Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution - wikipedia Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution `` Dechristianization '' redirects here. For other uses, see Dechristianization ( disambiguation ). The dechristianization of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies conducted by various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801, forming the basis of the later and less radical laïcité policies. The goal of the campaign between 1793 and 1794 ranged from the public reclamation of the massive amounts of land, power, and money held by the Catholic Church in France to the termination of Catholic religious practice and of the religion itself. There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated. The French Revolution initially began with attacks on church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since the Roman Catholic church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France. During a two - year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism grew more violent than any in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the church ; abolished the Catholic monarchy ; nationalized church property ; exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more. In October 1793 the Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoning from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason and the Supreme Being were scheduled. New forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason, with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794.. Contents 1 Religion and the Catholic Church under the monarchy 1.1 Before 1789 1.2 Between 1789 and 1792 1.3 Fall of the monarchy 2 New policies of the Revolutionary authorities 3 The Revolution and the Church 4 Toll on the Church 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes and references 8 Further reading 8.1 In English 8.2 In French 9 External links Religion and the Catholic Church under the monarchy Before 1789 In 18th - century France, the vast majority of the population adhered to the Catholic Church as Catholicism had been since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 the only religion officially allowed in the kingdom. Nonetheless, there were minorities of French Protestants ( mostly Huguenots & German Lutherans in Alsace ) and Jews still lived in France at the beginning of the Revolution. The Edict of Versailles, commonly known as the Edict of Tolerance, had been signed by Louis XVI on 7 November 1787 and had given non-Catholics in France the right to openly practice their religions as well as legal and civil status, which included the right to contract marriages without having to convert to the Catholic faith. At the same time, libertine thinkers popularized atheism and anti-clericalism. The Ancien Régime institutionalised the authority of the clergy in its status as the First Estate of the realm. As the largest landowner in the country, the Catholic Church controlled properties which provided massive revenues from its tenants ; the Church also had an enormous income from the collection of tithes. Since the Church kept the registry of births, deaths, and marriages and was the only institution that provided hospitals and education in some parts of the country, it influenced all citizens. Between 1789 and 1792 The event that launched the Revolution was the abolition of the privileges of the First and Second Estate on the night of 4 August 1789. In particular, it abolished the tithes gathered by the Catholic clergy. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 proclaimed freedom of religion across France in these terms : Article IV - Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others : thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights. These borders can be determined only by the law. Article X - No one may be disturbed for his opinions, even religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not trouble the public order established by the law. On October 10, 1789, the National Constituent Assembly seized the properties and land held by the Catholic Church and decided to sell them as assignats. On July 12, 1790, the assembly passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government. It was never accepted by the Pope and other high - ranking clergy in Rome. Fall of the monarchy Main articles : 10 August ( French Revolution ) and September Massacres New policies of the revolutionary authorities The programme of dechristianization waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included : destruction of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being ( spring 1794 ) the enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight Fête de la Raison ( `` Festival of Reason '' ), Notre Dame, Paris, 10 November 1793 An especially notable event that took place in the course of France 's dechristianization was the Festival of Reason, which was held in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November 1793. The dechristianization campaign can be seen as the logical extension of the materialist philosophies of some leaders of the Enlightenment such as Voltaire, while for others with more prosaic concerns it provided an opportunity to unleash resentments against the Catholic Church ( in the spirit of conventional anti-clericalism ) and its clergy. The Revolution and the Church In August 1789, the State cancelled the taxing power of the Church. The issue of church property became central to the policies of the new revolutionary government. Declaring that all church property in France belonged to the nation, confiscations were ordered and church properties were sold at public auction. In July 1790, the National Constituent Assembly published the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that stripped clerics of their special rights -- the clergy were to be made employees of the state, elected by their parish or bishopric, and the number of bishoprics was to be reduced -- and required all priests and bishops to swear an oath of fidelity to the new order or face dismissal, deportation or death. French priests had to receive Papal approval to sign such an oath, and Pius VI spent almost eight months deliberating on the issue. On 13 April 1791, the Pope denounced the Constitution, resulting in a split in the French Catholic church. Over fifty percent became abjuring priests ( `` jurors '' ), also known as `` constitutional clergy '', and nonjuring priests as `` refractory clergy ''. Map of France showing the percentage of juring priests in 1791. The borders of the map are those of 2007, because the data come from archives of the modern departments. In September 1792, the Legislative Assembly legalized divorce, contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the State took control of the birth, death, and marriage registers away from the Church. An ever - increasing view that the Church was a counter-revolutionary force exacerbated the social and economic grievances and violence erupted in towns and cities across France. In Paris, over a forty - eight - hour period beginning on 2 September 1792, as the Legislative Assembly ( successor to the National Constituent Assembly ) dissolved into chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs ; this constituted part of what would become known as the September Massacres. Priests were among those drowned in mass executions ( noyades ) for treason under the direction of Jean - Baptiste Carrier ; priests and nuns were among the mass executions at Lyons, for separatism, on the orders of Joseph Fouché and Collot d'Herbois. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort. Anti-church laws were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National Convention, as well as by département councils throughout the country. Many of the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were motivated by the seizure of church gold and silver to finance the war effort. In November 1793, the département council of Indre - et - Loire abolished the word dimanche ( English : Sunday ). The Gregorian calendar, an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French Republican Calendar which abolished the sabbath, saints ' days and any references to the Church. The seven - day week became ten days instead. It soon became clear, however, that nine consecutive days of work were too much, and that international relations could not be carried out without reverting to the Gregorian system, which was still in use everywhere outside of France. Consequently, the Gregorian Calendar was reimplemented in 1795. Anti-clerical parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris, Jean - Baptiste - Joseph Gobel, was forced to resign his duties and made to replace his mitre with the red `` Cap of Liberty. '' Street and place names with any sort of religious connotation were changed, such as the town of St. Tropez, which became Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols. Many churches were converted into `` temples of reason, '' in which Deistic services were held. Local people often resisted this dechristianisation and forced members of the clergy who had resigned to conduct Mass again. Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety denounced the dechristianizers as foreign enemies of the Revolution, and established their own new religion. This Cult of the Supreme Being, without the superstitions of Catholicism, supplanted both Catholicism and the rival Cult of Reason. Both new religions were short - lived. Just six weeks before his arrest, on 8 June 1794 the still - powerful Robespierre personally led a vast procession through Paris to the Tuileries garden in a ceremony to inaugurate the new faith. His execution occurred shortly afterward, on 28 July 1794. By early 1795 a return to some form of religion - based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on 21 February 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden. As late as 1799, priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies. Persecution only worsened after the French army led by General Louis Alexandre Berthier captured Rome in early 1798, declared a new Roman Republic, and imprisoned Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity in Valence, France in August 1799. Ultimately, with Napoleon now in ascendancy in France, year - long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope Pius VII led to the Concordat of 1801, formally ending the dechristianization period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the Roman Church and the French State. Victims of the Reign of Terror totaled somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000. According to one estimate, among those condemned by the revolutionary tribunals about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes. Of these social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church suffered proportionately the greatest loss. Anti-church laws were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National Convention, as well as by département councils throughout the country. The Concordat of 1801 endured for more than a century until it was abrogated by the government of the Third Republic, which established a policy of laïcité on 11 December 1905. Toll on the Church Under threat of death, imprisonment, military conscription, and loss of income, about twenty thousand constitutional priests were forced to abdicate and hand over their letters of ordination, and six thousand to nine thousand of them agreed or were coerced to marry. Many abandoned their pastoral duties altogether. Nonetheless, some of those who had abdicated continued covertly to minister to the people. By the end of the decade, approximately thirty thousand priests had been forced to leave France, and others who did not leave were executed. Most French parishes were left without the services of a priest and deprived of the sacraments. Any non-juring priest faced the guillotine or deportation to French Guiana. By Easter 1794, few of France 's forty thousand churches remained open ; many had been closed, sold, destroyed, or converted to other uses. Victims of revolutionary violence, whether religious or not, were popularly treated as Christian martyrs, and the places where they were killed became pilgrimage destinations. Catechising in the home, folk religion, syncretic and heterodox practices all became more common. The long - term effects on religious practice in France were significant. Many who were dissuaded from their traditional religious practices never resumed them. Gallery `` Disaffectation '' of a church, Jacques François Joseph Swebach - Desfontaines, 1794. Festival of the Supreme Being, 8 June 1794. Notre Dame of Strasbourg turned into a Temple of Reason. See also Persecution of Christians Christianity in France 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State People engaged in the campaign : Jacques Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, Joseph Fouché Notes and references ^ Jump up to : Tallet 1991, p. 1 - 17. ^ Jump up to : Spielvogel 2006, p. 549. ^ Jump up to : Tallet 1991, p. 1. Jump up ^ Collins, Michael ( 1999 ). The Story of Christianity. Mathew A Price. Dorling Kindersley. p. 176 -- 177. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7513 - 0467 - 1. At first the new revolutionary government attacked church corruption and the wealth of the bishops and abbots who ruled the church -- causes with which many Christians could identify. Clerical privileges were abolished... Jump up ^ Kennedy, Emmet ( 1989 ). A Cultural History of the French Revolution. Yale University Press. p. 343. ISBN 9780300044263. Jump up ^ Helmstadter, Richard J. ( 1997 ). Freedom and religion in the nineteenth century. Stanford Univ. Press. p. 251. Jump up ^ Heenan, David Kyle. Deism in France 1789 - 1799. N.p. : U of Wisconsin -- Madison, 1953. Print. Jump up ^ Ross, David A. Being in Time to the Music. N.p. : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007. Print. `` This Cult of Reason or Deism reached its logical conclusion in the French Revolution... '' Jump up ^ Fremont - Barnes, p. 119. Jump up ^ Tallet, Frank Religion, Society and Politics in France Since 1789 pp. 1 - 17 1991 Continuum International Publishing Jump up ^ Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760 - 1815, p. 212, retrieved July 17, 2016 ^ Jump up to : Betros, Gemma ( Dec 2010 ). `` THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ''. History Review ( 68 ) : 16 -- 21. ISSN 0962 - 9610. Jump up ^ Furet, François. `` Night of August 4, '' in François Furet, and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution ( Harvard University Press, 1989 ) pp 107 - 114. Jump up ^ Compare Tallett ( 1991 ) : `` During the course of the year II much of France was subjected to a campaign of dechristianization, the aim of which was the eradication of Catholic religious practice, and Catholicism itself. The campaign, which was at its most intense in the winter and spring of 1793 - 94 (... ) comprised a number of different activities. These ranged from the removal of plate, statues and other fittings from places of worship, the destruction of crosses, bells, shrines and other ' external signs of worship ', the closure of churches, the enforced abdication and, occasionally, the marriage of constitutional priests, the substitution of a Revolutionary calendar for the Gregorian one, the alteration of personal and place names which had any eccesiastical connotations to more suitably Revolutionary ones, through to the promotion of new cults, notably those of reason and of the Supreme Being. '' ^ Jump up to : Latreille, A. ( 2002 ). `` French revolution ''. New Catholic Encyclopedia. v. 5 ( Second ed. ). Thompson / Gale. p. 972 -- 973. ISBN 0 - 7876 - 4004 - 2. Jump up ^ Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live ( L'Abri 50th Anniversary ed. ). pp. 120 -- 122. ISBN 1581345364. Jump up ^ Lewis ( 1993, p. 96 ) : `` Many of the Parisian Sections eagerly joined in the priest - hunt... '' Jump up ^ Lewis, Gwynne ( 1993 ). The French Revolution : Rethinking the Debate. Historical Connections. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978 - 1 - 134 - 93741 - 7. Retrieved 9 May 2017. ^ Jump up to : Vovelle 1991, p. 180, 182. Jump up ^ Shaw, Matthew ( 1 March 2001 ). `` Reactions To The French Republican Calendar ''. Fr Hist. 15 ( 1 ) : 6. Retrieved 5 March 2017. Jump up ^ Segura González, Wenceslao ( n.d. ). `` La reforma del calendario '' ( PDF ). EWT Ediciones : 42. ISBN 9788461617296. Jump up ^ Horne, Thomas Hartwell ; Davidson, Samuel ( 21 November 2013 ). An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978 - 1 - 108 - 06772 - 0. ^ Jump up to : Censer and Hunt, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity : Exploring the French Revolution, pp. 92 -- 94. Jump up ^ Fremont - Barnes, Gregory ( 2007 ). Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760 - 1815 : A-L. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 237. ISBN 9780313334467. The cult was a deliberate attempt to counter the unsuccessful efforts at dechristianization, and the atheistic Cult of Reason, which reached its high point in the winter of the previous year. ^ Jump up to : Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 ( Accessed 27 April 2007 ) Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Lewis 1993, p. 96. Further reading In English Aston, Nigel. Religion and Revolution in France, 1780 - 1804 ( Catholic University of America Press, 2000 ), pp 259 -- 76 Byrnes, Joseph F. Priests of the French Revolution : Saints and Renegades in a New Political Era ( 2014 ) Cooney, Mary Kathryn ( 2006 ). `` ' May the Hatchet and the Hammer Never Damage It ! ' : The Fate of the Cathedral of Chartres during the French Revolution ''. Catholic Historical Review. 92 ( 2 ) : 193 - 214. Retrieved 9 May 2017. Desan, Suzanne ( 1988 ). `` Redefining Revolutionary Liberty : The Rhetoric of Religious Revival during the French Revolution ''. Journal of Modern History. 60 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 27. Retrieved 9 May 2017. Furet, François and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution ( 1989 ), pp 21 -- 32 Gliozzo, Charles A. `` The Philosophes and Religion : Intellectual Origins of the Dechristianization Movement in the French Revolution. '' Church History ( 1971 ) 40 # 3 Kley, Dale K. Van ( 2003 ). `` Christianity as casualty and chrysalis of modernity : the problem of dechristianization in the French Revolution ''. American Historical Review. 108 ( 4 ) : 1081 - 1104. Retrieved 9 May 2017. Kley, Dale K. Van. The Religious Origins of the French Revolution : From Calvin to the Civil Constitution, 1560 - 1791 ( 1996 ) Lewis, Gwynne. Life in Revolutionary France. London : New York : Batsford ; Putnam, 1972. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7134 - 1556 - 8 McManners, John. The French Revolution and the Church ( Greenwood Press, 1969 ). ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 23074 - 5 Spielvogel, J.J. ( 2006 ). Western Civilization ( Combined Volume ed. ). Wadsworth. ISBN 978 - 0 - 534 - 64602 - 8. Tackett, Timothy. Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth - Century France : The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791 ( 1986 ) Tallett, Frank ( 1991 ). `` Dechristianizing France : The year II and the revolutionary experience ''. In Tallett, F. ; Atkin, N. Religion, Society and Politics in France Since 1789. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 1 - 28. ISBN 978 - 1 - 85285 - 057 - 9. Retrieved 9 May 2017. Vovelle, Michel ( 1991 ) ( 1988 ), The revolution against the Church : From reason to the Supreme Being, translated by José, Alan, Columbus, OH : Ohio State University Press, ISBN 0 - 8142 - 0577 - 1, retrieved 9 May 2017 In French La Gorce, Pierre de, Histoire Religieuse de la Révolution Française. 10. éd. Paris : Plon - Nourrit, 1912 -- 5 v. Langlois, Claude, Timothy Tackett, Michel Vovelle and S. Bonin. Atlas de la Révolution française. Religion, 1770 - 1820, tome 9 ( 1996 ) External links Chief clauses of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy French Revolution Causes Timeline Ancien Régime Revolution Constitutional monarchy Republic Directory Consulate Glossary Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles ( 7 Jun 1788 ) Assembly of Vizille ( 21 Jul 1788 ) 1789 What Is the Third Estate ? ( Jan 1789 ) Réveillon riots ( 28 Apr 1789 ) Convocation of the Estates - General ( 5 May 1789 ) National Assembly ( 17 Jun -- 9 Jul 1790 ) Tennis Court Oath ( 20 Jun 1789 ) National Constituent Assembly ( 9 Jul -- 30 Sep 1791 ) Storming of the Bastille ( 14 Jul 1789 ) Great Fear ( 20 Jul -- 5 Aug 1789 ) Abolition of Feudalism ( 4 - 11 Aug 1789 ) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( 27 Aug 1789 ) Women 's March on Versailles ( 5 Oct 1789 ) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements ( Feb -- Jul 1790 ) Abolition of the Nobility ( 19 Jun 1790 ) Civil Constitution of the Clergy ( 12 Jul 1790 ) 1791 Flight to Varennes ( 20 -- 21 Jun 1791 ) Champ de Mars Massacre ( 17 Jul 1791 ) Declaration of Pillnitz ( 27 Aug 1791 ) The Constitution of 1791 ( 3 Sep 1791 ) Legislative Assembly ( 1 Oct 1791 -- Sep 1792 ) 1792 France declares war ( 20 Apr 1792 ) Brunswick Manifesto ( 25 Jul 1792 ) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary ( Jun 1792 ) 10th of August ( 10 Aug 1792 ) September Massacres ( Sep 1792 ) National Convention ( 20 Sep 1792 -- 26 Oct 1795 ) First republic declared ( 22 Sep 1792 ) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI ( 21 Jan 1793 ) Revolutionary Tribunal ( 9 Mar 1793 -- 31 May 1795 ) Reign of Terror ( 27 Jun 1793 -- 27 Jul 1794 ) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists ( 2 Jun 1793 ) Assassination of Marat ( 13 Jul 1793 ) Levée en masse ( 23 Aug 1793 ) The Death of Marat ( painting ) Law of Suspects ( 17 Sep 1793 ) Marie Antoinette is guillotined ( 16 Oct 1793 ) Anti-clerical laws ( throughout the year ) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined ( 5 Apr 1794 ) Law of 22 Prairial ( 10 Jun 1794 ) Thermidorian Reaction ( 27 Jul 1794 ) Robespierre guillotined ( 28 Jul 1794 ) White Terror ( Fall 1794 ) Closing of the Jacobin Club ( 11 Nov 1794 ) 1795 Constitution of the Year III ( 22 Aug 1795 ) Conspiracy of the Equals ( Nov 1795 ) Directoire ( 1795 -- 99 ) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor ( 4 Sep 1797 ) Second Congress of Rastatt ( Dec 1797 ) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII ( 18 Jun 1799 ) Coup of 18 Brumaire ( 9 Nov 1799 ) Constitution of the Year VIII ( 24 Dec 1799 ) Consulate Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur ( fr ) 1793 First Coalition Siege of Toulon ( 18 Sep -- 18 Dec 1793 ) War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden ) Battle of Famars ( 23 May 1793 ) Expédition de Sardaigne ( 21 Dec 1792 - 25 May 1793 ) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes ( Pyrenees ) First Battle of Wissembourg ( 13 Oct 1793 ) Battle of Truillas ( Pyrenees ) Second Battle of Wissembourg ( 26 -- 27 Dec 1793 ) 1794 Battle of Villers - en - Cauchies ( 24 Apr 1794 ) Battle of Boulou ( Pyrenees ) ( 30 Apr -- 1 May 1794 ) Battle of Tournay ( 22 May 1794 ) Battle of Fleurus ( 26 Jun 1794 ) Chouannerie Battle of Tourcoing ( 18 May 1794 ) Battle of Aldenhoven ( 2 Oct 1794 ) 1795 Peace of Basel 1796 Battle of Lonato ( 3 -- 4 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Castiglione ( 5 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim ( 11 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Amberg ( 24 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Würzburg ( 3 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Rovereto ( 4 Sep 1796 ) First Battle of Bassano ( 8 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Emmendingen ( 19 Oct 1796 ) Battle of Schliengen ( 26 Oct 1796 ) Second Battle of Bassano ( 6 Nov 1796 ) Battle of Calliano ( 6 -- 7 Nov 1796 ) Battle of the Bridge of Arcole ( 15 -- 17 Nov 1796 ) The Ireland Expedition ( Dec 1796 ) 1797 Naval Engagement off Brittany ( 13 Jan 1797 ) Battle of Rivoli ( 14 -- 15 Jan 1797 ) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz ( 25 Jan 1797 ) Treaty of Leoben ( 17 Apr 1797 ) Battle of Neuwied ( 18 Apr 1797 ) Treaty of Campo Formio ( 17 Oct 1797 ) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland ( 28 January -- 17 May 1798 ) French Invasion of Egypt ( 1798 -- 1801 ) Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( 23 May -- 23 Sep 1798 ) Quasi-War ( 1798 -- 1800 ) Peasants ' War ( 12 Oct -- 5 Dec 1798 ) 1799 Second Coalition ( 1798 -- 1802 ) Siege of Acre ( 20 Mar -- 21 May 1799 ) Battle of Ostrach ( 20 -- 21 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Stockach ( 25 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Magnano ( 5 Apr 1799 ) Battle of Cassano ( 27 Apr 1799 ) First Battle of Zurich ( 4 -- 7 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Trebbia ( 19 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Novi ( 15 Aug 1799 ) Second Battle of Zurich ( 25 -- 26 Sep 1799 ) 1800 Battle of Marengo ( 14 Jun 1800 ) Battle of Hohenlinden ( 3 Dec 1800 ) League of Armed Neutrality ( 1800 -- 02 ) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville ( 9 Feb 1801 ) Treaty of Florence ( 18 Mar 1801 ) Algeciras Campaign ( 8 Jul 1801 ) 1802 Treaty of Amiens ( 25 Mar 1802 ) Military leaders French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte Louis - Alexandre Berthier Jean - Baptiste Bessières Guillaume - Marie - Anne Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis - Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas - Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis - Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean - Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean - Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Jacques MacDonald Jean - Antoine Marbot Jean Baptiste de Marbot François Séverin Marceau - Desgraviers Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon - Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre - Jacques Osten ( fr ) Nicolas Oudinot Catherine - Dominique de Pérignon Jean - Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint - Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean - Mathieu - Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean - de-Dieu Soult Louis - Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor - Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles - Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt ( Walloon ) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze ( Swiss ) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray ( Hungarian ) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc ( French ) Maximilian Baillet de Latour ( Walloon ) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto ( Saxon ) Prince Josias of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss - Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló ( Hungarian ) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby Admiral Sir James Saumarez Admiral Sir Edward Pellew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Dutch Republic William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe - Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos Other significant figures and factions Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld - Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles - Maurice de Talleyrand - Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean - Sifrein Maury Jacques Necker François - Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume - Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre - Théodore - Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean - François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean - Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer - Collard Girondists Jacques Pierre Brissot Roland de La Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Jean - Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil Olympe de Gouges Jean - Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière - Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles François Lebrun Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean - Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint - Just Paul Nicolas, vicomte de Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint - Fargeau Jacques - Louis David Marquis de Sade Jacques - Louis David Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean - Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean - Henri Voulland Philippe - Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier - Tinville Philippe - François - Joseph Le Bas Marc - Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean - Pierre - André Amar Prieur de la Côte - d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint - André Jean - Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques Nicolas Billaud - Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles - Philippe Ronsin Antoine - François Momoro François - Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean - Baptiste - Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas - Marie Maillard Charles - Philippe Ronsin Jean - François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques - Donatien Le Ray Guillaume - Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui - Jean - Baptiste Target Catherine Théot List of people associated with the French Revolution Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles - Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean - Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft Cultural impact La Marseillaise French Tricolour Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican Calendar Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans - culottes Metric system Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Religious persecution and discrimination By group Ahmadiyya Atheism Bahá'í Buddhism Catholic Christianity modern era Hinduism persecution Falun Gong Islam persecution Judaism antisemitism religious antisemitism persecution Jehovah 's Witness Mormonism Neopaganism Orthodoxy Rastafari Protestantism Shi'a Islam Zoroastrianism Methods Arson Censorship Deprogramming Desecration Discrimination Forced conversion Genocide Rape Intolerance Pogrom Political abuse of psychiatry Segregation State atheism State religion Terrorism Violence War Events Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain Expulsion of the Moriscos Decline of Buddhism in India French Revolutionary dechristianisation European wars of religion French Wars of Religion Inquisition 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war The Holocaust Armenian Genocide Pontic Greek Genocide Palestinian exodus Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent Violence against Muslims in India Direct Action Day Noakhali riots 1971 Bangladesh genocide Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War 1984 anti-Sikh riots Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire Soviet persecution 1917 -- 1921 1921 -- 1928 1928 -- 1941 1958 -- 1964 1970 -- 1987 legislation Persecution of Christians in the Eastern Bloc 2002 Gujarat riots Test Act Genocide of Christians by ISIL Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dechristianization_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution&oldid=815283922 '' Categories : Religion and the French Revolution History of Catholicism in France Anti-Catholicism in France Anti-clericalism Human rights abuses Secularism in France 18th - 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Question: when did the french government take over the church
Answer: between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801