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The White Terror (french: Terreur Blanche) was a period during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
in 1795 when a wave of violent attacks swept across much of France. The victims of this violence were people identified as being associated with the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
– followers of
Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 â€“ 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
and
Marat Marat may refer to: People *Marat (given name) *Marat (surname) **Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793), French political theorist, physician and scientist Arts, entertainment, and media *''Marat/Sade'', a 1963 play by Peter Weiss * ''Marat/Sade'' (fil ...
, and members of local Jacobin clubs. The violence was perpetrated primarily by those whose relatives or associates had been victims of the Great Terror, or whose lives and livelihoods had been threatened by the government and its supporters before the
Thermidorean Reaction The Thermidorian Reaction (french: Réaction thermidorienne or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term, in the historiography of the French Revolution, for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespie ...
. Principally, these were, in Paris, the
Muscadins The term Muscadin (), meaning "wearing musk perfume", came to refer to mobs of young men, relatively well-off and dressed in a dandyish manner, who were the street fighters of the Thermidorian Reaction in Paris in the French Revolution (1789-17 ...
, and in the countryside, monarchists, supporters of the
Girondins The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...
, those who opposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and those otherwise hostile to the Jacobin political agenda. The Great Terror had been largely an organised political programme, based on laws such as the
Law of 22 Prairial The Law of 22 Prairial, also known as the ''loi de la Grande Terreur'', the law of the Great Terror, was enacted on 10 June 1794 (22 Prairial of the Year II under the French Revolutionary Calendar). It was proposed by Georges Auguste Couthon but ...
, and enacted through official institutions such as the
Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (french: Tribunal révolutionnaire; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. It eventually became one of the ...
, but the White Terror was essentially a series of uncoordinated attacks by local activists who shared common perspectives but no central organization. In particular locations, there were, however, more organized counter-revolutionary movements, such as the Companions of Jehu in
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
and the Companions of the Sun in
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
. The name 'White Terror' derives from the white
cockades A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colours which is usually worn on a hat or cap. Eighteenth century In the 18th and 19th centuries, coloured cockades were used in Europe to show the allegia ...
worn in the hats of royalists.


Background

The Reign of Terror ended on 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794) when Robespierre and his associates were overthrown. However, there was not an immediate reaction to his rule, and for many months, an unstable political climate prevailed before a new order emerged. In Paris, there were increasing attacks on
sans-culotte The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . The ...
s by Muscadins, and there were attacks on Jacobins in
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
and Nimes in February 1795. However, only when a number of conditions changed did anti-Jacobin forces feel sufficiently confident to escalate these attacks into a full-scale White Terror. Politically, the Thermidorean Reaction did not remove from power all those who had been involved in the Reign of Terror – indeed, some of the most feared terrorists, including
Jean-Baptiste Carrier Jean-Baptiste Carrier (, 16 March 1756 – 16 December 1794) was a French Revolutionary and politician most notable for his actions in the War in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror. While under orders to suppress a Royalist counter-revolutio ...
and
Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché (, 21 May 1759 – 25 December 1820) was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who later became a subordinate of Emperor Napoleon. He ...
had been involved in overthrowing Robespierre, largely because they feared him calling them to account. It took a period of several months before all of the leading figures associated with the Reign of Terror were brought to trial or removed from power. Economically, there were food shortages as a result of a hard winter in 1794–5, and the
assignat An assignat () was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars. France Assignats were paper money (fiat currency) issued by the Constituent Assembly in France from 1 ...
currency collapsed. The harvest of 1794 was poor, particularly in the areas which supplied Paris, and in many northern areas, people were reduced to consuming seed during the winter. Further south, rivers remained iced over and roads remained impassable in the spring, hindering trade and raising local prices. The assignat fell from 31% of its face value in August 1794 to 24% in November, 17% in February, and 8% in April 1795. In Paris, hunger and desperation led to the Germinal uprising of April 1795. Militarily, the
National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
was fighting the
Chouannerie The Chouannerie (from the Chouan brothers, two of its leaders) was a royalist uprising or counter-revolution in twelve of the western ''départements'' of France, particularly in the provinces of Brittany and Maine, against the First Republ ...
rebellion in western France until December 1794. The
Treaty of La Jaunaye The Treaty of La Jaunaye was a peace accord for the War in the Vendée, signed by François de Charette and Charles Sapinaud de La Rairie, on behalf of the leaders of the Catholic and Royal Army, and by Albert Ruelle on behalf of the National Co ...
which ended the rebellion allowed the return of non-juring priests. The agreement ended the direct military emergency facing the Republic and weakened the standing of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.


Timeline of events leading to the White Terror

(source)Denis Woronoff, The Thermidorean regime and the Directory 1794–1799 CUP (1972), pp. ix-x. * 1 August 1794 – Arrest of Jacobin Terrorist
Fouquier-Tinville Antoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville (, 10 June 17467 May 1795) was a French lawyer and public prosecutor during the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. Biography Early career Born in Herouël, a village in the ''département'' of the Aisne, ...
. The Convention repeals the
Law of 22 Prairial The Law of 22 Prairial, also known as the ''loi de la Grande Terreur'', the law of the Great Terror, was enacted on 10 June 1794 (22 Prairial of the Year II under the French Revolutionary Calendar). It was proposed by Georges Auguste Couthon but ...
Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman (1989), p. 474. * 3 September 1794 – Arrest of
Jean-Baptiste Carrier Jean-Baptiste Carrier (, 16 March 1756 – 16 December 1794) was a French Revolutionary and politician most notable for his actions in the War in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror. While under orders to suppress a Royalist counter-revolutio ...
* 8 September 1794 – The Revolutionary Tribunal begins to hear the case of the 94 Nantes Federalists. The accused made a very powerful appeal to public opinion by recounting in horrific detail the Terror in their city under Carrier. This trial was critical in hardening public opinion against the Jacobins. * 16 October – The Convention bans any correspondence and affiliations between clubs, effectively outlawing the nationwide network of Jacobin clubs. * 17 October 1794 – The trial of the 94 Nantais ends with their acquittal and new accusations are brought against Carrier. * 12 November 1794 – Following attacks by Muscadins who stone men and whip women, the Jacobin Club is closed by the Committee of General Security because it was a focus on violence * 8 December 1794 – The Convention invites Girondin deputies excluded since 3 June to take their places again * 16 December 1794 – Jean-Baptiste Carrier executed * 7 February 1795 – the arrest of noted radical
Gracchus Babeuf The Gracchi brothers were two Roman brothers, sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who was consul in 177 BC. Tiberius, the elder brother, was tribune of the plebs in 133 BC and Gaius, the younger brother, was tribune a decade later in ...
* 8 February 1795 – The Convention decides Marat's remains are to be removed from the Pantheon * 2 March 1795 – The Convention decrees the arrest of Jacobin Terrorists Barère,
Billaud-Varenne Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (; 23 April 1756 – 3 June 1819), also known as Jean Nicolas or by his nickname, the Righteous Patriot, was a French personality of the Revolutionary period. Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne was an instrumental fi ...
, Vadier, and
Collot d'Herbois Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (; 19 June 1749 – 8 June 1796) was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from t ...
* 1–2 April 1795 – Germinal uprising of sans-culottes in Paris against hunger and reaction, rapidly suppressed. The Convention imposes martial law in Paris and decides that the arrested Jacobins Barère, Billaud-Varenne, Vadier and Collot-d'Herbois should be deported to Guyana without a trial. * 5 April 1795 – the Convention issues arrest warrants for a number of left-wing deputies, including
Cambon Cambon () is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. See also *Communes of the Tarn department The following is a list of the 314 communes of the Tarn department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommu ...
, Levasseur de la Sarthe, Thuriot, and Lecointre. * 6 April 1795 – The Convention reduces the power of the Revolutionary Tribunal * 10 April 1795 – The Convention passes a decree ordering the disarming of everyone involved in the Reign of Terror * 7 May 1795 – Fouquier-Tinville guillotined together with other associated with the Revolutionary Tribunal: Lanne (judge); Renaudin (juror), Leroy (juror), Foucault (judge); Vilate (juror); Scellier (Vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Court), Garnier-Launay (judge); Prieur (juror), Chatelet (juror), Girard (juror); Boyaval; Trey; Verney, and Dupaumier.


Timeline of events in the White Terror

(source) * August–October 1794 – newly freed press allows right-wing papers in Paris to call for revenge on the Jacobins, gave instructions for action and pointed out prominent Terrorist targets. In the provinces, Thermidorean représentants en mission opened the prisons and stirred up calls for revenge on Jacobins – Boisset at Bourg, Goupilleau at Avignon and Auguis and Serre at Marseilles. They broke up local Jacobin committees and imprisoned many associated with them. * 2 February 1795 – massacre of Jacobin prisoners at
Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...
.Denis Woronoff, The Thermidorean regime and the Directory 1794–1799, p. 23. On February 14, Joseph Fernex, a judge on the former Revolutionary Committee, in prison since Thermidor, is killed and thrown into the Rhône by a mob. On March 1, another member of the Revolutionary Committee, Sautemouche, is killed. Later in February Jacobin prisoners in Nimes are killed. * 30 March 1795 – In Lyons, the threat of a massacre of prisoners and other Jacobins is now so great that Boisset orders detainees to be taken away to
Roanne Roanne (; frp, Rouana; oc, Roana) is a commune in the Loire department, central France. It is located northwest of Lyon on the river Loire. It has an important Museum, the ''Musée des Beaux-arts et d'Archéologie Joseph-Déchelette'' (Fren ...
and
Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as Mà ...
Nevertheless, on 4 April several thousand rioters break into three jails in the city and killed 99 Jacobin prisoners. * 7 April – At
St Etienne ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
, the former Jacobin mayor Johannot is killed. * 19 April 1795 – At Lons le Saunier, six Jacobins who had been arrested and were being taken into the town are killed on the road. * 11 May – At
Aix en Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
thirty Jacobin prisoners are killed. In
Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...
,
Jean-Antoine Courbis Jean-Antoine Courbis (28 January 1752, Tournon – 11 May 1795, Nîmes) was a French lawyer and revolutionary. Life A merchant's son, he was a lawyer to the Parliament of Toulouse and became procurer for the sénéchaussée of Nîmes in 1785. ...
is killed. * 20 May 1795 –
Prairial uprising The insurrection of 1 Prairial Year III was a popular revolt in Paris on 20 May 1795 against the policies of the Thermidorian Convention. It was the last and one of the most remarkable and stubborn popular revolts of the French Revolution ...
of sans-culottes in Paris put down by the army. * 23 May 1795 – Military Commission to judge Prairial insurgents established. It disarms the sections and pronounces 36 death sentences. Around 1,200 people are imprisoned in Paris, and tens of thousands more in the provinces. * 25 May – a number of Jacobin prisoners at
Tarascon Tarascon (; ), sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Taras ...
are killed * 2 June – Twelve Jacobin prisoners killed at St Etienne * 5 June – at Marseilles, 700 Jacobin prisoners are massacred in the prison of Saint-Jean fort. * 27 June – Member of the former Revolutionary Tribunal at
Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
are killed and thrown into the Rhône.Chronicle of the French Revolution Longman (1989), p. 484.


Effects in other towns

The White Terror spread throughout the country, with some regions claiming not to have been ''disgraced'' by the Reign of Terror and others believing that there had to be significant retributions. Individuals accused as terrorists were then put on trial and executed. Overall, the severity of the reactions to the Reign of Terror was dependent on how each region was involved in the Revolution and on that region's specific history. Lists of those persecuted, as well as existing judicial and police records, indicate that a strong majority of accusations made did not arise from actions during the Reign of Terror at all but rather from personal or regional grudges.McPhee, P. (2012) The White Terror, in A Companion to the French Revolution, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford. doi: 10.1002/9781118316399.ch22 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118316399.ch22/summary *In the department of Pyrenees-Orientales, records state that after Thermidor, there were no terrorists residing there. They boasted of not having been "disgraced" by either the Terror or the Reaction. *In the small village of
Velleron Velleron (; oc, Veleron) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. See also *Communes of the Vaucluse department The following is a list of the 151 communes of the Vaucluse dep ...
the
Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
. Many of the people who brought these charges were their fellow citizens. Many of the accused were eventually persecuted or sent to the guillotine. After the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
, from 1796 to 1797, the families that had been the victims of these arrests led a "reaction" against the accusers of the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
. The most common methods of persecution against the accused during the White Terror were either arson or murder. Judicial records indicate about 9 convictions of individuals alongside their families. *In Montbrison, a district of
Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
, over 258 persons reported violence towards them and others during the Reign of Terror. However, in Loire, there were long phases of conflict and reciprocal vengeance due to religious intolerance. The long-standing religious conflict has made historians wonder if the White Terror was used as a means of maintaining a conflict with rival religious groups. In 1798, there was a prison massacre in Loire led by the anti-Jacobin leader General Amédée Willot. Willot is commonly referred to as the individual who incited the White Terror in the town of Loire. His occupation of the town is commonly referred to as la Réaction Willot. His fierce anti-Jacobin policies convinced Willot to abuse the powers vested in him by the convention, establish a military dictatorship, and openly persecute local patriots. Individuals accused of being
Jacobins , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...
were imprisoned and eventually slaughtered. *In the 8,000 person community of
Aubagne Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan language, Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In ...
there was a large local impact from the Reign of Terror. Primarily from 1795 to 1797, there was a phase of prolonged violence. The town had a large number of revolutionaries, as well as a long history of factional conflict. From 1795 to 1797, the years that are considered the town's "Reaction" to the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
, 413 people were imprisoned and eventually executed. Judicial records indicate that the accusations and deaths during the Reign of Terror and the White Terror both followed historical familial struggles and traditional regional struggle patterns.


See also

*
White Terror White Terror is the name of several episodes of mass violence in history, carried out against anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, revolutionaries, or other opponents by conservative or nationalist groups. It is sometimes contrasted wit ...
*
Second White Terror The Second White Terror (french: Deuxième Terreur Blanche) occurred in France in 1815–1816, following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) and the enthronement of Louis XVIII as king of France after the Hundred Days. ...


Citations

{{Terrorism topics 1794 events of the French Revolution 1795 events of the French Revolution Political and cultural purges Political repression in France White Terror