📜 The Girondins
Their support came mostly from the provinces. They feared the power of Paris, the Commune and the sans-culottes, and they blamed the Jacobins for the September Massacres.
Convention and Terror, 1792-94 » The National Convention and the Execution of Louis XVI
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, Depth study 1, Key topic 4
- How the National Convention made France a republic in September 1792
- What the Edict of Fraternity promised, and why it alarmed the rest of Europe
- Why Louis XVI was put on trial, and how the deputies voted
- The consequences of the king's execution at home and abroad
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Unlock This CourseThe National Convention and the Republic
The National Convention met for the first time on 20 September 1792. It had 749 deputies. On the same day, a French army stopped the Prussians at Valmy, in eastern France. The invaders turned back and Paris was safe.
On 21 September the Convention voted to abolish the monarchy. No deputy voted against. From 22 September, official papers were dated 'Year I of the Republic'. After more than 800 years of kings, France was a republic.
The deputies agreed on the Republic, but on little else. Two groups fought to lead the Convention.
🔥 The Montagnards
These were the Jacobin deputies. Almost all of the 24 deputies for Paris were Montagnards, including Robespierre, Danton and Marat. They were ready to work with the sans-culottes.
Most deputies belonged to neither group. They sat in the middle and voted with whichever side won the argument.
Key terms:
- Montagnards (the Mountain): the Jacobin deputies in the Convention, named after the high seats where they sat.
- The Plain: the large group of deputies in the middle, who belonged to neither side.
- Edict of Fraternity: the Convention's promise, in November 1792, to help any people who wanted to win their freedom.
- Regicide: the killing of a king, or a person who takes part in it.
- First Coalition: the alliance of European states that fought France from 1793.
The Edict of Fraternity, November 1792
After Valmy, the French armies went on the attack. They took Savoy and Nice in the south and crossed into the Rhineland. On 6 November General Dumouriez beat the Austrians at Jemappes, and the French occupied the Austrian Netherlands (modern Belgium).
Excited by these victories, the Convention passed the Edict of Fraternity on 19 November 1792. It declared that France would 'grant fraternity and assistance to all peoples who wish to recover their liberty'.
The Edict mattered for three reasons:
- It changed the war. Since the invasion of summer 1792, France had been fighting to save itself. Now it was openly offering to spread revolution across Europe.
- It threatened every ruler. The Edict invited the subjects of any king to rebel, with French help. Britain was already worried by the French army in Belgium, just across the sea, and close to its ally the Dutch Republic. Now it began to see France as a danger.
- 'Freedom' came at a price. A decree in December said that in occupied lands feudal dues and tithes would be abolished, but the people there would have to help pay for the French armies. Many soon saw the French as conquerors, not liberators.
The trial of Louis XVI
The Convention still had to decide what to do with the king. He was a prisoner, known now as 'Citizen Louis Capet'.
The Montagnards wanted him dead. Robespierre and the young deputy Saint-Just argued that no trial was needed, because the people had already judged Louis when they attacked the Tuileries on 10 August. Many Girondins wanted to avoid an execution, fearing it would deepen divisions in France and bring more countries into the war.
Then, in November 1792, an iron chest was found hidden in a wall at the Tuileries. It held the king's secret papers, which showed he had been in contact with enemies of the Revolution. After this, a trial could not be avoided.
The Convention itself acted as the court. Louis appeared before it in December and denied the charges. In January 1793 the deputies voted, each one out loud:
- Was Louis guilty? 693 voted yes. Nobody voted no.
- Should the people decide his sentence in a vote? This 'appeal to the people' was a Girondin idea. It was rejected by 424 to 283.
- What should the sentence be? 387 voted for death and 334 for other punishments, such as prison or exile.
- Should the execution be delayed? This was rejected by 380 to 310.
Voting out loud mattered. The sans-culottes packed the public galleries, and every deputy's choice was recorded. Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793, in front of a huge crowd in the centre of Paris.
The consequences of the execution
🏠 At home
No way back. The deputies who voted for death were now regicides. If the monarchy ever returned they could expect no mercy, so they had to make the Republic survive.
Deeper division. The Girondins had been split over the king's fate. The Montagnards and the sans-culottes accused them of trying to save a traitor, and the quarrel grew more bitter.
Royalist anger. Many French people, especially devout Catholics in the west, were shocked. In March 1793 the king's death, together with new demands for soldiers, helped to spark a royalist rising in the Vendée.
🌍 Abroad
Horror in Europe. Kings and governments were appalled. Britain expelled the French ambassador.
A much bigger war. On 1 February 1793 France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic, and in March on Spain. These states joined Austria and Prussia in the First Coalition. France now faced most of Europe.
A rival king. Émigrés declared the king's young son, a prisoner in Paris, to be King Louis XVII.
By the spring of 1793 the Republic was fighting enemies on every border and rebels at home. How the Convention answered this danger is covered in The Committee of Public Safety and the Fall of the Girondins.
Common mistakes
- Saying the vote on guilt was close. It was the vote on the sentence that was close: 387 to 334.
- Saying all Girondins voted to save the king. They were split, and some voted for death.
- Saying the king's execution started the war. France had been fighting Austria and Prussia since 1792. The execution helped to widen the war.
- Mixing up the dates. The Republic began in September 1792. The king was executed four months later, in January 1793.
Exam-style question
Explain two effects of the execution of Louis XVI on France. [8 marks]
Model answer
One effect of the execution was that France found itself at war with far more countries. The death of a king on 21 January 1793 horrified the governments of Europe, and Britain expelled the French ambassador. On 1 February France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic, and in March on Spain. These states joined Austria and Prussia in the First Coalition. The execution led to this because it convinced foreign rulers, already alarmed by the Edict of Fraternity, that the Republic was a threat to every monarchy and could not be lived with. France now had to fight most of Europe at once.
A second effect was that France became more bitterly divided. In the Convention, 387 deputies voted for death and 334 against, and the Girondins had backed an 'appeal to the people' that could have saved the king. The Montagnards and the sans-culottes therefore accused them of protecting a traitor, which made the quarrel between the two groups much worse. Outside Paris, the execution angered royalists and devout Catholics, and it helped to spark the rising in the Vendée in March 1793. The execution caused this division because it forced everyone to take a side for or against the death of the king, and those sides could not be brought back together.
What lifts it to the top level: each paragraph names one effect, backs it with precise facts (dates, votes, countries) and then explains how the execution led to that effect.
Exam tip
This question asks for two effects, so write two separate paragraphs. One effect alone cannot score more than half marks, however much detail you give. Here, a good pair is one effect abroad (the wider war) and one at home (deeper division), because they are clearly different.