Mountain, The

Mountain, The (French, La Montagne), name applied during the French Revolution to the party of extreme radicals led by Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton. The name was derived from the fact that the representatives of the party, who were known as Montagnards and were closely allied with the Jacobins, seated themselves in the highest part of the hall in which the National Convention met. From late 1792 until the spring of 1793, they opposed the more moderate Girondins who then controlled the revolutionary government. A third group —called the Plain because their seats were lower down—belonged to neither party. The Mountain controlled the government from June 1793 until July 1794.