Another result of the War was the overthrowing of the Monarchy. This was catalysed by the initial failure of the French army, which had been effectively purged by the flight of many of its commanders as a result of the earlier terror in 1789. This depleted army was defeated by the Austrians the first time the armies met. As a result of this many of the troops deserted, and soon the commanders were recommending that peace be made as soon as possible. This was, justifiably, blamed on Marie Antoinette and this made the French despise her further. This is possibly why Louis failed to accept laws for a camp to be set up for the fédérés, which led directly to the Journée of the 9th August, an event that was used against Louis very heavily at his trial. Soon after, on the 21st September the new National Convention announced the end of monarchy in France.
In the 1792 elections for the National Convention took place. These were at the height of the war, and it is unquestionable that the war had an impact on the voting in these elections. The ministers returned were all bourgeoisie. They were split in fairly equal proportions into the Montagnards, Girondins and the Plain. The Plain members were not allied to any particular viewpoint, and it was to be their ultimate support of the Montagnards that would result in the collapse and arrest of the Girondins, and a centralisation of political power behind the Montagnards, with Robespierre as their leader. It was the realisation of the Montagnards that they needed public support for the war to be successful, and their willingness to compromise in order to achieve this support that enabled them to emerge the dominant political force of this period. It was partly because of this need for the support of the Sans-Culottes that the Montagnards pursued their desire for the execution of Louis so strongly. Even though every member in the convention agreed that Louis was guilty of crimes against the state, the assembly voted in favour of his execution by 387 votes to 334, a smaller majority than one may have expected. In executing Louis they lost a possible bargaining tool with foreign powers, but they also eliminated the possibility of Louis managing to escape abroad and return with an army to overthrow the revolution, and he almost did when fleeing to Varennes.
A further problem for the Convention was the increasing numbers of riots and uprisings in provincial areas. These were going on for a long time before the outbreak of war, but were definitely affected and intensified by the war. The most famous of these uprisings was in the Vendée. In this region the peasants had been growing increasingly discontented with the new governments, as they were paying more taxes than they had been under the Ancien Régime, and as a result of this they disliked the new revolutionary government. This dislike turned to hatred when the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which had been strongly resisted in the area as it was full of non-jurors, a resistance that was encouraged by the regions priests. This shows that the Vendée had been opposed to the revolution for quite a while before the issue of conscription, which is most commonly seen as the cause of the uprising, was seen as the only cause. However this issue of conscription, and the thought of the people of the Vendée having to serve a nation they felt no allegiance to, was a main contributor to the violence in the region. This was not a threatening uprising as far as the success of the revolution is concerned, but if the several local uprisings in major areas such as Marseille and Toulon has been co-ordinated there would have been a realistic counter-revolutionary threat, but as it stood they could all be easily individually dealt with. The local army of the Vendée was crushed by 30,000 troops who had to be removed from the front. They went on to, by the orders of the commune, to destroy the entire region, killing everybody and destroying everything. This was the first exercise of “The Terror” which was to grip France for the next year.
The collapse of the Girondins was another very significant event, as after it there was virtually no opposition to the Montagnards, as the Plain had realigned itself behind them. There was also the assassination of Marat, who was a prominent Montagnards statesman, and had called for the September Massacres, and the arrest of the Girondins. Further distrust in the French army was aroused by the defection of Dumouriez to the Austrians after their defeat at Neerwinden, after support for his plan to march back to Paris and restore the monarchy had failed. This shows how there was lack of support for the revolution even at the highest of levels, a lack of support that was eliminated during the terror.
War also had a huge affect on many other events, such as the seemingly thoughtless and irrational decisions of Louis XVI. The outbreak of war undoubtedly affected his decisions, and also those of the Assembly and later on the Commune. It also exposed weaknesses in the Assembly, and heightened the fear of Counter-Revolution, which was in the minds of top generals, such as Dumouriez.
After the Purge of the Girondins deputies, most feared and distrusted the Montagnards, but for the sake of the country they supported them anyway. They established “The New Committee of Public Safety” which had only twelve members, all of whom were Montagnards. This committee was to be responsible for the terror, with Robespierre at the helm. He was not in search of power for himself, but was totally devoted to the cause of the revolution. He was a very tactical man, only taking allegiance when he saw he would be on the winning side. Robespierre was also a champion of the poor cause. This made his a dangerous figure, but he was one never to have great public support, preferring to live in comfort away from the public eye.
In conclusion, the war has to be seen as the single most influential factor to this period of French history. Although many of the events that happened between 1792-3 were already in the pipeline well before the war broke out, it bought them more out into the open and also provoked them further. An example of this is the Terror in the Vendée, where the issue of conscription only angered further a province much disillusioned with the revolution already. The war also bought about other events, such as the September Massacres – a total panic reaction to the lack of troops defending Paris after the initial failure of the war. On the other hand, there were some events that would have happened, regardless of the war. I think that Louis was always going to be executed, and that the Montagnards would have dominated the Convention whether there had been the war or not. Either way that you look at the events, most of them were not out rightly caused by the war, but most of them were definitely changed by it and it was the most important event of the revolution so far. War definitely changed the revolution, more for the worse than the better.