Execution of Louis XVI
After the storming of the Tuileries in August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned in the Temple tower with his family and put on trial before the National Convention in December. The charges were treason: correspondence with foreign powers urging invasion, complicity in counter-revolutionary conspiracy, and violation of the constitution. The evidence was substantial — the iron safe (armoire de fer) discovered behind a panel in the Tuileries contained his secret correspondence — and the Convention voted 693 to 0 that he was guilty. The more contested votes were on the sentence and whether to suspend it pending a popular referendum. The sentence of death passed 387 to 334 — a majority of 53. The appeal to the people was rejected. On 21 January 1793, Louis was guillotined on the Place de la Révolution before enormous crowds. He reportedly attempted a last speech to the crowd before the drums drowned it out. Marie Antoinette was executed on the same square on 16 October 1793. The regicide was a deliberate Rubicon: it made reconciliation with Europe's monarchies impossible, widened the war to include Britain and Spain, and deepened the paranoid emergency atmosphere that produced the Terror.
- Year: 1793 CE
- Category: Political
