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Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836), commonly known as Abbé Sieyès, was a French clergyman and political writer, who became a leading voice in the Third Estate during the French Revolution (1789-99). Sieyès played instrumental roles in both...
Definition
Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794) was one of the most prominent journalists during the French Revolution (1789-1799). A fervent republican, he played an important role in the Storming of the Bastille, when he called the people to arms. Although...
Definition
September Massacres
The September Massacres refers to a series of mass killings that took place in the prisons of Paris between 2 and 7 September 1792, during the French Revolution (1789-99). Sometimes known as the first Terror, the massacres saw between 1,100...
Definition
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (1762-1833) was a French general who held significant commands in the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). He won a major victory for the French Republic at the Battle of Fleurus...
Definition
Battle of Raismes
The Battle of Raismes was a major engagement in the Flanders Campaign of 1792-1795, during the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). It saw a French Republican army under the command of General Dampierre attack a larger Coalition force...
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Trial and Execution of Louis XVI
The trial and execution of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) was one of the most impactful events of the French Revolution (1789-99). In December 1792, the former king, now referred to as Citizen Louis Capet, was tried and found guilty...
Article
Robespierre & the Death Penalty
"I come to ask, not the gods, but legislators…to erase from the code of the French the blood laws that command judicial murders" (Robespierre, 6). These impassioned words, spoken by Maximilien Robespierre before France's National Constituent...
Article
Battle of Fleurus
The Battle of Fleurus (26 June 1794) was the climax of the Flanders Campaign of 1792-95 and was one of the most decisive battles in the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). A French victory, Fleurus ensured French ascendency for the rest...
Definition
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille was a decisive moment in the early months of the French Revolution (1789-1799). On 14 July 1789, the Bastille, a fortress and political prison symbolizing the oppressiveness of France’s Ancien Régime was attacked...
Definition
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794) was a French lawyer who became one of the primary leaders of the French Revolution (1789-1799). From his initial rise to stardom in the Jacobin Club, Robespierre went on to dominate...