WI: Girondin French Republic

What it says on the title. What would have happened during the French Revolution if, somehow, the Girondin faction within the National Assembly managed to gain control of the levers of power? They seem generally to have been more moderate. Could the Terror and the collapse of the Revolution into military dictatorship have been avoided?
 
What it says on the title. What would have happened during the French Revolution if, somehow, the Girondin faction within the National Assembly managed to gain control of the levers of power? They seem generally to have been more moderate. Could the Terror and the collapse of the Revolution into military dictatorship have been avoided?

If the Girondins had maintained power, they would have certainly stopped the Terror and tried to stabilise the revolution. However, I'm not sure it would avoid military coup. You had a very unstable situation where a legislative assembly (the National Convention) was holding executive power, with no clear definition of responsibilities. That is ripe for a strong man to take over. Remember the Directory setup from which Napoleon grabbed power happened after Robespierre had fallen and the moderates came back in our timeline.
 
If moderates had successfully maintained power they may well have been able to persuade UK from staying out of the revolutionary wars. Initially the Revolution was looked on positively in Britain
 
IIRC Archaeogeek, back when she was here, described the Paris Communards as being federalists like the Girondins.

Could the Girondins decentralize power to the point that even if they're overthrown, the whole "he controls Paris controls the country" thing doesn't happen?

The Wikipedia however makes the Girondists seem rather weak and disorganized:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girondist

How can they stave off the Jacobin takeover? Or, failing that, can they use the provinces to suppress Paris like they tried (and apparently failed) after the Jacobin takeover?
 
My idea for a PoD (although it reeks of the foul stench of handwavium) is a secret meeting between Robespierre and a few of the other high-ranking Jacobins, held in a private room of a san-culottes-held armoury, ends in tragedy after a soldier searching for his key by candlelight drops the candle in a pile of spilled gunpowder, causing a massive explosion and a decapitation of the Jacobin movement. This causes a splintering of the Montagnards into a few quarrelling factions, and the Girondins, who are the best organized group left in the National Convention, manage to take charge.
 
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