The September Massacres are the name given to a series of summary executions that took place in prisons in Paris and throughout the provinces from September 2 to September 6, 1792, during the French Revolution. These massacres claimed approximately 1,300 lives, including those of priests, nobles, journalists, Swiss officers, and common criminals. They resulted from a popular panic provoked by the fear of an aristocratic conspiracy and the threat of foreign invasion.
The September Massacres were carried out by radical revolutionary mobs, often associated with the Paris Commune. These mobs included armed volunteers and sans-culottes, who were influenced by revolutionary fervor and took matters into their own hands.
The Fall of the Monarchy and War
The September Massacres unfolded in the context of a political, social, and military crisis. On August 10, 1792, the monarchy was overthrown by a popular uprising supported by the Paris Commune, which imposed its views on the Legislative Assembly. King Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned in the Temple, while thousands of suspects accused of being enemies of the Revolution were arrested and incarcerated in Parisian prisons.
On August 17, an extraordinary criminal tribunal was established to judge counter-revolutionaries, but it was considered too slow and lenient by the most radical revolutionaries, such as Danton, Marat, or Robespierre. Concurrently, France was at war with European powers allied to restore the French monarchy. Prussian and Austrian armies invaded French territory, taking Longwy on August 23 and Verdun on September 2. The capital felt threatened and feared internal betrayal.
The Paris Commune, a revolutionary government body in Paris, played a significant role in facilitating and justifying the September Massacres. They issued orders to break into prisons and execute suspected enemies of the Revolution.
The Outbreak: Rumor and Anger
The fall of Verdun shocked the people of Paris on September 2, and they felt abandoned by the authorities. Rumors spread that the prisoners were in contact with their enemies and were planning an uprising to massacre patriots. Posters, newspapers, and speeches called for popular justice and the elimination of traitors. Groups of sans-culottes armed with pikes, sabers, and axes headed to the prisons, where they improvised popular tribunals that sentenced most detainees to death.
The victims were then beheaded, stabbed, or mutilated, without regard for gender, age, or social status. The corpses were mutilated, displayed, or thrown into the Seine. The massacres began at the Abbaye, where victims included former Minister of Foreign Affairs Armand de Montmorin, poet François-Joseph de Champcenetz, and Swiss General Louis de Flue.
They continued at the Force, where, among others, former Minister of War Pierre de La Porte, royalist journalist Antoine de Rivarol, and Princess de Lamballe, a friend of Marie-Antoinette, were murdered. The violence also spread to other prisons, including the Conciergerie, Châtelet, Bicêtre, La Salpêtrière, Saint-Firmin, and the Tour Saint-Bernard. The massacres also extended to the provinces, where representatives on a mission were sent to suppress revolts and enforce the decrees of the Convention. Hundreds of people were killed in Meaux, Reims, Orléans, Lyon, Toulouse, and Marseille.
The Revolutionary Tribunals were judicial bodies established during the French Revolution to try suspected counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the Revolution. The September Massacres represented a form of extrajudicial violence that preceded the formal establishment of these tribunals.
A Controversial Mass Crime
The September Massacres are a bloody episode of the French Revolution, foreshadowing the Reign of Terror. They are both a product of the desire to defend the Revolution against its enemies and the result of an authoritarian drift that violated the principles of freedom and equality. They also reflect the social and political tensions in France at that time, pitting various revolutionary factions against each other, as well as the elites against the common people, cities against the countryside, and patriots against royalists.
The September Massacres marked a radical turn in the French Revolution, signaling the growing radicalization and brutality of the revolutionary forces. It contributed to the atmosphere of fear and instability, paving the way for the Reign of Terror.
Assessing the outcome of the September Massacres is challenging due to incomplete and biased sources. It is estimated that approximately 1,300 people were killed in Paris between September 2 and 6, 1792, with an additional 300 killed in the provinces. The victims came from all social classes but were predominantly priests, nobles, and journalists. Notable figures like Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Olympe de Gouges, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, and André Chénier were also affected.
The September Massacres have left deep marks on collective memory and have generated mixed judgments throughout history. Some have condemned them as crimes against humanity, while others have justified them as a historical necessity, and still others have relativized them by comparing them to the violence in other revolutions or regimes. The September Massacres remain a subject of debate and controversy today, raising questions about the limits of political violence and the meaning of the French Revolution.
