Lyon and the Revolution

Whenever anyone mentions the French Revolution, I think of royalists vs revolutionaries and, of course, the guillotine.  But, I've found it wasn't really that simple.  There were the Montagnards (left-leaning and fairly extreme) and Girondin (a more moderate group).  The Montagnards had a lot of support in Paris, but Lyon went with the Girondin.  In fact, in May, 1793, the Montagnard faction was forcibly removed from the Lyon City Council.  Since Lyon was perceived to be a center of opposition, the Montagnard-controlled army laid seige to Lyon.

Lyon managed to hold out from August 8th to October 9th, but finally had to surrender.  On October 12th Lyon was officially renamed "Ville Affranchie" or "Liberated City."  Girondin leaders' homes were demolished, and, after summary trials by the Revolutionary Tribunal, many of the leaders were shot.

The memory of the seige and its victims lingers.  One can still see evidence of the seige in the damage by cannon balls to the exterior of the Church of St. Polycarpe.  And, the church pictured  below is dedicated to the memory of the victims.  (The second picture shows the inscription on the church front in more detail.)

Both churches are reminders that historical events are often much more complex than they may seem, and evoke the same sorts of emotions as the Civil War monuments we are familiar with in the US.