Regicide and Redemptive Violence in the French Revolution

The Virtues of Violence ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190058418.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 20-52

Author(s):

Kevin Duong

Keyword(s):

French Revolution ◽

Social Cohesion ◽

The Law ◽

Louis Xvi ◽

The French Revolution

This chapter describes how Jacobins crafted a new language of violence during the trial and execution of Louis XVI in the French Revolution: the language of redemptive violence. The execution of the king served as a founding act of French republican democracy. It was also a scene of irregular justice: no legal warrants or procedural precedents existed for bringing a king to justice before the law. Regicide as redemptive violence helped bypass that obstacle. Although redemptive violence had roots in prerevolutionary notions of penal justice and social cohesion, its philosophical ambitions were revolutionary and modern. Analyzing that language illuminates how republican democracy weaponized a distinctive ideology of extralegal violence at its origins. It also helps explain redemptive violence’s enduring appeal during and after the French Revolution.

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The People as a Natural Disaster: Redemptive Violence in Jacobin Political Thought

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055417000260 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 111 (4) ◽

pp. 786-800 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

KEVIN DUONG

Keyword(s):

Natural Disaster ◽

French Revolution ◽

Social Cohesion ◽

Political Thought ◽

The People ◽

The Law ◽

Louis Xvi ◽

The French Revolution

The trial and execution of Louis XVI served as a founding act of French republican democracy. It was also a scene of irregular justice: no legal warrants or procedural precedents existed for bringing a king to justice before the law. This essay describes how Jacobins crafted a new language of popular agency to overcome that obstacle—the language of redemptive violence. Although redemptive violence had roots in prerevolutionary notions of penal justice and social cohesion, its philosophical ambitions were revolutionary and modern. Analyzing that language illuminates how republican democracy weaponized a distinctive ideology of extralegal violence at its origins. It also helps explain redemptive violence's enduring appeal during and after the French Revolution.

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Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199639748.013.018 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Ambrogio Caiani

Keyword(s):

Political Culture ◽

French Revolution ◽

Early Phase ◽

Working Relationship ◽

Passive Resistance ◽

Reform Programme ◽

Marie Antoinette ◽

Louis Xvi ◽

Complex Question ◽

The French Revolution

The important role played by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in the radicalization of the early phase of the French Revolution has never been in doubt. Most histories continue to focus on the regal couple’s real, and supposed, role in fomenting counter-revolution at home and especially abroad. This chapter engages with the complex question of the dwindling fortunes of Louis XVI’s monarchy from a more domestic angle. It focuses on that neglected, though crucial, year of 1790 which witnessed the failure to erect a viable constitutional settlement. It became impossible to accommodate both Crown and assembly in a viable working relationship. Essentially, the king’s distrust for the deputies, who had little by little arrogated his remaining powers, proved insurmountable. The monarchy’s passive resistance to the revolution’s early reform programme and political culture became increasingly unpopular. This created a radicalized and tension-filled atmosphere which pushed the revolution into hitherto unexpected directions.

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The French Revolution

10.7591/cornell/9781501755903.003.0006 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 19-21

Author(s):

Samuel Cohn

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

French Revolution ◽

Substantial Proportion ◽

Military Necessity ◽

Louis Xvi ◽

To Come ◽

Financial Base ◽

The French Revolution ◽

The Revolution

This chapter evaluates the causes of the French Revolution. The problem was not that Louis XVI was particularly wasteful, although he had a lavish lifestyle at Versailles. The issue was instead one of crushing military necessity. Before the revolution, France was dealing with invasion threats from Spain and England and was spending over twice as much as had been spent on the Seven Years' War. However, France was fiscally crippled by the fact that a substantial proportion of its financial base was exempt from paying taxes. The disputes within the elite about who was going to come up with the money to pay for extra military expenses led to revolution. The revolutionaries found divided conservative forces, as well as members of the elite willing to oppose the king if this would help them win their battles about future tax obligations. The result was the overthrow of the king and the entire noble class. But taxes were not the whole story: there was also a rising capitalist middle class resentful of the superior status of the aristocracy.

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