Overthrow of the Girondins
- When
- 1793
- Where
- Paris Commune; National Convention; Paris
- Episodes
- 3
The insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 in Paris overthrew the Girondin deputies of the National Convention. Prompted by the Paris Commune's demand that 22 Girondins face the Revolutionary Tribunal, and led against the Convention by Jean-Paul Marat, it ranks among the Revolution's three great popular insurrections and opened the way to Jacobin rule.
Episodes
- Commune demands and preparations
The Paris Commune demanded that 22 Girondin deputies and Commission of Twelve members face the Revolutionary Tribunal, and pressed for a revolutionary army.
- Attack on the National Convention
Jean-Paul Marat led the attack on Convention representatives who had voted against Louis XVI's execution and paralyzed the Convention.
- Overthrow of the Girondins
The two-day insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 overthrew the Girondins, becoming one of the Revolution's three great popular insurrections.
Background and detail
Background. During the Legislative Assembly (October 1791–September 1792) the Girondins dominated French politics. After the insurrection of 10 August 1792 and the Convention's opening, the Girondin faction (c. 150) remained larger than the Montagnards (c. 120). The Convention was expected to deliver a new constitution, since the 10 August insurrection had rejected the Constitution of 1791.
Crisis of Spring 1793. By spring 1793 the Convention was instead confronting civil war, imminent invasion, and dangers. The deputies targeted in the purge had in January voted against executing Louis XVI and had since paralyzed the Convention. A split between the factions' points of view dated to 25 July 1792.
Aftermath. In summer 1793 governmental power passed to the provisional Committee of Public Safety, and the Jacobin First Republic began its offensive against the Revolution's enemies. The trial of the 22 began before the Revolutionary Tribunal on 24 October 1793. Most of the 73 deputies who had voted against the insurrection were reinstalled on 8 December 1794 and 8 March 1795.
People involved
- Jean-Paul Marat · Leader of the attack on the Convention's representatives
- Paris Commune · Insurrectionary authority demanding the Girondins' arrest
- Girondin deputies · Targeted faction of c. 150 in the National Convention
- François Mignet · Historian describing 29 May as spent preparing the public mind
Sources
- Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.