Page 64 - All About History - Issue 186-19

The Girondins originally
supported the revolution,
but opposed its more
extreme methods
© Alamy
Like Corneille, his descendant Corday was
highly articulate and intelligent. And like many
liberal-minded young people from her class, she
welcomed the revolution as a way of ending
the oppressive regime of the absolutist Bourbon
monarchy and creating a fairer, more enlightened
and equal France. However, as the revolution
became more bloody and violent, Corday and
her peers began to feel increasingly disillusioned
and alienated. They either distanced themselves
from politics or aligned themselves with the more
moderate political factions, such as the Girondins.
The Girondins supported the end of the monarchy
but fiercely resisted and condemned the more
extreme measures espoused by their political
rivals, the Montagnards, who included Maximilien
Robespierre, Georges Danton and Jean-Paul Marat
among their ranks. The prison massacres of
September 1792, which resulted in the murders of
around 1,500 prisoners in Paris alone, had further
polarised the two warring factions and made
the Girondins and their moderate followers even
more determined to put an end to the escalating
extremism and violence.
However, as the Montagnards’ power increased
and it became clear that they would stop at
nothing to seize full control of the Convention, the
Girondins found themselves politically isolated
until finally they were purged at the end of May
1793. Many of their leading figures escaping to
Normandy, where they planned to regroup and
stage their own coup. Far away in Caen, Corday
had followed the unfolding events in Paris with
increasing alarm, and when the Girondins arrived
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in her area she naturally hastened to meet
them and attend their meetings. As a result she
became even more inflamed with loathing for
the Montagnards, in particular Marat, whom she
regarded as the worst of them all and entirely to
blame for the downfall of the Girondins.
Within just a few weeks of the Girondins’
departure from Paris, Corday had made up her
mind to take decisive action. Having fixated
upon Marat as the main contributor to their
downfall and the evil genius behind the violently
repressive policies that were leading their country
towards disaster, she decided to kill him. While
other potential assassins might take months, if
not years, to formulate their plan, Corday moved
swiftly, having decided to murder Marat publicly
in the Convention on 14 July, the anniversary of
the Bastille’s fall in 1789. She put her affairs in
order and boarded a coach to Paris, fully aware
that she might never be able to return to Caen.
As far as Corday was concerned, Marat was at the
very heart of everything that was going wrong
in France and removing him, even if it meant
sacrificing herself in the process, would save
millions from a violently paranoid regime that saw
enemies everywhere and would, she believed,
eventually end by killing them all in its pursuit
of its agenda.
When she inquired about Marat upon
arriving in Paris, she was told that he
was stricken with a skin condition and
was rarely seen outside his home,
which was a disappointment
as it forced her to change
Loved by the Parisians but hated
by his political opponents
Born in Boudry in Neuchâtel, Jean-Paul Marat
was the second of nine children born to an
Italian father and French Huguenot mother. He
moved to Paris as a teenager in order to study
medicine, and although he failed to qualify
he would nonetheless work as a doctor for
the rest of his life. Marat moved to London in
1765 and lived in Britain for the next 11 years.
Drawn to artistic and intellectual circles, he
produced his first political work while living in
Newcastle. When the French Revolution began,
Marat turned his attention to politics and
within a few months of the Bastille’s fall had
started his own newspaper, L’Ami du Peuple,
which he used to promote hardline Jacobin
ideals. Although he was incredibly popular with
working class Parisians, his outspoken views
often got him into trouble. One prolonged
period spent hiding in the Parisian sewers
resulted in a skin condition, which necessitated
taking long medicinal baths. In September
1792, he became a member of the National
Convention and took a more active political
role, which brought him into conflict with the
Girondins, who eventually managed to have
him imprisoned. He was acquitted and set
free, however, and worked to bring about the
downfall of the Girondins, thus sealing his fate.
Although Marat
was beloved
by ordinary
Parisians,
his hardline
radical views
and outspoken
manner made
him many
enemies