De facto executive government in France (1793?1794)
The
Committee of Public Safety
(French:
Comite de salut public
) was a committee of the
National Convention
which formed the
provisional government
and war cabinet during the
Reign of Terror
, a violent phase of the
French Revolution
. Supplementing the Committee of General Defence, created early January 1793, the Committee of Public Safety was created on 6 April 1793 by the
National Convention
.
[1]
It was charged with protecting the new republic against its foreign and domestic enemies, fighting the
First Coalition
and the
Vendee revolt
. As a wartime measure, the committee was given broad supervisory and administrative powers over the armed forces, judiciary and legislature, as well as the executive bodies and ministers of the convention.
As the committee, restructured in July, raised the defense (
levee en masse
) against the monarchist coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within France, it became more and more powerful. In December 1793, the Convention formally conferred executive power upon the committee. Among the members, the radical Montagnard
Jacobin
Maximilien Robespierre
was one of the most well-known, though he did not have any special powers or privileges.
[2]
After the arrest and execution of the rival factions of
Hebertists
and
Dantonists
, sentiment in the Convention eventually turned against Robespierre, who was executed in July 1794. In the following
Thermidorian Reaction
, the committee's influence diminished after 26 months and it disappeared on the same day as the
National Convention
, which was 25 October 1795, but it probably continued till the end of the month.
[3]
[4]
[5]
Origins and evolution
[
edit
]
Social climate of Revolutionary France
[
edit
]
The
French Revolution
brought about an immense shift in society in which citizens desired to bring about a new age of critical rationality,
egalitarianism
, and patriotism amongst French men.
[6]
Revolutionary ideals were spread throughout France and a belief in
democracy
and civilian government was heralded as the new era of French civilization.
[7]
1793 would bring a new republican constitution, drafted by the National Assembly.
[8]
The French Constitution of 1793
and its subsequent government would bring sweeping reforms to French politics and the French social order. Major reforms included comprehensive education, the recognition of rights for illegitimate children and improved rights for married women.
[9]
The French Constitution of 1793 outlined the prevailing
Enlightenment
era ideology of the French government at this stage of the revolutionary period. The constitution outlines a right to the resistance of oppression as well as the right to personal liberty.
[10]
The equality of all French men is detailed as is the structure of the
French Republic
.
[11]
The new constitution and the shift into a republican government centered on the National Assembly created the atmosphere for a radicalized governing authority to take power.
[12]
Members of the French common classes such as the
Sans-Culottes
turned to radicalism and inspired militant activism among the French populace.
[12]
Committee of discussion
[
edit
]
On 5 April 1793, the French military commander and former minister of war General
Charles Francois Dumouriez
defected to Austria following the publication of an incendiary letter in which he threatened to march his army on the city of Paris if the National Convention did not accede to his leadership. News of his defection caused alarm in Paris, where imminent defeat by the Austrians and their allies was feared. A widespread belief held that revolutionary France was in immediate peril, threatened not only by foreign armies and by recent revolts in the
Vendee
, but also by foreign agents who plotted the destruction of the nation from within.
[13]
Dumouriez's defection lent greater credence to this belief. In light of this threat, the
Girondin
leader
Maximin Isnard
proposed the creation of a nine-member Committee of Public Safety. Isnard was supported in this effort by
Georges Danton
, who declared: "This Committee is precisely what we want, a hand to grasp the weapon of the
Revolutionary Tribunal
".
[13]
After a proposal by
Bertrand Barere
on 18 March the committee was created on 6 April 1793. Closely associated with the leadership of Danton, it was initially known as the Danton Committee.
[14]
Danton steered the Committee through the
31 May and 2 June 1793
journees
that saw the violent expulsion of the Girondins and through the intensifying war in the Vendee. When the committee was recomposed on 10 July 1793, Danton was not included. Nevertheless, he continued to support the centralization of power by the committee.
[15]
On 27 July 1793, Maximilien Robespierre was elected to the committee. At this time, the committee was entering a more powerful and active phase, alongside its partner, the
Committee of General Security
. The role of the Committee of Public Safety included the governance of the war (including the appointment of generals), the appointing of judges and juries for the Revolutionary Tribunal,
[16]
the provisioning of the armies and the public, the maintenance of public order and oversight of the state bureaucracy.
[17]
The committee was also responsible for interpreting and applying the decrees of the
National Convention
and thus for implementing some of the most stringent policies of the Terror?for instance, the
levee en masse
passed on 23 August 1793, the
Law of Suspects
passed on 17 September 1793 and the
Law of the General Maximum
passed on 29 September 1793. The broad and centralized powers of the committee were codified by the
Law of 14 Frimaire
(also known as the Law of Revolutionary Government) on 4 December 1793.
[
citation needed
]
Execution of the Hebertists and Dantonists
[
edit
]
On 5 December 1793, journalist
Camille Desmoulins
began publishing
Le Vieux Cordelier
with the approval of Robespierre and the Committee
.
[18]
This newspaper was initially aimed against the ultrarevolutionary
Hebertist
faction, whose extremist demands, anti-religious fervor and propensity for sudden insurrections troubled the committee. However, Desmoulins quickly turned his pen against the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security, comparing their reign to that of the Roman tyrants chronicled by
Tacitus
and expounding the indulgent views of the Dantonist faction.
[
citation needed
]
Consequently, though the Hebertists were arrested and executed in March 1794, the Committees had Desmoulins and Danton arrested as well.
Herault de Sechelles
, a friend and ally of Danton, was expelled from the Committee of Public Safety, arrested and tried alongside them. On 5 April 1794, the Dantonists went to the guillotine.
[19]
Committee of rule
[
edit
]
The elimination of the Hebertists and the Dantonists made evident the strength of the Committees to control and silence opposition. The creation in March 1794 of a General Police Bureau?reporting nominally to the Committee of Public Safety?served to increase the power of the Committee of Public Safety.
However, even as the Terror reached its height and with it the committee's political power, discord was growing within the revolutionary government. Members of the Committee of General Security resented the aggressive behavior of the Committee of Public Safety and particularly the encroachment of the General Police Bureau upon their own brief.
[20]
Arguments within the Committee of Public Safety itself had grown so violent that it relocated its meetings to a more private room to preserve the illusion of agreement.
[21]
On 21 May 1794 the revolutionary government decided that the judicial system would be centralised, with almost all
the
tribunals
in the provinces closed and all the capital trials held in Paris.
[22]
The
Law of 22 Prairial
, proposed by the committee and enacted by the convention on 10 June 1794, went further in establishing the control of the Revolutionary Tribunal and above it the Convention and Committees of Public Safety and General Security. The law enumerated various forms of public enemies, required their denunciation, and severely limited the legal recourse available to those accused. The punishment for all crimes covered under this law was death; from its inception to its removal, more people were condemned to death in Paris than in the entire previous history of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
[23]
Robespierre, a fervent supporter of the theistic
Cult of the Supreme Being
, found himself frequently in conflict with anti-religious Committee members
Collot d'Herbois
and
Billaud-Varenne
. Moreover, Robespierre's increasingly extensive absences from the Committee due to illness (he all but ceased to attend meetings in June 1794) created the impression among some members that he was isolated and out of touch.
Charlotte Robespierre
reported in her memoirs that Robespierre had come into conflict with several of the representatives on mission due to their excessive use of violence, which likely also led to the unity of the Committee devolving.
[24]
Fall of the Committee and aftermath
[
edit
]
When it became suspected in mid-July 1794 that Robespierre and Saint-Just were planning to strike against their political opponents
Joseph Fouche
,
Jean-Lambert Tallien
and
Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier
(the latter two members of the Committee of General Security), the fragile truce within the government was dissolved. Saint-Just and his fellow Committee of Public Safety member
Bertrand Barere
attempted to keep the peace between the Committees of Public Safety and General Security. However, Robespierre delivered a speech to the National Convention on 26 July 1794 in which he emphasized the need to "purify" the Committees and "crush all factions".
[25]
In a speech to the
Jacobin Club
that night, he attacked Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne, who had refused to allow the printing and distribution of his speech to the convention.
On the following day, 27 July 1794 (
9 Thermidor
according to the
Republican calendar
), Saint-Just began to speak before the ConventionHowever, he was almost immediately interrupted by Tallien and by Billaud-Varenne, who accused him of intending to "murder the Convention".
[26]
Barere, Vadier and
Stanislas Freron
joined the accusations against Saint-Just and Robespierre. The Convention ordered the arrest of Robespierre, his brother
Augustin
, and Saint-Just, along with that of their supporters, including
Philippe Le Bas
and
Georges Couthon
.
A period of intense civil unrest ensued, during which the members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security were forced to seek refuge in the convention. The Robespierre brothers, Saint-Just, Le Bas and Couthon ensconced themselves in the
Hotel de Ville
, attempting to incite an insurrection. Ultimately, faced with defeat and arrest, Le Bas committed suicide, while Saint-Just, Couthon, and Maximilien and Augustin Robespierre were arrested and guillotined on 28 July 1794.
[27]
The ensuing period of upheaval, dubbed the
Thermidorian Reaction
, saw the repeal of many of the previous year's most unpopular laws and the restriction of the Committees of General Security and Public Safety. The Committees ceased to exist under the
Constitution of the Year III
(1795), which marked the beginning of the
Directory
.
[
citation needed
]
Composition
[
edit
]
Committee of General Defence (25 March ? 6 April 1793)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
1st Committee (6 April ? 10 July 1793)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
2nd Committee (10 July ? 5 September 1793)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
- Changes
- On 30 May or 11 June, Saint-Just, Couthon and Herault de Sechelles (Mountain) were admitted to the committee.
[
citation needed
]
- On 27 July 1793, Gasparin was substituted by
Maximilien Robespierre
(Mountain).
3rd Committee (5 September 1793 ? 31 July 1794)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
- Changes
- On 17 March 1794, Herault de Sechelles (Mountain) was arrested for treason, leaving his post vacant.
- On 27 July 1794, Robespierre, Saint-Just and Couthon (Mountain) were arrested and executed the following day.
- On 27 July 1794, the three were substituted by
Jean-Lambert Tallien
(Mountain).
4th?5th Committees (1 September ? 7 November 1794)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
6th?7th Committees (7 November 1794 ? 7 January 1795)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
8th?9th Committees (7 January ? 5 March 1795)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
10th?11th Committees (5 March ? 5 May 1795)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
12th Committee (3 June ? 25 October 1795)
[
edit
]
- Party breakdown
Use of the term during the Algerian War
[
edit
]
During the
May 1958 crisis in France
, an army junta under General
Jacques Massu
seized power in
Algiers
on the night of 13 May 1958 and
General Salan
assumed leadership of a body calling itself the Committee of Public Safety.
See also
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 121.
ISBN
9780674425163
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 121?122.
ISBN
9780674425163
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 245.
ISBN
9780674425163
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 313.
ISBN
9780674425163
- The Committee of Constitution (1793).
The New Constitution of France
. London: London: Printed for J. Ridgway. p. 3.
- The Committee of Constitution (1793).
The New Constitution of France
. London: London: Printed for J. Ridgway. pp. 4?7.
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 251.
ISBN
9780674425163
- Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 251.
ISBN
9780674425163
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Raphael Matta-Duvignau, Gouverner, administrer revolutionnairement : le Comite de salut public (6 avril 1793?4 brumaire an IV), Paris, L'Harmattan, 2013
- ^
"Committee of Public Safety"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. 11 May 2020
. Retrieved
27 April
2023
.
- ^
Raphael Matta-Duvignau, Gouverner, administrer revolutionnairement : le Comite de salut public (6 avril 1793?4 brumaire an IV), Paris, L'Harmattan, 2013
[1]
- ^
"Committee of Public Safety"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Retrieved
20 September
2017
.
- ^
Vol. 67 (Brumaire an IV ; 23 octobre?26 octobre 1795) Collection Baudouin
- ^
Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mas: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 121.
ISBN
9780674425163
.
- ^
Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 121?122.
ISBN
9780674425163
.
- ^
Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 245.
ISBN
9780674425163
.
- ^
Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 313.
ISBN
9780674425163
.
- ^
The Committee of Constitution (1793).
The New Constitution of France
. London: London: Printed for J. Ridgway. p. 3.
- ^
The Committee of Constitution (1793).
The New Constitution of France
. London: London: Printed for J. Ridgway. pp. 4?7.
- ^
a
b
Tackett, Timothy (2015).
The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 251.
ISBN
9780674425163
.
- ^
a
b
Belloc (1899)
, p. 210.
- ^
Mantel (2009)
.
- ^
Belloc (1899)
, p. 235.
- ^
Scurr (2006)
, p. 284.
- ^
Furet (1992)
, p. 134.
- ^
Furet (1992)
, p. 141.
- ^
"Danton Versus Robespierre: The Quest for Revolutionary Power"
.
ucumberlands.edu
. Archived from
the original
on 8 September 2017
. Retrieved
20 September
2017
.
- ^
Scurr (2006)
, p. 331.
- ^
Scurr (2006)
, p. 340.
- ^
The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny by Ian Davidson, p. xiv
- ^
Scurr (2006)
, p. 328.
- ^
Robespierre, Charlotte.
Memoirs of Charlotte Robespierre
. pp. Ch. 5.
- ^
Madelin (1916)
, p. 418.
- ^
Madelin (1916)
, p. 422.
- ^
"Maximilien Robespierre, Master of the Terror"
.
loyno.edu
. Retrieved
20 September
2017
.
References
[
edit
]
- Belloc, Hillaire
(1899).
Danton: A Study
. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Furet, Francois
(1992).
Revolutionary France, 1770?1880
. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
- Linton, Marisa (2013).
Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship and Authenticity in the French Revolution
. Oxford University Press.
- Madelin, Louis
(1916).
The French Revolution
. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
- Mantel, Hilary
(6 August 2009).
"He Roared"
.
London Review of Books
.
3
(15): 3?6
. Retrieved
16 January
2010
.
- Palmer, R. R.
(September 1941). "Fifty Years of the Committee of Public Safety".
Journal of Modern History
.
13
(3): 375?397.
doi
:
10.1086/236544
.
JSTOR
1871581
.
S2CID
143925240
.
- ???
(1970).
Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution
. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
ISBN
0-691-05119-4
.
- Schama, Simon
(1989).
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Scurr, Ruth
(2006).
Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution
. New York: Owl Books.
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