The Champ de Mars Massacre

After Varennes, radicals in the Cordeliers Club called for the king to be removed. On 17 July 1791 a large crowd gathered at the Champ de Mars to sign a petition at the altar of the fatherland. The day turned violent when two men found hiding under the altar were killed. The municipality declared martial law, and National Guards under Lafayette, with Mayor Bailly, marched to the field. Stones were thrown, the guards opened fire, and dozens of people were killed; estimates vary.

The authorities followed with a crackdown on radical clubs and newspapers, and some radicals went into hiding. The massacre split the revolutionary movement: moderates saw it as necessary to restore order, while radicals saw the government firing on its own citizens. It badly damaged Lafayette and Bailly and widened the gulf between constitutional monarchists and republicans.