Home > 10th of August (French Revolution)
On August 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob -- with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune -- besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly. This proved to be the effective end of the French Monarchy (until it was restored in 1814). The formal end of the monarchy occurred six weeks later, as one of the first acts of business of the new Convention.
This insurrection and its outcome are most commonly referred to by historians of the Revolution simply as "the 10th of August"; other common designations include "the journée of the 10th of August" ( French: journée du 10 août), "the insurrection of the 10th of August," or even "the revolution of the 10th of August."
1 The context
Through the first part of 1792, France had been moving slowly toward the first of the French Revolutionary Wars. In April, the king had taken the unprecedented step of forming a cabinetThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article covers the one-year perio of revolutionary Girondins. On April 20April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). There are 255 days remaining. Events 636 Battle of Yarmuk: Arabs take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire. 1653 Oliver Cromwell disbands Parli, war was declared against AustriaAustria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, a federation of nine states. Austria is bordered by Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the.
The initial battles were a disaster for the FrenchThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. This article covers the one-year perio, and PrussiaThe word Prussia ( German: Preussen (Preussen Polish: Prusy Lithuanian: Prusai Latin: Borussia has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia joined Austria in active alliance against France (see First CoalitionThe name First Coalition ( 1793 1797) designates the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain revolutionary France. After the stated aim of the National Convention to export revolution, the guillotining of Louis XVI of France (J). However, a delay in their preparations gave France an opportunity to improve its army.
The Revolution at this time was moving into a more radical phase. The Legislative Assembly passed several decrees, notably one against non-juring priestsA non-juror is a person who refuses to swear a particular oath. In British history, the non-jurors were those Anglican clergy who refused to swear allegiance to William and Mary and whom were deposed from their ordinations for their refusal. In regards to, which the king refused to sign. This led in early June to a break between the king and his Girondist ministers. When the king formed a new cabinet mostly of constitutional monarchist Feuillants, this widened the breach between the king on the one hand and the leaders of the Assembly and the majority of the common people of Paris on the other.
On June 20, the armed populace invaded the hall of the Assembly and the royal apartments in the Tuileries, but were repelled. The failure of the insurrection encouraged a movement in favour of the king. Lafayette attempted to use this opportunity to heal the breach, but was suspected by people, legislature, and court alike of mere personal ambition.
A last Girondist advance to Louis was rebuffed, and the Feuillants were in collapse. The Girondins now made a turn to the left and joined those ready to use force to overthrow the monarchy. Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, in a speech to the Assembly directed toward the king the following rhetorical questions: "Did the constitution leave you the choice of ministers for our happiness or our ruin? Did it place you at the head of our army for our glory or our shame? Did it give you the right of sanction, a civil list and so many prerogatives, constitutionally to lose the empire and the constitution?" Brissot was even more direct: "I tell you to strike at the Tuileries... you are told to prosecute all factious and intriguing conspirators; they will all disappear if you once knock loud enough at the door of the cabinet of the Tuileries, for that cabinet is the point to which all these threads tend, where every scheme is plotted, and whence every impulse proceeds. The nation is the plaything of this cabinet. This is the secret of our position, this is the source of the evil, and here the remedy must be applied." [1]
