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The CitizenBertrand Barère
Portrait of Barère by Jean-Louis Laneuville (1794)
Member of the Chamber of Representatives from Hautes-Pyrénées
In office 3 June 1815 – 13 July 1815
Preceded by	Jean Lacrampe
Succeeded by	Jean-Baptiste Darrieux
Constituency	Tarbes
Member of the Council of Five Hundred from Hautes-Pyrénées
In office 22 October 1795 – 26 December 1799
Preceded by	Himself in the National Convention
Constituency	Tarbes
Commissioner to Navy, Military and Foreign Affairs
In office 6 April 1793 – 1 September 1794
Majority	Committee of Public Safety
6th President of the National Convention
In office 29 November 1792 – 13 December 1792
Preceded by	Henri Grégoire
Succeeded by	Jacques Defermon
Member of the National Convention from Hautes-Pyrénées
In office 4 September 1792 – 26 October 1795
Preceded by	Jean Dareau-Laubadère
Succeeded by	Himself in the Council of Five Hundred
Constituency	Tarbes
Deputy to the Estates-General for the Third Estate
In office 5 May 1789 – 9 July 1789
Constituency	Bigorre
Personal details
Born	(1755-09-10)10 September 1755 Tarbes, Gascony, France
Died	13 January 1841(1841-01-13) (aged 85) Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France
Political party	Marais (1792–1795) Montagnard (1795–1799) Liberal Left (1815)
Spouse	Élisabeth de Monde ​ ​(m. 1785; sep. 1793)​
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (French pronunciation: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ baʁɛʁ də vjøzak], 10 September 1755 – 13 January 1841) was a French politician, freemason, journalist, and one of the most prominent members of the National Convention, representing the Plain (a moderate political faction) during the French Revolution. The Plain was dominated by the radical Montagnards and Barère as one of their leaders supported the foundation of the Committee of Public Safety in April and of a sans-culottes army in September 1793. According to Francois Buzot, Barère was responsible for the Reign of Terror, like Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just. In spring 1794 and after the Festival of the Supreme Being, he became an opponent of Maximilien Robespierre and joined the coup, leading to his downfall.

Early life

Betrand Barère was born in Tarbes, a commune, part of the Gascony region. The name Barère de Vieuzac, by which he continued to call himself long after the abolition of feudalism in France, originated from a small fief belonging to his father, Jean Barère, who was a lawyer at Vieuzac (now Argelès-Gazost). Barère's mother, Jeanne-Catherine Marrast, was of the old nobility. Barére attended parish school when he was a child, and by the time he was of age, his brother, Jean-Pierre, became a priest. Jean-Pierre would later earn a spot in the Council of Five Hundred alongside the very men who discarded any notion of accepting Bertrand Barére as a member.

After finishing parish school, Barère attended a college before delving into his career in revolutionary politics. In 1770, he began to practice as a lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, one of the most celebrated parliaments of the kingdom. Barère practiced as an advocate with considerable success and wrote some small pieces, which he sent to the principal literary societies in the south of France. His fame as an essayist was what led to his election as a member of the Academy of Floral Games of Toulouse in 1788. This body held a yearly meeting of great interest to the whole city, at which flowers of gold and silver were awarded for odes, idyls, and eloquence. Although Barère never received any of these bounties, one of his performances was mentioned with honor. At the Academy of Floral Games of Montauban, he was awarded many prizes, including one for a panegyric on King Louis the XII, and another for a panegyric on Franc de Pompignan. Shortly after, Barère wrote a dissertation on an old stone with three Latin words engraved on it. This earned him a seat in the Toulouse Academy of Sciences, Inscriptions, and Polite Literature.

In 1785, Barère married a young lady of considerable fortune. In one of his works titled Melancholy Pages, Barère proclaims that his marriage "was one of the most unhappy of marriages." In 1789, he was elected deputy by the estates of Bigorre to the Estates-General – he had made his first visit to Paris in the preceding year. Barère de Vieuzac at first belonged to the constitutional party, but he was less known as a speaker in the National Constituent Assembly than as a journalist. According to François Victor Alphonse Aulard, Barère's paper, the Point du Jour, owed its reputation not so much to its own qualities as to the depiction of Barére in the Tennis Court Oath sketch. The painter Jacques-Louis David illustrated Barère kneeling in the corner and writing a report of the proceedings for posterity.

Political career (1789–93)

Barère was elected to the Estates-General in 1789 and elected judge of the Constituent Assembly in 1791.

Soon after the king's flight to Varennes (June 1791), Barère joined the republican party and the Feuillants. However, he continued to keep in touch with the Duke of Orléans, whose natural daughter, Pamela, he tutored. After the Constituent Assembly ended its session, he was nominated one of the judges of the newly instituted Cour de cassation from October 1791 to September 1792.

In September 1792 he was elected to the National Convention for the département of the Hautes-Pyrénées. Barère served as presiding officer in the National Convention and chaired the trial of Louis XVI in December 1792–January 93. He voted with The Mountain for the king's execution "without appeal and without delay," and closed his speech with: "the tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants."

He was a member of the Constitution Committee that drafted the Girondin constitutional project in February 1793. On 18 March Barère proposed to establish a Committee of Public Safety. On 7 April, Barère was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. A member of "The Plain," who was unaligned with either The Mountain or the Girondins, he was the first member elected to the Committee of Public Safety and one of two members (with Robert Lindet), who served on it during its entire existence. In this role he utilized his eloquence and popularity within the convention to serve as the voice of the committee. Of 923 orders signed by the Committee of Public Safety in the fall of 1793, Barère was the author or first signatory on 244, the second most behind Carnot, with the majority of his orders dealing with police activities. The majority of the Plain was formed by independents as Barère, Cambon and Carnot but they were dominated by the radical Mountain.

Despite his popularity, Barère was regarded by more extreme revolutionaries as a vacillating politician without true revolutionary ideals. Palmer (1949) analyzed that 'his commitment to the Revolution rather than any distinct faction separated him from other major Revolutionary figures'. Jean-Paul Marat used the last edition of his paper Publiciste de la République Française (no. 242, 14 July 1793) to attack Barère directly:

There is one whom I regard as the most dangerous enemy of the Nation: I mean Barère... I'm convinced that he plays both sides of every issue until he sees which one is coming out ahead. He has paralysed all vigorous efforts; he enchains us in order to strangle us.

On 1 August, on a report by Barère, the Convention decreed the systematic destruction of the Vendée. On 5 September 1793 Barère incited the French National Convention with a speech glorifying terror and the founding of revolutionary armies by Sans-culottes:

The aristocrats of Internal Affairs are since many days meditating a movement. Oh well! They'll have it, that movement, but they'll have it against them! It will be organized, regularized by a revolutionary army that at last will fulfill that great word that it owes to the Paris Commune: Let's make terror the order of the day!

Barère voiced the Committee of Public Safety's support for the measures desired by the assembly. He presented a decree that was passed immediately, establishing a paid armed force of 6,000 men and 1,200 gunners "designed to crush the counter-revolutionaries, to execute wherever the need arises the revolutionary laws and the measures of public safety that are decreed by the National Convention, and to protect provisions." In a proclamation, Barère said:

It is time that equality bore its scythe above all heads. It is time to horrify all the conspirators. So legislators, place Terror on the order of the day! Let us be in revolution because everywhere counter-revolution is being woven by our enemies. The blade of the law should hover over all the guilty.

On 12 October when Hébert accused Marie-Antoinette of incest with her son, Robespierre had dinner with Barère, Saint-Just and Joachim Vilate. Discussing the matter, Robespierre broke his plate with his fork and called Hébert an "imbécile".

Barère voted for the death of the 21 Girondists in October 1793. His role as the chief communicator throughout the Reign of Terror, combined with his lyrical eloquence, led to his nickname: "Anacreon Of The Guillotine." He changed his stance when the Hébertists called for another revolution in March 1794; the voluntary Guards and militant Sans-culottes lost influence quickly. He can be seen as a "weathervane" after changing his opinion on the revolutionary armies. In summer he was one of the leading men in the power struggles between The Mountain and The Plain, involved in the downfall of Robespierre. Barère, an opportunist who cooperated in the tyranny, then described him as "the Terror itself".

Ideas, philosophy

After January 1793, Barère began publicly speaking of his newfound faith in "la religion de la patrie". He wanted everyone to have faith in the fatherland and called for the people of the Republic to be virtuous citizens. Barère mainly focused on four aspects about "la religion de la patrie" – the belief that a citizen would be consecrated to the fatherland at birth, the citizen should then come to love the fatherland, the Republic would teach the people virtues, and the fatherland would be the teacher to all. Barère went on to state that "the Republic leaves the guidance of your first years to your parents, but as soon as your intelligence is developed, it proudly claims the rights that it holds over you. You are born for the Republic and not for the pride or the despotism of families." He also claimed that because citizens were born for the Republic, they should love it above anything else. Barére reasoned that eventually the love for the fatherland would become a passion in everyone and this is how the people of the Republic would be united.

Barère also urged further issues of nationalism and patriotism. He said, "I was a revolutionary. I am a constitutional citizen." He pushed for freedom of press, speech, and thought. Barère felt that nationalism was founded by immeasurable emotions that could only be awakened by participating in national activities such as public events, festivals, and education. He believed in unity through "diversity and compromise."

In 1793 and 1794, Barère focused on speaking of his doctrine, which included the teaching of national patriotism through an organized system of universal education, the national widespread of patriotic devotion, and the concept that one owed his nation his services. Barère also stated that one could serve the nation by giving his labor, wealth, counsel, strength, and/or blood. Therefore, all sexes and ages could serve the fatherland. He outlined his new faith in the fatherland, which replaced the national state religion, Catholicism. Barère was trying to make nationalism a religion. Besides being concerned for the fatherland, Barère believed in universal elementary education. His influence on education is seen in American schools today as they recite the pledge of allegiance, and teach the alphabet and the multiplication table. Barère believed that the fatherland could educate all. On 27 March on the proposal of Barère the armée revolutionnaire, for seven months active in Paris and surroundings, was disbanded, except their artillery. During the Festival of the Supreme Being Robespierre was not only criticized by Barère, but also by Vadier, Courtois and Fouché, the other members of the Committee of General Security.

Conflicts within the government

As 1794 progressed, tensions mounted inside the Committee of Public Safety as well as with other committees and the convention's representatives on mission.

Some members of the Committee of Public Safety, such as Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne, had pursued aggressive campaigns of Terror. Another clique on the committee, consisting of Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint-Just believed in their own vision of the direction of the Revolution.

In his memoirs written years later about this time, Barère described the Committee of Public Safety of having at least three factions:

• the "experts" consisting of Lazare Carnot, Robert Lindet, and Pierre Louis Prieur;
• the "high-hands" consisting of Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint-Just; and
• the "true revolutionaries" consisting of Billaud-Varenne, Collot, and Barère himself.

At the same time, the Committee of General Security, nominally the police committee of the National Convention, had seen its place superseded by the Law of 22 Prairial, leaving members like Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier and Jean-Pierre-André Amar concerned for their status. These were the laws that led to the streamlining of the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Great Terror, in which there were more executions in the final seven weeks before 9 Thermidor by the Paris tribunal than in the previous fourteen months.

Finally, aggressive representatives on mission, including Joseph Fouche, had been recalled to Paris to face scrutiny for their actions in the countryside and all feared for their safety.

In this atmosphere, Barère attempted to forge a compromise between these splintering factions. On 4 Thermidor, Barère offered to help enforce the Ventose Decrees in exchange for an agreement to not pursue a purge of the National Convention. These decrees, a program of property confiscation that had seen little support in the previous four months, were received with cautious optimism by Couthon and Saint-Just.

However, the following day, at a joint meeting of the Committees, Robespierre once again proclaimed his dedication to purging the Committees of potential, though unnamed, enemies. Saint-Just declared in negotiations with Barère that he was prepared to make concessions on the subordinate position of the Committee of General Security.

Thermidor crisis (July 1794)

Robespierre continued down this path until 8 Thermidor when he gave a famous oration alluding to multiple threats within the National Convention. A bitter debate ensued until Barère forced an end to it. However, to his surprise, Robespierre was pushed for more evidence by members of the Committee of General Security. This led to a fierce debate and a lack of support from the deputies of the Plain, both of which Robespierre was not used to.

After being ejected from the Jacobin Club that night, Collot and Billaud-Varenne returned to the Committee of Public Safety to find Saint-Just at work on a speech for the next day. Though Barère had been pushing Saint-Just to give a speech regarding the new unity of the Committees, both Collot and Billaud-Varenne assumed he was working on their final denunciation. This led to the final fracturing of the Committee of Public Safety, and a heated argument ensued, in which Barère allegedly insulted Couthon, Saint-Just, and Robespierre, saying:

"Who are you then, insolent pygmies, that you want to divide the remains of our country between a cripple, a child and a scoundrel? I wouldn't give you a farmyard to govern!"

The final pieces of the plot fell into place that night. Laurent Lecointre was the instigator of the coup, assisted by Barère, Fréron, Barras, Tallien, Thuriot, Courtois, Rovère, Garnier de l’Aube and Guffroy. (Fouché was no longer involved and had hidden.) Each one of them prepared his part in the attack. On 9 Thermidor, as Saint-Just rose to give his planned speech, he was interrupted by Tallien and Billaud-Varenne. After some denunciations of Robespierre, a cry went up for Barère to speak.

A possibly apocryphal tale held that as Barère rose to speak he held two speeches in his pocket: one for Robespierre and one against him. Here Barère played his role in 9 Thermidor, by submitting a bill that would blunt the ability of the Paris Commune to be used as a military force. According to Barère, the committees asked themselves why there still existed a military regime in Paris; why all these permanent commanders, with staffs, and immense armed forces? The committees have thought it best to restore to the National Guard its democratic organization. The day after Robespierre's death, Barère described him as the "tyrant" and "the Terror itself".

Arrest

Nevertheless, Barère was still questioned on the grounds of being a terrorist. Before Barère was sentenced to prison, "Carnot defended him on the ground that was hardly worse than himself." However, the defense proved ineffective. On 2nd Germinal of the year III (22 March 1795), the leaders of Thermidor decreed the arrest of Barère and his colleagues in the Reign of Terror, Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois and Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne.

The Court hearings continued until being interrupted by the Insurrection of 12 Germinal, Year III (1 April 1795). After the insurrection was dealt with, the Assembly voted the deportation of Collot, Billaud, and Barere to Guiana without further ado. Significant disturbances occurred in Paris on the day of deportation.

Barère was sentenced for his betrayal of Louis XVI (by voting to execute him), for being a traitor to France, and for being a terrorist.

The three prisoners were moved to the island of Oléron in preparation for being transported to French Guiana. Barère's increasing depression while in prison led him to write his own epitaph. While the other two prisoners were sent to Guiana, Barère still remained at Oléron.

Meanwhile, the political developments in Paris resulted in the decision to put him on trial again. He was moved to Saintes, Charente-Maritime, where he spent four months awaiting trial. Eventually, the Convention decided without trial to confirm the old sentence of deportation.

Escape from prison

When Barère learned about this, his cousin, Hector Barère, and two other people helped him escape prison. Although Barère was reluctant to escape, his friends believed that he should leave at the earliest opportunity.

According to his own later memoirs, the original plan was to escape over the garden walls or from the dormitory with the help of a long rope-ladder. This plan soon proved impossible as it was discovered that the garden was out of Barère's reach and that the dormitory was closed.

The escape plan was soon reconfigured, as it was decided that Barère would escape by the cloister and garden of the convent. Barère escaped on 4 Brumaire IV (26 October 1795), with the help also of a local man named Eutrope Vanderkand. He went to Bordeaux, where he lived in hiding for several years.

In early 1798 (while still in hiding), he was elected to the Directory's Council of Five Hundred from his native Hautes-Pyrénées, but he was not allowed to take his seat.

In April 1799, the Directory issued an order for his arrest, so he left Bordeaux and hid out in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine near Paris.

Amnesty

On 24 December 1799, Napoleon issued an amnesty for some politicians of both the right and the left, including Barère. Under the First Empire, he was engaged in literary work. It was rumoured that he served as a confidential informant for Napoleon. Starting in 1803, he published an anti-British magazine, Le Mémorial anti-britannique, subsidized by the government. This publication continued until 1807.

In February 1814, he moved back to his native region of France.

He became a member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Hundred Days on 1815.

When the final restoration of the Bourbons took place on 8 July 1815, he was banished from France for life "as a regicide". Barère then withdrew to Brussels, where he lived until 1830.

He returned to France and served Louis Philippe under the July Monarchy until his death on 13 January 1841. The last surviving member of the revolutionary Committee of Public Safety, his memoirs were published posthumously in four volumes by Hippolyte Carnot in 1842 and reviewed for English readers at exhaustive length (80 pages) by Thomas Babington Macaulay.

An English translation was published in 1896:

• Vol I
• Vol II
• Vol III
• Vol IV

See also

• Society of the Friends of Truth

Notes

1. Most of the arrests during the Reign of Terror came from Barère, Lazare Carnot and Pierre Louis Prieur.
2. On 27 March on the proposal of Barère the armée revolutionnaire, for seven months active in Paris and surroundings, was disbanded, except their artillery. Their infantry and cavalry seem to be merged with other regiments.

References

1. Histoire des journaux et des journalistes de la révolution française (1789–1796) By Léonard Gallois
2. Mémoires sur la Révolution Française by François Buzot
3. Chisholm 1911, p. 397.
4. ^ Littell, Eliakim (1844). The Living Age.
5. Gershoy 1962, p. 4.
6. ^ Barère, B. (1896). Memoirs of Bertrand Barère, chairman of the Committee of public safety during the revolution. London.
7. Chisholm 1911, pp. 397–398.
8. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 398.
9. ^ Gershoy 1927, p. 427.
10. Gershoy 1962, p. 156.
11. Schama, Simon (1989). Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 648. ISBN 0-394-55948-7.
12. ^ Palmer, 1949, p. 31.
13. Palmer, 1949, p. 109.
14. Bernard, Jack F. (1973). Talleyrand: a biography. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 106. ISBN 0-399-11022-4.
15. Clifford D. Conner, Jean Paul Marat, Scientist and Revolutionary, Humanities Press, New Jersey 1997 p. 254
16. ^ Hazan, E. (2014) A People's History of the French Revolution. Chapter: June to October 1793. The 'federalist' uprisings, the Committee of Public Safety, the assassination of Marat, the Enragés and the popular movement, the general maximum
17. Noah Shusterman – The French Revolution. Faith, Desire, and Politics. Routledge, London and New York, 2014. Chapter 7 (pp. 175–203): The federalist revolt, the Vendée, and the start of the Terror (summer–fall 1793).
18. (in French) '30 août 1793 – La terreur à l'ordre du jour!' Archived 27 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine Website Vendéens & Chouans. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
19. Vilate, Joachim (1794). Causes secrètes de la Révolution du 9 au 10 thermidor (in French). pp. 12–13. OCLC 764013318. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
20. Schama 1989, p. 799.
21. The French Revolution: Faith, Desire and Politics. Routledge. 15 October 2013. p. 197. ISBN 9781134455935. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
22. Carlyle, 1837, p. 161
23. ^ Le Moniteur Universel 28 March 1793
24. ^ France (1825). "Collection complète des lois, décrets d'intérêe général, traités ..., Band 7, p. 149". Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
25. ^ Cobb, R. (1987) The People's Armies, p. 601, 607, 611, 617
26. ^ Rapport, Michael (6 July 2000). Nationality and Citizenship in Revolutionary France: The Treatment of Foreigners by Michael Rapport, p. 203. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-154323-4. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
27. ^ Richard T. Bienvenu (1968) The Ninth of Thermidor, p. 175–176
28. ^ Gershoy 1927, p. 425.
29. ^ Gershoy 1927, p. 426.
30. Gershoy 1927, p. 429.
31. Schama 1989, p. 839.
32. Scurr, 2006, p. 361
33. Schama 1989, p. 840.
34. Schama 1989, p. 841.
35. Albert Soboul (1974) The French Revolution, 1787–1799: From the Storming of the Bastille to Napoleon, pp. ?
36. Linton 2013.
37. Hampson 1974, pp. 295–296.
38. ^ Schama 1989, p. 842.
39. Palmer, 1949, p. 374
40. "Robespierre peint par lui-même". 1794.
41. G. Rudé (1967) Robespierre, p. 110
42. Palmer, 1949, p. 377
43. Richard T. Bienvenu (1968) The Ninth of Thermidor, p. 190–191, 195, 196
44. Dalberg-Acton, 1920, p. 270
45. Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, Critical and historical essays. Appleton, 1866, p. 183
46. 1795 – Saintes : Nuit du 4 brumaire an IV (25 octobre) : Barère s’évade de l’Abbaye aux Dames. Archived 14 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine (Memoires of Barère)
47. Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, Critical and historical essays. Archived 5 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine Appleton, 1866, p. 192
48. Lee, 1902, p. 151
49. Mémoires de B. Barère
50. Edinburgh Review (April 1844).

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barère de Vieuzac, Bertrand". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 397–398.

• Barère, Bertrand (1842). Mémoires de B. Barère: membre de la Constituante, de la Convention, du Comité de salut public, et de la Chambre des représentants. Paris: J. Labitte.
• Brookhiser, Richard (2006). What Would the Founders Do? Our Questions Their Answers. New York: Basic Books. p. 207.
• Dalberg-Acton, John Emerich Edward (1920). Lectures on the French Revolution. London: Macmillan and Company. pp. 84–289.
• Gershoy, Leo (September 1927). "Barère, Champion of Nationalism in the French Revolution". Political Science Quarterly. 42 (3): 419–30. doi:10.2307/2143129. JSTOR 2143129.
• Gershoy, Leo (1962). Bertrand Barère: A Reluctant Terrorist. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 1–402.
• Hampson, Norman (1974). The Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre. Duckworth. ISBN 978-0-7156-0741-1.
• Lee, Guy Carleton (1902). Book Orators of Modern Europe. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 151–52.
• Linton, Marisa (20 June 2013). Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship, and Authenticity in the French Revolution. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-957630-2.
• Paley, Morton D. (1999). Apocalypse and Millennium in English Romantic Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 91–153.
• Thomas Babington Macaulay. Barere, Misc Writings and Speeches. Vol. 2.
• Palmer, R.R. (1949). Twelve Who Ruled. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 1–31, 110–20.
• Carlyle, Thomas (1837). The French Revolution. London: Chapman & Hall. pp. 161.
• Scurr, Ruth (2007). Fatal Purity. New York: Holt Paperbacks. p. 367.

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Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles (7 Jun 1788) Assembly of Vizille (21 Jul 1788) 1789 What Is the Third Estate? (Jan 1789) Réveillon riots (28 Apr 1789) Convocation of the Estates General (5 May 1789) Death of the Dauphin (4 June 1789) National Assembly (17 Jun – 9 Jul 1790) Tennis Court Oath (20 Jun 1789) National Constituent Assembly (9 Jul – 30 Sep 1791) Storming of the Bastille (14 Jul 1789) Great Fear (20 Jul – 5 Aug 1789) Abolition of Feudalism (4–11 Aug 1789) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 Aug 1789) Women's March on Versailles (5 Oct 1789) Nationalization of the Church properties (2 Nov 1789) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements (Feb–Jul 1790) Abolition of the Nobility (23 Jun 1790) Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 Jul 1790) Fête de la Fédération (14 Jul 1790) 1791 Flight to Varennes (20–21 Jun 1791) Champ de Mars massacre (17 Jul 1791) Declaration of Pillnitz (27 Aug 1791) The Constitution of 1791 (3 Sep 1791) National Legislative Assembly (1 Oct 1791 – Sep 1792) 1792 France declares war (20 Apr 1792) Brunswick Manifesto (25 Jul 1792) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary (Jun 1792) 10th of August (10 Aug 1792) September Massacres (Sep 1792) National Convention (20 Sep 1792 – 26 Oct 1795) First republic declared (22 Sep 1792) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI (21 Jan 1793) Revolutionary Tribunal (9 Mar 1793 – 31 May 1795) Reign of Terror (27 Jun 1793 – 27 Jul 1794) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists (2 Jun 1793) Assassination of Marat (13 Jul 1793) Levée en masse (23 Aug 1793) The Death of Marat (painting) Law of Suspects (17 Sep 1793) Marie Antoinette is guillotined (16 Oct 1793) Anti-clerical laws (throughout the year) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined (5 Apr 1794) Law of 22 Prairial (10 Jun 1794) Thermidorian Reaction (27 Jul 1794) Robespierre guillotined (28 Jul 1794) White Terror (Fall 1794) Closing of the Jacobin Club (11 Nov 1794) 1795–6 Insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III (1 Apr 1795) Constitution of the Year III (22 Aug 1795) Directoire (1795–99) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 13 Vendémiaire 5 Oct 1795 Conspiracy of the Equals (May 1796) 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797) Second Congress of Rastatt (Dec 1797) 1798 Law of 22 Floréal Year VI (11 May 1798) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII (18 Jun 1799) Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov 1799) Constitution of the Year VIII (24 Dec 1799) Consulate
Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur 1793 First Coalition War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden Battle of Famars (23 May 1793) Expedition to Sardinia (21 Dec 1792 - 25 May 1793) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees) Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793) First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793) Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees) Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793) 1794 Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794) Second Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794) Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794) Battle of Tournay (22 May 1794) Glorious First of June (1 Jun 1794) Battle of Fleurus (26 Jun 1794) Chouannerie Battle of Aldenhoven (2 Oct 1794) Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) 1795 Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 - 7 Jun 1795) Peace of Basel 1796 Italian campaign (1796) Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796) Battle of Castiglione (5 Aug 1796) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim (11 Aug 1796) Battle of Amberg (24 Aug 1796) Battle of Würzburg (3 Sep 1796) Battle of Rovereto (4 Sep 1796) First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796) Battle of Emmendingen (19 Oct 1796) Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796) Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796) Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796) Battle of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796) Ireland expedition (Dec 1796) 1797 Italian campaign (1797) Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797) Battle of Rivoli (14–15 Jan 1797) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz (25 Jan 1797) Treaty of Leoben (17 Apr 1797) Battle of Neuwied (18 Apr 1797) Treaty of Campo Formio (17 Oct 1797) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland (28 January – 17 May 1798) French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801) Irish Rebellion of 1798 (23 May – 23 Sep 1798) Quasi-War (1798–1800) Peasants' War (12 Oct – 5 Dec 1798) 1799 Second Coalition (1798–1802) Siege of Acre (20 Mar – 21 May 1799) Battle of Ostrach (20–21 Mar 1799) Battle of Stockach (25 Mar 1799) Battle of Magnano (5 Apr 1799) Battle of Cassano (27–28 Apr 1799) First Battle of Zurich (4–7 Jun 1799) Battle of Trebbia (17–20 Jun 1799) Battle of Novi (15 Aug 1799) Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 Sep 1799) 1800 Battle of Marengo (14 Jun 1800) Convention of Alessandria (15 Jun 1800) Battle of Hohenlinden (3 Dec 1800) League of Armed Neutrality (1800–02) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville (9 Feb 1801) Treaty of Florence (18 Mar 1801) Algeciras campaign (8 Jul 1801) 1802 Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802) Treaty of Paris (25 Jun 1802)
Military leaders France French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Louis-Alexandre Berthier Jean-Baptiste Bessières Napoléon Bonaparte Guillaume Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean-Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis-Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean-Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean-Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Étienne Macdonald Jean-Antoine Marbot Marcellin Marbot François Séverin Marceau Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre-Jacques Osten [fr] Nicolas Oudinot Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon Jean-Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean-de-Dieu Soult Louis-Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles-Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt (Walloon) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray (Hungarian) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French) Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon) Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Netherlands William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Andrei Rosenberg Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos
Other significant figures and factions Patriotic Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean-Sifrein Maury François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume-Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean-François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean-Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer-Collard Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Girondins Jacques Pierre Brissot Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Olympe de Gouges Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles-François Lebrun Pierre-Joseph Cambon Bertrand Barère Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean-Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Paul Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau Jacques-Louis David Marquis de Sade Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean-Henri Voulland Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean-Pierre-André Amar Prieur de la Côte-d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint-André Jean-Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles-Philippe Ronsin Antoine-François Momoro François-Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas-Marie Maillard Charles-Philippe Ronsin Jean-François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Figures Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques-Donatien Le Ray Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target Catherine Théot Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne Jacques Necker Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil List of people associated with the French Revolution Factions Jacobins Cordeliers Panthéon Club Social Club
Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft
Cultural impact La Marseillaise Cockade of France Flag of France Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Muscadin Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican calendar Metric system Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans-culottes Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Incroyables and merveilleuses Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Films

• 1755 births
• 1841 deaths
• People from Tarbes
• Jacobins
• People on the Committee of Public Safety
• Members of the National Constituent Assembly (France)
• Deputies to the French National Convention
• Regicides of Louis XVI
• Members of the Chamber of Representatives (France)
• French diplomats
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• Court of Cassation (France) judges
• People of the Reign of Terror
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• 19th-century French judges
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• 18th-century French lawyers