September Massacres (sep 2, 1792 – sep 15, 1792)

Description:

Fear of invasion, overflowing prisons, and radical agitation culminate. The early moderate constitutional phase is over — the revolution has entered its radical phase.

Prisons broken into + ‘popular tribunalsʼ set up to dispense ‘peopleʼs justiceʼ
the tribunals — de facto, not official / government / legal —> doing it there and then for quick
legitimacy
summary trials (very quick, little to no evidence — based on suspicion)
killings happened immediately after verdict —> veneer of legitimacy for the violence
fear that in the context of war, there could be a mass escape, with reprisals from the escapees
people believed that political prisoners were planning to rise up in their jails to join a
counterrevolutionary plot
Due to: war, overthrow of monarchy (10 Aug)
revolutionary paranoia that enemies inside would help enemies outside


2 Sep —> prisoners being transferred to Abbaye prison attacked by armed crowd
next 4 days —> massacres spread to other Paris prisons (La Force, the Conciergerie)
civil authorities were unable / unwilling to stop it
1200-1400 prisoners killed
mostly after ‘popular tribunalʼ trials
> 220 of these = refractory priests

prisoners = counter-revolutionary nobles, politicians, priests, common criminals
vast majority was actually common criminals (thieves, prostitutes, etc.) — with no counterrevolutionary desires

some turn blind eye —> e.g. Danton (minister of justice) — partly to blame as failed to take any
action to stop the violence
The Plain swings towards the Girondins
they warned against dangers of mob rule + condemned the violence outright
Marat (Jacobin) —> actively encouraged the violence
Robespierre —> refused to condemn the violence — saw it as part of the revolutionary process
Jacobins loose support in National Convention
many deputies felt they went too far in legitimising violence + terror

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