François-Nicolas Vincent
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François-Nicolas Vincent (born 1766 or 1767; died 24 March 1794) was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the
First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
, and a significant figure in the French Revolution. A member of the
Cordelier The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French ...
Club, he is best known as a radical sans-culottes leader and prominent member of the Hébertist faction.


Leadership

The son of a prison concierge and a native Parisian, Vincent worked as a lawyer's clerk and is believed to have lived in substantial poverty until 1792, at which point he became an active participant in the radical Revolutionary effort. The youngest of the men to follow
Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'' during the French Revolution. Hébert was a leader of the French Revolution ...
, Vincent, along with fellow Hébertist
Charles-Philippe Ronsin Charles-Philippe Ronsin (1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of ''l'Armée Révolutionnaire''. He was an extreme radical leader ...
, took the Revolution to the country, becoming revolutionaries-on-a-mission. Upon his return to Paris, Vincent became more active in the
Cordelier The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French ...
Club and was soon elected Orator. After this advancement, Vincent was eventually made General Secretary of the War Ministry under Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte. It is this job that allowed Vincent to bring more power to the sans-culottes.


Downfall

Jacques Hébert, writer and publisher of the ''La Pere Duchesne'', led Vincent, among others, on a campaign against what they deemed the soft 'moderation' of the
Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...
, along with attempts to aid in the 'de-Christianization' of France. Vincent supported the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre and when he and his fellow Hébertists became active enough in their opposition, Robespierre reacted with an arrest and trial for 'treasonous activity'. The Hébertists, along with some of their close friends and companions, were charged with attempting to overthrow the Committee of Public Safety to ensure the re-establishment of the monarchy and conspiring with foreigners to take down the Republic. No physical evidence was given to support these allegations but, even so, Vincent and his fellow Hébertists were found guilty and sentenced to death. On 24 March 1794, at the age of twenty-seven, François-Nicolas Vincent was beheaded at the guillotine along with Hébert, Ronsin, Momoro, and the other leaders of the Hébertist faction.Doyle, 1989; p.270. , "The trial took place on 21–4 March, its result a foregone conclusion. Among those who went to the scaffold with Pere Duchesne on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth were Vincent, Ronsin, and the leader of section Marat, Momoro."


References

*Andress, David. ''The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France''. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006) *Andress, David. ''French Society in Revolution 1789-1799''. (Manchester University Press, 1999) *Brown, Howard G. ''War, Revolution, and the Bureaucratic State: Politics and Army Administration in France 1791-1799''. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) *Furet, François, and Mona Ozouf. ''A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution''. (Harvard University Press, 1989) *McNamara, Charles B. "The Hebertists; study of a French Revolutionary 'faction' in the reign of terror, 1793-1794". (New York : Fordham University, 1974). {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Francois-Nicolas 1760s births 1794 deaths Year of birth uncertain Politicians from Paris Hébertists People of the French Revolution People executed by guillotine during the French Revolution