The First French Republic and Regicide

22.5.2: The First French Republic and Regicide

The execution of Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, radicalized the French Revolution at home and united European monarchies against revolutionary France.

Learning Objective

Evaluate the decision to execute the king and queen

Key Points

  • The Insurrection of August 10, 1792, led to the creation of the National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage and charged with writing a new constitution. On September 20, the Convention became the new de facto government of France, and the next day it abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.
  • A commission was established to examine evidence against the King while the Convention’s Legislation Committee considered legal aspects of any future trial. Most Montagnards (radical republicans) favored judgement and execution, while the Girondins (moderate republicans) were divided concerning Louis’s fate.
  • The trial began on December 3. The following day, the Convention’s president Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac presented it with the indictment and decreed the interrogation of Louis XVI. Louis XVI heard 33 charges.
  • Given overwhelming evidence of Louis’ collusion with the invaders during the ongoing war with Austria and Prussia, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. Ultimately, 693 deputies voted “yes” in favor of a guilty verdict. Not a single deputy voted “no,” although 26 attached some condition to their votes. For punishment, 361 voted for death without conditions, just carrying the vote by a marginal majority.
  • On January 21, 1793, the former Louis XVI, now simply named Citoyen Louis Capet (Citizen Louis Capet), was executed by guillotine. Marie Antoinette was tried separately, after Louis’s death. She was guillotined on October 16, 1793.
  • In France, the Reign of Terror followed. Across Europe, conservatives were horrified and monarchies called for war against revolutionary France. The execution of Louis XVI united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands, against the Revolution.

Key Terms

Paris Commune
During the French Revolution, the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, it consisted of 144 delegates elected by the 48 divisions of the city. It became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, refusing to take orders from the central French government. It took charge of routine civic functions but is best known for mobilizing extreme views. It lost much power in 1794 and was replaced in 1795.
Insurrection of August 10, 1792
One of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution, the storming of the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés from Marseilles and Brittany resulted in the fall of the French monarchy. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly, which was suspended. The formal end of the monarchy six weeks later was one of the first acts of the new National Convention.
Legislative Assembly
The legislature of France from October 1, 1791, to September 20, 1792, during the years of the French Revolution. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and the National Convention.

 

The Aftermath of August 10

The Insurrection of August 10, 1792, was one of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution. The storming of the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés (federates) from Marseilles and Brittany resulted in the fall of the French monarchy. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly, which was suspended. Chaos persisted until the National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage and charged with writing a new constitution, met on September 20, 1792, and became the new de facto government of France. The next day the Convention abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.

The Convention’s unanimous declaration of a French Republic on September 21, 1792, left open the fate of the King. A commission was established to examine evidence against him while the Convention’s Legislation Committee considered legal aspects of any future trial. Most Montagnards (radical republicans) favored judgement and execution, while the Girondins (moderate republicans) were divided concerning Louis’s fate, with some arguing for royal inviolability, others for clemency, and still others for either lesser punishment or death. On November 20, opinion turned sharply against Louis following the discovery of a secret cache of 726 documents of his personal communications. Most of the pieces of correspondence in the cabinet involved ministers of Louis XVI, but others involved most of the big players of the Revolution. These documents, despite the likely gaps and pre-selection showed the duplicity of advisers and ministers—at least those that Louis XVI trusted—who had set up parallel policies.

The Trial

The trial began on December 3. The following day, the Convention’s president Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac presented it with the indictment and decreed the interrogation of Louis XVI. The Convention’s secretary read the charges: “the French people” accused Louis of committing “a multitude of crimes in order to establish [his] tyranny by destroying its liberty.” Louis XVI heard 33 charges.

Louis XVI sought the most illustrious legal minds in France as his defense team. The task of lead counsel eventually fell to Raymond Desèze, assisted by François Denis Tronchet and Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes. Although he had only two weeks to prepare his defense arguments, on December 26 Desèzepleaded the king’s case for three hours, arguing eloquently yet discreetly that the revolution spare his life.

Given overwhelming evidence of Louis’s collusion with the invaders during the ongoing war with Austria and Prussia, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. Ultimately, 693 deputies voted “yes” for a guilty verdict. Not a single deputy voted “no,” although 26 attached some condition to their votes. 26 deputies were absent from the vote, most on official business. 23 deputies abstained for various reasons, several because they felt they had been elected to make laws rather than to judge.

For the king’s sentence, deputy Jean-Baptiste Mailhe proposed “Death, but (…) I think it would be worthy of the Convention to consider whether it would be useful to policy to delay the execution.” This “Mailhe amendment,” supported by 26 deputies, was regarded by some of Mailhe’s contemporaries as a conspiracy to save the king’s life. It was even suggested that Mailhe had been paid, perhaps by Spanish gold. Paris voted overwhelmingly for death, 21 to 3. Robespierre voted first and said “The sentiment that led me to call for the abolition of the death penalty is the same that today forces me to demand that it be applied to the tyrant of my country.” Philippe Égalité, formerly the Duke of Orléans and Louis’ own cousin, voted for his execution, a cause of much future bitterness among French monarchists.

There were 721 voters in total. 34 voted for death with attached conditions (23 of whom invoked the Mailhe amendment), 2 voted for life imprisonment in irons, 319 voted for imprisonment until the end of the war (to be followed by banishment). and 361 voted for death without conditions, just carrying the vote by a marginal majority. Louis was to be put to death.

 

Execution

On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI awoke at 5 a.m. and heard his last Mass. Upon Father Edgeworth’s advice, he avoided a farewell scene with his family. His royal seal was to go to the Dauphin and his wedding ring to the Queen. At 10 a.m., a carriage with the king arrived at Place de la Révolution and proceeded to a space surrounded by guns and drums and a crowd carrying pikes and bayonets, which had been kept free at the foot of the scaffold.  The former Louis XVI, now simply named Citoyen Louis Capet (Citizen Louis Capet), was executed by guillotine.

Marie Antoinette was tried separately, after Louis’s death. She was guillotined on October 16, 1793.

Execution of Louis XVI, German copperplate engraving, 1793, by Georg Heinrich Sieveking.

The body of Louis XVI was immediately transported to the old Church of the Madeleine (demolished in 1799), since the legislation in force forbade burial of his remains beside those of his father, the Dauphin Louis de France, at Sens. On January 21, 1815 Louis XVI and his wife’s remains were reburied in the Basilica of Saint-Denis where in 1816 his brother, King Louis XVIII, had a funerary monument erected by Edme Gaulle.

Aftermath of the Execution

In April 1793, members of the Montagnards went on to establish the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, which would be responsible for the Terror (September 5, 1793 – July 28, 1794), the bloodiest and one of the most controversial phases of the French Revolution. The time between 1792 and 1794 was dominated by the radical ideology until the execution of Robespierre in July 1794.

Across Europe, conservatives were horrified and monarchies called for war against revolutionary France. The execution of Louis XVI united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands, against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on February 1, 1793, and soon afterwards against Spain. In the course of 1793, the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus, the First Coalition was formed.

 

Attributions