On the 21st January at ten o'clock Louis XVI. was executed.
The Convention created ten armies to meet the outburst of indignation that rose throughout the whole of Europe: the Army of the North and of the Ardennes, commanded by General Custine; the Army of the Moselle, commanded by Houchard; the Army of the Rhine, commanded by Alexandre Beauharnais; the Army of the Alps, commanded by Kellermann; the Army of Italy, commanded by Brunet; the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, commanded by Defiers; the Army of the Western Pyrenees, commanded by Dubousquet; the Army of the Coastline of Rochelle, commanded by General Canclaux; the Army of the Shores of the Channel, commanded by Félix Wimpfen; the Army of the West, commanded by Westermann.
At the same time, Representatives of the People were appointed in connection with each army, selected by the Convention, and invested with absolute powers.
Three of the generals we have just named died on the scaffold: Custine, Houchard, and Alexandre Beauharnais.
The Girondists, who had voted with the Jacobins at the king's trial, now split off from them.
On the 18th April a Commission was formed to restrain the Terrorist party.
This Commission was elected on the 18th, dissolved on the 27th, re-established on the 28th, and definitely suppressed on the 31st.
The result was to bring about a total separation between the two parties.
On the 31rst of May the Girondists were proscribed.
On the 13th June Charlotte Corday stabbed Marat.