The French First Republic (fr. Republique Francoise) was founded on 22 September, 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon.
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| Flag | Emblem of the Napoleonic Consulate |
This period is characterized by the fall of the monarchy, the establishment of the National Convention and the infamous Reign of Terror, the founding of the Directory and the Thermidorian Reaction, and finally, the creation of the Consulate and Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power.
Under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. In June of 1792, the Duke of Brunswick, commanding general of the Austro–Prussian Army, issued his Brunswick Manifesto, in which he threatened the destruction of Paris should any harm come to King Louis XVI. With the armies of Prussia approaching the city of Paris, the Manifesto backfired—widespread panic broke out.
Citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing 600 of the King’s Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of anti-revolutionary action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the city’s prisons, killing over half of the prisoners. Nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners lay murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed, and slashed to death. This became known as the September Massacres .
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