| The
country was embroiled in a foreign war.
The new government had declared war against the powerful Austria
and in the beginning it did not go well for France. Complicating
matters was the fact that counter-revolutionary Frenchmen
were working with Austria in the hopes of turning back the
revolution. In France people saw counter-revolutionaries under
every rock.
Georges-Jacques
Danton, a revolutionary leader and a powerful orator, rose
in the Assembly on September 2nd 1792 and boomed out these
memorable words in his deep bass voice: "When the tocsin
sounds, it will not be a signal of alarm, but the signal to
charge against the enemies of our country. . . To defeat them,
gentlemen, we need boldness, and again boldness, and always
boldness; and France will then be saved."
Danton
probably meant boldness in fighting the war against Austria.
But many took his words to refer to enemies within France.
The radical press took up the cry, "Let the blood of
the traitors flow," and within hours of Danton's speech
the streets of France did indeed run with blood. Many thought
the prisons held counter-revolutionaries and so mobs of citizens
invaded the prisons, held mock trials, and slaughtered many
of the inmates. Many of the inmates were clergymen who had
refused to swear the oath which they felt put the state over
the Pope. By September 7, over 1000 were dead.
Part
of Liberté,
Egalité, Fraternité: The French
Revolution
exhibit |
