The Plain La Plaine | |
---|---|
Leader | Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès |
Founded | 6 September 1791 |
Dissolved | 2 November 1795 |
Headquarters | Tuileries Palace, Paris |
Newspaper | Journal des débats |
Political club | Jacobin Club (many affiliated) |
Ideology | Big tent Centrism Political syncretism |
Political position | Centre |
Colors | Grey |
The Plain (French : La Plaine), better known as The Marsh (French : Le Marais), was a political group in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. Its members were known as Maraisards, or derogatory Toads (French : Crapauds) as toads live in marshes. They sat between the Girondists' right-wing and Montagnards' left-wing. None of these three groups was an organized party as is known today. The Mountain and the Girondists did consist of individuals with similar views and agendas who socialized together and often coordinated political plans. However, The Plain consisted of delegates that did not belong to either of these two groups and as such was even more amorphous. The Plain constituted the majority of delegates to the Convention and would vote with either the Girondists or Mountain depending on the issue at hand, the current circumstances and mood of the Convention. They initially sided with the Girondists, but later backed the Mountain in executing Louis XVI and inaugurating the Terror. They later abandoned the Mountain, inaugurating the Thermidorian Reaction.
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
A political faction is a group of individuals within a larger entity, such as a political party, a trade union or other group, or simply a political climate, united by a particular common political purpose that differs in some respect to the rest of the entity. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, "parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. Members of factions band together as a way of achieving these goals and advancing their agenda and position within an organisation.
The National Convention was the first government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether. The Convention sat as a single-chamber assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795.
Legislative Assembly | |||||
Election year | No. of overall votes | % of overall vote | No. of overall seats won | +/– | Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1791 | 1,978,000 (1st) | 46.3 | 345 / 745 | ||
National Convention | |||||
1792 | 1,747,200 (1st) | 51.9 | 389 / 749 | ![]() | |
Legislative Body | |||||
1795 | Did not participate | Did not participate | 200 / 750 | ![]() |
A Jacobin was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–99). The club was so called because of the Dominican convent in Paris in the Rue Saint-Jacques where they originally met.
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Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne, also known as Jean Nicolas, was a French personality of the Revolutionary period. Though not one of the most well known figures of the French Revolution, Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne was an instrumental figure of the period known as the Reign of Terror. Billaud-Varenne climbed his way up the ladder of power during the period of The Terror, becoming one of the most militant members of the Committee of Public Safety. He was recognized and worked with French Revolution figures Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre, and is often considered one of the key architects of the period known as The Terror. "No, we will not step backward, our zeal will only be smothered in the tomb; either the Revolution will triumph or we will all die."
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Georges Auguste Couthon was a French politician and lawyer known for his service as a deputy in the Legislative Assembly during the French Revolution. Couthon was elected to the Committee of Public Safety on 30 May 1793 and served as a close associate of Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just until his arrest and execution in 1794 during the period of the Reign of Terror. Couthon played an important role in the development of the Law of 22 Prairial, which was responsible for a sharp increase in the number of executions of accused counter-revolutionaries.
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