The White Terror: France's Post-Revolutionary Vigilante Violence

In the aftermath of the Reign of Terror and Robespierre's fall, France experienced a wave of brutal vigilante violence known as the White Terror. Lucas and Luna explore how royalist mobs, fueled by revenge and political resentment, targeted Jacobins, former revolutionaries, and Protestants in the Rhône valley and the Midi. They examine the massacres at Lyon's prisons, the assassination of key figures like Joseph Fouché's brother, and the role of the Compagnies de Jéhu and Compagnies du Soleil. The episode also covers the broader context of the Thermidorian Reaction and the Directory's struggle to maintain order amid factional strife. Listeners will gain a nuanced understanding of how revolutionary ideals collapsed into cycles of reprisal, and how the White Terror presaged later political violence in modern France. #WhiteTerror #ThermidorianReaction #FrenchRevolution #CompagniesDeJéhu #Lyon #RhôneValley #Midi #Jacobins #CounterRevolution #VigilanteViolence #JosephFouché #Directory #ReignOfTerror #ProtestantPersecution #Marseille #Toulon #Nîmes #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo