The Massacre of the Champs de Mars

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The Massacre of the Champs de Mars

This is a letter from Madame Marie-Jeanne Roland to a confidant and is

therefore a private, discursive source. The letter, written the day

following the massacre was her private views of what took place. The

information within the letter leads the reader to believe that Madame

Roland was present at the Champs de Mars when the massacre occurred.

However, as we do not know where exactly she was whilst this event

took place, we cannot say how true this version of the events leading

up to the massacre is. If she was in the Champs de Mars whilst these

events took place then this is a strong source for a study of the

massacre. However if she heard what took place second hand, it will

have its limitations. Some questions, like the following, would need

to be answered - from whom has she heard this information, are they

for or against the monarchy, were they at the Champs de Mars when the

massacre happened?.

To write a study on the massacre of the Champs de Mars, there are

certain words and phrases that would need to be explained in order to

understand better what happened. In paragraph 1 "the altar of the

fatherland" was a wooden erection established in the Champs de Mars in

1790; "functionaries" were government officials, whilst the phrases

"the municipality had been previously informed according to the

rules", "with its iron sceptre outstretched" and "in the confidence of

the most sacred rights and legitimate intentions" would need to be

clarified. In paragraph 2 "the red flag" was a symbol of martial law

and the phrase " the three summonses prescribed by law were neglected"

would also need to be ...

... middle of paper ...

...the government (or the king?)

has acted in an aggressive and oppressive manner using the National

Guard to disperse the crowd with violence. Madame Roland appears to be

in sympathy with the reasons the crowd had gathered and that the

National Guard were in a rather blood thirsty mood as once they had

fired their volleys, the cavalry charged after the fleeing crowd and

cut them down with their sabres and "this peaceful and trusting

assembly of honest men put to rout".

As a whole I would say that this is a reasonably strong document to

use as a study of "The massacre of the Champs de Mars". However, as a

historian I would only be able to produce a weak article if I did not

investigate information from other groups and sources to give me a

more complete picture of what happened at the Champs de Mars on 18

July 1791.

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