October 24, 1795 Ye Old Times THE JACOBINS By: Jacob Gilliam Political club of the French Revolution . Formed in 1789 by the Breton deputies to the States- General, it was reconstituted as the Society of Friends of the Constitution after the revolutionary National Assembly moved (Oct., 1789) to Paris. The club derived its popular name from the monastery of the Jacobins (Parisian name of Dominicans), where the members met. Their chief purpose was to concert their activity and to secure support for the group from elements outside the Assembly. Patriotic societies were formed in most French cities in affiliation with the Parisian club. The members were, for the most part, bourgeois and at first included such moderates as Honoré de Mirabeau . The Jacobins exercised through their journals considerable pressure on the Legislative Assembly, in which they and the Feuillants were (1791–92) the chief factions. They sought to limit the powers of the king, and many of them had republican tendencies. The group split on the issue of war against Europe, which the majority, including the Brissotins (see under Brissot de Warville, Jacques Pierre ) sought. A small minority opposed foreign war and insisted on reform. This group of Jacobins grew more radical, adopted republican ideas, and advocated universal manhood suffrage, popular education, and separation of church and state, although it adhered to orthodox economic principles. In the National Convention, which proclaimed the French republic, the Jacobins and other opponents of the Girondists sat in the raised seats and were called the Mountain . Their leaders—Maximilien Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just , among others—relied mainly on the strength of the Paris commune and the Parisian sans-culottes. After the fall of the Girondists (June, 1793), for which the Jacobins were largely responsible, the Jacobin leaders instituted the Reign of Terror . http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/ jacobins.html#ixzz2AG1hYgyZ
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Napoleon Bonaparte By: Nathan Wilbourn Napoleon Bonaparte is one of history's most controversial figures. His has many admirers and many critics. His mastery of the battlefield has provided models that are still studied in military schools today. Napoleon was in many ways, many years ahead of his opponent's tactics when he began his campaigns. He took a turbulent France and led it to many victories. France's great empire is especially impressive since it only had twenty five million citizens.Napoleon is one of Frances greatest military heroes. He also authored the Napoleonic code that is seen by some as an important democratic document. However other people see him as a precursor to the horrible tyrants of the twentieth century. The controversy that swirls centers on mainly if he was a liberating hero or an evil despot. Many people perceive him as the former. However, a close analysis reveals that Napoleon was tyrant and a warmonger.