People of the Revolution and the USSR

Charles-Philippe Ronsin

Charles-Philippe Ronsin

Hébertist general who commanded the Parisian Revolutionary Army

Appointed commander of the Parisian Revolutionary Army in September 1793, he was arrested with Hébert, Vincent, Momoro and others in March 1794 and executed on 24 March.

Born in Soissons, Ronsin served in the army as a young man and after leaving it lived as a playwright and tutor. During the Revolution he became an orator of the Cordeliers Club; in 1793 he took charge of a department of Bouchotte’s War Ministry, was sent to the Vendée and was rapidly promoted to general. In September that year he became commander of the Parisian Revolutionary Army and in November led a detachment to the repression at Lyon. In the course he appears among the Hébertists arrested in March 1794 with Hébert, Vincent, Momoro and others and executed on 24 March. The charge of a military plot built on the Revolutionary Army was the prosecution’s case and should be read as such. The Revolutionary Army was disbanded days after his execution.

Career timeline
  • 1772Left the army and worked as a playwright and tutor.
  • 1792Appointed supply commissioner to Dumouriez’s army in Belgium.
  • 1793Took charge of a department of Bouchotte’s War Ministry in April, was sent to the Vendée in May and was promoted to general in July.
  • 1793Became commander of the Parisian Revolutionary Army in September and led a detachment to Lyon in November.
  • 1793–1794Arrested on 17 December and released on 2 February after a Cordeliers campaign.
  • 1794Re-arrested with the Hébertists in March and executed on 24 March.

Lazare Carnot

Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot

The mathematician who organized the army of the Revolution

As the Committee of Public Safety member in charge of personnel and troop movements from 1793, he created fourteen armies and contributed to Jourdan's victory at Wattignies in autumn 1793. Mass conscription raised the army from roughly 645,000 in mid-1793 to about 1.5 million by September 1794.

French mathematician, military officer and politician, born at Nolay in Burgundy in 1753 and dead at Magdeburg in 1823. Elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and to the National Convention in September 1792, from 1793 he handled personnel and troop movements on the Committee of Public Safety, directing conscription and organization and steering France's military successes of 1793–94, for which he was called the 'Organizer of Victory'. Known as an honest administrator and a convinced republican, he broke with Robespierre and helped bring about his overthrow on 9 Thermidor in 1794, and was one of the five initial directors of the Directory. Ousted in the Coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797, he went into exile; Napoleon made him Minister of War in 1800, but he opposed the imperial coronation and withdrew from public life. Exiled by the Second Bourbon Restoration, he died in exile.

Career timeline
  • 1791–1792Deputy, Legislative Assembly; Deputy, National Convention
  • 1793–1795Member, Committee of Public Safety; military organization and operations
  • 1795–1797Director of the Directory
  • 1800Minister of War
  • 1815Minister of the Interior during the Hundred Days