The Plain (National Convention)
평원파
Name for the majority of independent deputies in the French National Convention who were attached to neither the Girondins nor the Montagnards; also called the Marsh (Marais). Voting with one side or the other issue by issue, they decided decrees and the make-up of committees.
In depth
The name came from their benches near the debating floor, below the Montagnards, and opponents mocked them as the toads of the Marsh. One estimate puts the Girondins at about 150 and the Montagnards at about 120 of 750 deputies, leaving some 480 in the Plain. Barère, Sieyès, Cambacérès and Boissy d'Anglas are counted among them. The path of deputies like Barère, who began in the Plain and became central to the Committee of Public Safety, shows that the group was not a mere bystander. Most of them rallied against Robespierre on 9 Thermidor, opening the Thermidorian reaction.
Related people
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN)
- /commulingo/docs/france-national-assembly-terror-guide-1793-1794