With his 'Phrygians cap' also called ?bonnet rouge' or the ?cap of liberty'; his blue-white-red striped long-trousers, his carmagnole (short-skirted coat) and his sabots (wooden shoes) characterized the Parisian sans-culotte who was one of the most famous, symbolic active figures of the French Revolution. Throughout the revolution, especially during the short but significant period of the Terror (1793-1794), the Parisian sans-culotte took part in the movement of the sans-culotterie played and played a major role in the radicalization and the acceleration of the revolution. In fact, The Parisian sans-culotte appeared during the revolution as the main opponent of the monarchy and overall of the aristocracy. The name sans-culotte originally used by aristocrats as a ridicule name, in order to describe the revolutionaries who did not wear knee breeches like the upper class but long trousers, quickly became a "mark of pride". For the Parisian sans-culotte, his name and at the same time his costume were the symbols of the revolutionary struggle against privileges and a way to erect barriers between them and the fortunate aristocracy class.
[...] This presentation, will deal with the political organisation of the movement, the ideas and social aspirations of the sans- culottes. The principle of Equality was really the framework of the sans-culottes' social aspirations. Indeed, the Parisian sans-culotte got an egalitarian conception of social relationships and it is because of this vision based on Equality that the sans-culottes were opposed to the aristocracy and their privileges. It is really this wish for Equality which put together the sans-culottes and formed the movement of the sans-culotterie. [...]
[...] Indeed, as Soboul described in his book: The Parisian Sans-Culottes and the French Revolution 1793-4, the political personnel of the Parisian sans-culotterie was divided between, the comités civils, the comités révolutionnaire and a third category of ordinary militants. Moreover, the Parisian sans-culotte was also a member of one of the numerous Parisian sections. Indeed, in 1789 the city of Paris had been divided into sixty districts in order to organise the elections of the Estate General. After the elections the districts were used regularly by the sans-culottes to organise political meetings (the regularity of the meetings and the independence of the sections were both main demands of the sans-culottes). [...]
[...] But, as Soboul says the influence of the sans-culotterie was not really efficient because of internal difficulties and burning debates. In fact, internal tensions were one of the main reasons which can explain the failure of the sans-culotterie. Indeed, as we said at the beginning of our study, the sans-culottes did not form a social class and their social aspirations were also sometimes “confused and contradictory”1. Nevertheless, the Parisian sans-culotte took place inside a well- organised and coherent political movement. [...]
[...] First of all, the sans-culotte uses the tutoiement that is to say the utilisation of the inside a conversation and not the usual and respectful Indeed, the word was clearly associated to the idea of inequality and to the former principles of the Ancien Regime. Futhermore, beyond the tutoiement, the word Monsieur was also abolished of the sans-culotterie's vocabulary in favour of the term citizen, which appeared as a mark of respect and honour. These linguistic particularities were very popular and had a great echo during the first years of the Revolution. [...]
[...] Despite everything, the Parisian sans-culotte thanks to his diversity, his political aspiration and social wish is a very interesting character, who has developed the interest of many historians. Many studies have been made on the sans-culottes with the result that the Parisian sans-culotte was not a single revolutionary man but really one element of a more general and global group: the sans-culotterie which is in accordance with the principle of fraternization. Bibliography Edited Books Soboul Albert The Parisian Sans-Culottes and the French Revolution 1793-4, (Oxford University Press 1964) Cobb Ricahrd The French [...]
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