Sunday, Dec 07, 2014
- Foreign and Domestic Threats
- England, Spain, Holland, and Sardinia joined Prussia and Austria to form the First Coalition. In spring of 1793, First Coalition armies converged on France.
- Internal strife also threatened the National Convention. Girondists and royalist Catholics rebelled against the tyranny of radical Jacobins.
- The Reign of Terror
- Faced with foreign invaders and the threat of domestic rebellion, the National Convention established the Committee of Public Safety to defend France and safeguard the Revolution.
- Led by Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety exercised dictatorial power as it carried out a Reign of Terror.
- In the name of creating a Republic of Virtue, Robespierre executed the queen, his chief rivals, and thousands of “dangerous” class enemies.
- The “Nation in Arms”
- While the Terror crushed domestic dissent, Robespierre turned to the danger posed by the First Coalition. In 1793, the Committee of Public Safety proclaimed a “levee en masse” decreeing compulsory military service for all men between the ages of 18 and 40.
- The levee en masse created a national military based upon mass participation. This marked the first example of the complete mobilization of a country for war.
- Motivated by patriotism and led by a corps of talented young officers that included Napoleon Bonaparte, France’s citizen-soldiers defeated the First Coalition’s professional armies.