How was the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) perceived by foreign powers during the Terror?
Background:
In August of 1793, France was involved in many wars because of the revolution. The French government voted to create the levee en masse, which essentially mobilized the entire country's population and economy to be focused on defense efforts and wartime production. Along with this, The Committee of Public Safety was established to serve under the National Convention. That CPS was put in charge of running the day-to-day responsibilities during this time. The CPS was initially not radical but as time went on, their policies became much more extreme. This radicalization process started when Montagnard leaders like Robespierre, Saint-Just, and many others replaced more moderate deputies spots (Popkin 2016, 69). The Committee was granted power by the National Convention and soon began to develop into a revolutionary dictatorship, failing to create public safety and disregarding almost all individual rights, the CPS was negatively perceived as corrupt, villainous, and unethical by foreign powers.
Robespierre gave a speech on the 25th of December, 1793, claiming that "The revolution is the war waged by liberty against all its enemies. Until opponents of the people are defeated the government must have virtually unlimited powers" (Pokin 2016, 71).The enemies that he is referring to were both foreign countries like Germany and England but also the domestic conspirators against the revolution. In an attempt to manage the threats of all these enemies, the CPS was granted strong centralized power. The CPS influenced the French ministers, army generals, and police force. This committee heavily controlled how the French public discussed and interpreted the CPS through strict censorship and cruel policies. However, foreign countries did not have this sort of dictatorship style censorship.
Primary Sources
Figure One:
The Brutality of the CPS's Policies
This image originates from Germany and was printed in Augsburg in 1794. The text at the bottom is in English. The art depicts members of the CPS taking a child from his mother. The child is the Dauphin, which is the title given to the eldest son of the King of France. The mother is struggling desperately with CPS officials trying to prevent the separation of her child. Her assistants or handmaids watch hopelessly as the child is stripped away. The man taking the child away is holding official-looking paperwork. Additionally, the men in the image have different facial expressions that provide insight into the various perspectives on the CPS' mandate, issued July 1st, 1793, directing the separation of the Dauphin from his mother.
Preceptions from both German and English powers are evident in this image. During this time, both were engaged in war with France during the revolution. This image could have been spread by these foreign nations to try to justify war efforts by creating a negative interpretation of the CPS and France as a whole. Showing the severity of the actions and extent that the CPS was willing to conduct attempting to discover conspirators, would likely foster sympathy for the royal family when shown to a foreign audience. Forcing the separation of a child from their mother could be perceived as extremely cruel, horrific, and wrong. This would illustrate to foreign nations that the CPS is willing to commit terrible crimes against children and their wellbeing. Additionally, the men's facial expressions are important to consider. The man holding the paperwork and actually taking the Dauphine away almost looks sorry for this action. This could imply that even the officials carrying out the CPS's policies do not fully agree with them. On the other hand, another man is perversely smiling while the child is being taken from his mother. This would also contribute to the belief that the CPS was committed to maintaining its power and authority over members of the royal monarchy. That perverse smile could spark foreign anger and sympathy for those impacted by the CPS and their harsh rule. This image is greatly significant because it shows us how the CPS was viewed by France’s enemies.
Figure Two:
The Disorganization and Chaos Within the CPS
The image above was first issued in France in 1797 and illustrates a scene from a CPS meeting. Specifically, after Robespierre has been overthrown as leader of the CPS and is awaiting his judgment. The text at the bottom has German wording and was later republished in Germany around 1806. In the image, there is a collection of armed men spread across the room carrying out conversations. The table on the left features Robespierre laying on top, looking powerless and sickly.
Foreign powers could interpret this image in many ways. The reprinting of this picture could have influenced France's enemies to think that the CPS and France are disorganized, violent, and lack leadership. The men in the painting are spread in a disorderly fashion across the room, conversing in small groups, and not as a collective unit. There are also many firearms in the room. This could suggest that the CPS has a reliance or dependence on violence to maintain power when viewed by a foreign audience. The former leader, Robespierre, is displayed on a table defeated and betrayed. Foreign powers could assume from this image that there is weak leadership in France. Furthermore, there is no accountability or checks of power for authority figures in France and that the only way to remove a political leader is with force, violence, coups. All these interpretations, if held by foreign nations, would contribute to a negative perception of France's and CPS and justify declaring war on them. Secondary Sources:
Source 1: “The Overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre and the ‘Indifference’ of the People.” By Colin Jones
The Leadership of the CPS
Robespierre is known to have been the highest-profile member of the Committee of Public Safety. With Robespierre's influence, the CPS had enforced policies of the Terror that had mobilized France to focus on military production for its domestic and foreign enemies. During 1794, he was the primary advocate for the closing of sectional clubs, banning Sans-culotte printers and newspapers, and executing leftist leaders (Jones 2014, 694). These radical actions were cruel and unjust towards the Sans-culottes. He viewed their actions of public writing and speeches as a challenge to the CPS's jurisdiction and the entire revolution. To maintain his power and silence political opposition, he used the Committee's authority to commit horrible crimes against these people. Foreign powers who learned about these vile actions against the French people could blame Robespierre for his abuse of political authority. Enemies of France could also further justify the war, claiming that the CPS was committing unjust crimes against its people, overreaching their political authority, and violently maintaining governmental power.
Robespierre was increasingly blamed for the problems and difficulties associated with the Terror. He was also even known to claim that there was a coup rising against him. This could have been a sign of his mental instability and growing paranoia. He also attempted to commit suicide but failed. Robespierre was later overthrown and executed by the same guillotine that he had sent many of his enemies. The French public viewed Robespierre’s trial with “a steadily increasing indifference for politics” (Jones 2014, 695). His death was a hopeful signal for movement away from the Terror. The enemies of France could interpret his overthrow in a couple of different ways. First, by allowing a man to lead, who demonstrated mental instability or paranoia and even tried to kill himself, could prove France's leadership is irrational and weak. Secondly, the removal of Robespierre could have been viewed as a positive action. By overthrowing a leader who mentally unreasonable and does almost anything to preserve his power, it could be viewed as the French making progress towards a more civil and orderly society.
Source 2: “Robespierre’s Tail: The Possibilities of Justice after the Terror.”
By Howard Brown
The CPS After Robespierre
The day that Robespierre was killed, July 28th, 1794, the guillotine was heavily used. Robespierre and twenty-one of his closest allies were executed. The next day, another seventy-one "Robespierrists" followed. The day after that twelve more were sent to their death. A total of 104 men were executed without trial because the National Convention had declared them outside the law (Brown 2010, 504). The bloodshed of the Terror did not quite end after Robespierre lost his head. Many of his followers were killed without proper trial or reasonable justification. Once he lost the support of the public and the National Convention, he was considered a threat to the revolution. Foreign enemies of France could have potentially seen through Robespierre's forced removal. They could have perceived his execution as a tactic to blame the horrors of the Terror onto one man. While in reality, the Terror still was happening after his death and that he was not solely responsible for the villainous actions of the CPS. This could have further delegitimized the foreign perceptions of the French government and questioned the real purpose of the CPS.
Some efforts by the CPS to reduce the Terror were carried out after his death. They began to reduce some of the stress that the prisons of Paris faced because of mass arrests. They started to release individuals who had yet to be charged with a crime. However, a large amount of these newly freed prisoners sought revenge and punishment for their persecutors (Brown 2010, 508). While releasing wrongly imprisoned citizens is the right thing to do, this could cause an understandable backlash against those who put them there. France's enemies could view this action as a positive step forward to make things more just and legitimate. On the other hand, they also would have potentially claimed that the CPS should not have allowed for these false imprisonments in the first place and that they deserve the backlash.
Source 3: Harder, M. 2015. “A Second Terror: The Purges of French Revolutionary Legislators after Thermidor.
The Legacy of the CPS
After Robespierre's death, the National Convention wanted to reshape the CPS and French politics. To accomplish this, there was a major purging of CPS officials. During the Thermidorian Reaction, the social and political response after the overthrow of Robespierre, the National Convention deported two former members of the Committee of Public Safety to a prison colony in French Guiana. They also tried six deputies by a military tribunal, resulting in death sentences for them all. Additionally, they drove at least five former CPS officials to suicide (Harder 2015, 35). This further demonstrates that the brutal violence and cruelty of the French government reached into the CPS's ranks. Hearing news of this would heavily worsen the foreign attitudes and perceptions towards the CPS. If the National Convention was actively purging members of the CPS, enemies of France would know that this committee was ineffective and poorly contributed to the political and social structures of France. The CPS would continue to be viewed and evil as more members were executed or imprisoned.
Conclusion
The Committee of Public Safety played a major role during the French Revolution by fueling and contributing to the Terror. Often enforcing corrupt and vile policies, including censorship, child separations, mass arrests, and mass executions, the CPS was mainly used as an instrument to preserve political power and destroy potential enemies. Many of these unjust crimes were known to France's enemies during the war. Foreign powers would have likely had very negative perceptions and views towards the CPS from learning about the numerous violations of human rights. Individuals like Robespierre would have also contributed to a poor foreign interpretation of the CPS. Although he was executed along with other members of the CPS, the Terror continued after his removal. This ultimately would have influenced France's foreign enemies to doubt this committee's role and responsibility to establish public safety for all those in France.
Work Cited
Figure 1-
Schiavonetti, Luigi, Domenico Pellegrini, and Mart. Engelbrecht.
The Dauphin Taken from His Mother. 1794. Augsburg. Engraving. From French Revolution Images Iconography from the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/frenchrevolution/catalog/mp681fq7120.
Figure 2-
Reinier Vinkeles, Daniel Vrijdag, and Jean Duplessi-Bertaux, “Robespierre Laid on the Table of the Committee of Public Safety,” DATE, LOCATION, MEDIUM. FROM LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY: EXPLORING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, accessed April 21, 2020, https://revolution.chnm.org/items/show/121.
Popkin, Jeremy D. 2016. A Short History of the French Revolution. Sixth Edition. New York, Ny: Routledge. pg 69
Popkin, Jeremy D. 2016. A Short History of the French Revolution. Sixth Edition. New York, Ny: Routledge. pg 71
Jones, Colin. 2014. “The Overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre and the ‘Indifference’ of the People.” The American Historical Review 119 (3): 689–713. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/119.3.689.
Brown, Howard G. 2010. “Robespierre’s Tail: The Possibilities of Justice after the Terror.” Canadian Journal of History 45 (3): 503–36. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjh.45.3.503.
Harder, M. 2015. “A Second Terror: The Purges of French Revolutionary Legislators after Thermidor.” French Historical Studies 38 (1): 33–60. https://doi.org/10.1215/00161071-2822685.
It is interesting that the whole CPS was under fire even Though Robespierre and his closest followers were the only ones the rest of the assembly tried to frame, it's strange that the CPS efforts to reduce Terror just redoubled after the assembly took control again