“Rather Death than the Montagne”: Roots of Federalist Revolts of 1793 in Revolutionary France

In 1793, conflicts between factions of the revolutionary government of France, called the National Convention, led to riots. These conflicts centered around the ability to influence and control the National Convention and have been commonly referred to as the Federalist revolts by historians, with “Federalism” referring to the principles of state sovereignty as opposed to a more central government. The historiography of the Federalist revolts regarding the level of influence of Parisian politics over local movements, has shifted throughout the 20th century. This paper looks at this shift and analyzes the extent of how different factors affected the outcome of revolt, with for example certain cities seemingly more influenced by political events in Paris, while others had very powerful local roots