Committee of Public Safety
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Committee_of_Public_Safety".

For other uses, see Committee of Public Safety (disambiguation).

The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public), set up by the National Convention on April 6, 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France during the Reign of Terror (1793-4) of the French Revolution. Under war conditions and with national survival seemingly at stake, the Jacobins under Robespierre centralized denunciations, trials, and executions under the supervision of this committee of twelve members. The committee was responsible for thousands of executions, most by the guillotine, in what was known as the "Reign of Terror." Frenchmen were executed under the pretext of being a supporter of monarchy or against the revolution. The Committee ceased meeting in 1795.

content

Contents

Composition

The committee was formally composed of nine members, all selected by the National convention for one month at a time, without period limits. Its first members instated on April 6, 1793 were as follows, in order of election. Danton largely dominated the first committee from the time of his inauguration.

  • Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, representative of Hautes-Pyrénées
  • Jean-François Delmas, representative of Haute-Garonne
  • Jean-Jacques Bréard, representative of Charente-Inférieure
  • Pierre Joseph Cambon, representative of Herault
  • Georges Danton, representative of Paris proper
  • Jean Antoine Debry, representative of Aisne, later replaced by Robert Lindet, representant of Eure upon resignation
  • Louis Bernard Guyton-Morveau, representative of Côte d'Or
  • Jean-Baptiste Treilhard, representative of Seine-at-Oise
  • Jean-François Delacroix, representative of Eure-at-Loir

On July 10, the committe was recomposed and renamed the Grand Committee of Public Safety (le Gran Comité de Salut Public). Its members were vastly re-elected and committee recieved extraordinary powers. In September 1793, the size of the committee was restructured to hold twelve members. It was almost completely dominated by Robespierre upon his election to the committee on July 27.

  • Maximilien de Robespierre, representantive of Paris
  • Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, representantive of Hautes-Pyrénées
  • Robert Lindet, representantive of Eure
  • André Jeanbon Saint André, representantive of Lot
  • Georges Couthon, representantive of Puy-at-Dôme
  • Jean-Marie Hérault de Séchelles, representantive of Seine-at-Oise
  • Pierre-Louis Prieur (dit Prieur de la Marne), representantive of Marne
  • Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, representative of Aisne
  • Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, representative of Pas-de-Calais
  • Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois (former Prior of Côte-d’Or), representative of Côte-d'Or
  • Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, representative of Paris
  • Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois, representative of Paris

The committee was largely removed power on the Thermidorian reaction on July 27, 1794, effectively ending the reign of Terror and the de facto dictatorship of Robespierre, having mastered extraordinary powers after the execution of Danton and Hebert during the spring of 1794. He was himself guillotined the following day, along with most of the members of the committee having held factual power. The committee was formally replaced by a new constitution in 1795, ending the rule of the National Convention that had lasted from the proclamation of the republic in 1792.

Actions

Failures

  • Tens of thousands of French citizens were killed.
  • Many tens of thousands more were alienated from the Revolution
  • Grain shortages and hoarding caused by price controls.
  • The poor bore the burden of conscription and grain requisitions.
  • Hospitals, schools and charities were deprived of staff because of attacks on religious orders.
  • Deepening hostilities in the countryside over the dechristianisation campaign.

Prominent members

See also

References

 This French history-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
© jGames.co.uk 2007 (some content from Wikipedia under GDL ) !-- ValueClick Media 468x60 and 728x90 Banner CODE for jgames.co.uk -->
Your Ad Here