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The causes of the reign of terror
The causes of the reign of terror
The causes of the reign of terror
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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 …show more content…
Indeed, the musings of Robespierre, in his advocacy for terror as a means of achieving virtue, are reminiscent of Osama Bin Laden in his “Letter to America,” citing excerpts from the Quran which read, “Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those who are fought against, because they have been wronged,” (Bin Laden 1). For Bin Laden, therefore, as he fights to initiate a new world order––one that is dictated by the teachings of Allah––those who oppose him or his ideology have thus wronged him; for Robespierre, those loyal to the previous regime have thus wronged him; in either case, however, the resultant of such wrongdoing proved to be death––whether that be in the form of a plane hijacking, or the …show more content…
Hoffman makes the argument that this “characteristic of self denial distinguishes the terrorist from other types of political extremists,” in that, under duress, even those extremists whose identification with their cause could prove illicit or disreputable, would admit to those appellations for themselves; however, this is not the case for the terrorist––Hoffman claims that those dubbed terrorists will “go to great lengths to evade and obscure any such inference or connection… The terrorist will always argue that it is society or the government or the socio-economic `system' and its laws that are the real `terrorists', and moreover that if it were not for this oppression, he would not have felt the need to defend either himself or the population he claims to represent,” (Hoffman 20). This is evinced by an anecdote offered by Terry Anderson, an American journalist taken hostage by Shiite Hezbollah militants for nearly seven years, wherein he details a conversation with one of his captors: upon reading a newspaper’s characterizing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the guard’s visceral reaction is a disassociation from the term, indignantly responding that “we are not terrorists, we are fighters” (Politifact). On the surface, the guard’s statement offers no tangible conclusion other than there exists a connotative
While Robespierre and Napoleon violated the French Revolution’s ideal of liberty, both rulers preserved the ideal of equality. Neither Robespierre nor Napoleon led with freedom from absolutism, but both spread the nationalist zeal during or after the Reign of Terror. There are also other ideals of the revolution preserved and undermined by the two rulers, including will for a limited government, religious toleration, and protection of individual rights. Specifically, Robespierre preserved the ideal of equality during the Reign of Terror.
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
When we think of terrorist, we might think of radical Islamic individuals or groups who would take pride in killing anyone who is not Muslim. Even more, there are antagonistically people who want nothing more but to destroy the lives of innocence people because of their belief system. Take an individual like Theodore Kaczynski for instance; he was a former University of California at Berkeley math professor. Otherwise known as the “Unabomber,” he was indeed a terrorist because he used explosives that killed three people and wounded eighteen others in a span of almost two decades. Even more, his brother David Kaczynski was responsible for his capture.
Dating back to the mid 1700s, foreign policy has been a topic of discussion for all political leaders. George Washington and his cabinet had to respond effectively to the demands of countries around the world. The French Revolution challenged America’s supreme power as Washington had to decide where United States loyalties would lie. Post-Revolutionary foreign policy decisions were now being made off a moralistic or realistic values. During the time period of policymaking, Washington left his farewell address, the Jay Treaty was enacted, the XYZ Affair and Quasi War with France went underway, and the Treaty of Ghent was signed. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Clay were three key components in deciding how to rule despite having opposing
Due to the fanatical aspirations of men such as Danton and Robespierre,who were very radical, it would be only a matter of months before the moderate stage of social and political reform was transformed into a radical phase of barbaric and violent force. Danton and Robespierre used Mara as a face of the Saint Jacobs Club since he was typically a great friend to the people to justify their actions of killing Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette along with their children and 40,000 others with the guillotine to stop anyone thought to support the counter revolution. Robespierre wrote “Justification of the Use of Terror” to inform the people that terror is necessary to weed out anyone who opposes the republic. The radical forces were able to gain the support of the citizens in declaring that the constitution of 1791 was ineffective and useless since it did not suit the needs of all the population of France. The declaration of the rights of man and of citizen did not include women, slaves, and minorities as well as not giving any specific shape to the government Another cause of the radical stage was the growth of a counter revolution.
Thomas Paine was an influential individual at his time, whose most famous work, Rights of Man, described America as a safe heaven for those trying to start a new life, where no individual would be over privileged, men would be equal, and the government would not be corrupt. Although the America of today has improved substantially over the two-hundred or so years since Paine’s, Rights of Man, providing several benefits for the the poverty-stricken, and improving culturally as a people, America is plagued with over privileged wealthy men who run the government and control the public, acting as puppet masters, who control the will of the people through a corrupt government. So although Thomas Paine was correct about America’s benefits for the
Clearly, the UN definition being more general as any act of terror, it is found that revolutionary groups adopt the use of categorical terrorism because it is commonly cheaper than selective terrorism. Further, Goodwin argues that categorical terrorism is employed for the purpose of attacking and threatening what he calls “complicitous civilians.” Complicitous civilians are defined as (1) civilians who often benefit from state actions that the revolutionaries oppose, (2) those that support the state, (3) or civilians who have the ability to influence the state. The primary directive of categorical terrorism is to provoke complicitous civilians from further supporting the state. By applying intense...
“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
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.
Numerous leaders throughout the history of Europe have received the prestigious title of the “Great” due to their remarkable capabilities as ruler. After the French Revolution, France was left with an inefficient government, known as the Directory, that was in need of a “Great”. Napoleon Bonaparte, an intelligent military leader, took charge with his coup d'etat and established the consulate. As a result of his position as First Consul, Bonaparte was able to rise to power and become the emperor of France. While Emperor and First Consul, Napoleon executed many beneficial governmental reforms in order to restore France to its former glory as a world power. However, despite his impressive political and military actions, it is commonly debated whether or not Napoleon deserves the title the “Great”. As a product of the age of enlightenment and French
When Robespierre explained the need for Reign of Terror to his fellow citizens he stated “ If the mainspring of popular government in peacetime is virtue, its resource during a revolution is at one and the same time virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is merely terrible; terror, without which virtue is simply powerless”(Dart 68). The purpose of the terror was to bring virtue to man and to give virtue power. Why did the French Revolution seek virtue, well here is where one may find two answers to the original question. One reason may be the two revolutions different philosophy’s. America read much more into the ideals of Locke, he is where we got our basic ideals of rights from, and Locke never states that humans are naturally virtuous rather in Chapter 4 of the Second Treatise of Government, Locke recognizes that humans “ are governed by reason”( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy “John Locke”) and not by any form of virtue. Yet the philosophy espoused by the likes of Robespierre came more from philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau who ,contrary to Locke, stated that “Humans are naturally virtuous”( David “Politic Notes”) and that “ civil society
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
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...
Throughout centuries, history has presented to life a plethora of individuals who would then impact the world by means of various arduous missions and accomplishments. While certain people are extolled for their grandiloquent changes to society, others may become infamous for imperiling humankind. However, within history lies a character who is interposed between approbation and being loathed, whose name is Napoléon Bonaparte. This particular person was a French leader who ruled as an emperor in 1804 and had performed numerous tasks across his lifetime. As a commander, he performed remarkably when concerning lawmaking, nationalism, military bearing, and restoring order to France.
Those who called themselves patriots thought the executions would sweep out obstructions on the path to victory. Maximilien de Robespierre believed that the government owed its people “full protection of the state; [and] to the enemies of the people it [owed] only death” (Doc. 4). As the mastermind behind the Reign of Terror, Robespierre was most radical in his beliefs in regards to liberty and found it appropriate to automatically do away with potential conspirators through execution. Some peasants believed that the law of the Revolutionary Tribunal struck “the rich and poor indiscriminately” and could not comprehend why a fellow peasant would oppose the revolution (Doc. 8). Due to the fact that members of the Committee of Public Safety were also members of the bourgeoisie, the peasants depended on them to carry out the law justly. Some peasants also trusted that the tribunals evaluated suspects justly “and that they [acquitted] the innocent” (Doc. 7). Despite the fact that a fellow peasant may have been selected for execution, they never second guessed the tribunal’s reasoning.