The September Massacres of 1792

In early September 1792 Prussian forces advanced into France, taking Longwy and then Verdun, which opened the road to Paris. Panic spread through the capital, fed by rumours that imprisoned priests, nobles and others would break out and attack the city once volunteers had left for the front. From 2 to 6 September, crowds entered Paris prisons and held improvised 'trials' before killing prisoners.

Estimates of the dead range from about 1,100 to 1,400, roughly half the prison population, and most victims were ordinary criminals rather than political prisoners. The authorities did little to stop the killings, and some radicals, including Marat, appeared to justify them. The massacres horrified many in France and abroad and became a lasting reference point in debates about revolutionary violence. They also deepened hostility between the Girondins, who blamed Paris radicals, and the Jacobins.