The French Revolution: The Reign Of Terror

The French revolution turned into the Reign of Terror. Under the leadership of

Maximilian Robespierre, a new picture of France was trying to be achieved. However, that picture could only be achieved after the people were re-educated and the Old Regime was out of sight. Until those goals were accomplished, Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety would rule over France. However with change comes revolution and therefore people took charge. To wipe out the Old Regime, Robespierre sentenced twenty thousand people to the guillotine. The guillotine was put up to kill innocent people. With the organization of planning his vision, he sent a movement over France which became known as the Reign of Terror.

During this time, France was a limited

monarchy. This monarchy was eventually
destroyed and a republic was formed. At the same time, the Jacobins, supporters of Robespierre, had political control in the National Convention. They didn't believe that there was enough changes, and therefore they wanted more. The National Convention then formed the Committee of Public Safety and gave it emergency powers. Leading the committee, Robespierre’s idea was to have the people on France rule themselves. In order for that to occur, the people had to be re-educated and the Old Regime had to be completely wiped out and gone. Until that time, Robespierre ruled through a dictatorship along with other members from the Committee of Public Safety. In order to apply his changes on France, he therefore created the committee.
The Reign of Terror contradicted the main ideas of the French Revolution. These
ideas revolved around equality and natural rights, while the Reign of Terror didn't show equality from the murder of thousands of innocent people. The Declaration of Independence had a great influence of the rights of man and citizen. It promoted “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” In addition, freedom of religion and fair taxes played key roles. Throughout the whole Declaration, the maintenance of natural rights was the main focus.
Even though the third estate fought for these rights, the Reign of Terror still
occurred no matter what they did. The Reign of Terror (July 1793- July 1794), received this name because of the amount of murders made throughout that one year. Around forty thousand people faced the guillotine where they were put to death, while others suffered in jail. Around thirty percent of the murders were nobles and people from the middle class.
The one year that the Reign of Terror occurred was the opposite of what was
said in the declaration. For example, people fought for equality and yet the third class was not treated the way they wanted to be treated. For instance, majority of the people that were killed in that one year were peasants and only a small percent that were killed were the other two classes put together. This clearly illustrated that there was inequality shown towards the peasants.
“After the death of Louis XVI in 1793, the Reign of Terror began. The first victim
was Marie Antoinette. She had been imprisoned with her children after she was separated from Louis.” (www.historywiz.com). At the same time as this occurred, the guillotine was put up for the first time. “The Terror was designed to fight the enemies of the revolution, to prevent counter-revolution from gaining ground.” (www.historywiz.com). One would be put to death on the guillotine if they said something bad to make the government angry.
Maximilian Robespierre was the leader in charge of the Reign of Terror. He was
the most powerful man that lived in France and was in charge of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention. Even his supporters, the Jacobins, wanted the terror to stop. A man named Danton rose and tried to gift against the government, it didn't work and Danton was Robespierre’s next victim. “the Convention passed a decree stating that any accused person who insulted the court should be prohibited from speaking in his own defense.” (www.historywiz.com). Danton wasn’t able to speak for himself. After that he was headed to the guillotine where he was killed.
“When Robespierre called for a new purge in 1794, he seemed to threaten the
other members of the Committee of Public Safety. The Jacobins had had enough. Cambon rose in the Convention and said ‘it is time to tell the whole truth. One man alone is paralyzing the will of the Convention. And that man is Robespierre.’ Others quickly rallied to his support.” Because of this, Robespierre was put on the guillotine where he met his death. He is known for being the last victim of the Reign of Terror.
The purpose of the Reign of Terror was to “purge France of enemies of the
Revolution and protect the country from foreign invaders.” (www.mthyolyoke.edu). The aim was to execute any person that was being accused of being against the revolution. Therefore, if people were against it that would give a reason for hanging them on the guillotine where they would be murdered.
The Reign of Terror was led by an organization called the Committee of Public
Safety.

“There were two main groups that contributed to government during the Reign of Terror. One was the committee of Public Safety. They were established to ensure the progress of the revolution. It consisted of twelve members including "Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, Lazare Carnot, Georges Couthon, M. J. Hérault de Séchelles, Maximilian Robespierre, and Louis de Saint-Just and the Hébertists, J. N. Billaud-Varenne and J. N. Collot d’Herbois". They established order by preventing and eliminating anti-revolutionary activity. They began the terror due to the necessity of public participation in their precautionary measures.” (www.public.gettysburg.edu). The main goal of the committee was to handle what was going on during the war and report it to the National Convention. Although the Committee of Public Safety barely had power, if the committee made any rules or changes it would have to go through the convention first. Some decisions that the committee made was not shown to the convention and therefore it was secretly accepted.

Once the Reign of Terror started to come to an end, there was so many consequences put on the French population. First was the loss of people. Around seventeen thousand people were sentenced on the guillotine where they were faced with their death. Some of those people that were killed including high in power people such as the king and his wife Marie, Danton, and the last victim,

Robespierre.
Another effect on the people in France was the destruction of their property. Several hotels and prisons were destroyed. Also many castles and people’s mansions were attacked. Even though the Reign of Terror ended, it still caused a war between France and the nation's around it. After Britain and Russia heard the death of the king and his wife, they didn't want to lose people like in previous incidents (Reign of Terror). Therefore, they collided and fought against France.