During the French Revolution, modérantisme () or the faction des modérés (faction of the moderates) was the name the Montagnards gave to their relatively more moderate opponents, first the

Girondins The Girondins (, ), also called Girondists, were a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initiall ...

and then the Dantonists. Modérantisme was denounced before the

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

and the

Cordeliers The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( ), mainly known as Cordeliers Club ( ), was a Populism, populist List of political groups in the French Revolution, political club during the French Revolution from 1790 to 179 ...

clubs, who then led the first attacks on it in 1794. Jacobin and Cordelier orators soon demanded that the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

be used against those they saw as trying to stop the Revolution. One day, Carrier shouted "The monsters! They want to break down the scaffolds – but, citizens, never forget, those who want no guillotines are those who should feel that they are worthy of the guillotine!". Camille Desmoulins, who came to found the newspaper '' le Vieux Cordelier'' in which he begged for clemency with Georges Danton's consent, from then on laid himself open to their hatred and vengeance. On 5 April 1794, the leaders of the moderate party were guillotined and modérantisme was returned to power after

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre ferv ...

's fall and its turn was to once again hold sway against the Montagnards who still supported Robespierre, with the

Thermidorian Reaction In the historiography of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction ( or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 J ...

done in the name of modérantisme. The crimes committed in Le Midi were also committed by men who claimed the title of modérés, although this did not stop them carrying out excessive acts of violence.

Sources

* Elphège Boursin and Augustin Challamel (1893). ''Dictionnaire de la révolution française''. Paris: Jouvet et cie. p. 351. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moderantisme Groups of the French Revolution