The Dark Side of Liberty

.

Executions During the French Revolution 1792-1796

Who were these tragic victims of the French Revolution? What horrible crimes did they commit that warranted death sentences and executions? Were they all nobles and aristocrats? Were children executed? How many died? Why did they have to die? Why should we even care now?

The tearing down of the ‘ancien regime’ and building a new Republic of France where subjects became citizens came by a very high cost of human lives, wars and devastation. The Republic United in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.. or death ( Unité Indivisibilité de la Republique, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, ou la mort) came to nobles to peasants, from Church Bishops to the lowest of clergy, government officials to scribes, doctors to servants, military officers down to grunt soldiers, men, women, and even the children were not spared

Thus Starts the French Revolution 1789

The Terror, or as history now calls it, ‘The Reign of Terror’ was launched by Maximilien Robespierre, and his cabinet in 1793 and ended in July 1794 what we see as “The Terror’ was framed as ‘justice’ by that same leadership. French historians, such as Jean-Clementé Martin. deny it was Terror, (as well as deny there were genocides) only executions of criminals in the name of justice. That position is hard to understand when Jean-Baptiste Carrier brutally and without mercy drowned thousands of people and families with children in the River Loire. Mind you, they were suspected of crimes, not if they committed any.

That era of French history was a horrific and brutal time.

Madness, mutilations, massacres, murder, genocides, and mass executions seemed to be happening as an everyday occurrence. According to the online encyclopedia Britannica, The French Revolution invoked hysteria and fear as an estimated 300,000 people were arrested, about 17,000 were recorded to have been executed (though the numbers must be higher) and roughly 10,000 died in prison or without trial. The number of deaths documented in ‘The incidence of the terror during the French Revolution: a statistical interpretation‘ ¹ estimates the deaths to be much higher

Not all of the condemned were executed,

Some were exiled, or deported elsewhere for a set period of years, and some sat in jails (ones with paid privileges, the others not-so-good), Besides the guillotine, executions were also exacted by drownings, hangings, shootings & stabbings.

….and not all of the executed were French. Swedish, English, Irish, Italian, and those from the German states went before courts, tribunals, and commissions and then sentenced to death.

Two online volumes of digital books located at books.google.com which contain the names, places of birth, residence , trial, age, some biographical info, and charges the accused were said to have committed.“DICTIONNAIRE DES INDIVIDUS ENVOYÉS A LA MORT JUDICIAIREMENT” 1792-1796 Volume 1 and Volume 2 (the whole title is longer than this) recorded and penned by French historian and journalist Louis-Marie Prud’homme provides this information.

Assassination attempts on Robespierre and other prominent leaders, conspirators, and counter-revolutionists,

received no mercy. The hiding of priests, counterfeiting money, immigrating to enemy lines or running to get out of the country, brigands, and other suspected crimes were dealt out in swift execution.

The executions of famous and infamous men and women are included in these volumes. You can find the names of victims, with descriptions of those and other crimes, dates, and places of execution, with available genealogical information searchable here

Unfortunately, these dictionaries are all in French.

You will need an online translator and encyclopedia. You can copy and paste the information from the results form into an online translator to give you an understanding of what happened. You will also need to use an online encyclopedia to understand some of the phrasing and background history of the events and crimes they are accused of ex: ‘malheureuses journées’ Need to know what the French Occupations were? FamilySearch provides this tool

Were any of your French Ancestors condemned to die by one of the many types of courts and tribunals?