Was The Reign Of Terror Justified

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The main question this essay sets out to answer is whether the Terror was a necessary, justifiable stage in ensuring success for the Revolution, or was it a brutal Jacobin policy put in place for the ruling faction to keep power? This essay argues that while violence and terror are by no means a positive, Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety’s actions were justified. In this paper I critically discuss how Robespierre has been misrepresented by a number of historians, and although he did engage in Terror during the French Revolution, he was not a “bloodthirsty tyrant” as many historians have made him out to be. His actions were constantly underpinned by Enlightenment ideals such as virtue and liberty and he believed he was …show more content…

The French Revolution, a revolutionary uprising to overthrow the French monarchy and establish a democratic France, began in 1789 and arguably ended in 1799. However the ‘Reign of Terror’ only lasted from September 1793 until the end of July 1794. During this ten month long period, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximillien Robespierre and the Revolutionary group the Jacobins, brought about tremendous change to France and the Revolution. Many historians argue that Robespierre was a “blood thirsty tyrant” who excessively used the guillotine to kill 17’000 political “suspects” who were deemed counter-revolutionary. However during his time in power Robespierre and the Jacobin Republic ended widespread internal revolt, pushed back the invading Prussian and Austrian armies and established a French national army three times as large as ever before, and at half the cost (Hobsbawm, 1962, pg. 68). Robespierre and the Jacobin dominated Committee did cite violence as a necessary measure to establish their goals, and maintain the initial revolutionary ideals of equality, liberty and a fair French society. However they did justice to their violence by bringing about positive change to France and the …show more content…

Robespierre has been defined by a plethora of historians as “the Incorruptible.” “The Incorruptible” moniker while neither a positive or a negative, sheds light on the type of person Robespierre was and how he showed a “single minded, fanatic devotion” to the Revolution. (Breunig, 1977, pg. 47) “Like many young Frenchmen at the time, he aspired to Enlightenment ideals” and he had a strong will to pursue these ideals up until the last. (Axelrod, 1995, pg. 264). While Robespierre and the Jacobins were in power and sat on the Committee of Public Safety many people were guillotined at their behest. However, “his sole explanation for every move was that France demanded it” and with this fixed firmly in the mind, many of his and the Jacobins actions make perfect sense (Eagan, 1970, pg. 12). He knew what he was undertaking was not perfect however as he himself argued it was necessary to achieve and maintain the Revolutions Enlightenment inspired goals of virtue and liberty; “virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without which virtue is powerless.” (Stearns, 1986, pg.

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