2022 © Maxim Tabachnik
Refusing to accept limits on his power, Louis XVI tried to flee in the night of 20–21 June 1791, but was intercepted at Varennes and brought back to the Tuileries in a tense atmosphere. Most deputies opted for a constitutional monarchy, and on 14 September the king swore an oath to the 1791 Constitution. The Constituent Assembly gave way to the Legislative Assembly, while the Revolution, seen as a threat by European courts and royalist émigrés, exposed France to the risk of invasion. Anticipating danger, the French declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792.At the same time, the king’s double game became increasingly visible, and radical republicans prepared an uprising. In the night of 9–10 August a revolutionary Commune replaced the old municipal council, and on 10 August federated volunteers and Parisian workers attacked the Tuileries. The king’s powers were suspended, and a new National Convention was elected by universal male suffrage. On 21 September 1792 it abolished the monarchy; the next day France effectively became a republic.
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Although the monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792, Louis XVI and his family had been imprisoned since 13 August. Renamed Louis Capet, in reference to his ancestor Hugues Capet, he was treated as a simple citizen. The discovery of the iron chest, containing documents proving his collusion with foreign sovereigns and his corruption of political figures, convinced the Convention to put him on trial. After long debates, he was found guilty almost unanimously, but condemned to death by only a narrow majority.Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793, followed by Marie-Antoinette on 16 October and the king’s sister, Madame Élisabeth. The dauphin died in the Temple prison on 8 June 1795. For many in France and across Europe, the king’s execution was a sacrilege that accelerated events. Refusing conscription into republican armies, many French people—especially in the West—took up arms against the Revolution, while the formation of a broad European coalition pushed the Revolution toward greater radicalization.
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The National Convention, which took office on 21 September 1792, was divided between two main political groups: the Girondins, who favored a liberal, moderate republic, and the Montagnards, closer to the sans-culottes and supportive of extensive exceptional measures. In spring 1793 the Convention created a Committee of Public Safety and reorganized the Committee of General Security. After the Girondins were ousted on 2 June 1793, the Montagnards had the more democratic Constitution of Year I adopted.Facing civil war and foreign invasion, the deputies left a mixed legacy. The revolutionary dictatorship repressed all opposition and excluded women from political life, yet also introduced foundational political, economic, and institutional reforms, including the first abolition of slavery in history on 4 February 1794. On 10 June 1794 (22 Prairial Year II), a new law accelerated political repression. The arrest and execution of Robespierre and his allies on 27 July 1794 (9 Thermidor Year II) marked a turning point and the desire to moderate the Revolution. In 1792, the Montagnards, allied with the sans-culottes, had overcome the Girondins; by 1794 their own leader was guillotined in turn.
Created by the Constitution of Year III (22 August 1795), the Directory took its name from the five directors who jointly exercised executive power. Bourgeois in inspiration, the regime restored indirect, tax-based suffrage to elect two legislative chambers: the Council of the Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients. It became an important republican laboratory, especially in Europe, where several sister republics were established. In Paris, existing scientific institutions were confirmed and new ones founded, drawing on a broader pool of talent; in 1798 a traveler described the capital as the great whirlwind of the world, animated by an ostentatious youth.Nonetheless, civil war and unrest persisted. Conspiracies and coups d’état from both the neo-Jacobin left and royalist right followed one another until Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup of 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire Year VIII). The Directory was then replaced by the Consulate, an authoritarian regime headed by three consuls, the first of whom, Bonaparte, was appointed for life in 1802 and in reality held all power.
The Revolution reshaped everyday life in France. The country was reorganized into départements, and the old patchwork of weights and measures was replaced by a unified metric system using metres, litres, and grams. At the same time, the modern idea of the museum emerged: a public institution open to all, preserving rare and precious objects as a shared memory of the past.
To rival ancient Rome, Napoleon commissioned Roman-style monuments such as the Arc de Triomphe and launched major works to modernize Paris. He equipped the capital with new markets, fountains, a canal, and a more systematic sewer network. By then, Paris had grown into a metropolis of more than 600,000 inhabitants.
In July 1830 Charles X issued decrees curbing the deputies’ power, restricting the vote, and suppressing press freedom. Journalists led the protest, quickly joined by crowds of Parisians. The capital rose in three days of insurrection—the Three Glorious Days of 27, 28, and 29 July 1830—which toppled the king and opened a new political era.
Louis XVI Bidding Farewell to FamilyJean-Jacques Hauer
Jean-Jacques Hauer’s 1794 painting depicts Louis XVI’s final farewell to his family on January 20, 1793, before his execution. The king is surrounded by Queen Marie Antoinette, their children—the Dauphin and Madame Royale—and his sister, Madame Élisabeth. Cléry, his loyal valet, and Rocher, the prison gatekeeper, are also present. The scene reflects Restoration-era accounts, highlighting the tragic dignity of the royal family.
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