Compare And Contrast The Reign Of Terror And The French Revolution

French Revolution: Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror is a time during the French Revolution where many civilians were ruthlessly executed by a ruling faction. This faction called the Committee of Public Safety were the ones responsible for all those deaths and the main person behind it was a man named Maximilien Robespierre. These deaths were all carried out by the guillotine which is an instrument designed to efficiently carry out executions by beheading the individual. It was a strong representation of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution in the years of 1793 to 1794.

Initially, the Reign of Terror was originally created to purge France of enemies that were part of the revolution and protect the country from foreign invaders. However, the terror turned out to be something that was taken for granted and ended up killing civilians that had only done small crimes. According to Realize Reader, it states that "about 300,000 citizens were arrested. About 17,000 were executed. They included nobles and clergy, peasants, and sans-culottes, along with middle-class citizens who had

once supported the Revolution"(Page 339). In other words, many people were killed during the Reign of Terror and most were involved in the revolution but quit. This is significant because of the fact that the terror was supposed to make those that stand with the revolution fear being killed, but it was instead used to ruthlessly those that did little crime and those that were supposedly innocent. Therefore, this is the event that took place during the French revolution in the year of 1793 to 1794.
Furthermore, the Reign of Terror was a remarkable and horrifying event because of the tool known as the guillotine. The guillotine was used to behead civilians that were thought to be with the revolution. It was a tool that would end someone's life in a matter of seconds and because of that was considered a humane way to execute someone. The article called Britannica stated that "In 1789 a French physician and member of the National Assembly named Joseph-Ignace Guillotine was instrumental in passing a law that required all sentences of death to be carried out by “means of a machine.” This was done so that the privilege of execution by decapitation would no longer be confined to the nobles and the process of execution would be as painless as possible"(Encyclopedia Britannica). To be more precise, this means that the creator of the guillotine wanted all executions to be done by the guillotine, so their deaths would be as painless as possible. Although this may true, the guillotine became a tool that symbolized horror in the Terror. The instrument even killed King Louis XVI and Queen Mary -Antoinette which made the Terror seem like no one is safe from it. Hence is why the Reign of Terror became an important historical event with the help of the guillotine to symbolize it all.
Lastly, the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror both shaped history in many ways and most of them brought positive changes to France and other countries.

Many of those changes were about government and citizens having equal rights. Based on the website ThoughtCo., the French Revolution "established the precedent of representational, democratic government, now the model of governance in much of the world. It also established liberal social tenets of equality among all citizens, basic property rights, and separation of church and state, much as did the American Revolution"(ThoughtCo.). In other words, the French Revolution established many things that make up most of today's society. There were many lessons that were taught to use by this event and lessons that also shaped today's civilization. In all, this is how the French Revolution shaped most of history and today's

society.
In conclusion, the Reign of Terror was an event that took many people's life away including King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. This made the Terror even more terrifying because nobody was safe from it. People would falsely their neighbors of crimes they didn't make. However, all these horrifying events actually brought good to countries with governments and established liberal social tenets among its citizens. Although this is all great, we shouldn't forget all the lives that were taken as a result of the Committee of Public Safety.

Works Cited
 Nelson, Ken. "French Revolution for Kids." Ducksters. Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), May 2018. Web. 21 May 2018. (-- removed HTML --) .
 "Reign of Terror." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. . Encyclopedia.com. 19 May. 2018 (-- removed HTML --) .
Reign of Terror facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Reign of Terror
 Wilde, Robert. “The French Revolution, Its Outcome, and Legacy.” ThoughtCo, May. 3. 2018, thoughtco.com/consequences-of-the-french-revolution-1221872.
 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Guillotine.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 26 Oct. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/guillotine.
 Realize Reader, etext2.pearson.com/#/book/EK2JFMM2FYP/page/328.