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.

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 cabinet of revolutionary Girondins. On April 20, war was declared against Austria.

Related Topics:
France - French Revolutionary Wars - Forming a cabinet - Girondin - April 20 - Austria

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The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia joined Austria in active alliance against France (see First Coalition). However, a delay in their preparations gave France an opportunity to improve its army.

Related Topics:
The initial battles were a disaster for the French - Prussia - First Coalition

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The Revolution at this time was moving into a more radical phase. The Legislative Assembly passed several decrees, notably one against non-juring priests, 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.

Related Topics:
Legislative Assembly - Non-juring priests - Constitutional monarchist - Feuillant

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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.

Related Topics:
June 20 - Tuileries - Lafayette

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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." http://www.outfo.org/literature/pg/etext06/8hfrr10.txt

Related Topics:
Left - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud - Brissot

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