-300 killed in the conciergerie

Question 4

Why did the september massacres take place?

Answer 4

-war continuing to go badly: Prussians took Longwy (news reached Paris on the 25th August) and Verdun (1st Sept.) so last defence until they reach Paris

-Fear of counter rev: 19th August 1792 Lafayette defected to Austrians

-royalist uprising in Vendee where 200 were killed

-Political agitators: Danton 30th august 1792 declared house raids for “ill disposed” which led to 3000 imprisonments, Danton and Robespierre utilised violence of the s.c. and Marat stated in L’ami du Peuple that

Question 5

What did Danton announce on the 2nd of September?

Answer 5

-A levee (call up) which brought conscription

Question 6

What was the significance of the September massacres?

Answer 6

-it exacerbated the divide between the Girondin and Jacobin as they blamed the Jacobin for inciting this violence
- it legitimised the use of s.c violence which would be used in the terror but also the first acts of terror occured in this period.

-fears abroad were also realised

Question 7

Who encouraged the violence?

Answer 7

-Marat in his L’ami du peuple stated that traitors should be “put to the sword”

-Robespierre and Danton also did not condemn or speak about the attacks so practically supported it