To what extent were Robespierre and the Jacobins responsible for causing political instability

in France between 1789 and 1790?

Robespierre was a leading figure of the Revolution. As leader of the Jacobins political club,
he seized control of France and led her into one of the most tumultuous periods of French
history. We will hereby consider to extent to which Robespierre and the Jacobins are
responsible for the political instability of the period 1789-1790. We will consider their role in
the collapse of the constitutional monarchy; the chaos caused by the Terror which ultimately
led to the downfall of the dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety and the consequence
of Terror which was an almost Civil War in France. However, we will also see that other
factors were significant such as the role of Louis, the role of the Assembly and the threat of
foreign invasion.

Robespierre, as the influential leader of the Jacobins political club, played a significant role in
transforming the French political landscape in 1792 and was a key participant in the collapse
of the constitutional monarchy and the execution of Louis XVI. After the Storming of the
Bastille on the 10th of August, Robespierre joined the Paris Commune in which he will
playing a leading role. The Commune, led by a majority of Jacobins, overpowered the
Legislative Assembly and pushed through several measures: universal suffrage was adopted,
the sans-culottes were armed, all remnants of noble privileges were abolished, and the
properties of the émigrés were sold. Robespierre called for the set-up of a Revolutionary
Tribunal and the execution of the king. In the summer of 1792, the Commune ordered the
arrest of thousands of suspected counterrevolutionaries in Paris. By September, threatened by
a possible invasion, the Jacobins called to the murder of the prisoners. The call was received
by the sans-culottes who attacked the prisons and killed over 1600 prisoners. The events of
1792 marked the end of the bourgeois revolution of 1789 and the beginning of a more radical,
people’s revolution.

The rule of Robespierre led to the creation of a dictatorship and the rule of Terror. In 1793,
faced with the pressure of war. The Jacobins became increasingly critical of the Girondins in
the Convention who they believed were incapable of dealing with the conflicts. After the
collapse of the Girondins, Robespierre became the leading voice of the Revolution and seized
control of the Committee of Public Safety which had been set up in April 1793 to protect the
Revolution from the threat of war and counter-revolutionary activity. In September 1793,
Robespierre declared that ‘Terror is the order of the day’ and set up a series of measures to
protect the revolution including ‘economic terror’ and the law of General Maximum which
set a maximum price for bread and the ‘Law of Suspects’ which meant anyone suspected of
counter- revolutionary activity and undermining the Republic could be arrested and held
without trial indefinitely. Consequently, sans-culottes and the revolutionary were sent to the
countryside to requisition grain from peasants who refused to submit to the demands of the
CPS and, throughout France, suspected counterrevolutionaries were guillotined. However, the
terror was also used to disseminate the growing opposition, for example, Hébert was
guillotined in 1794. Ultimately, the Terror was brought to an end by the Thermodorian
Reaction, a revolt of the Convention against Terror, and Robespierre himself was guillotined
in 1794. Consequently, the violence of the Terror in which approximately 12000 citizens were
killed led to the collapse of the rule of the Jacobins and of the sans-culottes.

Finally, the rule of Terror caused a period of quasi-Civil War in France with uprisings in the
provinces. The Vendée Uprising was a response to the ‘Levée en Masse´ (forced
conscription) of 1793. A ‘Catholic and Royalist’ army was set up and able to seize several
towns. It was brutally repressed and thousands of peasants were killed. There was also a
rebellion in Lyon, where the fédérés aimed to get rid of the influence of Paris and the
Jacobins and sieged Toulon. Even if these movements were repressed by Terror, they show
that political instability in the period 1793-1794 was widespread and was not limited to Paris.
Indeed, the whole of France suffered significant political turbulence in this period.

However, the instability in the period 1789-1795 cannot be seen as limited to the role of
Robespierre and the Jacobins. There are many other factors that can explain why during this
period, the political scene was chaotic.

The actions of Louis XVI can be seen as one of the main reasons why there was so much
instability. His failure to acknowledge the growing demands for change during the meeting of
the Estates General led to the Tennis Court Oath. His dismissal of Necker led Parisians to
believe the king was conspiring against the Assembly and to the storming of the Bastille on
the 14th of July which extended the revolution to the provinces. His reluctance to embrace the
Revolution led to the October Days, a forced acceptance of the August Decrees and the return
of the royal family to Paris. His support for refractory priests, lack of enthusiasm for the
Constitution of 1791 and most importantly the Flight to Varennes, made it clear that Louis
was not favourable to sharing his power. This led to an increasing call for a republic and for
the downfall of the royal family by political agitators such as Hébert. By the time Robespierre
and the Jacobins sided with the republicans, the sans-culottes were already radicalised.
Consequently, the actions of Louis showed he was a threat to the Revolution and is one of the
main reasons for the collapse of the constitutional monarchy.

However, the Legislative Assembly can also be seen as playing an important role in the
failure to implement a stable political system. The Legislative assembly did not respond to
the needs of the civilians by failing to solve the economic issues that plagued France and by
an inadequate response to the radicalisation of the sans-culottes. The administrative and tax
reforms of the first years of the revolution did not lead to a decrease in taxation for the vast
majority of the population. What’s more, problems with collection remained which meant
that certain privileges remained. The high taxation coupled with terrible harvests meant that
there were famines in parts of France and real problem with food supplies in the large cities.
The poor economic conditions quickly became political discontent. A peaceful meeting at the
Champs de Mars in July 1791, to sign the Jacobins petition demanding the suspension of the
constitutional rights of Louis (following the flight to Varennes), was met by the National
guard, who under the orders of Lafayette fired on the crowd. The Legislative Assembly
consequently lost the support of the popular masses and this paved the way to the events of
1792. However, we can also see that political clubs such as the Jacobins (but also the
Cordeliers, for example) played a significant role in organising popular discontent.

However, it can be argued that is the threat of invasion from foreign powers can also be seen
as the precursors to the coups specifically after the beginning of the war of the First Coalition
in 1792. The financial strain of war and conscription displeased the masses. The Brunswick
Manifesto and the threat of to invade Paris, led the sans-culottes to storm the Tuileries and to
collapse of the monarchy and to the September Massacres. War was the justification for
Terror.

Consequently, it would be difficult to establish that Robespierre and the Jacobins are fully
responsible for political instability. Certainly, they participated in the radicalisation of the
sans-culottes but the popular anger was caused by economic problems which the Legislative
Assembly was unable to solve and the actions of Louis who appeared to threaten the
Revolution. After seizing power, the Jacobins rule of Terror led to a period of revolutionary
terror and a quasi-civil war but this was justified by the threat of foreign invasion and the
need to protect the Revolution. Thererfore, it is impossible to state that Robespierre and the
Jacobins are the causes of the instability but they certainly contributed to it significantly.