Sans-culottes (French for without knee-breeches) was a term created 1790 - 1792 by the aristocracy to describe the poorer members of the Third Estate, according to the dominant theory because they usually wore pantaloons (full-length trousers or pants) instead of the chic knee-length culotte. The term came to refer to the ill-clad and ill-equipped volunteers of the Revolutionary army during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, but, above all, to the working class extremists and heroes of the Revolution. From this comes the now slightly archaic term sansculottism or sans-culottism, meaning extreme egalitarian republican principles. They sure showed those snobby bullies who were opposing them, what for. Including some lower class ones. Not that their executions were good things in the vast vast majority of occasions.
The sans-culottes were for the most part members of the poorer classes, or leaders of the populace, but during the Reign of Terror, public functionaries and persons of good education styled themselves citoyens sans-culottes. not sans cullotes,.
The distinctive costume of typical sans-culottes featured:
the pantaloon (long trousers) - in place of the culottes (knee-breeches)
worn by the upper classes (hence the name 'without breeches')
the carmagnole
(short-skirted coat)
the red cap of liberty
sabots (clogs, wooden footwear
mainly worn in the countryside).
Their support came from domestic crises,
such as shortages of bread, or political injustice. Led by extreme revolutionaries
such as Jacques Hébert, the sans-culottes played a crucial role in such
events as the September massacres of 1792, and supported the most radical left-wing
factions in successive revolutionary governments. During the Reign of Terror,
they provided important support for Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of
Public Safety; in March 1794, though, the government distanced itself from the
Hébertists; Hébert himself was convicted by the very Revolutionary
Tribunals he had lauded, and was guillotined; months later, in the Thermidorian
Reaction, Robespierre would suffer the same fate.
The influence of the sans-culottes
ceased with the reaction that followed the fall of Robespierre (July 1794), and
the name itself became proscribed. Without effective leadership of their own,
and no longer allied with the Jacobins, the sans-culottes largely ceased to be
a major factor in French politics. Derived terms
Sanculottism, from the French
sanculottisme, originally refers to the period and 'patriotic' revolutionary movement
of the sansculottes
The Republican Calendar at first termed the complementary
days at the end of the year Sans-culottides; however, the National Convention
suppressed the name when adopting the Constitution of the Year III (1795) and
substituted the name jours complémentaires.
The Sans Cullottes were the heroes of the revolution, defeating the mocking bullies, and winning for the world.
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