Federalist Revolts

Causes of the Federalist Revolts

The Federalist Revolts were a product of a long-standing political rivalry between the Montagnards and the Girondins, both factions with the Jacobin club. They disagreed over how France should be run and how the government should be structured. Below is a table highlighting the differences between the two groups.

The Jacobins and the Girondins had polarising views on the way the country should be governed. The Girondins were certainly republican, but they held a more moderate position than the Montagnards. They supported democratic reforms, a strong legislative branch and a weaker executive branch. Such a stance can be contrasted with the more radical Jacobins, who supported a strong executive branch instead.

The conflict between the Girondins and the Montagnards revolved around divisions of the centralisation of government in Paris. The Girondins wanted more power for the provinces, while the Montagnards wanted to keep the government centralised in Paris.

War with Austria and Prussia

One reason why the Girondins fell out of favour was due to their stance on the ongoing war with Austria. The Girondins supported the war with Austria, as they hoped it would fuel the fires of French patriotism and revolutionary fervour among the people. However, many Montagnards were set against war. They believed that it would be a waste of resources and would not instil the patriotism that the Girondins thought it would. Equally, the French people were also not keen to be signed up for another war. Therefore, the Girondins lost popularity because of their stance.

Federalist Revolts Arrest of the Girondins

Now we know the causes of the Federalist revolts, let's look at the revolts themselves. On 31 May 1793, a group of sans-culottes marched to the National Convention, demanding the arrest of the Girondins. The Girondin deputies were detained and put on house arrest just 3 days later.

On 5 June, 17 Girondin deputies protested against the arrest of their fellow deputies. In the following days, they also protested against the actions of the Paris Commune and the sans-culottes. They encouraged other departments to join them, and indeed some did, namely the Somme, Haute-Alpes and Haute-Vienne.

Some detained Girondins escaped house arrest, inciting department revolts. Some joined the armed groups organised by Norman and Breton departments; other Girondin politicians escaped to other departments that supported the Girondins, such as Eure and Caen.

Federalist Revolt France

After the expulsion of the Girondins, four cities in the provinces rebelled against Paris and the National Convention. These rebellions worried the Montagnards, since they were four of the largest cities in the country, next to Paris.

Federalist Revolt Map

The Federalists believed that the French provinces should have an equal say in lawmaking and an equal part in running the country. They were concerned that the Montagnards had too much power over the National Convention, especially since their support base was small outside the capital. They favoured a decentralised government; one in which the provinces were allowed to make their own decisions regarding their laws and have control over their own affairs.

Fig. 2 - Map of France showing major cities. Lyon, Marseilles, Caen, and Bordeaux were major hotspots of revolt

In the context of the Federalist Revolts and the conflict between the Montagnards and the Girondins, the Girondins wanted federalism, supported by the provinces, and the Montagnards wanted a centralised government, supported by Paris and the sans culottes.

Federalist Revolt Geography

The Federalist Revolts were centred in the largest cities outside of Paris - Lyons, Marseilles, Caen and Bordeaux. It is hardly surprising that the provinces fiercely rejected a centralised government - they did not like the idea that a distant government could make laws for them without an understanding of the state of the province and what the people living there needed.

The Federalist revolts also had a link to the Vendée uprising, which was going on at roughly the same time. The Vendée felt its independence from Paris and the National Convention strongly, and so a link can be drawn between the desire for power of the provinces during the revolts and the rejection of the Paris government in the Vendée. There was also a lot of geographical overlap between the Vendée uprising and the Federalist Revolts.

Federalist Revolts Outcome

In spite of the Federalist Revolt, France largely remained unchanged. The Convention defeated the Girondins, and those who had been proscribed and arrested in the insurrection were executed in October 1793.

Here are the reasons why the revolts failed:

Suppression of the Federalist Revolts

The Federalist revolts were finished by the end of 1793. Once the rebellion had been quashed, a series of brutal reprisals against those regions followed. In the spring of 1794, troops moved through Marseille, Lyon and Toulon and killed a huge number of peasants, burnt down their farms and destroyed their crops. Women were assaulted and mutilated in this so-called 'pacification'.

Thousands were executed and even more imprisoned - in the areas involved in the Vendée rebellion (which overlapped with the areas of the Federalist revolts), some 8700 people were sentenced to death. This number totalled more than half the executions that took place during the entire reign of terror.

Fig. 3 - Execution of Pierre Brissot and the other Girondins

Most of this violence was committed by the Revolutionary army at the behest of the representatives-en-mission, and wholeheartedly condoned by the Montagnard dominated National Convention. On the 24 of October 1793, 22 Girondins were tried in front of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Those who previously escaped from Paris were captured, executed or committed suicide.

Federalist Revolts Consequences

The Federalist Revolts had a lasting impact on the progress of the French Revolution and aided in creating the machinery that allowed the Reign of Terror to occur. The widespread outbreak of rebellion against the Convention increased fears of a counter-revolution. This made it easier for the Montagnards to pass decrees like the Law of 22 Prairial which allowed for state-sanctioned violence, arrests and executions in the name of protecting the Revolution.

Another consequence of the Federalist Revolts was the increasing centralisation of power in Paris. 'Federalism' actually became a crime, for which many people were executed during the Terror. The provinces had lost their chance to have even a modicum of power to control their own affairs. The Montagnard-dominated Convention was keen to keep power in Paris to stop any further unrest.

Federalist Revolts Historiography

Paul Hanson, a historian specialising in the Federalist Revolts placed the revolts within the wider context of the French Revolution. Hanson looked at the revolts as a culmination of two separate conflicts - the conflict between the Girondins and the Montagnards, but also exacerbated the tensions between Paris and the Provinces. The clash between Paris and the Provinces was an issue for the Girondin-Montagnard conflict to galvanise around.

The reprisals that followed the Federalist Revolts were not easily forgotten in the provinces. Although direct action was curtailed, resentment towards the National Convention only grew and kept growing over the next year as the reign of terror unfolded.