Hist 002 Notes.docx

History 002 Notes 06/30/09 1648 ? 1789 Enlightenment It began with a system of scientific inquiry What the early enlightenment philosophers were attempting to do was to find a predictable nature of nature Something that the Egyptians, and Greeks, and romans had attempted to do as well. But was lost over time (because of wars, etc.) What the early philosophers were attempting to do was to remove the super natural elements to explain how nature worked. In a sense what this means is that they began a system of scientific inquiry which lead to rational inquiry They began to think of nature rationally Newtown ? extremely religious ; believed that god pushed ?a button? and set the universe in motion. He said that the universe was rational, that god was rational, therefore nature was rational as well. And in order to approach the questions of nature, one had to approach them in a rational and logical format. Idea of rationalism is against that of the church. Art ? people begin to approach art rationally and scientifically. Milton wrote a book questioning ideas of freedom and rationality. How does the human mind operate etc. The enlightenment was really all about questioning without the interference of the super natural. Voltaire uses a formula of rational questioning to question the way in which society is structured. Began questioning in the 18th century. How was it structured. It was based upon Feudalism Also known as the Ancien Regime In other other words, kings were absolute rulers (absolutism) Royalty is all interrelated because it is a specific blood line Where did the aristocracy come from? (dukes, earls, counts, barrens, etc.) Falls under the king / queen. Royalty Then Aristocracy They were very privileged in society They had done something for a king/queen in long history, they were the original knights. Their ancestors Had great advantages (like not paying taxes) Sometimes above aristocracy, or sometimes below was the Church The Pope was sometimes even above the king or the queen The last was there Serfs which were the people Carpenters, laborers, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers, etc. Tax burden falls on serfs to run these governments Feudalism Ancien Regime Pope King/Queen Aristocracy Serfs In ancien regime jobs/titles were passed down father to son from generation to generation. The military was a prestigious thing in the 18th century, but was run by aristocrats Any appointment was sent from father to son, and there was basically no room to move up the ladder. Idea of birth right If we structure society on birth right, we are not basing it on merit Not rational If a serf had a son that was very gifted, and he could invent things and design things, he was still going to end up as a serf, (like plowing a field), which was a waste of talent and a waste of humanity What Voltaire did was he began to question the rationality of absolutism and the influence of the people on the church Questions how society is structured And then other writers get on board So we see a shift from scientific inquiry into how do we perfect society Rousseau People feel threatened by the shift of science to questioning society People that feel most threatened are Kings, Church, and Aristocrats. In 1776 a group of colonists declared freedom from crown of England. What they were borrowing on was Voltaire and Rosseau and how they approached The ununiqueness of their declaration of freedom was that they are outside the realm of an indigenous kingdom, far far away (they are in America, and fighting against England) Periphery Major repercussions Seven years war ? aka French and Indian wars Major fight ? G.B. and France English won, which left bad taste in king of France This was where George Washington gets a lot of experience In 1776 France sees a good opportunity to get back at England. So, the French financially support the colonists and helps fight against their motherland of Great Britain. Aristocrat Lafayette goes to help and support the American colonists Interesting because in 1776 the French Treasury is broke Because of the debt incurred in fighting the 7 years war now drives further into debt because of the kings ego to support the American colonists it brings about huge economic burden on the French In a sense, half of their national budget simply went to pay interest on the loans the king had taken to fight the 7 years war and to help support the American revolution with the colonists. Economically, country goes into poverty, a recession, lose jobs Have to devalue currency Have less money then, and there is high inflation THEN, a cropped failure occurs Price of bread skyrockets, and it is already inflated, and now it will become even worse. Louis XVI takes over crown after his grandfather dies, and once again we question rationality of the choice of Louis XVI . He was the eldest son of his father. However, he had NO aptitude for leadership. He himself wanted to spend his days in the attic playing with clocks and locks. (In Versailles, France) Was into tinkering with clocks and locks Wanted to be a locksmith/ clockmaker In the evenings he went hunting. He did not want to be burdened with the trials and tribulations of running a country. Didn?t want to be troubled by wife. His wife was Mariah Antoinette. She surrounded herself with contracts. They were totally out of touch. She, in such debt, would purchase million dollar diamonds, there was accusation of embezzlement. When told the people had no bread, it is said she said ?Let them have cake? Appoints a Swiss National (who is Swiss, not French) He appoints Necker who is a very talented accountant He starts looking into the situation and finds out something very interesting ? First thing is that the way the taxes are being collected. Aka there is no true accounting Which tells us that not all the tax money is going into treasury, and a lot is going into tax collectors pocket What Necker wants to do is make a more rational collecting way Tax collectors are giving him resistance. Tax collectors are the Aristocrats The aristocrats have been controlling Louis XVI Also looks how the Church is structured. And is met with resistance from the church. What?s going to happen is that Necker is going to force Louis XVI to call for an Estates General There hadn?t been one there since 1614 What it is that society in france is broken into an Estate, or level. There are basically 3 estates in France 1) Clergy/ Chruch 2) Aristocracy 3) Everybody else Estates general was a general to solve all the problems of the different states. Kind of like the congress that advises the king. 07/1/09 ? ? Estates general Dialectic in the enlightenment Dialectic is a way of explaining history (investigation of truth through discussion) Formula for dialectic -> Thesis, -Antithesis, - Synthesis, Antithesis is truly a society based upon merit And the Thesis is basically what the Ancien regime encompasses (birth right) So what we see here is a struggle and clashes amongst the two. Over the course of the 18th century, the thesis and antithesis have constant clashes. The PEOPLE believe in the idea of merit, but the church, and aristocracies and higher people all want birth right. Where is it in the enlightenment? The last estates general in 1614 The king at the time decided how many representatives would represent each state? The first estate gets 50 reps. The second estate gets 50 reps. 3rd estate gets 50 reps. Then, the king did something different. He said that each estate can only get ONE vote. An issue comes in front of each estate? Then they have a meeting and debate over it. If each estate only received ONE vote, any initiative that the 3rd estate brought got taken down, because the 1st and second estates worked together. In 1789 France, The first estate, Church & clergy, simply represented 100,000 people. The first estate was also TAX EXEMPT, didn?t have to pay any taxes. They also had the ability to levy tax. How does a church levy a tax? ?Tithing? If you were member of a parish, you were levied 10% of your income to go to church. 10% of land was also owned by the church The 3rd estate had to work the fields. The second estate, the aristocracy, comprised 400,000 people, out of a population of approx. 30 million. They owned 25% of the land. The other 65% is owned by the king. Also paid approx. ZERO taxes, being tax exempt as well. Yet, they had the best land. They TOO could levy a tax. How do they levy a tax? By letting people living on their land. If people live on their land, they must not just donate what they are producing form their land, but also in certain instances have to donate their time to the lord of the manor, the aristocrat on whose land they are living. The third estate, everybody else, was comprised of 29.5 million people., which was 95% of the total population Had ZERO % of the land, and paid the entire tax burden. The king in 1789 says: 1st estate, you get 50 representatives 2nd estate, you get 50 representatives 3rd estate, you get 100 representatives ? which in 1614 wouldn?t have mattered. And, he leaves it up to the estates general to decide HOW the voting is going to go. Should each rep. get a vote or a whole estate get one vote. What becomes a stalemate is how voting should proceed If it takes place by head, 3rd has an advantage. If it is by estate, the 1st and 2nd have an advantage. They convene by May of 1789 with great pomp and circumstance The debate becomes almost violent, as to what to do. On June 17th 1789, the third estate walks out of the meeting hall and declare themselves the ?National assembly? The first and second estate lock the doors and will not allow them back in. The rest of France eagerly watches what is going on. They thought the king was actually going to listen to their grievances and make reforms. A few days later, on June 19th, 1789 , the first estate meets to decide what to do because the national assembly sent out an invitation to any estate general to see if they could join them. They meet with a very narrow margin to join the national assembly. AND, then the First and Third estate join together. They swear an oath on a tennis court, and it becomes known as the ?Tennis court oath? Louis David paints the ?Tennis court oath? They declare not to disband until they have written a constitution for France. It is their intention to create a constitutional monarchy The majority reps of the first estate are local parish priests. There were a lot of parish priests that were sympathetic to the third estate People begin to unarm themselves, and are searching for grain. On July 11th, 1789 something big happened. Jaques Necker, who is despised by the 2nd estate, pressures King Louis to dismiss Necker. When that news gets out, riots occur in the streets of Paris. The king immediately has troops march down to Paris to put down the riot. The people of Paris being to search for weapons and food. The one place they believe weapons and food is stored is the ?Bastille? It was a symbol of royal authority, a fortification ? prison . On July 14th, 1789, the people of Paris attack the bastille. One hundred Patriots die in the attack And eventually the Garrison of the bastille surrenders. He is taken by the patriots and then beheaded. His head is then paraded around the streets of Paris. Then, all over France people begin to attack symbols of royal authority. This is unprecedented b/c for the first time in European history in this Era, it was not locally contained and was spread out through France, and common people were able to act violently in dire political situations. Constitutional Monarchy Gives a set of law to how the king must govern, instead of the king being arbitrary. He has a set of rules that he must follow now, different from absolute monarchy. People are forming patriots squads? which are attacking local government, any symbol of royal authority, and replacing local government and local authority with local squads of patriots.. which come to be known as National Guard What the national assembly does in response to this is appoint Lafayette, a member of the 2nd estate and a member of the 50 reps of the estates general. The national assembly appoints him commander of all the national guard units, to organize them. Why is he a member of the national assembly now, even though 2nd estate hasn?t left? Because the invitation was open to ANYONE He wished to join the 1st and 3rd, because he was 1) sympathetic, 2) saw the American revolution, 3) ?. First thing Lafayette sees is his duty, and to calm the rioting and gain control of society. The rioting is going up a level because the people in the city flee to the country side looking for food, and the peasants believe it is a plot against them. So the peasants begin to burn their crops. The peasants also begin to attack aristocratic manors. This is where the seigniorial records are kept. Great fear When the peasants revolt against the aristrocrats What is the response? They need to denounce their feudal privilege because they don?t want to keep burning their crops, and for the sake of their families and other members of the second estate. August 4th 1789 The 2nd estate announces that they will forego all of their tax exempt status etc. The national assembly now consisting of all 3 estates announces abolition of the Ancien regime. Louis?s government has fallen. At this point, they need to form a new government. Which at the time will be the national government. They also have to get things to be back to normal so people can eat again, control society, no more riots. And at the same time they promise the people of France a new constitution. Now, they must exert authority where they really don?t have authority but have to assume that people will assume their authority. And order must be maintained in order to be accomplished. 07/02/09 Core One of the things national assembly does is mandate equal access to jobs & equal access to government posts/jobs They issue an edith ? they write a ?declaration of the rights of man and citizen? prior to this event the people of France were subjects to the crown 1) now they are actual citizens. That is the difference between a subject and a citizen Men are born free and with equal rights Granted religious freedom 2)Era of the Pamphlet Pamphlets were very prolific If you wanted to publish a pamphlet you had to do it anonymously Thomas Payne took a step and did it with his own name 3rd thing ? there shall be equality before the law EVERYONE is equal, regardless of estate The guillotine will come into practice as becoming equalizer in execution It was designed to be a more ?humane? method of execution Olympia de Gorges ? a woman- in response to this document publishes her own ?declaration of women? in 1791 ?Declaration of the rights of Woman of 1791? For this, she is executed via guillotine An issue from this document was also religious freedom being granted By granting religious freedom, many people had political rights now. Before jews had to live in specific areas of France? in the ?ghetto? They now had freedom to pursue other occupations other than what had been mandated National assembly ends up creating a constitution? a constitutional monarchy Had no interest in doing away with the king King is merely a figure head in France Create a one house legislature Will be in charge of passing laws The king in his place in the legislature had no veto power It was his job to enact the laws passed by the one house legislature People were extremely anticlerical ? they feared power of the church 83 new administrative offices are put in place In a sense, a new bureaucracy is made Decree in the constitution that all official posts must be freely elected by the people No office could be bought or sold People w/o even talent can run for jobs Becomes very burdensome Abolished old tax structure and replaced it with equally levied tax system Ex. If a serf?s annual income was 5 franks, his tax burden was 10 franks An aristocrats burden could be 10 franks as well THAT causes A LOT of problems because it is not perctange equal A new currency is created ?Assignot? To give value, it must be backed up , but the treasury is broke at this time So what they did now is confiscate all the Church land and back the money with this. Controversial because church owned 10% of the land ?Civil constitution of the Clergy? Everyone is upset Encourages nuns and monks and priests to return to privet life guarantee them a pension Has things going against the church France was extremely religious? and this divides population between loyalty to church, loyalty to people, loyalty to the revolution?. People are attacking the church The constitution itself is finalized in 1791 In June of 1790, the king has had enough They have basically been held captive by the revolutionaries Feel that their power has been reduced, which it has They escape the place on June 20, 1790 from where they?ve been held and will attempt to flee to Austria Marie Antoinette?s brother is the king of Austria They are captured 40 miles from the Austrian border They had disguised themselves and stopped in an inn.. A postman noticed it was the king because he recognized him from the ?Assignot? (currency) and he arrests the king and brings him back to Paris. They look at the royal family as traitors to the revolution The national assembly declares themselves ineligible to run for office? Do it out of disinterestedness Swords rattling with France and western neighbors of Prussia and Austria A threat of war from the beginnings of 1789 Monarchs of Europe feel threatened with what they see in France Idea of a mob mentality that they truly feared Pressure put on king and king wishes a war? King Louis XVI wants war Why? So he can escape (Austrians and Russians come to his aid and he put an end to the revolution) The people want a war to prove they are right and to prove the king is a traitor to his own people On April 21, 1792 war is declared on Austria by the French (FIRST PAGE OF NOTES ARE WRITTEN IN NOTEBOOK) 07/06/09 The French army is illprepared for wall Thousands of French people and 2/3 of French army including several of Louis?s Brotehrs have fled to Austria when the revolution began. The people who have fled are more than willing to join Austria in the fight The king of Austria at the time is Leopold II ? brother of Marie Antoinette Initially a lot of sword wrattling between Austria and France. The fighting doesn?t actually begin until 1792 In June 1792 a group of people, a mob, breaks into the palace where king, queen, loyal family are being kept. This mob is going to threaten the life of the King (and the royal family). This is an insurrection, internal, that starts in 1792 against the government. The one house legislature at the time will recall their most able bodied general to put down the insurrection. That man was Lafayette. This begins to create a distrust of the military with the people. By August 10, 1792, this mob once again captures the king. This mob is quite famous, which creates this insurrection, and it will be called the Sans-culotte It means ?without breaches? What were breaches? Like pants that came to their knees The Sans-culotte were wearing FULL length pants? which tells us that they were 3rd estate people, today known as working class people .. wearing peasant clothing Not only are they working class, but they are extremely radical and militant When they caputure the king on Aug. 10th, the government seizes to exist. The one body legislature, the legislative community, orders new electiosn with universal manhood service and a national convention to write a new constitution. So, on Aug. 10th, the government collapses and what is called for is new elections for a new national convention to write yet another new constitution Again france is in a state of turmoil What does the national convention have to do now? They are fighting a war? and they have unrest being generated by the militant radical groupd ?the Sans-culotte? .. something needs to be done When the king is captured, the Prussians also get involved with the war. Prussia very quickly advances on Paris, and caught the French off guard Leads to rumors that the army is working with the King So, the military is further distrusted by the people Violocne once again breaks out Prisons are smashed into looking for traitors. This is all known as September Massacres because all these traitors are destroyed, but what is really happening is innocent people are being killed. About 1,100 people will die A new convention is announced, and is greeted with great excitement and a group of people that were nation in origion, known as Jacobins, will begin to establish ?Jacobins Clubs? People got together here to discuss political issues Eventually, Jacobin Clubs become a political party When the national convention is seated, the Jacobin Clubs breaks into 2 separate sects People are divided on their opinions and their outlooks They become divided over what should be done with the king. As the national assembly is being seated in fall and winter of 1792, the Jacobins form groups : One is known as Girodins These people are very moderate They distrust the Sans-culotte They are very resentful for their growing influence in paris They attempt to appeal to the people of the provinces, the peasants The other group is known as the Mountain Are very radical Also very militant They have aligned themselves with the influence and radicallness of the Sans-culotte Get their name because in the convention halls, they sit very high and are as loud and boisterous as possible, and wouldn?t let others talk The first showdown between the two groups is over what should be done with the king They have 3 options they want to put forth The want to put forth several different things 1) Clemencey for any crime he may have committed 2) Perhaps he should be set into exile? 3) Perhaps going along the girodings belief in democracy perhaps the people should decide the faith of the king? Have a referendum vote, with all options available inc. death The mountains simply want the king killed At the vote, the mountains win but with very narrow margin When they win the vote they begin to question why the Girodins would want clemency? and will accuse 29 girodins for Treason and will demand for their arrest What the convention will do is form Committee of Public Safety A five member board of men whose sole purpose is to investigate people for treason, importing grain, profiteering, but most importantly political descent They become the revolutionaries army , in a sense, and hunt people down. The Girodins said lets investigate The mountains didn?t want to give any influence of Girodins The committee is dominated by the Mountains The one man who was really the influential creator and chairman of the public safety was truly one of the first despotic dictators of modern history Maximillian Robespierre Unleashes onto the French population what becomes known as the Great terror To this very day he is hated in France Despot is someone who rules for his own interest ? a dictator He was an attorney by profession Was extremely well educated and believed in the enlightenment and what it stood for ? freedom, civil liberties, extremely anticlerical- but it will be HIM coming out of the enlightenment and he will be the first person to restrict civil liberties Great terror ? where any form of political descent meets with the death penalty No appeal system This was PUBLIC ? became great spectacles, a part of cultural entertainment The condemned is lead through the streets of Paris Can throw things at them Then they will be lead to a town square where people have been assembled with families to watch it as entertainment Robespierre orchestrates this festivity ?The first maxim of your policies must be to lead the people by reason and the people?s enemies by terror. Without virtue terror is deadly [not existent], without terror virtue is infinite.? ? Robespierre So he leads the people by fear, and terror The king will be one of the first victims of Robespierre He will be guillotined on Jan. 21st, 1793 For all Louis? weakness, for his inability to lead, his incompetency as beign king, impenance, on the day of his execution Louis went to the guillotine with great dignitiy. And for the first time displayed a regalness about him fitting the king?. For the first time he actually FELT like a king In April 1793, after king is killed France has more enemies than ever Austria, Great Britain has entered, spain, Island of sardania, the north, etc. the French are surrounded by enemies Robespierre will take this and use it to his advantage and also use it to the French people?s advantage as well He, Robespierre, is going to use Nationalism to mobilize the French people for war. Mobilizes young and old, women and children, to fight this war for France. Women and children will establish in parks, and old men, ? whre people bring rusted old iron pieces and women and children will make bandages with rags, children will pack food that the women make? old men will get together and smelt iron and make weapons for the troops. Again, it is unprecedented. Nationalism is now a new idea, people are saying we need to do this for France and for the people Groups of people sharing similar identities are nationalized By summer of 1794 French will have corrected and begun to push back the armies or Prussia and Austria, utilizing nationalism as a motivator POLAND Austria and Prussia pull troops, which allows French to push forth. Troops has been wittled down to go to Poland, and that gives French an opportunity Wherever the French go into new territory, they declare a war of national liberation What they are doing is spreading what the Kings of Europe had feared ? a revolutionary ideology.. Established Jacobin Clubs in the Netherlands, in the German speaking land, begin to organize the people into patriots to go against their traditional leadership, with kings. As the war is going okay, Robespierre begins to tighten his grip on French society and will try to attack/change the culture of France. So it is not just a political revolution, but a social and cultural revolution as well. One way Robespierre did this is by recruiting a good friend, also a popular artist of France, Jaque Louis David They mount cultural festivals that will glorify the revolution Allegory ? a symbol that stands for something Lady Liberty comes from the French revolution The two glorify the image of Lady Liberty Who can represent the revolution the best Next, he attacks Christianity and de-christian the Christianized france. He will close all the churches, even Notre Dame ? one of the most famous cathedrals in the world, will be shut down In Christianities place, he will attempt to create cult of Reason Which is a failure.. why? The gov. would sell off church assets as it got rid fo it Because cult of Reason is such a flop, he establishes ?cult of the Supreme Being? That TOO was a failure? but not as big a failure as cult of reason Next, he orders compulsory education for girls and boys This too was not very successful.. One reason was b/c monks and nuns, who were the educators, have been banished. So people who couldn?t really read + write were coming in One place where they were successful in this new educational system was to socialize ? the socialization of the children Learning how to be a member of the society Was there to instill into the children a sense of the revoulation and what it was there to do Also shows symbol of the French revolution ? cockade (red, white, and blue pins made out of feathers that you would wear on hat of lapel) To be caught w/o the cockade it was counted as treason ?antirevolutionary? All things that were mandated . How daily life would become politicized Another thing they did was did away with roman calendar and created their own revolutionary calendar ? year?s were changed and year one became September 22, 1792 Year begins every sept. 22 Names of months will be changed Weeks will be transformed from 7 to 10 and be called a decade Five extra days are left in the year.. and will be called sans-cullots ? days of festivitiy Only got off 1 day , every 10 days Trying to revolutionize society and culture One major change was also going ot metric system, instead of english system Death, marriage, divorce, etc. will now be handled by state instead of church 07/07/09 With all the change occurring, dechristianization of france, change in calendar and wearing of cockade, all these changes are occurring due to the committee of public safety With all this abrupt change, and people don?t take kindly to sudden change & gradual change tends to be good, you would expect protest/resistance to be happening to this change as well? however the fear that if you do resist you will end up on the guillotine. The one real part of real resistance that can be identified was the murder of John Paul Marat He was immortalized in the famous painting by David Was the owner and head editor of newspaper ? Friend of the People? Also a very close associate with Robespierre and David Newspaper was main info for committtes In his editorials he would call for more terror, wanted to see more beheadings and blood A woman, Charlotte Corday , decided to take Marat out (kills him) She does it very neatly, but still murder Marat had a skin condition that forced him to spend time in a tub most of the day Also happened to be a well known womanizer Corday sends marat a letter asking for help. States that her husband has been killed on the front lines fighting the Prussians and that her five childrens and her are destitute and watns some assistant from him. It is a ploy, and she knows he will grant and audience from him helping her ;-) She enters his bedroom where he keeps his tub, and she gets close to him and sticks a tub to his heart. She assassinated what she thought to be the ?tongue of Robespierre? Sacrificed herself to save others There is overt resistance ? killing him There should be covert resistance as well The more well the war begins to go well for the French, the more of a stranglehold Robespierre holds to the convent as well as the committee He will attack organizations as well as individuals within the convention Since women couldn?t vote they felt itw as their duty to eb very vocal and out in the open with publications to try and support the revolution Robespierre seized thema as a threat, so he would have the group outlawed and Olympia Degoje was killed by guillotine. ?Women was illsuited for elevated thoguths and serious meditations? She dies in 1793 In spring of 1794 the committee will move against the critics within the political circles and deputtees to the political convention. Robespierre will also move against eh sansculat and call them dangerous & ultrarevolutionaries Then he will attack a group of people called the indulgent They are lead by a man named Danton He was an extremely eloquent speaker Often rivald the popularity of Robespierre as well ?Must feed our people with bread but at the same time feed their mind with knowledge? Robespierre came out w/ new method of trying people with treason The new rules said that an accused cannot have a legal defense/representation The accused is also not allowed to speak in his own defense ? will be arrested Occurs in june of 1794 Robespierre was well aware of how intelligent and well of a speaker Danton was and couldn?t have him speaking on his trial. They muzzled him to keep him from speaking If you canot speak in your defense and cannot have someone represent, your convicted.. So he is convicted and sentenced to death As he is being led thorugh the streets of paris he looks up as he is passing Robespierres apartment and he is standing up there.. He ylls to Robespierre ?the path I travel today, you soon too will travel? Robespierre is said to have turned white By July, Robespierre again will appear before the convention with a new list of names of members of the convention that he will accuse of treason The committee shouted down and refused to hear WHO he was going to accuse Why did they do this? Fear of not wanting to die? All the members of the convention are probably innocent and your name could be on the list, so in a sense of fear they all shout Robespierre down He will now be tried b/c he cant have anyone talk in his defense So he tries to kill him self before the trial, and in his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide he only damages his jaw and they fix it. The next day they take him to the guillotine, w/o dignitiy Once he is gone, the Thermadorian reaction takes place because Robespierre is executed on the Revolutionary calendar of month Thermadorian ? actually is July 7th 1794 It was an immediate doing away/lessening of the terror More freedoms will be granted almost iimmediately The convention will begin to do what it had set out to do, write a new constitution for france Why was Robespierre so despotic? What made him into a dictator and in a sense a terrorist? As the war began to go in France?s favor, he increased the terror If there is no need for terror, there is no need for Robespierre Therefore, he needed to constantly create new enemies New enemies of the people, new enemies of the revolution Once he seized Danton rivaling his own popularity,it actually threatens his own existence He realized that if Danton could speak his own defense he would be acquitted b/c he had not done anything A new era is sparked by the thermadorian Reaction the Covert resistance