The Committee of Public Safety and much of the population may have believed its main aim was fighting for Liberty and the writings of the Philosophes, and in the Declaration of the Rights of Man; as after the Revolution the Philosophes, Rousseau and Voltaire’s remains were both given in a ceremonial transfer to the Pantheon. However it is probable that the Philosophes didn’t mean for this to happen as they believed in equality for everyone and that there should be no oppression, however the Terror didn’t end up fighting oppression as it actually created oppression and nobody was treated as equal. Also the Declaration of the Rights of Man was suspended by the Committee of Public Safety so it is difficult to understand why they would suspend it if it was what they were fighting to achieve. As the Committee of Public Safety were put in place as a war cabinet to mobilise French human resources, fix wages and prices, call up the army, provision the army and eliminate internal opposition, it could be argued that the Terror was used to enforce wage and price “maximums” so that provisions were affordable for everyone – to create an equal society and so that provisions were there for the army so that they could fight for France against the enemies of revolution. The Terror is also argued to have been to ensure the “virtue” of all citizens, allowing the Committee of Public Safety to supress all opposition using their own decrees. The convention was given the challenging task of governing a country which was in the middle of a difficult revolutionary transformation; therefore they had to think of a way to manage the country during this challenging period. Power was delegated to a twelve-member Committee of Public Safety in 1793 and a “M... ... middle of paper ... ... been to change the political and social structure of France because after the Ancien Regime had collapsed nobody could face going back to the feudal regime, and those that did, the royalists, clergy and nobility who had lost their inherited privilliges and counter-revolutionaries needed to be suppressed so that nobody could return France into the unfair regime. The main aim could have been to free France from oppression as the Convention instituted freedom of religion, demolished royal status and emblems, closed churches and despoiled the corpses of King buries in Abbey St. Denis. The Terrors main aim may have been to get rid of the church, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy highlighted the non-juring priests who were counter-revolutionary and the Terror was in place to eradicate the clergy who were so keen to return to the old regime where they would be rich.
In this essay I shall try to find whether the Terror was inherent from the French revolutions outset or was it the product of exceptional circumstances. The French revolution is the dividing line between the Ancien Regime and the modern world. After France the hierarchy that societies of the time had been founded on began to change and they began to sweep away the intricate political structures of absolute monarchy, but however to achieve this was the Terror absolutely necessary? And was it planned/ or was it just the extraordinary circumstances, which the French had lead themselves into once they had deposed of Louis the sixteenth. Whatever way it is looked at, the political ideology of the rest of the world was going to change after the French revolution. The conflicting ideology's of the French revolution from socialism to nationalism would now be mainstream words and spearhead many political parties in years to come. The French revolution had been in high hopes that a peaceful transition could be made from absolutist to parliamentary monarchy, but what went wrong? Surely the terror could not have been in their minds at this time? Surely it was not inherent from the start.
Aside from giving the guillotine a purpose, the Reign of Terror stands as a necessity in the story of French independence. It might not have been the proudest of times, but the Reign began on a strong premise: holding together a new government by purging the bad apples for the betterment of the whole cart. While the Reign of Terror developed into an overly excessive bloodshed, it was justified by the war stricken circumstances and necessity for the support of the ongoing revolution. Despite the extreme heights the Reign of Terror reached, it was necessary to maintain the fragile presence of the government and preserve the new liberty a majority of the population had been denied before. In a 1793 letter from Vendée —a major counterrevolutionary hub— local government was fending off on-going riots and rebellion while being invaded from the north by Prussia.
They were angered and tired with Robespierre who recently said “Terror is nothing more than quick and strict justice, and we apply it only to protect our country’s most urgent needs”. He is advising the people that terror and violence is the correct way to do things and also the fastest. He was also saying things like “I say no mercy for the innocent! Mercy for the weak! Mercy for the unfortunate! Mercy for humanity! Society owes protection only to peaceful citizens.” This is a prime example of what a power hungy tyrant is.
Initially popularized during the French Revolution, the term “terrorism,” at its inception, was a distinctly positive word; from the rubble of the first revolts in 1789, stemmed the regime de la terreur, an instrument of governance meant to further propel the success of the revolutionaries through the intimidation of those loyal to the dictatorial regime which governed France for much of the eighteenth century (Hoffman 3). Ironically, given the modern interpretation of terrorism, the revolutionaries who would ultimately constitute the regime de la terreur were advocating for virtue and democracy––in fact, one of the figureheads of the revolutionary movement Maximilien Robespierre was renowned for having said: “virtue, without which terror is
All those dissatisfied with the new reform wanted the grand catholic army to overthrow the new French government. The sans-culottes stood for virtue and were the most loyal to the new French state. They believed that if you ran from the draft, you were considered an enemy. They destroyed prisons because they believed they were secretly sheltering conspirators.
...s on who should have power. Rebellions broke out across France and turned the nation against itself. The major revolutionary revolt was The Storming of Bastille. The third estate demanded for a republic. King Louis was killed, along with his wife Marie Antoinette to pursue the ideas of changing society. Maximilien Robespierre ordered their deaths by the violent and horrific machine, the guillotine. He was also killed shortly after, but provided the Jacobins a leader in his efforts to overthrow the monarchy. Napoleon was the last to save the revolution as it came to a close. The French Revolution has changed history and the lives of everyone in France up to today. Many people sacrificed themselves to change the country for others today. This revolution was life changing and inspired many others around the world to stand up for their beliefs and fight for a democracy.
Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country.
(Doc E) This violated the ideal that everyone is innocent until declared guilty and making a remark saying that they don't like the revolution is an opinion so in a way the government was actually breaking both ideals and therefore proves the Reign of Terror was not justified.
In 1789, thousands of starving peasants abandoned the lands of their ancestors as the price of bread rose to eighty percent of the average peasant’s income (Kreis). Blazing buildings marked the path they took to the source of their woes in Paris. They attacked any food cart they passed. The outline of their skeleton could be seen from under their filthy, thread-bare clothing. Their impoverished condition had reached its climax. Their desperation led them to action. They over took the largest fortress in France, the Bastille, in search of weapons. Members of the Bourgeoisie had formed the National Assembly three weeks prior to the storming of the Bastille to begin to address the grievances of the peasants (Dabney). On August 4, the National Assembly met in Paris, and, with one enthusiastic fell swoop, they agreed to abolish the feudal system forever, thus gaining the support of the mob. “The Decree of the National Assembly Abolishing the Feudal System” created equality between the nobility and citizens, ended the Church’s authority over the state, and pledged to work with King Louis XVI to rectify the injustices of the people.
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...
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 essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution.
As the Reign of Terror in France grew and invoked fear the internal threats became more radical and deadly. The French Revolution began in 1789 as an attempt to create a new and fair government. (Doc A) As year four of freedom lurched the thirst for power in Maximilien Robespierre stirred and the hunger for more blood provoked him urging him to create the Reign of Terror. 1793, the first year of the Reign of Terror, Robespierre grasped on to his new power and as the revolution spun out of control the Jacobins Club established a new way to “fight enemies” by constructing a Committee of Public Safety and a Tribunal Court. (Doc A) This new government was working swell it contained counterrevolutionaries in the Vendée Region, and it smothered and ferreted the internal threats. (Docs A, C, G) The counterrevolutionaries adopted a name that meant trouble – the rabble. (Doc D) In a letter written by a city official of the Town of Niort a...
These events were a subtle dénouement to a climax that was filled with both blood and pain. The Reign of Terror, or the Reign of Terror? Great Terror, was a massive culmination to the horror of the French Revolution. the gutters flowing with blood as the people of Paris watched with an entertained the eye of the man. No matter what the French may claim, if one chooses to open.
The Thermidorians sought this same end to the Terror. However, Thermidor was also an act of self-preservation; the leaders of Thermidor were men such as Collot d’Herbois, Freron, and Tallien – these were men responsible for the horrors in the Vendee as representatives-on-mission and who, after being recalled by the Committee of Public Safety (notably d’Herbois) for their crimes, feared further retribution. These are men who contemporary historian Eugene Sue called “the Terrorists of the Convention”, “the biggest rogues in the Convention”. Thermidor painted these men as saviours of the Revolution, and they spread the anti-Robespierre propaganda already on the