Montagnards

(noun)

A political group during the French Revolution who sat on the highest benches in the Assembly. They were the most radical group and opposed the Girondists. The term, which was first used during a session of the Legislative Assembly, came into general use in 1793. Led by Maximilien Robespierre, they unleashed the Reign of Terror in 1794.

Related Terms

Examples of Montagnards in the following topics:

  • Politics within the Revolutionaries

    • A result of the increasing divide within the Jacobins was the split between the more radical Montagnards and the Girondins.
    • Between war and political differences, the Montagnards also believed these crises required emergency solutions.
    • The second key factor in the split between the Montagnards and the Girondins was the September Massacres of 1792.
    • The conflict between the Montagnards and the Girondins eventually led to the fall of the Girondins and their mass execution.
    • They came into conflict with The Mountain (Montagnards), a radical faction within the Jacobin Club.

  • The Thermidorian Reaction

    • The prime mover, however, for the events of Thermidor 9 was a Montagnard conspiracy, led by Jean-Lambert Tallien and Bourdon de l'Oise, which was gradually coalescing and was to come to pass at the time when the Montagnards had finally swayed the deputies of the Right over to their side (Robespierre and Saint-Just were themselves Montagnards).  
    • The Thermidorian regime excluded the remaining Montagnards from power, even those who had joined in conspiring against Robespierre and Saint-Just.

  • The National Convention

    • Most historians divide the National Convention into two main factions: the Girondins and the Mountain or the Montagnards (in this context, also referred to as Jacobins).
    • The Montagnards, representing a considerably larger portion of the deputies, were much more radical and held strong connections to the sans-culottes of Paris.
    • Girondins were convinced that their opponents aspired to a bloody dictatorship, while the Montagnards believed that Girondins were ready for any compromise with conservatives, and even royalists, that would guarantee their remaining at power.
    • The political deadlock, which had repercussions all over France, eventually drove both major factions to accept dangerous allies, royalists in the case of Girondins and the sans-culottes in that of the Montagnards.

  • The Legislative Assembly

    • The leftists were of 136 Jacobins (still including the party later known as the Girondins or Girondists) and Cordeliers (a populist group, whose many members would later become the radical Montagnards).
    • This led to a political contest between the more moderate Girondists and the more radical Montagnards inside the Convention, with rumor used as a weapon by both sides.

  • The First French Republic and Regicide

    • Most Montagnards (radical republicans) favored judgement and execution, while the Girondins (moderate republicans) were divided concerning Louis's fate, with some arguing for royal inviolability, others for clemency, and some advocating lesser punishment or death. 
    • In April 1793, members of the Montagnards went on to establish the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, which would be responsible for the Terror (September 5, 1793 – July 28, 1794), the bloodiest and one of the most controversial phases of the French Revolution.