National Convention

National Convention Convention nationale
French First Republic
Autel de la Convention nationale or Autel républicain François-Léon Sicard, Panthéon de Paris, France, 1913
History
Established	20 September 1792
Disbanded	2 November 1795
Preceded by	Legislative Assembly
Succeeded by	The Directory

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The National Convention (Convention nationale) - a single chamber assembly in France from 21 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire IV under the Convention's adopted calendar) during the French Revolution. It succeeded the Legislative Assembly and founded the First Republic. The Convention was elected in France for the first time with universal male suffrage to give a new constitution after deposition of Louis XVI during insurrection of August 10, 1792. It held legislative and executive powers in France during the first years of the French First Republic and had three distinct periods: Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin and Thermidorian.

From 1793 to 1794, executive power was "de facto" exercised by the Convention's Committee of Public Safety. The Convention and this Public Safety Committee were dominated by "La Montagne", a radical political group successively under the sway of such men as Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, and a "policy of terror" ensued. The Convention was succeeded by The Directory, composed of five Directors commencing 2 November 1795 to 10 November 1799. France, like the rest of Europe, has never again used an elected constitutional convention to draft its constitutions, instead relying on the executive or legislative branches to draft successive constitutions before usually (but not always) submitting them to the electorate for approval in referendums.

Formation

During the insurrection of 10 August 1792, when the populace of Paris stormed the Tuileries Palace on the right bank of the Seine River and demanded the abolition of the Monarchy, the Legislative Assembly decreed the provisional suspension of King Louis XVI and the convocation of a "National Convention" which should draw up a constitution. At the same time it was decided that Deputies to that convention should be elected by all Frenchmen 25 years old or more, domiciled for a year and living by the product of their labor. The National Convention was therefore the first French Assembly elected by universal male suffrage, without distinctions of class. The age limit of the electors was further lowered to 21, and that of eligibility was fixed at 25 years.

The first session was held 20 September 1792. The following day, the "Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy" was adopted, and so after almost a thousand years, the Monarchy in France came to a (temporary) end. A little over a year later, 22 September would become the base date of the new French Revolutionary Calendar, the beginning of the Year I of the French Republic.^[1]

Girondin Convention

The struggle between two opposing Revolutionary factions, the Montagnards and the Girondins, dominated the first period of the Convention. Discredited by a series defeats in the war they promoted against the anti-Revolutionary European coalition, the Girondins were purged from the Convention by the popular insurrection of May 31 - June 2, 1793.

Girondins tried to avoid the trial of the king, fearing that it would revive the revolution against and reinforces the hostility of European monarchies. But the discovery of the iron cupboard in the Tuileries November 20, 1792 makes the trial inevitable. Documents found in this secret chest proved without any doubt the treachery of Louis XVI. The trial began on December 10. The Montagnards put the debate on the ideological level. Louis XVI was classified as an enemy, alien to the body of the nation and as "usurper". Following the discussion, the king was convicted by an overwhelming majority of 643 votes against 78. However, he was sentenced to death by a very narrow margin, 365 votes against 356, and after recount for reprieve, by 361 against 360.

King Louis XVI was guillotined the next day, January 21, 1793, Revolution Square. The execution of Louis XVI leads to the formation of the first coalition.

Military setbacks from the First Coalition and the war of Vendée, which began in March 1793 was used as an argument by Montagnards and sans-culottes to picture Girondins as soft and demand exceptional measures which Girondins were reluctant to adopt. The Girondins are forced to accept the creation of the Committee of Public Safety and Revolutionary Tribunal. Social and economic difficulties exacerbate tensions. During insurrection May 31 - June 2, a crowd of 80,000 armed men with 150 guns invests Convention. After an attempt of deputees to exit collides with guns, the deputies resigned themselves to declare the arrest of 29 leading Girondins.

Montagnard Convention

Revolutionary government

The Convention lasted for three years and came after the National Assembly and Legislative Assembly. The French Revolutionary Wars had begun and it seemed best to postpone the implementation of the new constitution until peace should be concluded. At the same time, as the Convention prolonged its powers, and extended them considerably in order to meet the pressing dangers which menaced the Republic.

Although it was a legislative convention, it took over the executive power, entrusting it to its own members. This "confusion of powers", contrary to the philosophical theories – those of Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, (1689-1755), especially – which had inspired the Revolution at first, was one of the essential characteristics of the Convention. The series of exceptional measures by which that confusion of powers was created constitutes the "Revolutionary government" in the strict sense of the word, a government which was principally in vigour during the "Reign of Terror". There is thus a distinction to be made, discussing the Convention, between these temporary expedients and those measures intended to be permanent.

Maximilien Robespierre

The first years of the Convention were the height of the importance of the revolutionary political clubs such as the Jacobins and Cordeliers; the informally constituted Girondists, although past the peak of their power, were also an important factor. By the end of the Convention, most prominent members of all of these groups were dead, the bulk of them victims either of the Terror or of the "Thermidorian Reaction" that brought the Terror to an end.^[2]

Structure and membership

The Convention held its first session in a hall of the Tuileries Palace, then it sat in the Salle du Manège, and finally from 10 May 1793 in that of the Hall of Spectacles (or Machine), an immense hall in which the Deputies were but loosely scattered. This last hall had tribunes for the public, who often influenced the debate by interruptions or by applause.^[3]

The members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. Seventy-five members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly, 183 in the Legislative Assembly. The full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the Colonies, of whom only some arrived in time to Paris. Besides these, however, the newly formed "départements" annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations. Many of the original deputies died or were exiled during the Convention, but not all their places were filled by "suppléants". Some members proscribed during the Terror returned after the legislative coup of 9 Thermidor began the "Thermidorian Reaction". Finally, many members were sent away, either to the "departments" or to the armies, on missions which lasted sometimes for a considerable length of time. For all these reasons it is difficult to find out the number of deputies present at any given date, for votes by roll-call were rare. During the "Terror" era the number of those voting averaged only 250.

According to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight. He was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, often extending late into the night. Sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with powers more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these committees included the Committee of Public Safety ("Comité de salut public"), the Committee of General Security ("Comité de sûreté générale"), and the Committee of Education ("Comité de l’instruction").

Thermidorian Convention

As a result of increasing dictatorship of the Committees and dissension among its members, many members of the Convention participated in the overthrow of the most prominent member of the Committee Of Public Safety, Maximilian Robespierre, on July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor). The Thermidorian reaction followed, resulting in dismantling Revolutionary Government and final suppression of the popular movement and Paris Commune.

Thermidorian Reaction

Whatever reasons Thernidorians had behind 9 Thermidor: personal feud with Robespierre, personal safety, vengeance, events after went beyond the intentions of the conspirators. Evidently the remaining members on the Committees counted on staying in office and currying on the Jacobin dictatorship, as though nothing more had happened than a party purge.

They were speedily undeceived. Robespierrists might go out and Dantonists come in: Convention had recovered its initiative and would put an end, once and for all, to the dictatorial committees government which had ousted it from power. It was decreed that no member of governing committees should hold office for more than four months. Three days later the Prerial Law was repealed and Revolutionary Tribunal shorn of its abnormal powers. Commune was replaced with commission des administrateurs civils from the ranks of the Conventions. In November the Jacobin club was closed. Not merely anti-Robespierrist but anti-Jacobin reaction was in full flood. At the beginning of September Billaud, Collot and Barere left comite de salut public: by the end of the year they were in prison. ^[4]

Thus the stability of the government was undermined. Next came the concentration of power, another revolutionary principle. Identification of Committee of Public Safety with executive was carved up on 7 Fructidor (24 August), restricting it to its former domain of war and diplomacy. The Committee of General Security kept its control over the police. There was now to be a total of sixteen committees. Conventionnels, while aware of the dangers of fragmentation, were even more worried by its experience of monopoly of powers.

These measures affected, finally, the instruments of the Terror and opened numerous breaches in the apparatus of repression. In few weeks Revolutionary Government was dismantled.^[5]

The destruction of the system of revolutionary government eventually brought about the end of the Economic Terror. Maximum was relaxed even before 9 Thermidor. Now nobody any longer believed in it. Because black market was plentifully supplied, the idea took hold that price control equaled scarcity and that free trade would bring back abundance. It was generally supposed that prices would rise but that then they would fall as a result of competition. This illusion was to be shattered in the winter. Formally the Convention put the end to the maximum on 4 Nivose Year III (24 December 1794).^[6]

The abandonment of the controlled economy provoked a frightful catastrophe. Prices soared and the rate of exchange fell. The Republic was condemned to massive inflation and its currency was ruined. In Thermidor, Year III, assignats were worth less than 3 percent of their face value. Neither peasants nor merchants would accept anything but cash. The debacle was so swift that economic life seemed to come to standstill.

The crisis was greatly aggravated by famine. Peasants, finally, stopped bringing any produce, because they did not wish to accept assignats. The government continued to provision Paris, but was unable to supply the promised rations. In provinces local municipalities resorted to some sort of regulations, provided not direct coercion in obtaining provisions. The misery of rural day laborers, abandoned by everyone, was often appalling. Inflation ruined creditors to the advantage of debtors. It unleashed an unprecedented speculation.^[7]

At the beginning of spring, scarcity was such that more unrest appeared almost everywhere. Paris was active again.

Crushing of the popular movement

Journée du 1er Prairial de l’an III

«Bread and Constitution of 1793» ( journees rallying slogan )^[8]

Discontent increased along with the shortages. On 17 March delegation from faubourgs Saint-Marceau and Saint-Jacques complained that: «We are on the verge of regretting all the sacrifices that we have made for the Revolution». Police law was passed which lay down the death penalty for use of seditious language. Arms were distributed to the "good citizen", the faithful nucleus of the National Guard. The trial of strength was approaching.

On 10 Germinal all the sections called their general assemblies. The political geography of Paris emerged clearly from this. Convention debate was centered on two issues: the fate of Barere, Collot, Billaud, Vadier and the implementation of the constitution 1793. While in the sections of the center and the west formal addresses called for the punishment of the "Four" and passed over the food shortages, the sections of the east and the faubourgs demanded measures to deal with the grain crisis, the implementation of the constitution of 1793, the reopening of the popular societies and the release of the imprisoned patriots.^[9]

On the morning of 12 Germinal (1 April) crowds gathered on the Ile de la Cite and, pushed aside palace guards, burst into the chamber where the Convention met. Amidst the uproar, spokesmen of the sections outlined people's grievances. Reliable battalions of National Guard were called and demonstrators, lacking arms and leaders, were forced to withdraw. For the most people it was the constitution of 1793 - seen as liberating utopia - which represented the solution to all evils. There were others who openly regretted the passing of "the reign of Robespierre".^[10]

But it was not the end. A new explosion was on the horizon. Insurrection was being openly prepared. On 1 Prairial (20 May 1795) the tocsin sounded in the faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Marceau. The armed battalions arrived at Carousel and entered the sitting chamber. After an hour of uproar, L'Insurection du People was read. In chaos, none of the ringleaders thought of implementing the key item of the programme: the overthrow of the government.

Remainder of the Montagnards, The Crest (la Crête de la Montagne), managed to obtain the passage of favorable to rebels decrees. But at 11:30 p.m. two armed columns entered the chamber and cleared out the rioters. The next day insurgents repeated the same mistakes and after receiving promises from the deputies to take speedy measures against the famine, returned to the sections.

On 3 Prerial the government assembled loyal troops, chasseurs and dragoons, national guardsmen, selected from those "who had fortune to preserve" — 20,000 men in all. Faubourg Saint-Antoine was surrounded and on 4 Prerial surrendered and was disarmed. Uncertainty about how to react and hesitancy in action, lack of revolutionary leadership had doomed the popular movement to throw away its last chance in battle.^[11]

4 Prerial Year III is one of the crucial dates of the revolutionary period. The people had ceased to be a political force, participants in history. They were now no more than victims or spectators. This is the date which should be taken as the end of the Revolution. Its mainspring was now broken.^[12]

Constitution 1795

«A middle way between royalty and anarchy» (Antoine Thibaudeau)^[13]

Constitution de la République Française du 5 Fructidor l'an III (22 août 1795)

The victors now could set up new constitution, the task National Convention was originally elected for. The Commission of Eleven (Daunou, Lanjuinais, Boissy d'Anglas, Thibaudeau and La Révellière - most notable members) drafted a text which would reflect the new balance of forces. It was presented on 5 Messidor (23 June) and passed on 22 August 1795 (5 Fructidor of the Year III).

New constitution went back to the constitution of 1791 as to the dominant ideology of the country. Equality was certainly confirmed, but within the limits of civil equality. Numerous democratic rights of constitution 1793 — the right to work, to relief, to education — were omitted. The Convention wanted to define rights and simultaneously reject both the privilege of the old order and social leveling.

The constitution went back to the distinction between active and passive citizen. Only citizen over twenty-five years old, disposing of an income of two hundred days of work, were eligible to be electors. This electoral body, which held the real power, included 30,000 people, half as much as in 1791. Guided by the recent experience, institutions were set up to protect the Republic from two dangers: the omnipotence of an assembly and dictatorship.

Bicameral legislature as a precaution against sudden political fluctuations was proposed: the Council of Five Hundred with rights to propose laws and Council of the Ancients, 250 deputies, with powers to accept or reject proposed laws. Executive power was to be shared between five Directors chosen by the Ancients from the list drawn by Five Hundred. One of the Directors to renew each year with reelection after five years. As one of the practical precautions, no military were allowed in 60 miles of sitting assembly and it could relocate in case of danger. Directory still retained great power, including emergency powers to curb freedom of the press and freedom of association.

The Constitution generally was accepted favorably, even on the right, who were hopeful for the upcoming elections and even more happy to get rid of legislative body so hated by them.

But how to make sure that the new elected body will not overturn the constitution as it was before with Legislative Assembly? Thermidorians done it on 5 Fructidor (22 August) by a vote for a decree on ″formation of new legislative body″. Article II stipulated: "All members presently active in the Convention are re-eligible. Election assemblies may not take fewer than two-thirds of them to form the legislative body". That was the famous law of the Two-Thirds.^[14]

Vendemiaire

Napoleon Bonaparte quelling of the Royalist revolt 13 Vendémiaire
In front of the Église Saint-Roch, rue Saint-Honoré.

On 23 September the results were announced: the constitution was accepted by over one million votes, with 49,000 against. The Two-Thirds decrees obtained only 205,000 votes in favor and 107,000 against.

Convention had not taken into account those Paris sections who were against Two-Thirds decrees and failed to provide precise vote figures: forty-seven Parisian sections had rejected the decrees.^[15] Eighteen of the Paris sections contested the result. The Lepeletier section issued a call to insurrection. By 11 Vendemiaire seven sections were in state of revolt. The Convention declared itself en permanence.^[16] The conventionnels knew the score. They knew the art of insurrection by heart and to bring down muscadins was easier than the sans-culottes.^[17] Five members including Barras were appointed to deal with the crisis. A decree of 12 Vendemiaire (4 October) repealed the former disarmament of the former terrorists and appeal to sans-culottes was issued.

The uprising developed on the night of 12 — 13 Vendemiaire, with the complicity of General Menou, commander of the Army of the Interior. The major part of the capital was in the hands of the rebels, some 20,000 or so, an insurrectional central committee was formed and Convention besieged. Barras had recruited a young unemployed general, a former Robespierrist: Napoleon Bonapart, among other generals - Carteaux, Brune, Loison, Dupont. Future Maréchal, captain Murat managed to seize the cannons from the Camp of the Sablons, and the rebels, lacking any artillery, were thrown back and dispersed.^{[note 1]}

Moderate repression ensued and White Terror in the south was stopped. On 4 Brumaire Year IV, just before breaking up, the Convention voted a general amnesty for ″deeds exclusively connected with the Revolution″.^[16]

Legacy

The article on the Convention in the famous enduring edition of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica concludes, "The work of the Convention was immense in all branches of public affairs. To appreciate it without prejudice, one should recall that this assembly saved France from a civil war and invasion, that it founded the system of public education (Museum, École Polytechnique, École Normale Supérieure, École des langues orientales, Conservatoire), created institutions of capital importance, like that of the Grand Livre de la Dette publique, and definitely established the social and political gains of the Revolution." By a decree of 4 February 1794 (16 pluviôse) it also ratified and expanded to the whole French colonial empire the 1793 abolition of slavery on Saint-Domingue by civil commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel, though this did not affect Martinique or Guadeloupe and was abolished by the law of 20 May 1802.

See also

• The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchy
• Girondist
• The Mountain
• Georges Danton
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Marat

Notes

References

Sources

• Lefebvre, Georges (1962). The French Revolution: from its Origins to 1793. vol. I. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08599-0. 
• Lefebvre, Georges (1963). The French Revolution: from 1793 to 1799. vol. II. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-02519-X. 
• Lefebvre, Georges (1964). The Thermidorians & the Directory. New York: Random House. 
• Woronoff, Denis (1984). The Thermidorean regime and the directory: 1794-1799. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28917-3. 
• Soboul, Albert (1974). The French Revolution:: 1794-1799. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-47392-2. 
• Furet, François (1996). The French Revolution: 1770-1814. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-631-20299-4. 
• Thompson, J. M. (1959). The French Revolution. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

External links

• Presidents of the National Convention: 1792–1795
• National Convention pamphlets and documents from the Ball State University Digital Media Repository

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v t e French Revolution Timeline Ancien Régime Causes Revolution Constitutional monarchy Republic Directory Consulate Glossary   Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles (7 Jun 1788) Assembly of Vizille (21 Jul 1788) 1789 Reveillon riot (28 Apr 1789) Convocation of the Estates-General (5 May 1789) National Assembly (17 Jun – 9 Jul 1790) National Constituent Assembly (9 Jul – 30 Sep 1791) Tennis Court Oath (20 Jun 1789) Storming of the Bastille (14 Jul 1789) Great Fear (20 Jul – 5 Aug 1789) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (27 Aug 1789) Women's March on Versailles (5 Oct 1789) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements (Feb–Jul 1790) Abolition of the Nobility (19 Jun 1790) Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 Jul 1790) 1791 Flight to Varennes (20–21 Jun 1791) Champ de Mars Massacre (17 Jul 1791) Declaration of Pillnitz (27 Aug 1791) The Constitution of 1791 (3 Sep 1791) Legislative Assembly (1 Oct 1791 – Sep 1792) 1792 Brunswick Manifesto (25 Jul 1792) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary (Jun 1792) 10th of August (10 Aug 1792) September Massacres (Sep 1792) National Convention (20 Sep 1792 – 26 Oct 1795) First republic declared (22 Sep 1792) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI (21 Jan 1793) Revolutionary Tribunal (9 Mar 1793 – 31 May 1795) Reign of Terror (27 Jun 1793 – 27 Jul 1794) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists (2 Jun 1793) Assassination of Marat (13 Jul 1793) Levée en masse (23 Aug 1793) Law of Suspects (17 Sep 1793) Marie Antoinette is guillotined (16 Oct 1793) Anti-clerical laws (throughout the year) 1794 Danton & Desmoulins guillotined (5 Apr 1794) Law of 22 Prairial (10 Jun 1794) Thermidorian Reaction (27 Jul 1794) White Terror (Fall 1794) Closing of the Jacobin Club (11 Nov 1794) 1795 1795 Constitution (22 Aug 1795) Conspiracy of the Equals (Nov 1795) Directoire (1795–99) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797) Second Congress of Rastatt (Dec 1797) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII (18 Jun 1799) Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov 1799) Constitution of the Year VIII (24 Dec 1799) Consulate   Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville (fr) Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Mayence (fr) Jemappes Namur (fr) 1793 First Coalition Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793) War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden) Battle of Famars (23 May 1793) Capture of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco (25 May 1793) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees) First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793) Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees) Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793) 1794 Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794) Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794) Battle of Tournay (22 May 1794) Battle of Fleurus (26 Jun 1794) Chouannerie Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794) Battle of Aldenhoven (2 Oct 1794) 1795 Peace of Basel 1796 Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796) Battle of Castiglione (5 Aug 1796) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim (11 Aug 1796) Battle of Amberg (24 Aug 1796) Battle of Würzburg (3 Sep 1796) Battle of Rovereto (4 Sep 1796) First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796) Battle of Emmendingen (19 Oct 1796) Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796) Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796) Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796) Battle of the Bridge of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796) The Ireland Expedition (Dec 1796) 1797 Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797) Battle of Rivoli (14–15 Jan 1797) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz (25 Jan 1797) Treaty of Leoben (17 Apr 1797) Battle of Neuwied (18 Apr 1797) Treaty of Campo Formio (17 Oct 1797) 1798 French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801) Irish Rebellion of 1798 (23 May – 23 Sep 1798) Quasi-War (1798–1800) Peasants' War (12 Oct – 5 Dec 1798) 1799 Second Coalition (1798–1802) Siege of Acre (20 Mar – 21 May 1799) Battle of Ostrach (20–21 Mar 1799) Battle of Stockach (25 Mar 1799) Battle of Magnano (5 Apr 1799) Battle of Cassano (27 Apr 1799) First Battle of Zurich (4–7 Jun 1799) Battle of Trebbia (19 Jun 1799) Battle of Novi (15 Aug 1799) Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 Sep 1799) 1800 Battle of Marengo (14 Jun 1800) Battle of Hohenlinden (3 Dec 1800) League of Armed Neutrality (1800–02) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville (9 Feb 1801) Treaty of Florence (18 Mar 1801) Algeciras Campaign (8 Jul 1801) 1802 Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802)   Military leaders French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte Louis-Alexandre Berthier Jean-Baptiste Bessières Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis-Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean-Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Jacques MacDonald Jean-Antoine Marbot Jean Baptiste de Marbot François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre-Jacques Osten (fr) Nicolas Oudinot Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon Jean-Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult Louis-Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles-Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt (Walloon) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray (Hungarian) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French) Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon) Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby Admiral Sir James Saumarez Admiral Sir Edward Pellew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Dutch Republic William V, Prince of Orange  Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos   Other significant figures and factions Royals and Royalists Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Louis Philippe I Marie Antoinette Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean-Sifrein Maury Mirabeau Jacques Necker Feuillants Antoine Barnave Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth Lafayette Girondists Jacques Pierre Brissot Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Roland de La Platière Madame Roland Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Montagnards Paul Nicolas, vicomte de Barras Georges Couthon Georges Danton Jacques-Louis David Camille Desmoulins Roger Ducos Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Jean-Paul Marat Prieur de la Côte-d'Or Prieur de la Marne Maximilien de Robespierre Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint-André Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Jean-Lambert Tallien Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Hébertists Jacques Hébert Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles-Philippe Ronsin Antoine-Francois Momoro François-Nicolas Vincent Enragés Jacques Roux Jean-Francois Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Leon Bonapartists Napoléon Bonaparte de Cambacérès Jacques-Louis David Jean Debry Joseph Fesch Charles François Lebrun Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai Joachim Murat Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joséphine de Beauharnais Others Jean-Pierre-André Amar François-Noël Babeuf Jean Sylvain Bailly François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot André Chénier Philippe Egalite Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville Olympe de Gouges Father Henri Grégoire Jacques-Donatien Le Ray Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes Sylvain Marechal Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau Pierre Louis Prieur Jean-François Rewbell Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux Marquis de Sade Antoine Christophe Saliceti Abbé Sieyès Madame de Staël Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target Catherine Théot Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean-Henri Voulland Enragés List of people associated with the French Revolution   Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Voltaire   Cultural impact La Marseillaise Fabre d'Églantine French Tricolour Liberté, égalité, fraternité Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican Calendar Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Sans-culottes Metric system Quatrevingt-treize A Tale of Two Cities The Scarlet Pimpernel Scaramouche La Révolution française (film) Orphans of the Storm Danton (1983 film)