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Unlock This CourseThe Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791. Every deputy was new, because members of the Constituent Assembly had banned themselves from standing. The deputies were divided. The Feuillants wanted to make the constitutional monarchy work. The Girondins did not trust the king at all. Most deputies sat in the middle and could be won over by either side.
In November 1791 the Assembly passed two decrees against people it saw as enemies of the Revolution:
Louis used his veto to block both. This was legal under the constitution. But after Varennes, it looked as if the king was protecting the Revolution's enemies.
Key terms:
In August 1791, in the Declaration of Pillnitz, the rulers of Austria and Prussia said they were ready to use force to restore Louis's powers if other rulers joined them. It was mostly a bluff, but in France it sounded like a threat. Meanwhile, émigré nobles were gathering an army just across the border.
Brissot argued that war would force the king and other 'traitors' to show which side they were on. It would unite the country and carry the Revolution to other peoples. Robespierre was one of the few to disagree. He warned that 'no one loves armed missionaries'.
Louis and Marie Antoinette expected France to lose. Austria was ruled by the queen's family. A quick Austrian victory would crush the Revolution and give Louis his power back. So the king agreed with his enemies, for the opposite reason.
On 20 April 1792 France declared war on Austria. Only seven deputies voted against. Prussia joined Austria soon after.
The war went badly from the start. More than half of the army's officers were nobles who had emigrated. In the first attack, near Lille, French troops panicked, retreated and murdered their own general, Dillon. Defeat changed everything:
The Brunswick Manifesto. On 25 July the Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Austrian and Prussian armies, issued a manifesto. It said the armies were coming to restore the king's authority, and it threatened Paris with destruction if the royal family was harmed. It was meant to frighten Parisians. Instead it enraged them, because it seemed to prove that Louis was on the invaders' side. By 3 August, 47 of the 48 sections were demanding that the king be removed. The Assembly did nothing.
The attack on the Tuileries. On the night of 9-10 August the sans-culottes took over the city hall and set up a new revolutionary Commune. On 10 August about 20,000 sans-culottes, National Guards and fédérés marched on the palace. The royal family fled to the Assembly for safety. The king's Swiss Guards opened fire, and the crowd stormed the palace. About 600 Swiss Guards were killed, and hundreds of the attackers were killed or wounded.
The results. The Assembly suspended the king, and the royal family was imprisoned. The constitutional monarchy set up in 1791 was finished after less than a year. Lafayette fled to the Austrians. Real power in Paris now lay with the Commune and the sans-culottes.
Under pressure from the Commune, the Assembly agreed to hold elections for a new body, the National Convention. Its job was to decide what to do with the king and to write a new constitution. The difference between active and passive citizens was scrapped, so almost all men aged 21 or over could vote. The elections took place while the Prussians were advancing into France. In early September, panic that prisoners would break out and help the enemy led crowds to kill over 1,000 people in the Paris prisons. These were the September Massacres. The Convention met for the first time on 20 September 1792. What it did next is covered in The National Convention and the Execution of Louis XVI.
'The main reason for the coup of August 1792 was the Brunswick Manifesto.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own.
I partly agree. The Brunswick Manifesto triggered the coup, but the main reason was the war, which made Parisians see the king as a traitor.
The Manifesto was important. It was issued by the commander of the Austrian and Prussian armies on 25 July 1792, and it threatened to destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed. Instead of frightening Parisians, it enraged them, because it seemed to prove that Louis was on the invaders' side. By 3 August, 47 of the 48 sections were demanding his removal, and on 10 August the Tuileries was attacked. The timing shows that the Manifesto turned anger into action.
However, the king's use of the veto had already destroyed trust. In November 1791 he blocked decrees against émigrés and refractory priests. In June 1792 he vetoed the camp of 20,000 fédérés meant to defend Paris. Each veto was legal, but each made him look like the protector of the Revolution's enemies. This is why the crowd invaded the Tuileries on 20 June, weeks before the Manifesto was written.
The most important reason was the war. After France declared war on Austria in April 1792, its armies were defeated and the country faced invasion. Defeat created fear of treason. The vetoes only looked so dangerous because France was losing a war against the queen's own family. The war also brought armed fédérés to Paris, and passive citizens were let into the National Guard. This gave the sans-culottes the force they needed to storm a defended palace. Even the Manifesto was a product of the war, because without a war there would have been no enemy commander to issue it.
Overall, the Manifesto was the trigger, not the main reason. The test is whether the coup would have happened without each factor. Without the Manifesto, a rising was still likely, because the crowd had already invaded the palace in June and the fédérés were already arriving. Without the war there would have been no invasion, no fédérés in Paris and no Manifesto. The war was therefore the main reason. It turned the distrust of Louis that began at Varennes into the belief that he had to be removed.
What lifts it to the top level: it covers three reasons (one of them not in the bullets), links them together, and reaches a judgement using a clear test: would the coup have happened without each one?
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level. Before you write, pick your third reason, such as the war, and decide your test for 'main reason'. Here, ask which reason the coup could not have happened without.