Champ de Mars massacre

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Part of French Revolution
Contemporary print by an anonymous artist. The caption reads "Men, Women, Children were massacred on the altar of the fatherland at the Champ de la Fédération"
Date	17 July 1791
Location	Champ-de-Mars, Paris, France
Parties
National Guard
Lead figures
Georges Danton Camille Desmoulins Marquis de Lafayette Jean Sylvain Bailly
Casualties
Death(s)	12–50

The Champ de Mars massacre took place on 17 July 1791 in Paris at the Champ de Mars against a crowd of republican protesters amid the French Revolution. Two days before, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that King Louis XVI would retain his throne under a constitutional monarchy. This decision came after Louis and his family had unsuccessfully tried to flee France in the Flight to Varennes the month before. Later that day, leaders of the republicans in France rallied against this decision.

Jacques Pierre Brissot was the editor and main writer of Le Patriote français and president of the Comité des Recherches of Paris, and he drew up a petition demanding the removal of the king. A crowd of 50,000 people gathered at the Champ de Mars on 17 July to sign the petition,^[1] and about 6,000 signed it. However, two suspicious people had been found hiding at the Champ de Mars earlier that day, "possibly with the intention of getting a better view of the ladies' ankles"; they were hanged by those who found them, and Paris Mayor Jean Sylvain Bailly used this incident to declare martial law.^{[2][page needed]} Lafayette and the National Guard under his command were able to disperse that crowd.

Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins had led the crowd, and they returned in even higher numbers that afternoon. The larger crowd was also more determined than the first, and Lafayette again tried to disperse it. In retaliation, they threw stones at the National Guard. After firing unsuccessful warning shots, the National Guard opened fire directly on the crowd. The exact numbers of dead and wounded are unknown; estimates range from a dozen to 50 dead.^[1]