During the summer of 1793, the radical phase of the French Revolution was intensified by the Terror, created by The Committee of Public Safety. The Terror successfully preserved the Revolution by weeding out counter-revolutionaries to eliminate corruption within the government and giving equality to all social classes which untied France under one government. However, these successes were undermined by the many failures of the Terror due to the oppression of citizens which would lead to many executions and the paranoid slaughtering of citizens from all social classes which led to the changes in support of the Revolution.
The Terror was successfully preserved the Revolution by weeding out counter-revolutionaries to eliminate corruption within the French government. On December 25, 1793 in a speech to the National Convention, Robespierre stated that the Revolution was waged by liberty against enemies of the state and expressed the need to destroy those that opposed the Revolution (DOC 7). Robespierre, a leader in the Terror, supported the actions of the Committee of Public Safety. The Terror was his instrument in ridding the government of France of corrupt individuals. He whole heartedly embraced his ideas without making any exceptions and fully supported all the executions because he believed the suspects to be counter-revolutionary rebels. As it turned out, Robespierre’s many executions actually did weed out many corrupted individuals in France. In a letter from General Ronsin, dated December 17, 1793, Ronsin described the justice he served to over four hundred rebels by guillotine and firing squad. He goes on to say that the republic is in the need of an example made by these rebels, the Terror will scare anyone who dares to eve...
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...France but his expenditures for war brought his rule to an end and his country to its downfall.
The Reign of Terror prolonged the Revolution but caused more trouble than necessary. Although the Terror eliminated counter-revolutionaries, it sparked mass hysteria within France’s people. The oppression of citizens pushed them into further paranoia which caused many executions of innocent individuals, and people began to doubt the new governmental system. This uncertainty caused opposition to the National Convention and Committee of Public Safety and to their eventual dismemberment. In the end, the Reign of Terror was helpful yet damaging for the French Revolution. The Terror left France dismantled and unstable because it did not have a constant government to rely on, but the people of France had become somewhat unified through their experiences during the Terror.
In 1789, the French people began to stand up to their current monarchical government in order to obtain rights and laws that they felt they deserved. The Reign of Terror followed after the Revolution and seemed to stand for the complete opposite of what the people had previously stood up for. The Reign of Terror began in 1793 and ended in 1794 due to the decapitation of Maximilien Robespierre. The Reign of Terror can be explained as a time period in France when many counter revolutionaries were killed because of their traditional beliefs. Counter revolutionaries believed in preserving the ways of the monarchy, but since the majority of people thought otherwise, these opposing beliefs led to death. The French government did not have good reason to conduct such drastic measures against those who challenged the Revolution.
Liberty, equality, and freedom are all essential parts to avoiding anarchy and maintaining tranquility even through the most treacherous of times. The Reign of Terror is well known as the eighteen month long French Revolution (1793-1794). In this period of time, a chief executive Maximilien Robespierre and a new French government executed gigantic numbers of people they thought to be enemies of the revolution; inside and outside of the country. The question is; were these acts of the new French government justified? Not only are the acts that occurred in the Reign of Terror not justified, they were barbaric and inhumane.
The French Revolution, beginning in 1789, was a lengthy process in which the people of France took over the government and instituted a Republic (Chambers). The overarching goal of the Revolution was to place the power of government in the hands of the people. For two years, whilst France was facing internal disorganization and external wartime threats, the government was run by a war dictatorship under Maximilien Robespierre, the head of the Committee of Public Safety (“Reign of Terror”). Amid much internal suspicion and fear, the Reign of Terror began. Much of France was politically divided, and Robespierre’s method for keeping the government stable in a time of crisis involved severe penalties for any suspected of plotting against the new government (Chambers). Soon the accusations began to fly and a handful of people convicted and killed for treason became thousands. Many of the cases turned into the accuser’s word versus the accused, and a government preoccupied with bigger issues often did not care to look into these cases, simply convicting the accused, supposedly to promote a sense of unity and control to the citizens of France, and to forewarn anyone who did attempt treasonous deeds (Chambers). Eventually, Marie Antoinette, guilty of no crime other than marrying the former king, was executed on the grounds of treason (“French Revolution: The Reign of Terror”). Many thought this was taking a step too far. The former Queen was well-respec...
First, the Jacobin leader Robespierre’s tried to protect the revolution but this plan backfired. It backfired because immediately after the publication of this decree, all suspected persons within the territory
The French Revolution is arguably the bloodiest period in French history, with men such as Maximilien Robespierre leading the country into a situation of state sponsored terror. Originally being quite a liberal thinker inspired by the works of Rousseau, Robespierre quickly gained a reputation for being a radical throughout the course of the Revolution, especially during the Terror. Early on terror was justified as a means to root out foreign and domestic enemies of the Revolution, however; once the foreign threat had been taken care of it became increasingly difficult for Robespierre to rationalize his use of terror to bring about a supposed Republic of Virtue. In his speech, the “Justification of the use of Terror” which he presented to the National Convention, he attempted to defend the actions of the Terror one last time. Unfortunately it appeared that Robespierre was going to become the very type of tyrant that he had strived to abolish along with the French Monarchy at the beginning of the Revolution. As demonstrated in the speech, Robespierre had become obsessed with ridding France of her enemies, however; his fixation with the Terror, even when it had become unnecessary, eventually caused the rest of the radicals to envision a France without him – and it cost him his life.
A rather ominous name for the unaware; “The Reign of Terror”. An oblivious person could completely bypass the horrifying events related to the French Revolution, had it been named differently. The title for these events is appropriate from my perspective. Those four words could easily interest a curious, ordinary person, and so the history can survive, along with the information transferring to yet another carrier. Of course, everyone can benefit from knowing a few terms that can increase your understanding of the topic. An absolute monarch is a person that has absolute power among his or her people. The Estates General is a representative body drawn from the three ‘estates’ into which society had been theoretically divided. A fraternity is a group of people sharing a common profession or interests. A radical person is a person who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform. The device used to execute most people was the guillotine: a machine with a heavy blade sliding vertically in grooves, used for beheading people. The Reign of Terror is generally defined as a period of remorseless repression or bloodshed, but in particular, it is the period of the Terror during the French Revolution. Conservatives are people that hold to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation. Now that we can speak of our topic with more knowledge of terms typically used for this subject, we can address the pending question. Was The Reign of Terror justified? An outstanding amount of people died for good and bad reasons. Every system was corrupt, there was practically no right and wrong; no order, just rebellion. Several conflicting arguments can be made, but there is a definite decision to make in this situatio...
As more peoples blood is split to gain the rights not extended to them, the Terror grows becoming more and more gruesome. The French revolution began in late 1789 to obtain the rights that every citizen in born with. The motto of the French was liberty, equality, or death and the price to be paid for the civil liberties was blood. The revolutionary leader Robespierre and journalist Marat explained the more blood the better so that was what raged the people and started the Reign of Terror. Were the values expressed by the French Revolution necessary though? Even though, the French Revolution saw the Terror as a sign to create peace and restore a new France it was not justified because the extremities of the internal and external threats spun out of control and the methods of the period were over the top.
The declaration of the Terror was a direct result of the growing discontent and ravenous violence that had been occurring since 1789. Revolution could have occurred in an orderly member as it was obvious that Louis XVI was a weak leader but the French citizens set the tone early on with the Storming of the Bastille. This event shows that the French were inclined to achieve their desires through violence and not negotiations. The Bastille was attacked as a response to Louis’ addition of troops in Paris and the fear that they would be attacked. Munitions were transferred to the poorly guarded Bastille just a few days before the attack. A mob descended upon the Bastille on July 14 of 1789. The Governor of the prison Launay tried to reassure that
The paramount intention of the Committee of Public Safety was to preserve the French Revolution from its rivals, although it was approached an exceedingly tyrannical method. In contempt of the contradictions, the leader of the Committee of Public Safety, Maximilien Robespierre, had uncovered a tactic of spreading fear to calm those who chose the rebel against the Revolution. Consequently, Robespierre kept all individuals under the suspicion of monopolization and executed those who rebelled the revolution. Under these decrees, all French citizens involuntarily agreed, not wishing to encounter the barbaric aftermath if riots broke out against the Revolution.
He believed that everyone should follow the Republic rule and if they complained, one of the secret policies could hear you. They would either execute or arrest you. During this time about 300,000 citizens were arrested and 17,000 were executed. These people once supported the Revolution and Robespierre didn’t like the people who thought that way. February 5, 1794, Robespierre gave one of his speeches he said “Hail to the Republic” or “Death to the traitors”. The Reign of Terror only lasted for a year but, during this time people were arrested or executed. During, the Reign of Terror France transformed back to the way it was before the revolution started. Robespierre changes France back to its original state, the state that everyone wanted to get out
Isn’t a revolution supposed to help and protect people instead of killing them? During the French Revolution, an estimate of 20,000 to 40,000 people died. This was a result of what we call the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror was an 18 month period from January 1793 to July 1794. The reason why there were so many deaths within the French Revolution time was because France was dealing with external threats and internal threats. The external threats were the neighboring countries that were in the alliance with Austria and Prussia to stop the spread of the French Revolution. The internal threats were the counterrevolutionaries who were against the revolution and wanted the old government back. The Reign of Terror was established, and ran by Maximilien de Robespierre, to deal with the situation of the French Revolution and all of its threats. Now the question is: “Was this 18 month period reasonable to protect France’s people?” The Reign of Terror was not justified for three reasons: the external threats did not deserve the treatment they received, the internal threats were dealt with non-humane measures, and the methods used were outrageous.
“A total of 16,597 executions took place in Paris between March 1793 and late August 1794. An additional 40,000 were executed without trial or died in prison and in excess of 200,000 died in the civil war in the Vendee during this time period. Over 98 percent of the executions were for alleged opposition to the National Convention, the ruling body in France from 1792 to 1795.” (Hugh Gough, The Terror in the French Revolution (New York: St. Martin's Press Inc., 1998) The ideals of liberte, egalite and fraternite quickly spun out of control and into state sponsored killings. The outbreaks of violence from the beginning of the revolution were criticised by the British Press. (Reactions of the British Press to the French Revolution, Rosemary Begemann, 1973) The Times and The World held the belief that the French were not yet ready of liberty. (British Press, Begemann) Talking about violence in his book Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama states “....it was not merely an unfortunate by-product of politics…..In some depressingly unavoidable sense, violence was the Revolution itself.” Schama goes on to argue that the violence could be justified had it achieved some successful end. But this was not the case. Many areas of the country were in a state of civil war and while the artisans were free of hierarchy, they were even more nakedly exposed to economic inequities. (Schama, 1989) Schama condemns those who believe that the violence was undertaken to further the fruits of Revolution is
While France was under control of the dictator-like Maximilian Robespierre in the early months of 1793, he and the Committee of Public Safety claimed that their goal was to “protect the Revolution from its enemies.” The actions that they took approaching the middle and end of the year did not appear to have this same goal in mind though.
The Reign of Terror is an extremely controversial time period during the French Revolution because it shows France turning on its people with opposing political views that threatened the Revolution’s progression. At this time, the rebels were considered violent threats and the ways to deal with them became increasing violent and dictatorial. In 1792, the National Convention created fundamental changes in France’s government, drastically changing the political and social landscape. According to Popkin, “Some believe the assembly laid the groundwork for the basic institutions that make France a democratic society today, while others see the Convention as a violent and destructive regime comparable to the totalitarian dictatorships of the twentieth century (Popkin, 63).” Even though historians disagree, they cannot disagree on the radical policies that are no doubt some of the most radical moments in French Revolution history. They’re related specifically to their creation of democracy and the polices of terror, which also rose the questioned of whether the government was a democracy or a dictatorship because of the lack of political freedom and complete control over the people of France.
This did not please influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre, who began to try to attain popular support for a more republican form of government and the trial of Louis XVI. In April 1792, war was declared on Austria and Prussia, because the believed that counter revolutionaries were conspiring against them there and also, hoped to spread the ideals through warfare. A group led by extremist Jacobins attacked the royal residence in Paris and arrested the King on August 10, 1792. The following month the monarchy was abolished and the French Republic was established. On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate nine months later. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the Girondins and put in place a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. This began the Reign of Terror, a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the