Committee of public safety french revolution

De facto executive government in France (1793–1794)

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

The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General Defence, created early January 1793, the Committee of Public Safety was created on 6 April 1793 by the National Convention. It was charged with protecting the new republic against its foreign and domestic enemies, fighting the First Coalition and the Vendée revolt. As a wartime measure, the committee was given broad supervisory and administrative powers over the armed forces, judiciary and legislature, as well as the executive bodies and ministers of the convention.

As the committee, restructured in July, raised the defense (levée en masse) against the monarchist coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within France, it became more and more powerful. In December 1793, the Convention formally conferred executive power upon the committee. Among the members, the radical Montagnard JacobinMaximilien Robespierre was one of the most well-known, though he did not have any special powers or privileges. After the arrest and execution of the rival factions of Hébertists and Dantonists, sentiment in the Convention eventually turned against Robespierre, who was executed in July 1794. In the following Thermidorian Reaction, the committee's influence diminished after 15 months and it disappeared on the same day as the National Convention, which was 25 October 1795, but it probably continued till the end of the month.

Origins and evolution

Social climate of Revolutionary France

The French Revolution brought about an immense shift in so

Link to the lesson

Since the third estate proclaimed itself as the National Assembly (National Constituent AssemblyNational Constituent AssemblyNational Constituent Assembly) in June 1789, the French were enjoying a time of euphoria and waiting for favorable changes. Rural areas were the first to be hit by revolutionary fever. It was there that the overthrow of the feudal system and the process of France's departure from absolutism began. On 14 July 1789 a crowd of Parisians robbed weapons from the city arsenals and set off to Bastille. On 26 August 1789 the National Constituent Assembly enacted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The estate privileges: tax, judiciary, as well as tax for the Catholic Church were completely abolished. Freedom of speech, press and expressing one's own views was guaranteed. In September 1791 the constitution was brought in. It confirmed the King's authority and, at the same time, put power over France in hands of the people. The parliamentary monarchy lasted until the end of the summer of 1792. On 22 September 1792 France became a republic. In January 1793 the deputies of the National Constituent Assembly decided to execute the king. After the establishment of the republic, the situation in France undergoing revolution did not improve at all. In June 1793, the Jacobins carried out a coup d'état with the support of the Parisian people. Power was taken over by the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre. As people were fed up with the terrorterrorterror and the members of the National Constituent Assembly feared for their lives

Text

This provisional group was created by the Legislative Assembly after the fall of the monarchy on 15 August 1792. Composed of government ministers, this council was given executive power. After the start of the war in April 1792 and the initial series of reverses, a Committee of General Defense was created on 1 January 1793, to coordinate military matters. In March 1793 this committee formalized the older committee, the Committee of Public Safety, which was dominated by moderates and Girondins named by the National Convention. From 10 July 1793 to 27 July 1794, the Committee of Public Safety had a stable membership of twelve deputies and was delegated the authority to conduct the war and govern France. Working together and sharing responsibility, the so-called Great Committee initiated a number of radical measures to ensure France’s survival ranging from the institution of “Maximums” on wages and prices to a systematic use of Terror to cow opponents. The most notable members of the committee were Maximillien Robespierre, Georges Couthon, Louis-Antoine Saint-Just, and Lazare Carnot, the “organizer of victory.” Ultimately, fears of the continuing Terror, and of Robespierre’s personal power, led to a coup on 9 Thermidor (27 July), which broke the power of the Great Committee. The institution lasted another seventeen months until November 1795, but its powers were restricted to war and diplomacy.