#frimaire

[deerinhorror]

[rmelster]

Frimaire.

Starting the 21 November, Frimaire (whose name came from the French frimas, frost) was the third month of the year, and last month of autumn. Being oriented by te natural cycle and not by the once ruling Gregorian calendar, this month anticipated the first frost of the year.

[calendrier-republicain]

29 frimaire 232, Jour de l'olive !

[lemuseum]

[deathzgf]

happy 1 frimaire :3

[citizen-card]

‘robespierre was a dictator’ mfs when you ask them to name more than one committee of public safety member

[nesiacha]

One of the creepiest things among the many betrayals by Fouché for me

Yes, he did many horrible things, one of the most notorious being when his police tortured people, whether they were innocent or guilty, royalists or Jacobins, such as what happened in Lyon. Yes, he was involved in many schemes, sometimes horrifying (I will soon look into the case of Clément de Ris), betraying many people, including his colleagues and close ones (like Collot d'Herbois). But one of the creepiest things, in my opinion, concerns the Babeuf family, more specifically the sons of Gracchus Babeuf.

In Le Tribun du Peuple, at one point, Gracchus says that he had recommended his children to Fouché (Emile and Camille Babeuf, presumably), with this excerpt: "When I left to be exiled to the North, I believed I could place enough trust in you to recommend my children. They went to see you" (Le Tribun du Peuple, no. 35, 9 Frimaire, Year IV). Years later, Fouché struck a hard blow in the Jacobin arrest list, as Marie-Anne Babeuf, widow of Gracchus Babeuf, was included. Some claim she wasn't politically active, but I strongly doubt that: she was a woman known to be her husband's political right hand, with a terrifying strength of character who never renounced her husband's name, who campaigned politically, and who, even after his death, associated with prominent Jacobins like Felix Le Peletier, probably René Vatar, and others, as you can see in my posts here: Marie-Anne Babeuf: A Largely Forgotten Figure, In Honor of Gracchus Babeuf's Recent Anniversary, and Gracchus Babeuf's Position on Women's Rights. Moreover, this Jacobin arrest list met many specific criteria, even though among them were people who had committed nothing more than "insults and threats against the government" (excerpt from Natalie Petiteau) (in my opinion the widow Babeuf had to continue the fight in her own way like the widow of Marat as well as the sister of Marat hence the fact that she found herself in this list of arrests of the Jacobins in 1801 including with the two women after all Albertine Marat was a subscriber to the newspaper of the Tribun du Peuple). But for me, the worst part is the second time, during the First Malet Conspiracy case.

In fact, the widow Babeuf had her papers confiscated by the police and underwent a rather harsh interrogation, according to Jean Dautry. (This was the second time Marie-Anne Babeuf had run-ins with the Napoleonic police, and consequently, the second time Fouché targeted her). Marie-Anne Babeuf's son, Emile Babeuf, avoided arrest because, as far as I understand, he was in another country for work, so the police had no reason to arrest him.

So, Fouché, who had known Emile Babeuf as a child, years later attempted to have him arrested. Emile only avoided arrest because he was out of the country, if I understood correctly. Yes, Emile Babeuf would become an activist, but I don't think it was in that year. Furthermore, although the Babeufs were activists, they weren't involved in the First Malet Conspiracy (at least the confiscated papers were later returned).

Yes, I know that Fouché had manipulated Gracchus Babeuf until he realized who Fouché truly was and denounced him, but it still remains creepy. He knew well the wife of Gracchus Babeuf (that's certain, as she always assisted her husband) and their children (to the point where Gracchus temporarily trusted him with the welfare of his children, Emile and Camille). Years later, the repressive machine came down on them twice. I don't think Fouché can be excused by saying he was serving Bonaparte. I mean, Gaspard Monge protected Pache, Saint-Jean d'Angly protected Felix Le Peletier, and Réal probably protected the Babeufs.

Yes, we're likely talking about the destroyed friendship and even what Robespierre did to the Desmoulins couple, but I find what Fouché did, posthumously, to Gracchus Babeuf and especially to his children, creepy. With this, I think there's even more reason not to blame the widow of Collot d'Herbois for not standing in Fouché's way for what he did to her husband or for not fight for the political beliefs of her husband , and even for accepting the pension from Fouché. Just look at what he did to the Babeuf family. That's what would have happened to the widow of Collot d'Herbois in my opinion if she had opposed him.

P.S:If you want to learn more about the relationship between Gracchus Babeuf and Fouché, click here: Excerpts from Letters and Chapters of Historians.

[qsycomplainsalot]

I'm not gonna watch the Napoleon movie in cinema, I'll most likely watch it through completely legal means later on out of curiosity but I don't want to support the clearly anti-intellectual stance that the director has circled the wagon around. His bad takes on making a historical period movie is not creative license, which could be used in support of the "source material", it's just this dickhead turning every historical event into scenes from Gladiator. This is not Maxime Frimaire Meridien, Marechal d'Empire starring in an epic historical fiction, it's a Napoleon biopic and it comes with responsibility. The guy was very important in shaping modern Europe, he wasn't just any asshole. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum, the message and impact it has are just as much part of its artistic merits as everything else and it's very much fair to criticize him on these points the same way we could criticize the cinematography. Like that's a thing with movies talking about historical matters, it can be good on most accounts and still be a horrible fuck up in the way it speaks to people.

Said people meanwhile will get really confused by the concept that movies that aren't documentaries could shape the mainstream understanding of a certain topic while having based their entire knowledge of dinosaurs on the Jurassic Park movies. It's also not a fair take to try and absolve Ridley Scott from any inaccuracy problems on that basis when he himself fully leans into the historical aspect of his work when it's convenient for him, the man is being interviewed by mainstream media saying Napoleon was like Hitler but sure that movie being nonsense won't damage people's understanding of the early 19th century.

So yeah anyway not gonna support that with my money.

[divorcedwife]

also i think the names of the months of the republican calendar are also very cute :-)

vendémiaire : month of wine harvest brumaire : month of mists frimaire : month of frost

nivôse : month of snow pluviôse : month of rains ventôse : month of wind germinal : month of sprouts floréal : month of flowers prairial : month of meadows messidor : month of harvests thermidor : month of summer heat fructidor : month of fruits

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

His enemies reproach [Robespierre] with having sent bloodthirsty proconsuls into the departments, but, on the contrary, he was the one who had almost all those who abused their unlimited powers to exercise dreadful cruelties recalled; he was the one who wrote to the representatives of the people on mission without cease that they needed to sober in their rigors and make the revolution cherished rather than hated. Many times he asked, without success, for Carrier, whom Billaud-Varennes protected, to be recalled. Mémoires de Charlotte Robespierre sur ses deux frères (1834) page 123-124

Laignelot: When I passed through Nantes to go to Brest, I met Carrier; he spoke to me about the drownings, and told me in the presence of Beaudit: ”You’re luckier than me; you have a bigger pool, and buildings to your service.” […] Before Carrier was denounced, I had told this fact to several of my colleagues. I went to see Robespierre, who was indisposed, I described to him all the horrors that had been committed in Nantes; he replied: “Carrier is a patriot; that was needed in Nantes.”  Audition de M. Carrier devant la Convention qui remplit les fonctions de jury d'accusation, lors de la séance du 3 frimaire an III (23 novembre 1794)

It is known well enough in what way [Collot and Fouché] conducted themselves [in Lyon]; it is known that they made blood flow in torrents, and plunged the second city of the republic into fright and consternation. Robespierre was outraged by it. […] I was present for the interview that Fouché had with Robespierre upon his return. My brother asked him to account for the bloodshed he had caused, and reproached him for his conduct with such energy of expression that Fouché was pale and trembling. He mumbled a few excuses and blamed the cruel measures he had taken on the gravity of the circumstances. Robespierre replied that nothing could justify the cruelties of which he had been guilty; that Lyon, it was true, had been in insurrection against the National Convention, but that that was no reason to have unarmed enemies gunned down en masse.   Mémoires de Charlotte Robespierre sur ses deux frères (1834) page 123-124

Robespierre murmured a lot about the forms that we had established in Lyon for the execution of decrees: he constantly repeated that there was no reason to judge the guilty when they are outlawed. He exclaimed that we had let the families of the condemned go free; and when the commission sent the Convention and the committee the list of its judgments, he was not in control of his anger as he cast his eyes on the column where the names of the citizens who had been acquitted were written. Unable to change anything in the forms of judgment, regulated according to the decrees and approved by the committee, he imagined another system; he questioned whether the patriots of Commune-Affranchie were not vexed and under oppression. They were, he said, because the property of the condemned being specially intended, by article IV of the decree of July 12, to become their patrimony, we had greatly reduced their claims, not only by not judging only a quarter of the number of conspirators identified by Dubois-Crancé on 23 Vendémiare, or designated by previous decrees, but also by establishing a commission which appeared willing to acquit two thirds, as it happened. Through these declamations Robespierre wanted to entertain the patriots of whom he spoke, with the most violent ideas, to throw into their minds a framework of extraordinary measures, and to put them in opposition with the representatives of the people and their closest cooperators: he made them understand that they could count on him, he emboldened them to form all kinds of obstacles, to only follow his indications which he presented as being the intentions of the Committee of Public Safety.   Défense de J-M. Collot, répresentant du peuple. Éclaircissemens nécessaires sur ce qui s’est passé à Lyon (alors Commune-Affranchie), l��année dernière; pour faire suite aux rapports des Répresentants du peuple, envoyés vers cette commune, avant, pendant et après le siège (1794), page 23-24.

Come on now guys, which version is the truth?

[empirearchives]

224 pages and 39 illustrated plates relate in the smallest details the outfits, speeches and major stages of Napoleon’s coronation, which took place at Notre-Dame de Paris in the presence of Pope Pius VII.

Source: Le sacre de S. M. l'Empereur Napoléon dans l'église métropolitaine de Paris, le XI frimaire an XIII dimanche 2 décembre 1804 (Gallica)

[howlingday]

Taiyang: Hey, honey, I'm home~!

Summer: Yeah, whatever, jerk.

Taiyang: Whoa! Is something wrong?

Summer: You forgot...

Taiyang: Forgot what?

Summer: EVERYTHING! This whole year! My birthday was on the third of Germinal, our anniversary was on the twelfth of Thermidor, and you promised to take me on a romantic trip in Frimaire to Vale City!

Taiyang: No, I said we'd do that in December.

Summer: December! Hasn't been a thing! FOR YEARS!

[josefavomjaaga]

A letter from Masséna to Soult, Paris, 28 Frimaire An IX (19 December 1800)

You no longer write to me, my dear Soult; where does that come from? Are you angry with me? Have you forgotten that I am your good friend? Write to me often, that will prove me different. What are you doing? The First Consul, to whom I have often spoken about you, does justice to your high military talents, and has never spoken to me about them except with the greatest interest. Farewell, my friend, never forget that I am sincerely attached to you. I embrace you. Masséna

At the time of this letter, Soult had (more or less) recovered from his wound that he had received during the siege of Genoa, had been released on parole from Austrian captivity (i.e., he was not allowed to go to war) and thus was employed in the military administration of Piemont.

I remember that Thiébault (who adored Masséna and despised Soult) in his memoirs claims that Soult, after Genoa, slowly distanced himself from Masséna - according to Thiébault, because he had gotten all advantages out of his relations with Masséna that he could, and now no longer needed him. In particular, Thiébault claimed that Soult later was furious about not being mentioned enough in the book Thiébault had written about the siege of Genoa. - Make of that, what you will.

N. Gotteri in her book on Soult does not mention Thiébault's claim. To the contrary, she lists several letters during the second half of 1800, that Masséna, Lefebvre and Oudinot (all in the entourage of First Consul Bonaparte now) had written to Soult, reassuring him of their friendship and of Bonaparte's interest in Soult. According to Gotteri, Masséna, Lefebvre and Mortier had even tried to convince Soult to come to Paris, but Soult had refused and preferred to stay with the army, where he was at home.

Maybe he regretted that decision later? Or maybe he still did not feel at ease about his personal situation (his broken leg, only released on parole)? Or, maybe the easiest explanation: Louise was with him at the time. He may just have been too busy doing household chores to keep up an extended correspondence.

[frevandrest]

read that the 14 Frimaire law was supposed to 'make the representatives more accountable'. what did it try making them more accountable for? I'd initially assumed it was for war crimes but because certain representatives were still doing that after it was passed that doesn't seem to make sense

I am so sorry for my late reply! Yes, the 14 Frimaire law (from 4 December 1793) had a goal to control representatives on a mission and make them accountable to the CSP. Because a huge problem was that representatives did basically what they wanted, although I always also blame vague instructions from Paris for that mess.

The law demonstrates that they were aware of the problem, but it is also true that some of the worst crimes/excesses happened around the time the law was made and after it. So they knew about the law and continued. Not in all cases, but some of the most notable ones, yes.

Accidentally (?) some of the grapeshots in Lyon happened on the same date as the law. As I remember, this form of execution stopped mid December. However, I am not sure if it was because of the new law - does anyone know? @tierseta knows about Fouché more than anyone else here, so maybe there is something about Joseph's writing that gives more info (though as far as I remember, he avoided talking about it and/or blamed Collot and Robespierre). As to why... I am not sure. I personally don't see much fear in the representatives on the mission in regards to this law, but that cannot be the only explanation. We know that CSP received letters from representatives and sometimes (often?) reacted positively. Also, the vague instructions continued. But then in the spring 1794 (or as early as late 1793?), we have a wave of representatives recalled/asked to explain themselves in Paris. I believe Collot himself wanted to go to Paris voluntarily to explain himself (?) Was there some tension between instructions and deeds? A divide in CSP over what to do (but they all pretended CSP has unity)? An encouragement to representatives with later understanding that things went too far? I am not sure, but it was handled badly.

If someone knows more, please share!

[microcosme11]

Some of the characters in the Sacré de Napoleon.

Le Sacré de S. M. l'Empereur Napoléon dans l'église métropolitaine de Paris, le XI frimaire an XIII dimanche 2 décembre 1804 (Artist: Isabey)

gallica

[portablefrailty]

Vendémiaire

The latest installment of my series based on the French Republican Calendar. Vendémiaire was the first month of the year, beginning on the fall solstice and ending 30 days later. It's the first month of the autumn quarter, followed by Brumaire and Frimaire. The name is derived from the Occitan term for wine harvesting.