#hanriot

[postcard-from-the-past]

Peruvian-born aviator Juan Bielovucic refilling his Hanriot monoplane in Angers, Anjou region of France

French vintage postcard

[nesiacha]

Robespierre mené au supplice by Pierre-Antoine Demachy , 1794.

For those saddened by the deaths of the Robespierre brothers, Philippe Le Bas, Couthon, Saint-Just, Hanriot ( I have to confess i'm so sad for Hanriot one of my top 10 of the frev), etc., remember that at least they died before witnessing the social aspects of the revolution being betrayed (or at least completely betrayed), unlike Goujon, Charles-Gilbert Romme, Gracchus Babeuf, etc. Or worse yet, seeing Napoleon put an end to the revolution (I think without a doubt that Augustin would have taken it very badly) with all the consequences that entails and a greater regression. You know, there is a quote that says happy are the revolutionaries who died before seeing all their ideals betrayed (remember the despair of Pierre- Germain Gateau, a friend of Saint-Just, who died in 1815 after seeing Louis XVIII return, surely the despair of the Jacobins under Napoleon who died in deportation signed by his order without any trial). When the executed of the 10th Thermidor died, they knew that France had been saved from foreign power and that it was necessary to remain vigilant to ensure that there was no military dictator or the return of the Bourbons. Revolutionaries like Prieur de la Marne saw both happen at the same time (imagine for him months, even years, of hard work with so many others, the efforts of a people ending up in such a situation). I’m not even talking about devoted revolutionaries like Louis Delgrès who learned that despite their devotion to the revolution and to France, they had no choice but to fight to regain their freedom ,dignity or die because of the reinstatement of slavery, or other black people who saw their rights taken away.

Another point that may comfort (or sadden) you is that despite their being outlawed, look at how many people came to their aid despite all the risks of helping them and ending up on the guillotine (which will happen, the number of guillotined will be frightening the day after the 10th Thermidor). This proves that loyalty cannot be bought and must be earned (I have already said this in one of my posts). Despite all their faults, it is clear that those condemned to death know how to inspire true loyalty. Moreover, they had scruples to the end concerning the legality of their actions. Compare this attitude to the deplorable attitude of the 18th Brumaire. After his lamentable behavior in Egypt to the point that Kleber had to clean up the fiasco of Bonaparte himself, Napoleon decided to take power for himself and conspired against the deputies of the Five Hundred with the complicity of some rather dubious characters. After being caught red-handed and deservedly outlawed (if you want my opinion), he immediately unleashed the army on the deputies who were expelled, and some were even arrested. Ultimately, when Bonaparte was really in trouble, not many people came to his aid. The difference in attitude between the Robespierre brothers, Philippe Le Bas, Couthon, Saint-Just (despite all their faults and things they have to reproach themselves for) and Bonaparte regarding the reason for being outlawed and how they reacted to it speaks volumes to me (even if some will say it is unfair that the first group mentioned went to the scaffold while Napoleon and Talleyrand, in particular, came to power).

These were just the reflections of an ordinary citizeness :)

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Contemporary descriptions of the Robespierrist execution compilation

(from description closest in time to the execution to the one furthest away)

Today, Monday afternoon, Robespierre and his 21 conspirators are taken to the Revolutionary Tribunal to have their condemnation confirmed, because, being outlaws, their trial is over. It is decreed that they will be put to death at Place Louis XV, today Place de la Révolution. They were taken there and passed along rue Saint-Honoré and everywhere they were insulted by the people, indignant at seeing how they had deceived them. And they had their heads cut off at 7 o'clock in the evening. In 24 hours it was done; they hardly expected to die so quickly, those who wanted to massacre 60 000 men in Paris. This is how God lets the scoundrels, at the moment of executing their projects, perish. Robespierre was the soul of the conspiracy with another villain, Couthon, who assisted him. It is said that he wanted to recognize himself as King in Lyon and in other departments and marry Capet's daughter. How can a private individual put such a project in his head? Ambitious villain, that's where your pride has led you. With him dying as leader of the conspiracy, everything falls with him. Journal de Célestin Guittard de Floriban, bourgeois de Paris, sous la Révolution, présenté et commenté par Raymond Aubert (1974) page 437-438. Cited in Comment Sortir de la Terreur - Thermidor et la Révolution. Diary entry July 28 1794.

It was around six o'clock in the evening that the tyrant and twenty-one of his principal accomplices left the Conciergerie to advance towards the scaffold. They were in three tumbrils: Hanriot, drunk, as usual, was beside Robespierre the younger; the tyrant was next to Dumas, the instrument of his fury; Saint-Just sat close to the mayor of Paris; Couthon was in the third tumbril. Hanriot and Robespierre the younger had their heads smashed and were covered in blood; Couthon had a bandeau; the tyrant had his whole head, except his face, bandaged, because he had received a pistol shot in the jaw. It is not given to a man to be more hideous and more cowardly: he was dull and downcast. Some compared him to a muzzled tiger, others to Cromwell's valet, for he no longer had the countenance of Cromwell himself. All those around him had, like him, lost their audacity. Their baseness added to the indignation against them. We remembered that, at least, the conspirators who preceded them had known how to die. They did not even have the strength to speak to each other, nor to address the slightest word to the people. The crowd was innumerable; the accents of joy, the applause, the cries of: A bas le tyran! Vive la République!, imprecations of all kinds resounded from all sides along the way. The people thus avenged themselves for the eulogies commanded by terror, or for the homage usurped by a long hypocrisy. It was about half past seven when the traitors arrived at the Place de la Revolution. Couthon was executed first; then Robespierre younger; the head of the tyrant was the penultimate, and that of Fleuriot Lescot the last. They were shown to the people, who made the air resound with long prolonged cries of Vive la Convention! Vive la République!” Suite de journal de Perlet number 675 (July 30 1794)

From 11 Thermidor — Yesterday, around half-past seven in the evening, the twenty-two conspirators arrived at the place of execution, Place de la Révolution, amid prolonged and unanimous cries of Vive la République! Robespierre the elder had his head wrapped in a bandage and bloodied from a pistol shot he had fired at himself when he saw himself abandoned by the traitors Hanriot had arranged for him. This one was also all scarred on the face and injured in the arms from the defense he had put up against the gendarmes responsible for arresting him. Only Lebas, former deputy, killed himself. The heads of Robespierre, Hanriot, Dumas and a few others were shown to the people, who, during the whole course of the journey of these infamous conspirators, from the Palais de Justice to the scaffold, bore witness to them in the most energetic of all its indignation and all its horror. Courrier républican, July 30 1794

It was the evening before last, at seven o'clock, that Maximilien Robespierre, his brother, Saint-Just, Couthon, Hanriot, Fleuriot, mayor, Payan, national agent, Dumas, Lavaleyte, Coffinhal, Bernard, Gobeau, Geney, Vivier, Simon, Laurent, Wouarmé, Forestier, Guérin, D'Hazard, Bourgon and Quenet, municipal, were executed. Lebas had killed himself. Never have we seen such a crowd of people as at this performance. Women, children, old people, all of Paris was there. Who could return the joy which burst on all faces? In all the streets through which the conspirators passed, in the whole extent of the Place de la Révolution, everywhere there was only a unanimous cry: Ah! the scoundrels! Vive la République! Vive la Convention! and all the hats were up in the air in satisfaction. Eyes were particularly fixed on Maximilien Robespierre, Couthon and Hanriot, whose heads were bloody from the wounds they had received at the time of their arrest. Annales de la République française, July 30 1794

The torment of a tyrant is truly a feast for the world. The French have made it a decade-long celebration, and the joy of yesterday proved how long and strong the oppression had been under which all souls, all hearts, all spirits had groaned. Yes, public joy developed yesterday in all its fullness and guarantees us freedom forever. Neither the punishment of Louis XVI, nor that of his wife and of all the traitors who have since suffered the fate of treason, nor any celebration, not even those of victories, had had so many spectators, had inspired a joy as felt, as universal, as expansive as the misery of Robespierre, Couthon, Saint-Just, etc. How horrible must the long passage from the Palais de Justice to the Place de la Révolution, in front of an immense people applauding, shouting incessantly: Vive la République! Perish the traitors and the hypocrites always speaking of virtue, and having crime in their hearts! have been for them (if they were still susceptible to any shame). If they had been able to see in the National Garden all the citizens returning from their torture, throwing themselves into each other's arms, embracing each other, congratulating each other on finally being delivered from an odious yoke, crying out , repeating everywhere: ”Finally, we are free, we will no longer poison our thoughts, our intentions; our mistakes will no longer be turned into crimes; the interior of our households will at least be a safe haven against the espionage of denunciation; sweet intimacy, brotherhood, friendship and their consoling charms will be returned to us; the tyrant is no more!” If they could have seen all this, I say, they would have shuddered with rage at having so grossly deceived themselves by counting on a perished people to serve their projects of domination and subjugation. Journal des hommes libres de tous les pays, July 31 1794.

Robespierre and his principal accomplices had been arrested towards the middle of the night between 9th and 10th Thermidor. They were handed over to the executioners on the morning of the 10th. The procession left the Palace of Justice, and set off about five o'clock in the evening. Never had one seen, on the passage of the tortured, such an influx of people. The streets were clogged. Spectators of all ages and sexes filled the windows; men were seen climbing up to the tops of the houses. Joy was universal. It manifested itself with a kind of fury. The more the hatred felt for these scoundrels was suppressed, the louder the explosion. Everyone saw in them his enemies. Everyone applauded drunkenly, and seemed to regret not being able to applaud more. One thanked Heaven, one blessed the Convention. The horsemen who escorted the patients shared the universal joy; one even saw, in this meeting, what one had never seen before: these horsemen waved their sabers in sign of joy, and accompanied this movement with the cry: Vive la Convention! Eyes were especially attached to the cart which carried the two Robespierres, Couthon and Hanriot. These poor things, mutilated and covered with blood, resembled bandits whom gendarmes had surprised in a wood, and could therefore only seize by wounding them. Robespierre, extraordinarily pale, and covered with the same coat he wore on the day when he had dared to proclaim, at the Champ de Mars, the existence of the Supreme Being, lowered his eyes, and leaned his head, which looked horribly deformed by the dirty, bloody linen that enveloped him, on his chest. Hanriot, having no clothing but a shirt and a waistcoat, was covered with mire and blood. His hair, his bloody hands, the eye which was only held together by filaments, formed a picture so disgusting and so appalling, that one didn’t dare to stare at him for a long time. “Here he is, here he is,” said the people, “as he was when he left St-Firmin, after having cut the throats of the priests there!” Robespierre the younger and Couthon were likewise disfigured by bruises, and covered with blood. The horrible deformity with which all these unfortunates presented themselves to the eyes of their fellow citizens at the last moment of their lives, appeared to even the least religious man a chastisement from heaven. Men, in fact, who after having bathed in blood, were completely defiled by descending to the tomb, testified in a striking manner that divine justice exercised its terrible vengeance on them, and wished to inspire great horror in their assassinations. The procession having arrived in front of the house where Robespierre was staying, the people compelled the executioners to stop. They obeyed. A group of women then performed a dance in front of the cart carrying Robespierre. When the patients had reached the middle of the former royal street which leads to the execution, a woman of middle age, neatly dressed, and showing by her manners and her countenance an education above the common, sprung from the crowd , seized with one hand the bars of the cart where Robespierre was, and threatened him with the other, and cried to him: "Monster spewed up from hell, your supplication intoxicates me with joy. I have only one regret, you don't have a thousand lives to enjoy the pleasure of seeing them all snatched one after the other. Go away, scoundrel; descend to the tomb with the curses of all the wives, of all the mothers!” Robespierre had without a doubt deprived this woman of a husband or son. He looked languidly at her, and without saying a word, shrugged. On the scaffold, Robespierre had a new suffering to endure. The executioner, before stretching him out on the board where he was going to receive death, abruptly tore from him the bandage placed on his wounds. The lower jaw was thus detached from the upper jaw, causing waves of blood to flow, which made the head of this unfortunate man a monstrous object. When this head had been cut off, it presented the most horrible picture that one can paint. Hanriot had to suffer a no less painful torture: one of the executioner's servants, before he mounted the scaffold, brutally tore out his eye where he had been wounded. Each falling head excited loud applause. The number of those executed that day was twenty-two. Histoire de la conjuration de Maximilien Robespierre (1795) page 221-225. The descriptor, Galart de Montjoie, was 48 years old by the time of the execution. According to wikipedia, he was forced to go into hiding in Bièvres in April 1793 due to writing royalist pamplets. This means he might not have actually been an eye witness during thermidor.

At four o'clock in the evening the sinister procession left the courtyard of the palace. Never have we seen such an affluence of people. The streets were clogged. Spectators of all ages and sexes filled the windows; men were seen climbing up to the tops of the houses. Joy was universal. It manifested itself with a kind of fury. The more the hatred felt for these scoundrels was suppressed, the louder the explosion. Everyone saw in them his enemies. Everyone applauded drunkenly, and seemed to regret not being able to applaud more. Eyes were especially attached to the cart which carried the two Robespierres, Couthon and Hanriot. These poor things, mutilated and covered with blood, resembled bandits whom gendarmes had surprised in a wood, and could therefore only seize by wounding them. It was noticed that Robespierre had, in going to scaffold, the same tailcoat as he had had on the day when he had proclaimed the existence of the Supreme Being at the Champ de Mars. It is difficult to paint his appearance. Nothing recalled the idea of ​​the supreme power which he exercised twenty-four hours earlier. He was no longer the tyrant of the Jacobins, nor the insolent ruler of the Convention; he was a wretch, whose face was half covered by a dirty and bloody linen. What one perceived of his features was horribly disfigured. A livid paleness completed his frightful appearance. Whether he was overwhelmed by the pains caused by his wounds, or whether his soul was disheartened by the remorse caused by the memory of his crimes, he affected to have his eyes lowered and almost closed. It was in this condition that he crossed the streets and Rue Saint-Honoré. Arriving in the middle of the former royal street, he was pulled from the lethargy in which he was by a circumstance which deserves to be preserved by history. A woman was waiting for him in this place. She was neatly dressed and of middle age. Seeing the tumbrel carrying Robespierre, she pushed through the crowd and seized the bars of the tumbrel with one of her hands. The countenance and expression of this woman announced that she had received the best education. Attached to the tumbrel by one of her hands and shaking Robespierre with the other, she cried out to him: "Monster spewed up from hell, your supplication intoxicates me with joy." At these words, Robespierre half opened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “Abominable monster,” continued this woman, ”I have only one regret, you don't have a thousand lives to enjoy the pleasure of seeing them all snatched one after the other. ” This new apostrophe seemed to importune Robespierre; but he did not open his eyes. Then the brave woman said to him as she left him near the scaffold: ”Go away, scoundrel; descend to the tomb with the curses of all the wives, of all the mothers!” It has been presumed that Robespierre saw this woman deprived of a husband or a son. Her painful accents must have penetrated his soul. This moral torture was no doubt very weak to expiate crimes as enormous as those of which Robespierre had been guilty; but it was at least a satisfaction for sensitive souls to learn that this monster had experienced it, and that it had been able to increase the horror of the too severe torture which he had to undergo. When the tumbril arrived at the foot of the scaffold, the executioner’s assistants lifted down the tyrant and laid him on the ground until it was his turn to meet death. One observed that during the time his accomplices were being executed, he didn’t show any sign of sensibility. His eyes were constantly closed, and he didn’t reopen them until he felt himself transported to the scaffold. They say that in perceiving the fatal instrument he uttered a painful sigh, but before receiving death, he had a cruel suffering to endure. After having thrown away his tailcoat, which was crossed over his shoulders, the executioner teared off the bandage that the surgeon had put on his wounds. The lower jaw was thus detached from the upper jaw, causing waves of blood to flow, the head of this poor thing wasn’t more than a monstrous and disgusting object. Once this appalling head had been cut off, and the executioner took it by the hair to show it to the people, it was the most horrible image one can imagiene. Les Crimes de Robespierre et de ses principeax complices (1797) page 121-126. The descriptor, Nicolas Toussaint Le Moyne Des Essarts (1744-1810), was 49 by the time of the execution. This is clearly a variation of Montjoie’s account to some extent.

Where shall I find the true colors with which to paint a picture of the public happiness that existed in the midst of this terrible spectacle, to describe the explosion of burning joy that spread and resounded as far as the scaffold itself? His name, accompanied by curses, is in every mouth; they no longer called him the Incorruptible, the virtuous Robespierre, the mask has fallen away. They execrate him, they blame him for every crime of both committees, they surge forward from the shops, boutiques, and windows. Rooftops are covered with people, thronged by a huge mob of spectators drawn from every class of society, all with only one desire, to see his death. Instead of sitting on a dictator’s throne, he is half-sitting, half-lying in the tumbrel that also holds his accomplices, Couthon and Hanriot. The noise and tumult that accompanies him is composed of a thousand cries and mutual congratulation. His head is enveloped in dirty bloodstained bandages; only half of his pale, ferocious face is visible. His mutilated, disfigured companions look less like animals than wild beasts caught in a trap. Even the burning sun cannot deter the women from exposing the lilies and roses of their delicate cheeks to its rays; they want to see the executioner of these citizens… On the scaffold, the executioner, as if spurred by the public’s hatred, roughly tears away the bandage covering his wounds; he roars like a tiger; his lower jaw snaps off from the upper jaw and blood spurts out, changing this human head into the head of a monster, the most horrible sight imaginable. His two companions, no less hideous in their torn, bloodstained clothing, were the acolytes of this famous criminal, for whose suffering no one can summon a vestige of pity… The crowd surged forward, so as not to miss witnessing the exact second when his head would go beneath the blade, that blade to which he himself had sent so many others. The applause lasted for more than fifteen minutes. 22 heads fell with his.” Le nouveau Paris (1797) volume 6 page 101-104. The descriptor, Louis-Sébastin Mercier (1740-1814) was 54 by the time of the execution. Note that he was actually in prison during Thermidor, and thus cannot really be considered an eye witness.

Taken to the Conciergerie, and a few hours later brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, which was only to establish his identity, he (Saint-Just) was sent to the scaffold on the evening of 10 Thermidor (July 28, 1794). He marched to the execution with calm and firmness, casting his gaze disdainfully over the immense crowd which served as his escort, and seeming entirely insensitive to the vociferations of the multitude, as well as to the insults heaped upon him by some men who, a few days before, were his accomplices or the servile instruments of his crimes. When his guilty head fell on the scaffold, which he himself had so long watered with innocent blood, Saint-Just was still only 26 and a half years old. Biographie nouvelle des contemporains (1827) volume 18 page 558. The descriptor, Antoine Vincent Arnault, was 28 by the time of the execution.

The pen can only give an imperfect idea of ​​what passed around this poor thing, from the tribunal, where his identity was ascertained, to the place where he satisfied the national vindictiveness. On this road, still deserted the day before when the condemned men passed by, everywhere he met the crowd who, to see him, crowded under the wheels of the tumbrel, slowing down its progress. There wasn’t a look that didn't strike him down, a mouth that didn't insult him, a fist that didn't rise to threaten him. The tongues, so long chained, were loosed; hatred had broken the silence which terror had commanded for twenty months; and as each had only a short time to satisfy such long resentments, each hastened to expectorate the curses heaped up for so long in his heart. Terrifying concert! We had never seen the example of such unanimity: no voice rose to pity him; no face expressed compassion; and yet he was in a pitiful state! A pistol shot had shattered his head, leaving him only enough life to suffer, to feel the pain of his wound and the terror of his inevitable fate. Isolated in the midst of his party, he did not even have the friends that crime gives. Struck with the same blow as he, his accomplices had no more pity for him than he had pity for them. As ferocious as everyone else, I ran to the place of execution, less, however, to feast my eyes on the sufferings of this monster than to convince myself with my eyes of the death of the one whose life threatened that of anything that had life. I ran there to seek certainty that he had not escaped like the day before. I found it. A cry which the pain wrung from him, when the device which covered his wound was removed, broke for the first and the last time the silence which he had kept for twenty-four hours; and at the same moment, from the same place where I had seen Danton disappear, I saw Robespierre disappear. That day did not stop the shedding of blood, but from that day, at least, innocent blood ceased to flow. Before Robespierre's head, several heads had fallen, and among others those of the proud Saint-Just, the sweet Couthon, the ignoble Henriot, and also that of Robespierre the younger, who, accomplice in his revolt, had not been of his tyranny. Public exasperation was so great on this day of revenge, that so generous a devotion, however odious its object, did not even obtain pity. No circumstance, no incident, moreover, gave the execution of Robespierre a character different from that which it was to have had. Danton is ennobled in his last moments; Danton mounted as a hero the horrible trestles to which crime had led him; his courage turned it into a theatre. There was only a scaffold for Robespierre. The universal feeling about the end of this forever execrable man is quite well expressed in this naive epitaph: “Passerby, do not mourn my fate; If I lived, you would be dead.” Souvernirs d’un sexagénarie (1833) volume 2 page 105-108. The descriptor, Antoine Vincent Arnault, was 28 by the time of the execution.

”During the fatal journey, Robespierre’s head was wrapped in a bloody linen, so that you could see only half of his pale and livid face. The horsemen of the escort showed him with the points of their sabers to people eager to see him in this horrible state. When he had arrived at the scaffold, the executioners ripped of the bandage that supported his lower jaw, and snatched from him, with the deepest pain, the only cry that he had uttered during his long agony. This man, that his enemies without cease had represented as shy and even heartless, retained his firmness until the last moment, and fell under the blade without having given the slightest sign of terror. Saint-Just, whom Robespierre draggad with him in his downfall, died with his full constance. None of the outlaws showed weakness. With each cut of the blade, the applause testified the ferocious joy of the spectators, since long too accustumed to eagerly contemplate scenes of carnage. Maximilien Robespierre was 35, Saint-Just 26, Robespierre the younger the same age.” Historie complète de la Révolution française (1834) volume 5 page 325-326. The descriptor, Pierre-François Tissot (1768-1854), was 26 years old by the time of the execution.

The scaffold had been erected in the Place de la Révolution. An immense crowd covered the streets where the procession was to pass, as well as the place of execution. Among Robespierre's enemies, who followed the cart in which he was dragged, and who overwhelmed him with insults and imprecations, Carrier distinguished himself by this continual and furious cry: Death to the tyrant! Robespierre and those who shared his destiny showed perfect impassivity. When he had ascended the steps of the scaffold, the executioner violently tore from him the apparatus which covered his wounds, and delivered him up for a time, pale, disfigured and bleeding, to the gaze of the multitude. 21 of his supporters were guillotined that day with him. We give their names in the lists of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Portrait de Robespierre by anonymous, cited in Histoire Parlamentaire de la Révolution Française (1834-1838) volume 34 page 96-97

I can never forget the day of his execution. The crowd that lined the streets he passed through was immense, and the shouts of joy and vengeance were deafening. I could not make my way to witness his last moments; but it is said to have been a most horrid sight. The executioner tore off the dressings of his fractured jawbone with such brutal violence, that his roar of agony, like that of a wounded lion, or rather tiger, was heard at an incredible distance. Recollections of Republican France 1790 to 1801 (1848) page 317. The descriptor, J.G Millingen, was twelve years old by the time of the execution.

I saw the carts containing the doomed men with their escort proceed on their way through the Rue Saint-Honoré to go to Place de la Révolution. The immense throng obstructed the streets and was an obstacle to the rapid progress of the procession, but the prevailing feeling was not only that of unanimous rejoicing, but of deliverance, and yet this feeling did not venture to break out in words and escape from the hearts so long oppressed until it had become a recorded fact that the ”head of Robespierre had really fallen on the Place de la Révolution.” The baskets of the executioner were then carries away to the cemetery of the Madeleine, and interred in the place designated as the tombe capétienne.  Memoirs of Barras, member of the directorate (1895) volume 1 page 235

[thephantomofthelibrary]

28 July 1794 (10 Thermidor Year II)

Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Saint-Just, Couthon, Hanriot and others are guillotined. More were to follow after them. Robespierre had shattered his jaw with a pistol shot in an attempted suicide the day before just before he was arrested. All were guillotined without trial. Couthon was paralysed from the waist down, his execution was the longest as it took the executioner a long time to place his body correctly on the board due to his condition. 

[rbzpr]

Hanriot’s letter to the adjutant general of the 6th legion (9 Thermidor, Year II)

The general council of the commune just decreed, citizen, that the commandant-general of the armed force will lead the people against the conspirators who oppress the patriots, and will deliver the Convention from the oppression of the counter-revolutionaries. You will exercise utmost care in order to put said decree into action.

Consequently, there will be a reserve of two hundred men ready to march at the command of the magistrates of the people.

General Hanriot.

Source: Ordre manuscrit signé de Hanriot, général de la garde nationale, en date du 9 thermidor an II [27 juillet 1794], donné à l'adjudant général de la 6e légion de délivrer la Convention.

[nesiacha]

you mentioned that carnot went behind the others' backs to wage a war of conquest, would you mind talking about that a little more? i don't know that much about carnot and his war opinions but i would like to! thank you for your excellent posts :)

Before discussing Carnot's actions during wartime, it's essential to understand his political journey, as it inherently shapes his conduct during conflicts. He exhibits a true weathercock attitude, common among politicians of his era (and persisting today), although not as extreme as someone like Fouché.

Initially allied with the Girondins on war-related issues, he maintained this stance while also voting for the King's death, similar to the Montagnards, and advocating for progressive taxation. Personally, I view his alliance with the Montagnards as opportunism that persisted throughout his life, unlike Couthon, whose allegiance to the Mountain seemed more genuine, but this is solely my perspective. His ideas of war of conquest to better pillage, they will be constant throughout his life.

Later on, Carnot found himself at odds with Saint-Just, particularly regarding wartime strategy. Contrary to popular belief, Carnot could be more decisive than Saint-Just in matters of punishment even if Saint Just established army discipline with others.

While Carnot did a decent job in terms of armament, the ideas of Saint-Just and others significantly contributed to improving the army and securing victories. Saint-Just's encouragement of fraternity among soldiers, requisitioning shoes from aristocrats to distribute to barefoot soldiers who fought without shoes, and his equal treatment of generals and soldiers, instauring fraternity , and the courage to put himself in the front on the front line which earned him admiration including his enemies like Marc Antoine Baudot, boosted troop morale.

Moreover, there was a replacement of generals genuinely motivated to ensure the army's victory because some generals with affiliations to royalists, aristocratic backgrounds, or little sympathy for the Republic lacked the commitment to save France. Carnot failed to address these issues, despite opportunities.

One might argue that Carnot's physical presence in Paris to coordinate operations was necessary, but his interference with specialists on the ground hindered progress.

Regarding the question of Fleurus, a significant victory for the French Republic, Carnot's actions trouble me deeply. He demanded a reduction in Jourdan's army by 18,000 men, issuing the order behind Saint-Just's back, with plans for these troops to serve under General Pichegru and plunder Rhin. Saint-Just intercepted and canceled the order, preventing a potential defeat at Fleurus. These actions occurred without the knowledge of his colleagues deputies who advocated for French armies to remain within natural borders.

To support my claims, here is an excerpt from Saint-Just's last speech:

"In the absence of this member, a military expedition, which will be judged later because it cannot yet be made known, but which I consider insane given the prevailing circumstances, was conceived. Orders were given to draw, without informing me or my colleagues, 18,000 men from the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse for this expedition. I was not informed, why? If this order, given on the 1st of Messidor, had been executed, the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse would have been forced to leave Charleroi, perhaps to withdraw under Philippeville and Givet, and to abandon Avesnes and Maubeuge. Shall I add that this army had become the most important?

The enemy had brought all its forces against it, leaving it without powder, cannons, or bread. Soldiers died of hunger there while kissing their rifles. An agent, whom my colleagues and I sent to the Committee to request ammunition, was not received, which would have flattered me had he been, and I owe this praise to Prieur, who seemed sensitive to our needs. Victory was necessary, and we achieved it.

The Battle of Fleurus contributed to opening up Belgium. I desire justice to be done to everyone and victories to be honored, but not in a manner that honors the government more than the armies, for only those who are in battles win them, and only those who are powerful benefit from them. Victories should therefore be praised, and oneself forgotten'".

Strangely, whereas Saint-Just spares Billaud-Varennes even if he critize him, Carnot is rightly put back in his place for his actions. He should have been at least fired to the moment when he make order on the back of his colleagues for this such action . In these period generals could have been executed for less than that. General Hanriot ( mistreated by history too), who effectively contained Parisian excesses through persuasion and not repression ( indication of good competence) , opposed Carnot's plan to strip Paris of his gunners, indicating Carnot's interference in matters beyond his expertise. I admit it was a free tackle against Carnot that one.

Skipping over the events of the Thermidorians, Carnot's adept political maneuvering aligns him once again with the right and its wars of conquest were able to continue being free from any important opponent in this matter during the period of Directoire. He becomes one of the five directors, earning the nickname "Organizer of Victory." However, this title is both pompous and false, as Carnot's contributions were not singular. He carried out violent repression against the Babouvists and accepted Napoleon's pardon, serving as Minister of War under the Consulate, despite his opposition to the creation of Napoleon's empire and was marginalized for it within the government. During the Hundred Days, Carnot's weathercock attitude contrasts with Prieur's steadfastness, ultimately resulting in his exile without ever returning to France because of the statut of regicide ( too bad that the punishment was the same for Prieur de la Marne). Why am I more indulgent to Prieur de la Marne than Carnot?

I mean that Prieur opposed Napoleon and his coup d'état on 18 Brumaire to the point of being dismissed immediately. It seems that he mainly adhered to the hundred days of Napoleon for fear of a new restoration of the Bourbons. Carnot accepted the title of Minister of the Interior and was made a count. Big difference for me.

In conclusion, Carnot's conquest wars cost France dearly, morally and pragmatically, potentially favoring the emergence of a military dictator, the end of the French Revolution and facilitating the restoration of the Bourbons. It's regrettable that he didn't heed his colleagues' advice on this matter. This is solely my opinion, and I apologize to Carnot's admirers ( once again it's okay to contradict me) . All information provided is drawn from sources like Albert Ollivier, Soboul, etc. You can explore revolutionary portraits on the Veni Vidi Sensi website for further insights.

P.S.: Thank you for the compliment on my posts; I strive to offer the best insights drawn from historians and contemporaries.

[thephantomofthelibrary]

27 July 1794 (9 Thermidor Year II)

The Coup of Thermidor

Robespierre attempts to speak at the convention but was shouted down. The Convention voted for the arrest of Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just and Hanriot the commander of the Paris National Guard. They were taken to prisons controlled by the commune in which they were still popular. They were protected by the Commune which sent out an order for all jailers in Paris to refuse the prisoners and called for insurrection in their support. Robespierre and the others took refuge in the Hotel de Ville. Some armed supporters came to protect them, however, Robespierre had little faith in a popular rising. The Convention had Robespierre, Saint-Just and the others proclaimed outlaws. When they came to arrest them again Couthon (who was paralysed from the waist down) was found at the bottom of the stairs, Augustin had jumped out of the window in an attempt to escape but broke his legs and Robespierre had shot himself in the jaw in an attempted suicide. Saint-Just made no attempt to at suicide or to hide. Hariot was found hiding in the Hotel de Ville yard. 

The next day they were guillotined with many of their supports to followed. It marked the end of the Reign of Terror. However, the White Terror was soon to begin. 

[postcard-from-the-past]

Hanriot monoplane on a vintage postcard