Girondists - Girond is French for "Girondins"

A political party in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution. It was a liberal party mainly representing the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, and its most famous and active members were Brissot, Condorcet, Berniaux, Gadet, and Gensonnet. The latter three of these were elected from the Gironde department, so they were called the Girondists. However, the name of this party was not unified as the most representative name until the 19th century, when Lamartine's "History of the Girondists" became a best-seller. At the time of the revolution, they were more often called by the names of their leading members, and were most often called the Brissots. When the Feuillants split after King Louis XVI's flight to Varennes in June 1791, they took the lead in the Jacobin Club, and in the Legislative Assembly that began in the fall of the same year, they formed the left wing, and came into conflict with the Feuillants after the split, exposing the King's counter-revolutionary nature and promoting foreign wars to protect trade interests. Within the Jacobin Club, he suppressed the opposition of Robespierre and other future Montagnards, and in the spring of 1892, he forced the King to select politicians close to his faction as ministers, and finally won a declaration of war against Austria. However, he failed in leading the war, and was unable to decisively confront the King and other counter-revolutionary forces who were sabotaging the war effort, and he also opposed the popular uprising of August 10 of the same year. After that, he fought against the insurrectionary Commune and the Montagnards who were allied with it, and although he was able to maintain his dominance in the National Convention in its early days, he lost the debate over the death penalty for Louis XVI, and was driven from power in the popular uprising of May 31 to June 2, 1893. Many of his members were arrested and executed, while others fled and went underground, and were driven to suicide. Those who survived the Montagne's dictatorship and reign of terror played a part in the "Thermidorean reaction" of 1894, and later resumed political activity as part of the so-called Thermidorean faction that rose to power.

[Kinichi Higuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランス革命期の立法議会および国民公会における党派。主として商工業ブルジョアジーを代表する自由主義の党派で、ブリソ、コンドルセ、ベルニオー、ガデ、ジャンソネなどがもっとも著名かつ活動的なメンバーで、このうち後の三者がジロンド県選出の議員であったことからジロンド派とよばれる。しかし、この派名がもっとも代表的な名称として統一されたのは、19世紀になってラマルチーヌの『ジロンド派の歴史』がベストセラーとなって以後のことであり、革命の当時にあってはむしろ有力メンバーの名によってよばれることが多く、とくにブリソ派という呼び方がもっとも多かった。1791年6月の国王ルイ16世のバレンヌ逃亡事件後のフイヤン派の分裂でジャコバン・クラブの指導権を握り、同年秋からの立法議会では左翼を形成し、分裂後のフイヤン派と対立し、国王の反革命的な実体を暴き出し、かねて貿易上の利害を守るために対外戦争を推進した。そしてジャコバン・クラブ内ではロベスピエールら後の山岳派（モンタニャール）の反対を抑え、92年春、自派に近い政治家を大臣に選ぶことを国王に強制し、ついに対オーストリア宣戦布告をかちとった。しかし、戦争指導に失敗し、そのうえ戦争遂行をサボタージュする国王その他の反革命勢力との決定的対決もできず、同年8月10日の人民蜂起(ほうき)にも反対した。以後、蜂起コミューンおよびこれと結ぶ山岳派と争い、国民公会の初期には公会で優勢を守りえたが、ルイ16世の死刑をめぐる討論で敗勢を示し、93年5月31日～6月2日の人民蜂起で政権の座を追われ、多くは逮捕されて死刑に処されたほか、逃亡して地下に潜み、自殺に追い込まれたものもある。山岳派の独裁と恐怖政治を耐えて生き延びたものは、94年の「テルミドールの反動」に一役買い、以後権力を握ったいわゆるテルミドール派の一翼として政治活動を再開した。

［樋口謹一］

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