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The storming of the Tuileries led rapidly to the
overthrow of the monarchy. Louis was suspended from office and he and his family
were imprisoned. The Convention, a new sort of Assembly, was set up, and became
the country's new government. On the 21st September, 1792, France was declared a
republic. Two months later, the sans-culottes
put Louis on trial for high treason. He was found guilty: sentenced to death. A
month later he was beheaded in public. It was the 21st January
1793.
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The
War Continues Louis' fellow
monarchs, along with millions of other people all over Europe, were
outraged and shocked at the execution. One by one, the monarchs of Europe
joined forces with Austria and Prussia. They became the coalition. Their
objective: to destroy the new French Republic. But a few more monarchs
were not going to stop these violent revolutionaries! More war-like than
ever before, they vowed to fight the "tyrants", (their name for
all kings), and spread the revolution across the rest of Europe. The
French didn't wait for the coalition to attack them. They attacked first,
declaring war on Britain, Holland and Spain, as well as continuing the war
against Austria and Prussia. But now France was at war with most of
Europe, and they immediately buckled under the strain. France looked on
the brink of defeat. Inflation The
new government faced more difficulties that just the war. Food prices were
rising rapidly. Bank notes were being printed to pay for the war, but the
more notes printed, the less each note was worth. The country was
suffering badly from inflation. By February 1793, a bank note was only
worth half of what was printed on it. Bread was expensive, and scarce
because farmers did not want to sell their crop for half the money it was
worth. The hungry Sans-Culottes raided shops for the food that they could
not afford to buy. More
Problems The
War was not going well. The government needed more men to fight in the
armies. An extra 300 000 men were ordered into battle. This order did not
go down well with many peasants. Thousands revolted against the
government. In Paris, this, and the war, led to conflict. Two different
groups within the Convention, the Girondins and the Jacobins, disagreed
with each other, and the Jacobins blamed the Girondins for France's
defeats on the battlefield and for rising food prices. The Jacobins were
supported by the Sans-Culottes, who, on the 2nd June, broke into the
Convention and expelled the leading Girondins. This last action
caused yet more revolts in the provinces which supported the
Girondins, and by August 1793, more than two-thirds of France had joined
the rebellion against the government. What the government did in response
to this was what is now known as the "Reign of Terror."
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