Maximilien Robespierre: Encyclopedia II - Maximilien Robespierre - Destruction of the Girondins

Maximilien Robespierre - Destruction of the Girondins

With the great question settled by the king's execution, the struggle between Robespierre and the Girondins entered upon a more acute stage, and the want of statesmanship among the latter threw upon the side of the fanatical Robespierre, Danton, and the pragmatic politicians who sought success for France in her struggle with Europe.

The Girondins had little influence in many areas; there was open royalist revolt in the Vendée, and federalist insurrection was rife in the South of France. Spurred on by Madame Roland, the Girondins refused to have anything to do with Danton. Government became increasingly difficult, tending towards the schismatic federalist idea, which would have broken France to pieces in the face of a largely hostile Europe.

In the month of May 1793 Camille Desmoulins, at the behest of Robespierre and Danton, published his Histoire des Brissotins and Brissol demasqué. Maximin Isnard declared that Paris must be destroyed if it pronounced itself against the provincial deputies. Robespierre preached a moral "insurrection against the corrupt deputies" at the Jacobin Club. On June 2, with great numbers of armed men from the Commune of Paris filling the Convention, thirty-one Girondin deputies were accused of counter-revolutionary activities and placed under arrest.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Destruction of the Girondins", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki