The French Jacobins rose to power amid the tumultuous circumstances of the early First Republic, having to combat both legions of exterior enemies and dissidents who had long attended their own clubs. The Jacobins pushed their club network further than their contemporaries – establishing more than three thousand locals across France – but also proved unwilling to tolerate dissent amid wartime dangers. The moderates who led the Thermidorian coup soon turned against Jacobin Clubs, suppressing them in stages across 1795.

The French Jacobins were founded in November 1789 after an inspiring letter arrived from the London Revolution Society, a minor British reform organization made up mostly of leading Protestant Dissenters. Thereafter, they mobilized a network of affiliated societies explicitly along Anglo-American lines, creating a powerful pressure-group capable of spreading revolutionary principles and influencing the National Assembly. Though barely surviving division and attempted suppression in 1791, as the Revolution radicalized they became poised to be an unparalleled force in French politics.