Michel Biard - Terror

1 Cover

2 Title Page Terror The French Revolution and Its Demons Michel Biard and Marisa Linton With a Foreword by Timothy Tackett polity

3 Copyright Originally published in French as Terreur! La Révolution française face à ses demons . By Michel Biard & Marisa Linton © Armand Colin 2020, Malakoff. Armand Colin is a trademark of DUNOD Editeur, 11, rue Paul Bert, 92240 Malakoff This English edition © Polity Press, 2021 Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4837-8 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

4 Dedication Dedication In memory of Michel Vovelle (1933–2018)

5 Note on the Text Note on the Text This is a shortened and revised version of the original French language editon: Terreur! La Révolution française face à ses démons , Armand Colin, 2020, Malakoff, a trademark of Dunod Editeur.

6 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements Chapters 1 , 4 , 5 and 8 were originally translated by Élise Trogrlic, with the support of the GRHis University of Rouen, Normandy. All other translations and the rewriting for this edition were by Marisa Linton. Our grateful thanks to those who generously gave their time to read the original draft of the French edition and gave us invaluable advice and further suggestions (Françoise Brunel, Carla Hesse, Hervé Leuwers and, especially, Timothy Tackett).

7 Foreword

8 Introduction: The Demons of Terror Notes

9 Chapter 1: The Terror – a Concept Imposed by the Thermidoreans 1. How the ‘system of terror’ and the black legend of Robespierre were retrospectively invented 2. Developing use of the word ‘terror’ between 1789 and 1794 3. ‘Terror as the order of the day’: an unsaid, unofficial yet widespread order from the Convention Notes

10 Chapter 2: The Meaning of ‘Terror’ Before the Revolution 1. Terror and Enlightenment. A problematic connection 2. The concept of ‘terror’ in the Ancien Régime 3. The role of terror in political theory Notes

11 Chapter 3: Terror in the Heart: The Weight of Fears and Emotions 1. The spectre of conspiracy and treason 2. The flow of emotions and fears 3. The impossible combination of virtue and terror Notes

12 Chapter 4: The Revolution and its Opponents: Clashes and the Intensification of Repression 1. Legislation targeting refractory clergy and émigrés 2. ‘The suspects’: how the net of suspicion widened 3. Repression against ‘federalism’ and the emblematic case of the Lyon revolt Notes

13 Chapter 5: Creating Revolutionary Law: A Time of Political Exception 1. From ordinary law to ‘revolutionary’ law 2. ‘Revolutionary’ institutions and their role in repression 3. The recourse to extraordinary justice Notes

14 Chapter 6: Terror in the Convention: Political Conflict as an Engine of ‘Terror’ 1. The Convention and the clubs: from political strife to ‘purging’ 2. From arrests to political trials 3. Death as a means to eliminate opponents in the Convention 4. The elimination of factions, the apogee of ‘terror’ or the will to end it? Notes

15 Chapter 7: Paris and the Vendée at the Heart of the ‘Terror’ 1. Paris, capital of the sans-culotte movement 2. Paris, epicentre of the ‘Terror’ 3. The ‘military Vendée’, a zone of civil war Notes

16 Chapter 8: Who Lived and Who Died? The Difficult Balance Sheets of Terror 1. Working out the death toll 2. Fraternal France and fratricidal France Notes

17 Conclusion: How the Convention Reconstructed Itself After Thermidor Notes

18 Chronology for the Years of the National Convention

19 Maps

20 Some Further Reading

21 Index

22 End User License Agreement

1 Maps Map 1:The clergy who died in the Year II, ‘victims’ of the ‘terror’ according to the m… Map 2:The deputies of the Convention sent ‘on mission’, by department. Map 3:The deputies sent ‘on mission’ with the armies. Map 4:The armées révolutionnaires. Departments where at least one army, a battalion, o… Map 5:Operations of the Parisian armée révolutionnaire. Map 6:Prisons, sites of the guillotine, and cemeteries used for victims in Paris. Map 7:Number of people sentenced to death, by department. Map 8:The military commissions. Map 9:Number of individuals judged to be ‘outlawed’ (hors la loi), by department.

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Title Page

4 Copyright

5 Dedication

6 Note on the Text

7 Acknowledgements

8 Foreword

9 Introduction: The Demons of Terror

10 Begin Reading

11 Conclusion: How the Convention Reconstructed Itself After Thermidor

12 Chronology for the Years of the National Convention

13 Maps

14 Some Further Reading

15 Index

16 End User License Agreement

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