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21 September 1792Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The National Convention Abolishes the Monarchy

A newly elected assembly declares France a republic on its first full day in session

On the timeline · around 21 September 1792 · Republic and TerrorRepublic and TerrorThe National Convention Abolishes the Monarchy1793

Quick facts

Location
Paris
Date
21 September 1792 (monarchy abolished); 22 September (republic declared)
Deputies
749, elected by universal male suffrage
Factions
Girondins and Montagnards

What happened

The National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage for the first time in French history and numbering 749 deputies, held its first session on 20 September 1792, the same day French forces halted the Prussian advance at the Battle of Valmy. On 21 September, its deputies unanimously voted to abolish the constitutional monarchy, and the following day declared France a republic, retroactively known as the First Republic. The new assembly combined executive and legislative power in itself and quickly split into rival factions, the more moderate Girondins and the more radical Montagnards, whose struggle would dominate the Convention's first months.

Why it matters

The vote ended, at a stroke, over a thousand years of continuous French monarchy and left the fate of Louis XVI, still held as a private citizen, as the Convention's first and most urgent open question. Its factional split between Girondins and Montagnards would shape, and eventually consume, the next two years of revolutionary politics.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's overview of the French Revolution documents the Convention's opening session and its early act of abolishing the monarchy; the timing alongside the Valmy victory is corroborated by standard university surveys of the period.

Sources

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