The September Massacres

Tensions were high in France during the year of 1792, three years into the French Revolution. The king of Austria (Francis I) was alarmed when he knew about the activity in France. What alarmed him the most was that his sister-Marie Antoinette-was fleeing the country with here husband-King Louis XVI. France declared war with Austria on the 20 April 1792. People-mostly peasants-began protesting in France, there was fear of conspirators against the revolution, and Paris Mobs starting violence. These are small aspects which led to the September Massacres, but the National Convention’s paranoia of royalist and foreign armies coming to attack Paris as well as free prisoners to join their attack was the root cause. This brought the guillotine to France, a paraphernalia for execution made to behead the prosecuted. Non-supporters of the revolution were executed, as well as prisoners. Mobs of National Guardsman and some of the fédérés killed their way into prisons, killing off the prisoners. Around 1200 prisoners were executed, which was half of Frances’s prison population.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *