Who were the girondists?

   GIRONDISTS were one of the chief revolutionary parties which arose during the course of the French Revolution. They first appeared in the Legislative Assembly of the year 1791, several of their leaders being returned for the department of the Gironde. They were at first closely allied with the Jacobins. The leading figures were Brissot, Vergniaud, Buzot, Isnard, Pétion, Barbaroux, Condorcet, and Roland; and from the first the beautiful and talented Madame Roland had a great, though usually an indirect, influence with them. A Girondist ministry was appointed in March, 1792. They had some share, of a secret kind, in bringing about the movements of June 20 and Aug. 10, 1792, which resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy, but probably were innocent of complicity in the September massacres. They were overthrown in June, 1793, and many of them were subsequently guillotined.