http://victoriavandal.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] victoriavandal.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] revolution_fr2009-08-22 10:57 pm
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Quotation help wanted...

On page 792 of the hardback US Edition of Schama's 'Citizens', he winds up his chapter 'Terror is the order of the day' with the lines "Commenting on the Revolution of the 10th August, Robespierre had rejoiced that 'a river of blood would now divide France from her enemies'"

Leaving aside that horrific 'rejoiced' - cos, yeah, he did it for the lulz! - I've only ever heard those 'river of blood' words attributed to Danton. Did Robespierre ever use the same words?
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[identity profile] maelicia.livejournal.com 2009-08-22 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
God, all I can think of is: lol, omsb, LOL. Such an idiot.

[identity profile] sibylla-oo.livejournal.com 2009-08-23 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't Büchner his source? You know, Dantons Tod, the theater-play. But as far as I remember not even there it's Robespierre the one to use such expression :-) I have to check it, but it seems to me as another example of Schama's "creative historiography".
As "the State killed 55.000 people in 1793-1794"...Another good one.

[identity profile] estellacat.livejournal.com 2009-08-24 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I searched Google Books with the words "Robespierre 'fleuve de sang'" and even then it only came up with that quote attributed to Danton. According to l'AMRID, he was also supposed to have been referring to the September Massacres, rather than 10 August. Of course, it's nothing new for Schama to misattribute quotes in order to better "prove" his point.

[identity profile] wolfshadow713.livejournal.com 2009-08-26 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I've only heard the quote attributed to Danton. It seems more his style--while both Danton and Robespierre seemed to like metaphor and somewhat stylized oratory (but, really, what revolutionary politician didn't?), the imagery seems more in keeping with Danton's.

That said, it hardly surprizes me that someone would attribute it to Robespierre and I doubt Schama is the only one to do so. While I am reluctant to accuse anyone of intentional errors in historiography, failure to fact-check points defending one's opinion appear unfortunately common. What it comes down to is that regrettably many historians seem about as polarized about the French Revolution as the revolutionaries were themselves.
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