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After the Battle of Valmy, in September 1792, the National Convention officially abolishes the monarchy. Along with the majority of deputies, Robespierre, Danton and Marat vote for the death of King Louis XVI. The news of his execution echoes throughout Europe. A revolutionary tribunal is set up and becomes the driver of the Reign of Terror. The Revolution would gradually crush all its heroes. Robespierre and many others end up on the gallows. By July 1794, the political life returns to normal.
A film by Hugues Nancy
A film by Hugues Nancy
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00:04Spring 1792, in the Saint-Marcel district of Paris,
00:08life seems for an instant more important
00:11than the political events
00:12that have been shaking the country violently since 1789.
00:19On Agdenaz and Gabrielle's wedding day,
00:21we want to believe in a better tomorrow.
00:24Pride and true!
00:26I would like it if you would block your ears.
00:30To the roar of discord.
00:32And if you'd open your eyes before this young man
00:34and this woman who have just joined together before us.
00:37Agdenaz Lamoureux and Gabrielle Pesloche.
00:39Bravo!
00:40Wonderful!
00:41But in reality, the course of the French Revolution has just changed.
00:46Come and look, the soldiers are marching out.
00:48The French are about to experience both the miracle of democracy
00:51and one of the bloodiest periods in their history.
01:13The French Revolution has also brought the French Revolution.
01:13That has only lost but like this.
01:13I also wish for the British Revolution
01:13Espition so many opponents
01:13will gain of course not to be captured.
01:14theatres fromوفy College
01:14Mm-hm.
01:29So in Matthew Teoh
01:48April 1792, France has just embarked on a war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire
01:53that will last many years.
01:59Louis XVI has pushed to have France declare war on Francis II of Austria, nephew of Queen
02:06Marie Antoinette.
02:08In actual fact, the king hopes that revolutionary France will be beaten, and his power as absolute
02:14monarch of the country restored.
02:20Deputies are aware of the king's double-dealing, but in a calculation that would prove devastating,
02:25the members of Parliament still vote for war, naively convinced that a victory against
02:31Austria and Prussia would strengthen the revolution.
02:37The country is suddenly frozen by fear.
02:43Only Jean-Jean, a carefree youth, dreams of heroism.
02:49Gabriel's son is a child of this revolution that he can only imagine winning.
02:54Hey, look at Ferdinand.
02:56You know he's got five kids, Ferdinand?
02:58Hey, look at what they gave me.
02:59You like it?
03:00Yeah.
03:00You want me to put it on?
03:01Mm-hmm.
03:06They're leaving now.
03:16Right from the first weeks of combat, hopes of victory are dashed and replaced by panic.
03:24The French army racks up defeats, destabilized by the exile of officers from the aristocracy.
03:32The Prussian armies cross borders and advance on Lille and soon Paris.
03:42In these troubled hours, the cartoonists have a field day, producing scores of humiliating
03:48caricatures of the king and queen.
03:51In this spring of 1792, mistrust of the king would reach a startling level that could only
03:57lead to further insurrection.
04:04The first warning shot comes on June 20th, 1792, when the sections from Saint Antoine and Saint
04:11Marcel band together to peacefully invade the National Assembly, convening in the Tuileries
04:17Palace.
04:19The 20th of June will always be one of the greatest memories ever.
04:24With the folks from Faubourg-Saint Antoine, we invaded the Salle du Manège.
04:28There were the assembly seats.
04:29Yes.
04:30It was a real farando, like with drums, and we issued an ultimatum, an ultimatum to these
04:37deputies who chickened out.
04:38What we wanted was very clear.
04:41We just demanded the destitution of the king, who was a traitor, to allow into the National
04:46Guard those citizens they call passive, in their jargon, and the election of a convention
04:51that would replace the assembly of fools.
04:53But the deputies didn't care what we wanted, of course.
04:56So then we just occupied the palace.
04:58We even forced Louis to wear a liberty cap.
05:01We put a good scare into all those cowards who sent us to war to die.
05:08Once inside the palace, the protesters get the better of the soldiers and manage to reach
05:13the king.
05:16Louis XVI, manhandled, is forced to wear the Phrygian cap, new symbol of the revolution.
05:23Inspired by ancient Rome, it was used to denote emancipated slaves.
05:31That day in the salons of the Palais Royal, a new character arrives on the Parisian political
05:37scene, the sans-culottes.
05:39This activist from the sections, craftsman or shopkeeper, who wears pants instead of the
05:44britches of the nobility.
05:46Red cap jammed firmly on his head and weapon in hand, he's a real character who has just
05:52for the first time stolen a march on his king.
05:58But on June 20th, 1792, Louis XVI still doesn't realize that this violent intrusion is just
06:06a warning.
06:07Many are keen to see the revolution continue, like the journalist Jean-Paul Marat.
06:15Those who might call the century's luckiest, all those that live so easily off the public
06:20teeth, citizens who are timid, there is only one thing they're afraid of, riots by the populace.
06:26Since they will disrupt the order of things, riots will menace their privileges.
06:31Therefore, they would like the people to be pretty unconscious of their misery.
06:37But faced with tyranny, the people always revolt.
06:43Several weeks later, in July 1792, the tension in Paris is at its height.
06:49The homeland is in danger, proclaims the National Assembly.
06:53And thousands of volunteers flock to sign up and defend their country.
06:58To save Paris, the Assembly must appeal to volunteers from every province of the kingdom.
07:05Volunteers who barely arrived in the capital add to the confusion, especially those from Marseille.
07:16The Marseillais are all the more impressive as they now march to a patriotic song composed by a young officer,
07:23Bruget de Lille.
07:25That summer of 1792, this war song for the army of the Rhine becomes the song of the Marseillaise.
07:33Arise, children of the homeland, the day of glory has arrived.
07:37Against us, tyranny's bloody standard is raised.
07:41To arm citizens, form your battalions.
07:45Proclaims a text that becomes a revolutionary hymn sung all over the country known as the La Marseillaise.
07:54And in these times of high tension, it takes but a glimmer to ignite the Parisian sections.
08:03It's a manifesto, signed by the Duke of Brunswick, that sparks things off on August the 3rd.
08:09The head of the Prussian armies threatens the French with the total destruction of Paris,
08:14should Louis XVI come to harm.
08:18Such blackmail is seen in the sections as proof positive of the king's treachery.
08:23We've got no rifles there.
08:24Don't worry, us washerwomen will be going too.
08:27I don't know, friend, but I'm afraid...
08:29Listen, if all of us go, we can do it.
08:3147 of 48 sections immediately vote for a motion demanding that Louis XVI be deposed.
08:38We have to go!
08:39But turning word into deed proves hard.
08:43Who takes up arms against his king?
08:48It's not in our interest to add to the anarchy around us.
08:51I would ask you all to keep your calm.
08:57I'm from the 1520.
08:59Ah, all right.
09:01I represent the 1520.
09:03I'm here to tell you we voted for insurrection.
09:05In the Gobelin section, which takes in volunteers from Brittany, leader Jus Coupigny has a decision to make as the
09:13Faubourg Saint Antoine section, the 1520, has decided to walk through the Tuileries.
09:18As the leader of our district, we do understand your decision.
09:23But the battalion will stay in its district.
09:25No! How dare you!
09:27Hold on a minute.
09:28As the captain of the battalion, I inform you that the men want to go to the Tuileries.
09:34That's right!
09:35Hurry!
09:36Wait, just a second.
09:37Since when does a captain decide for the section?
09:40What's the importance when our homeland's in danger and the king is a traitor?
09:43Huh?
09:44The section voted his ouster.
09:45Yeah!
09:46Now it's time to do what we said!
09:48Yeah!
09:50We're with him!
09:52Come on!
09:53Leave me for us!
09:55Let's fight!
09:57You're not making sense.
09:59You'll all be killed.
10:01Are you threatening us?
10:03Of course I'm not threatening.
10:05You'll be massacred by the king's soldiers.
10:08And remember that the Prussians promised to leave no wall standing in Paris if something happened to our monarch.
10:14Down, Coupigny!
10:15Down, Coupigny!
10:16Please!
10:17Quiet, please!
10:18Quiet, please!
10:19Quiet, please!
10:20After all, citizen Coupigny is not completely wrong.
10:23We could very well be massacred.
10:27Thank you, citizen.
10:28But I'm afraid we're not nearly strong enough.
10:31We've got to cross the Seine and the bridges are well guarded.
10:34This is suicide!
10:36This will end like at the Chambre de Marse.
10:38Hold on there!
10:39Just listen.
10:40I've been at the section of the Theatre of France.
10:42They've just got an estimate comparing the forces established by the Commune of Paris.
10:46If all the sections and all the provincials march as one, the king's soldiers won't be able to resist.
10:50It's a unique opportunity for us.
10:53If we beat them, they won't be able to refuse us the right to vote.
10:56The Commune will pass suffrage for all.
10:59All across the city, they're organising for an insurrection.
11:02Well, I say the Goblin must take part in it.
11:10Let's move out!
11:12Give us liberty or give us death!
11:16In a few days, a secret committee that aims to seize power in the city is set up between the
11:23Parisian sections.
11:25And at daybreak, on August 10th, 1792, the Liberty Bell rings.
11:33Early that morning, at the Hotel de Ville, Paris City Hall, the Paris Commune established in 1789 is overthrown.
11:42It is replaced by an insurrectionary commune headed by section delegates.
11:46Thousands of sans-culottes and Marseillais and Breton volunteers flock to the royal palace.
11:57The palace of the king was guarded by the Swiss, as we call them.
12:01At the beginning they were friendly with us, but that was quickly replaced by lead.
12:05It came from all sides.
12:06While the Swiss guards try to avoid confrontation, the nobles, who have decided to defend the king to the bitter
12:13end, open fire from the roofs and windows, mowing down dozens of demonstrators.
12:19An extremely violent clash has begun.
12:26There were too many men from Marseille and Brittany down, plus all our comrades of the sections, so obviously our
12:32guys wanted revenge.
12:33They pursued the Swiss one by one through the palace.
12:36Vengeance!
12:37That's what you heard.
12:39They were all massacred.
12:46When the shooting starts, the king and his family take refuge in the grounds of the National Assembly.
12:53And when the sans-culottes invade the Salle du Ménage, Louis XVI realizes the game is up.
13:03The power is the king's no more.
13:06It's the people's.
13:08It's ours.
13:09August 10th, 1792.
13:12The victory of the insurrectionary Paris Commune is total.
13:16Article 1.
13:18The French people are invited to form a national convention.
13:21Long live the Commune!
13:23Long live the Commune!
13:26Article 2.
13:28The king is temporarily suspended from his functions until the convention has the chance to pronounce its measures it considers
13:38fit for adoption.
13:39Long live the Commune! Long live the Commune!
13:42Article 3.
13:43The assembly declares that in the future, and for the upcoming convention, every citizen aged 25 or older and able
13:51to live from his work's wages will have the right to vote in all equality and to take part in
13:57primaries.
14:00Not only is the king relieved of his duties, but the National Assembly is dissolved to be replaced by a
14:08national convention elected by universal male suffrage, as demanded by the Paris sections.
14:15The Paris Commune, new political player on the scene, demands and obtains custody of Louis XVI.
14:24On August 13th, the king and his family are transferred to the temple prison, where they must await their fate.
14:34A few days later, during an impressive ceremony in front of the Tuileries Palace, the people of Paris celebrate their
14:41victory by honoring the hundreds of victims of that day, August 10th.
14:50But in a pattern engraved since 1789, defeat always follows victory, and fear follows hope, when on September 2nd, 1792,
15:01the city of Verdun falls to the Austrians, who are closing dangerously on Paris.
15:08Suddenly, irrational anxiety grips the sans-culottes.
15:12They worried that the nobles and refractory priests in the capital's prisons could ally themselves with the Austrians.
15:19The People's Tribunal accuses you of conspiring against the revolution, and to be exploited the troubles caused by foreign powers
15:26to sow discord in our homeland.
15:30You're a traitor to your nation!
15:32In Saint-Firman, as in every Paris prison, justice is summary, improvised.
15:37You're the vermin!
15:39You idiots!
15:41The armies of Europe will massacre you!
15:45I prefer walking in the other life, rather than persisting in this one with dogs like you!
15:55That's a confession! Our path is clear! I declare you guilty as charged! You'll be executed right now! Let's go!
16:08The Lord's Shepherd shall not laugh and let's go!
16:13The Lord's Shepherd shall not laugh and let's go!
16:14The Lord's Shepherd shall not laugh and let's go!
16:17In Saint-Firmain, Jonas-Lebigon participates in this bloody justice.
16:22This is what will happen to all conspirators and all enemies of the revolution!
16:29In three days, 2,000 people are executed in the prisons of Paris.
16:34Jeunesse and the Saint-Culotte will now have to live with the memory of these men,
16:39victims of a panic that turned deadly.
16:43The rage of those September days was because of all that happened before.
16:52We were driven by something more powerful than my morals.
16:57Or your morals.
17:02Folks were afraid there'd be no more revolution if the Prussians won the war.
17:05So the counter-revolutionaries would blow it all up if we let them do it.
17:11There are those who say it was Dantin and Demoulin who were responsible.
17:15There are others who say it was Mara who was behind it all.
17:20If you want the real truth, no one gave us any orders.
17:26Wait, we were afraid that we would lose it all.
17:30That's it.
17:37Sometimes miracles change the course of history.
17:40That's what happens to France a few days later.
17:44In Valmy, September 20th, 1792, against all the odds, the revolutionary armies succeed in routing the Prussians.
17:59Galvanised by this unhoped-for victory, on September 21st, the new national convention officially decrees the abolition of the monarchy
18:08in France.
18:11And the next day, September 22nd, 1792, the convention decides that all of the country's official acts will now be
18:21dated from year one of the French Republic.
18:25The Republic requires representation, so the revolutionary imagination again draws from the well of ancient art.
18:33A Roman goddess who represents the people's newfound liberty.
18:38A woman sporting a Phrygian cap, whom an Occitan song soon calls Marianne.
18:47The goddess Marianne, the goddess Marianne, incarnation of the Republic, gradually becomes the national emblem.
18:58But what room is there in this new Republican regime for Louis Capet, deposed former king, prisoner in the temple?
19:07Must he now be tried in court?
19:11An issue that keeps the political class grumbling for weeks in this autumn of 1792.
19:17One that sees a clash of hardline points of view, such as that of the new deputy of Paris, Maximilien
19:23Robespierre.
19:25For me, to put Louis before a tribunal which would debate the culpability or the innocence of the ex-king,
19:31would have been a scandal.
19:33The proper trial of the king was the insurrection of August 10th.
19:36His judgment was the end of the monarchy.
19:40Actually, to put him on trial would be calling into question the very concept of revolution.
19:46Therefore, we decided that it would be the convention in its wisdom,
19:50which would decide what to do with Louis Capet and with one of two choices possible.
19:55Should he live or no?
19:59At the convention, Louis Capet witnesses his indictment by the deputies.
20:05To the question, is he guilty of conspiracy against the nation?
20:10687 out of 749 MPs vote yes.
20:15But what should be the sentence?
20:18Opinions are divided.
20:22From my point of view, there was but one possible answer.
20:25It required that Louis must die.
20:28To carve into the hearts of all an indispensable contempt for royalty,
20:31Louis' death would capture the focus of the king's last supporters.
20:40Like Robespierre, the new deputies, Danton, Desmoulins, Marat, and the painter David vote for the death of the former king,
20:48as does a small majority of 387 MPs.
20:57A guillotine is installed on the old place Louis XV, soon to become place de la Concorde.
21:04And on January 21st, 1793, at 10.22 a.m., Louis Capet, former king of France, is executed.
21:16The news travels throughout Europe like a thunderclap.
21:22The monarchies of England, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal join with Austria and Prussia
21:28in their war against this republic that dared to murder its monarch.
21:35This dangerous worsening of the war would suddenly heighten the political tensions within the National Convention.
21:42Since the king's execution, a rift divides the deputies.
21:48On the right wing, the Girondins, a reference to the department of origin of some of them.
21:53With Brissot, Roland, and Rabout Saint-Antienne, who defended the king,
21:59and who are hostile to the power of the Paris Commune.
22:02On the left wing, the Montagnards, a reference to their lofty perch in the assembly room.
22:08With Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, who rely on the popular sections of Paris,
22:13and who do not hesitate to violently denounce their adversaries.
22:18In just a few weeks, all masks were off.
22:22It came to our attention, after several losses by our military,
22:25that there was a conspiracy to restore the monarchy in France.
22:28The conspiracy had accomplices among our colleagues in Parliament.
22:31So then I proceeded to accuse them before the convention openly,
22:35because I had to denounce the aristocratic system they wanted to bring back,
22:38and that is defended today by those Girondins clustered around Brissot,
22:42de Roland, and de Rabout Saint-Étienne.
22:45They did all they could to prevent the revolution of August 10th,
22:50then did whatever they could to diminish the power of the Commune of Paris.
22:53Then they were all opposed to putting the king in prison,
22:56and then they fought against the execution of Louis Capet.
22:59How could we not react with violence faced with such treachery?
23:02Shake off all the lethargy in which we sleep, and crush all our enemies.
23:08In this atmosphere of great political tension,
23:11Paris is trialling a new democracy,
23:14for the first time using universal male suffrage to renew the heads of sections.
23:20Revolutionary France is, more than ever, ahead of its time.
23:25So who did you vote for?
23:26Lamoureux.
23:27I wasn't going to vote for that fossil, Koupigny.
23:29I kind of like Koupigny, he's not a bad guy.
23:34We have now come to the end of our very first vote with suffrage for all.
23:38Our section that used to be the section of the Gobelins and is now the section of Finisterre
23:42has a new president, Athénaz Lamoureux.
23:52Almost four years on, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789,
23:57the humblest Parisian workers feel they're finally taking revenge.
24:01In the Gobelins, Athénaz Lamoureux's victory embodies this shift in the Paris sections.
24:07More than ever, political leaders have to deal with this new people power.
24:13We're now going to have the pleasure of hearing two representatives of the convention,
24:16Jean-Bon Saint-André and the artiste d'Avile.
24:21They have a message.
24:22They have a message.
24:23Our homeland is in danger.
24:27Citizens, the army of Prussia is close to Paris.
24:32It's going to require the mobilization, quick and massive, of all of us.
24:35If we are to defend ourselves against those despots who sworn to bend us to their...
24:39We're ready.
24:41But what do we do about the enemies within?
24:45Well, I... I don't follow.
24:47I'm speaking of all those who continue to conspire against the Republic inside our homeland.
24:52Who will assume the responsibility of judging them?
24:55To incapacitate them?
24:57I say we need a tribunal for the revolution, right?
25:00Yeah, I agree.
25:01Danger comes from within.
25:02We depend on liberty.
25:04Wait, wait.
25:05We haven't made it one of the first priorities of the convention.
25:07So, who can you count on then?
25:08On these folks, the poor.
25:10Guys like this one.
25:11Or on him.
25:12Or on me.
25:13As usual, we're left to do the dirty work.
25:15Listen, listen to me.
25:16Right now, it's urgent, very urgent to deal with...
25:18I think that we've all grasped the urgency of the situation.
25:21But the section will transmit to the convention its demand,
25:24officially asking for the creation of a tribunal of the revolution.
25:29What we really had to do was avoid another event like in September.
25:32Yeah, we have to see that our enemies get punished,
25:34but by the people as a whole, not by some poor guys who were there by accident.
25:38And Jonas, he never wanted to say what happened at Saint-Fermain.
25:43I found out about it nonetheless.
25:52When several sections demand that a revolutionary tribunal be created,
25:56opposition grows within the national convention,
25:59where the Montagnard deputy, Georges-Jacques Danton,
26:02relays the Parisians' demands.
26:07During that famous session of the convention,
26:10and though the issue of the tribunal of the revolution was on everyone's mind,
26:14I realized we were going on our separate ways without discussing the question.
26:18That was impossible.
26:19The sections of Paris required their creation.
26:23So I took the floor, out of turn,
26:25to force the convention to take a position.
26:28I declared, a bit theatrically,
26:31I command every loyal citizen to remain at his post.
26:34It is important to put into place judicial tools
26:37that punish the counter-revolutionaries
26:40while making sure a tribunal replaces the chaotic vengeance of the people.
26:45I even added,
26:47let us be terrifying
26:48so that the people do not have to be.
26:53A revolutionary tribunal is finally set up in March 1793
26:57to judge those who challenge the revolution
27:00and who are seen as enemies of the interior.
27:05This court will be assisted in every section of Paris
27:08and in every municipality in the country
27:11by a committee of surveillance charged with controlling the citizens.
27:17In the Finisterre section,
27:19Jeunesse Le Vigan
27:21has been appointed to head the Revolutionary Committee.
27:25The atmosphere now is not really the same
27:28and everyone is accountable.
27:30You're no longer head of the district.
27:32We just chose you to represent us in the Commune of Paris.
27:35And you vote to unblock the price of meat.
27:38You believe that represents the opinion of the Finisterre section?
27:41Well, yeah, it's what I thought.
27:42Perfect.
27:43Great.
27:44He's just been nominated
27:45and the representative is already turning into a little despot
27:47who thinks he owns the power that the people handed him.
27:51But then, for each vote,
27:53I first have to come and ask for a vote here.
27:55Is that it?
27:56Well, I hope you're prepared to sit in a permanent session.
27:59But it's already like that.
28:03Assemblies permanently sitting.
28:04Representatives at your orders.
28:06Is that what you want?
28:07It's in those assemblies that we learn to become citizens.
28:10That's what we're doing here.
28:12No, I'm sorry, but no.
28:14Those assemblies impermanent create confusion and division amongst us.
28:18This is the proof.
28:19Especially when they're manipulated by troublemakers like you, Janice.
28:22Citizen Poupigny, you're speaking to a commissioner of the Revolution.
28:26I say it's you who are fomenting division.
28:28At first, by backing the party of the king on that glorious day of August the 10th.
28:33And then, by coldly speculating on the misery of the people.
28:35Jonas, that's enough.
28:36No, I won't stop now.
28:38The behavior of Citizen Poupigny is not that of a patriot.
28:41Citizen Poupigny, I denounce you.
28:43Yes, I accuse you of treason.
28:45And a behavior that's counter-revolutionary.
28:47And I demand that your civic papers be examined by the Committee of Revolution.
28:52And during this examination, I demand that you be held in the prison of the section.
28:55Jonas!
28:56No liberty for the enemies of liberty!
28:59Wait!
28:59No liberty for the enemies of liberty!
29:01No liberty for the enemies of liberty!
29:02No!
29:02Take him away!
29:04No liberty for the enemies of liberty!
29:06You're making a mistake!
29:07No! You're making a mistake!
29:09This isn't right!
29:10This isn't right!
29:12No!
29:13Don't do this!
29:14Have you gone crazy?
29:15Everyone, have you gone mad or what?
29:26This deep division between Republicans and former monarchists suddenly turns into a civil war
29:33when an armed rebellion breaks out in the west of the country, in Vendee, in spring 1793.
29:42The Vendeean countryside is rising up in a refusal to mobilize 300,000 men from all over the country, as
29:49ordered by the Convention.
29:51But the roots of the conflict lie in the religiosity of very poor farmers, who think that the revolutions deprive
29:58them of their church.
30:03This anger is used by the royalist officers to turn a peasant jacquerie into a political clash between, on one
30:10side, the royalists and refractory Catholics, and on the other, the Republicans.
30:16The whites, color of the monarchy, against the blues, color of the revolution in arms.
30:23Now, the Republicans will have to fight both on the external front, as well as the distressing internal front, calling
30:31on volunteers like Jean-Jean, who has decided to go fight.
30:51So handsome.
30:54Wait. Here. I'll be with you.
31:03Hurry up. Go now. Go on.
31:19The gift you are offering is your youth, your enthusiasm, and your vital spirits.
31:27There's no final gift you can offer the homeland.
31:30You're leaving to fight against the enemies of the revolution.
31:35Whether from the outside, with that damn king of Prussia, or the domestic ones, in Vendée, with those aristocrats who
31:42want to destroy everything we've built over four years.
31:46Don't be afraid.
31:49Never forget that what you're doing, you're doing in all our names.
31:53We're proud of you.
31:57Give us liberty or death.
31:58Give us liberty or death.
32:00Long live the revolution.
32:02Long live the revolution.
32:03Long live the revolution.
32:04Long live the republic.
32:04As volunteers troop off to defend the republic on all fronts, the Parisian sections are soon disoriented, won over by
32:12exhaustion and doubt, as if the revolutionaries were gradually losing faith in the future.
32:17I know that it's difficult and that doubt is growing in the neighborhood, but this is no time to waver.
32:23You just can't imagine how many people want us to fail.
32:26The republic must defend itself and give itself the means of its ambitions.
32:30The government stated it's revolutionary to the peace.
32:33And you know what that means?
32:35That there's no more constitution until we eliminate every enemy, outside and inside.
32:44Faced with dangers on all sides, on April 6th, 1793, the National Convention establishes a committee of public safety.
32:55Twelve men renewed monthly from among the deputies to take charge of the country's destiny.
33:04The conflict between the Girondins and the Montagnards is increasingly violent.
33:10To weaken and marginalize the Montagnards, the Girondins deputies tried to indict before the revolutionary tribunal their fiercest adversary.
33:21Most radical of the Montagnards deputies, journalist Jean-Paul Marat.
33:25The Saint-Culottes of Paris were mad at the Girondins for their cowardice when we put the king on trial
33:31and wanted their removal.
33:33And as I was on the side of the Saint-Culottes, the Girondins had the temerity to accuse me before
33:38the tribunal of the revolution.
33:40But of course I won.
33:43And the Saint-Culottes carried me out in triumph.
33:47When thousands of Saint-Culottes acclaim Marat, the Girondins deputies see the situation turn dangerously against them.
33:56Now, nothing can hold back the Parisians' anger.
34:00And then everything shifted.
34:02Thirty-five sections of Paris out of 48 asked for the official removal of the Girondins deputies considered the most
34:09important.
34:10I went directly to the Paris insurrectional commune, where I mobilized them, saying,
34:15Arise, sovereign people of France.
34:18Go now to the convention with your requirements and refuse to leave there until you have obtained satisfaction.
34:28On June 2nd, 1793, at Marat's call, the Paris sections, supported by several battalions of the Parisian Guard, blockade the
34:37assembly.
34:40Under threat of cannon fire, the deputies cannot leave the room until they agree to the Saint-Culottes demands.
34:50The parliamentarians end up voting for the arrest of the 29 main Girondins deputies.
34:59In this month of June, 1793, the citizens of Paris are finally victorious.
35:05And, in an unprecedented burst of progressive fervor, the assembly adopts a new declaration of the rights of man and
35:13of the citizen.
35:14A declaration that recognizes the rights of the French men to resist oppression and which promises assistance and education for
35:22all.
35:26So, to defend these new rights, the Saint-Culottes will not hesitate to wage a fierce fight in every quarter
35:33of Paris.
35:34There is no room for those who challenge the republic.
35:42Hmm. Now we worship trees and rivers.
35:45And these statues and plaster, we pray to reason. Have we all gone haywire?
35:51And I'm sure you agree that it's boasted this cult of reason.
35:56And the Supreme Being, why can't we call him God like everyone else?
35:59Be careful what you say. You've drunk too much.
36:01Nah, I haven't drunk much. I'm not a drop, but I know what I say.
36:06Instead of an old-fashioned mask, they put on a carnival.
36:08They destroy statues. They celebrate martyrs that I'll never believe in.
36:12Shut up, Barbizon.
36:13What is it? What's the matter? You think you scare me? Is that it?
36:17I've known you way too long.
36:18You want to go home now, Barbizon.
36:19And now you want to depose God, is that it?
36:21Be quiet, Barbizon.
36:22No! I won't be quiet!
36:27You and your friends believe that you've changed things, is that right?
36:30But nothing has changed. Everything's worse!
36:34Before we had one tyrant, the king!
36:36And nowadays we have thousands of tyrants of your sort, who all want to wear the crown!
36:44Stop, Barbizon.
36:45Stop, Barbizon.
36:56A republic is now engaged in a merciless struggle.
37:01The watchword is liberty, equality, fraternity, or death.
37:09But to the Saint-Culot despair, first victim of this confrontation is the man they called
37:15friend of the people, Jean-Paul Marat.
37:18The spearhead of the People's Revolution was murdered in his bathtub by a young woman close
37:24to the Girondins, Charlotte Corday.
37:28A scene which, under the brush of Montagnard painter David, shows the martyrdom of an apostle
37:34of freedom, whose body becomes the murdered body of the people.
37:40Henceforth, revolutionaries will be terrible with their enemies.
37:48In Vendée, the Committee of Public Safety sets extreme targets for its generals.
37:53This province must be destroyed and burnt, and its inhabitants deported if necessary.
37:59The royal and Catholic army is soon crushed.
38:03300,000 Vandaians lose their lives, several thousand of whom are drowned in the Loire, in Nantes,
38:11by a hot-headed general.
38:14When monarchists seize control of the city of Lyon, the National Convention reacts with
38:19lightning speed.
38:22It sends Joseph Fouché with particularly explicit instructions.
38:28The inhabitants of Lyon will be disarmed.
38:30The city of Lyon will be destroyed.
38:33The name of Lyon will be erased from the list of cities of the Republic.
38:40Fouché subjugates the city and brings before a makeshift court more than 2,000 Lyonnais who
38:46are immediately executed by collective shooting, a disaster that chills the nation.
38:56Another disaster is the thousands of Republican soldiers who will not return from the war,
39:02like Jean-Jean, son of Gabriel, who did not survive his dreams of glory.
39:09May the Supreme Being welcome to his bosom the soul of Jean-Nicolas Pecheloch, known as Jean-Jean,
39:15who died on the field of honor.
39:17O Lord, I turn to you.
39:20By your presence, drive away obscurity and evil.
39:23Keep them from me.
39:25Grant me peace, sparing me from anguish and fear and sorrow.
39:30Amen.
39:34In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
39:41The fight against the old monarchy is relentless.
39:44It is now the turn of the former Queen Marie Antoinette of Austria, imprisoned in the Concierge
39:50awaiting trial for collusion with the enemy.
39:55Marie Antoinette is sentenced and led to the gallows on October 16th, 1793.
40:05The Montagnards, running the country, are now engaged in a war of freedom versus tyranny.
40:14In turn, the Girondins deputies are indicted, several days after Marie Antoinette.
40:20Twenty-one of them are presented before the Revolutionary Tribunal, charged with treason
40:25and sentenced to death.
40:29They are guillotined in the name of the one and indivisible Republic on October 31st, soon
40:35to be followed by others accused of collusion, including Deputy Jean-Paul Rabot Saint-Étienne.
40:46And in a deadly acceleration, a fratricidal war is sparked at the heart of the Montagnards.
40:52Doubt eats away at mines.
40:59A first group, around Camille Desmoulins and Georges-Jacques Danton, is troubled by the rise
41:04and arrests by the local committees.
41:08Nicknamed the Indulgence, they believe too much blood has flowed already.
41:12They must put an end to this abuse, for which they blame Robespierre.
41:20The Romans publicly disputed public affairs.
41:24But when the enemy was at the gates of Rome, they put aside their differences and agreed
41:30to stop fighting each other.
41:33Here, the enemy is at our gates, but all we do is to destroy each other.
41:38When Robespierre asked, uh, demanded the burning of all the copies of my newspaper, the Vieux
41:43Côte de Vier, it became clear that all my ideals of 1789 had vanished once and for all.
41:49What Robespierre was unable to understand was that I delivered in the journal an ardent cry,
41:54same as I've always done since the beginning of the revolution, open the prisons and liberate
42:01those 200,000 citizens that you want to call suspects.
42:04That's what I cried to Robespierre and to the Committee of Public Safety.
42:11A second group, known as the Exaggerators, wants to pick up the torch left lying on the
42:16ground by Marat.
42:19They, and journalist Jacques-Renny Hébert, dream of a new people's insurrection to clean
42:25up the Republic once and for all.
42:27And they think Robespierre doesn't go far enough.
42:32But for the Committee of Public Safety, caught between these two challenges, all this plays
42:37into the hands of the counter-revolutionaries.
42:40The Committee's reaction will be radical.
42:44The ultra-revolutionaries like Hébert and the less-than-revolutionaries like Desmoulins get
42:49along like a band of thieves in a forest.
42:53Desmoulins is just the spokesman of a faction of scoundrels who take advantage of his quill
42:58to spread their poison with far more audacity.
43:02In spite of it all, I warned Camille that he should end his relationship with Danton.
43:06I told him to be more moderate in his writing, but he did not want to listen.
43:12And anyway, now it's too late.
43:18First, Jacques-Renny Hébert and 18 other exaggerators are sentenced to death on March 24th, 1794,
43:25for attempted insurrection.
43:32Then comes the turn of the indulgence.
43:35Camille Desmoulins and Jean-Jacques Danton led to the scaffold just days later, April 5th, 1794,
43:42accused of colluding with enemies of the revolution.
43:49With the murder of Marat, then the deaths of Danton and Desmoulins, the revolution is crushing
43:55all of its heroes.
44:00And in a headlong rush that will prove fatal, the Committee of Public Safety transforms the
44:06revolutionary tribunal into that of the reign of terror, to have done with the enemies of
44:12the revolution.
44:14Now, there are only two possible verdicts, innocence or death.
44:20In the Saint-Marcel quarter, as everywhere in Paris, the executions mount.
44:27Joseph Barbizon is sentenced to death by the tribunal of the terror.
44:37In just a few weeks, more than 1,400 people are guillotined, and Paris soon starts to feel
44:44scaffold nausea.
44:53Suddenly, the deputies are paralysed by fear of being the next name on the list of the sentenced.
44:59This terror must be ended, and if possible, the people tossed a sacrificial culprit.
45:06So, in this last act of the revolutionary tragedy, on July 27th, 1794, the members of the Committee
45:13of Public Safety, who supported Robespierre, turn against him.
45:18To cries of down with the tyrant, a coalition of deputies prevents Robespierre from taking the stand at the convention,
45:25and he is immediately arrested.
45:29We've got to go there.
45:30It's time to move.
45:31In the sections, news of the arrest reverberates like a declaration of war.
45:36The convention has just challenged the Paris Commune.
45:41In the Goblin, the time has come to choose between the two competing powers.
45:46There can only be one winner.
45:49What's happened?
45:51Robespierre and four other Montagnard deputies were arrested.
45:54That's why they're wringing the cold arms?
45:56Yeah.
45:56The Commune of Paris thinks the convention is responsible for all the arrests.
45:59They're calling for an insurrection.
46:01We've waited long enough.
46:03We've waited too long.
46:05I propose that we send a battalion of the sections to the Place des Graves to defend the Commune of
46:09Paris.
46:10No, no.
46:11I refuse to choose between the Commune and the convention until we know exactly what's going on.
46:16I propose we put to a vote the dispatch of a battalion which will defend the Commune.
46:20Who's in favor?
46:21I'm in favor.
46:22Please, one moment.
46:23I propose an amendment worded, this battalion will go to the Place des Graves,
46:27but it won't deploy so long as we've not sent it instructions.
46:31Who's in favor?
46:32Now that's a good idea.
46:35In actual fact, Robespierre and his supporters, like young Saint-Just, were released by the Commune soldiers and took refuge
46:43in the Hotel de Ville.
46:45There, his friends urge Robespierre to appeal to the people.
46:49But he hesitates, he prevaricates, allowing confusion to reign in the sections.
46:56All is good.
46:57We've had confirmation that Robespierre has been freed.
46:59Are you sure?
46:59Absolutely.
47:00Citizens! Citizens!
47:02Robespierre has been freed!
47:03He's safe and sound!
47:04Yes!
47:05Yes!
47:05And the other deputies have also been freed!
47:09You see?
47:09No, you don't have a clue.
47:12They're taking away all our conquests and you're for sitting around here not doing anything.
47:16No, I won't move.
47:18Bunch of imbeciles.
47:22You're all going to be massacred!
47:25For Robespierre, it is now too late.
47:28There will be no insurrection.
47:31Only 16 battalions out of 48 are massed in front of the Hotel de Ville and they will not be
47:36ordered to defend the Commune.
47:41And when Robespierre resigns himself to appealing to the people, the battalions have long since left the Place de Grève
47:48and the Convention has already dispatched a detachment of the National Guard to dispense with the hero of the Parisian
47:54sections.
47:56The clash is violent.
48:00And in the early hours of July 28, Robespierre, his jaw wounded, Saint-Just and their supporters are led to
48:08the gallows and guillotined, like hundreds of their fellows in the weeks to follow.
48:15In a few hours, Paris and its popular sections are brought to heel.
48:22Political normalization is underway.
48:25Let him go!
48:28Stop it!
48:29You've got no right!
48:31It was his order that the battalion stand in front of the Commune, so they consider him guilty, but he's
48:35not.
48:35He's not his fault.
48:36He can't be guilty.
48:36We know it.
48:37Don't worry.
48:37We know he's not guilty.
48:39Come, let's see what we can do.
48:43The epilogue to this story takes place in May 1795, when the Convention Hall is invaded one last time.
48:52But this gallant last stand comes to naught.
48:57With an irony only history can provide, the sans-culottes revolutionary adventure ends exactly where it began.
49:07The People's Revolution had begun one day in April 1789 by an insurrection in the Faubourg Saint Antoine.
49:15And that's where it ends in May 1795, when the same quarter is surrounded by battalions of the National Guard.
49:26After particularly violent skirmishes, all of the Faubourg's residents are disarmed.
49:32The sans-culottes hopes of equality are well and truly over.
49:38Since the storming of the Bastille in 1789, many hopes have been dashed and many lives shattered.
49:47But the French people were the first to dream up a declaration of the rights of man and the citizen.
49:53They managed to invent the Republic.
49:56And they sowed in people's minds the seeds of a democratic fight that has only just begun.
50:14Gabrielle.
50:19Athanas!
50:27I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.
50:34What are you doing here?
50:36Huh?
50:37Stop it.
50:38You would have been guillotined if Justin hadn't been there.
50:40Luckily there were reasonable men who knew I was still responsible.
50:43That's why your life was spared.
50:45But what I did was for Gabrielle.
50:47And for the baby.
50:51What about Jonas?
50:52Do you know what happened to him?
50:53They say that he went down in battle, not without taking eight guards with him.
50:57Others say he's hiding in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, protected by a few supporters.
51:00Others even say he went to the West Indies to become a pirate.
51:04And God knows what else.
51:08Come on.
51:09The dreams of the citizens of 1789 not only shaped the destiny of the French people,
51:14but would also inspire the world.
51:17Which would never be the same after the French Revolution.
51:49Well, I'm sorry, but I'll take a look at the French Revolution.
51:49I love you so much.
51:50I'm sorry, but I'll take a look at the French Revolution.
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