Images from the Neoclassical period were extremely popular during this period and it is no secret that the sans-culottes took an admiration to the Romans. Convention member Saint-Just describes the feelings of the sans-culottes towards the Romans with the quote, “The world has been empty since the Romans.” Along the same lines a sans-culottes print 500,000 Republicans Defending the Constitution, shows the sans-culottes fighting with swords, clubs, axes, and their favorite weapon of choice pikes. There was a romanticism not only about war, but classical hand to hand combat based warfare. The result of this fascination is the desire of the sans-culottes to become an orderly civilian army, but they took their role too far as they arrested those who posed even the slimmest of threats to the republic. The result of this was the radicalization of the French population, which benefits no one. Criticism is necessary to improve, but none was given because it would result in …show more content…
These clubs distorted the true meaning of a republic. A true republic is a government chosen by the people to protect and represent the people. The form of government that was created by the Jacobin Club and various Conventions and Assemblies were anything but that. The new Republic was extremely intolerant of other opinions. Later on they would become oppressive and violent. Corresponding to other players in the French Revolution the republicans started out as a brave group of freedom fighters. The idea of a republic really started with the Jacobins who made a petition to oust the King early on. Their opponents were the war party or the Girondists who supported a constitutional monarchy. The Girondists were on the left at the beginning of the year 1792 but ended it on the right as the French Revolution radicalized at an alarming rate. The creation of the Montagnards led by Robespierre took an extremely aggressive approach. With the help of the sans-culottes the Girondins became targeted and were completely purged on June 2, 1793. This passage from May 31, 1793 shows the influence of the republicans and how they used the people of France to do their political work for them. “Let us say that there were 300,000 citizens assembled at the first sound of the alarm, anxious to demonstrate under the gaze of the entire Republic their devotedness to the homeland and their respect for the