The Great Fear
The Great Fear was a period of generalised panic which took place between 20 July and 4 August 1789 and affected most of France. It resulted in the abolition of Old Regime privileges with the August Decrees. This essay will evaluate its consequences on the course of the Revolution past the August Decrees, and more specifically on how the Great Fear might have contributed to the Reign of Terror. It will concentrate on how conspiratorial thinking during the Great Fear set the tone for future events, such as the September Massacres, and how the reaction of the Revolutionary authorities to these events shaped rumours and beliefs in conspiracy, and created an atmosphere of intense anxiety leading to the Terror of 1793 and 1794, where mass summary
…show more content…
The Great Fear indeed favoured the emergence of patterns of conspiracies that were reused throughout the Revolution. For example, the aristocratic plots of the Old Regime gave birth after July 1789 to the émigré plot. The link between these two theories was that they suspected the aristocracy to be plotting against the welfare of the people, in the latter by coordinating counterrevolutionary actions within France whilst preparing a foreign invasion to reinstate absolutism. This specific plot was not a complete fantasy, as Louis XVI's brother was indeed gathering an army with the help of Prussia and Austria in the Rhineland, which would later on fight the Revolutionary troops. However, the obsession with the aristocracy of the Great Fear, and its legitimisation of the power of rumour, can be seen as heralding future episodes of great violence, such as the September Massacres of 1792. The September Massacres were majoritarily carried out by national guardsmen and Fédérés troops about to leave for the front following the Prussian invasion. They, along with the population of Paris, had been anxious to leave the prisons full of prisoners who had been rumoured to have armed themselves and to be about to break out and attack Parisians. Between 1,100 and 1,400 prisoners were …show more content…
The conspiracies in circulation evolved throughout the Revolution to accommodate events as they unfolded, that is for example, émigration and foreign threats, the organisation of a counterrevolution in provincial territories. However, these suspected plots were still the relic of an Old Regime mentality, and contrarily to what the revolutionary leaders had wanted, the Revolution could not change the habits and mentality of the people overnight. Moreover, they participated themselves in Old Regime political practices. Indeed, the main aspect of Old Regime politics rejected by the Revolutionaries was factional organisation, which they considered to be intrinsically conspiratorial. They however gathered in political groups with different ideologies and interests, and the violent clashes between the Girondins and the Mountain at the beginning of the Convention is the most illustrative example of factional politics during the Revolution. Moreover, these factional clashes organised themselves around conspiracies, namely that of foreign invasion and accusations of intelligence with the enemy, as seen above with the accusation of some of the Girondins. This therefore led to the cohabitation of two different ideologies, that of trying to make
The Great Fear indeed favoured the emergence of patterns of conspiracies that were reused throughout the Revolution. For example, the aristocratic plots of the Old Regime gave birth after July 1789 to the émigré plot. The link between these two theories was that they suspected the aristocracy to be plotting against the welfare of the people, in the latter by coordinating counterrevolutionary actions within France whilst preparing a foreign invasion to reinstate absolutism. This specific plot was not a complete fantasy, as Louis XVI's brother was indeed gathering an army with the help of Prussia and Austria in the Rhineland, which would later on fight the Revolutionary troops. However, the obsession with the aristocracy of the Great Fear, and its legitimisation of the power of rumour, can be seen as heralding future episodes of great violence, such as the September Massacres of 1792. The September Massacres were majoritarily carried out by national guardsmen and Fédérés troops about to leave for the front following the Prussian invasion. They, along with the population of Paris, had been anxious to leave the prisons full of prisoners who had been rumoured to have armed themselves and to be about to break out and attack Parisians. Between 1,100 and 1,400 prisoners were …show more content…
The conspiracies in circulation evolved throughout the Revolution to accommodate events as they unfolded, that is for example, émigration and foreign threats, the organisation of a counterrevolution in provincial territories. However, these suspected plots were still the relic of an Old Regime mentality, and contrarily to what the revolutionary leaders had wanted, the Revolution could not change the habits and mentality of the people overnight. Moreover, they participated themselves in Old Regime political practices. Indeed, the main aspect of Old Regime politics rejected by the Revolutionaries was factional organisation, which they considered to be intrinsically conspiratorial. They however gathered in political groups with different ideologies and interests, and the violent clashes between the Girondins and the Mountain at the beginning of the Convention is the most illustrative example of factional politics during the Revolution. Moreover, these factional clashes organised themselves around conspiracies, namely that of foreign invasion and accusations of intelligence with the enemy, as seen above with the accusation of some of the Girondins. This therefore led to the cohabitation of two different ideologies, that of trying to make