Torture, fear, executions, horror, political and social changes…. these are just a few terms that come to mind when people think of the Reign of Terror. France was in the middle of a political and social revolution and wanted all citizens against this movement to be destroyed. Drastic measures such as mass killings and legal actions were taken to rid the country of these enemies, thus beginning the Reign of Terror. There were many reasons as to why this time period occurred. Over the course of one year, several events influenced the people of France prior to, during, and following the Reign of Terror.
The Reign of Terror began in July of 1793. (Beers, pg. 41). The revolutionary government, The National Convention, sought to destroy all citizens against the revolution. In order to accomplish this feat, they created the Committee of Public Safety. The leader of this organization was Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre and his committee wanted to protect citizens from foreign and domestic threats to the revolution. (Beers, pg. 41). The main threat to the French Revolution was the citizens of France that were against the revolution. (Tripod.com, The French Revolution, 2014) The National Convention feared these counterrevolutionaries would revolt and crush the revolution. As a result, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety decided all people found as being against the revolution should be put to death in order to allow the revolution to prosper. (Beers, pg. 41). This started the Reign of Terror.
Once the Reign of Terror began, mass killings and trial sessions began to take place. Very simple laws were in place to determine when people could be arrested. Anyone could be arrested for “their conduct, their relations,...
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...error was a dark time during the French Revolution. Many men, women, children, nobles, and royalty were killed needlessly. This period in time did allow the revolution to complete its purpose of political and social reform with little interference from the people of France and Europe. The Reign of Terror was a necessary time in the France to help obtain social and political justice.
Works Cited
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/french-revolution-effects-revolution.html http://noahrevolutions.blogspot.ca/2010/11/was-reign-of-terror-necessary.html http://www.history.com/topics/reign-of-terror http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/section5.rhtml https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/kat_anna/fallr.html http://ap_history_online.tripod.com/apeh8.htm http://www.historywiz.com/terror.htm
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/96648
Taking into account the reality of the effect of the Reign of Terror and its acts to secure the government, it is important to highlight the circumstances that made the Reign the most necessary: war. Marching an 80,000-man army into France, Prussia and Austria moved to attack and capture the providences of Longwy and Verdun. Along with the pressing overseas forces, an additional “10,000 French army officers.formed armies and allied themselves with France’s foreign enemies” (Document B). To match the amassing legion that was shaping against them, the French government had to enforce regulations (in example: The Tribune) to divert the internal forces they were spending calming riots back to their needed place on the front lines. Similarly, without the Committee on Public Safety “employing a.network of informers and spies” (Document E) it’s impossible to say how the French would have suffered if the infantile government had lost information to enemies, especially considering many of their own countrymen had abandoned their patriotism and fled to the Austrian-Netherlands.
"French Revolution: The Reign of Terror — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .
After the Reign of Terror, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to authority. When he was in power, Napoleon only kept some of the ideas that were used in the French Revolution. For example he was for equality, but disregarded liberty. Napoleon started many wars for France, in hopes of gaining land. France did win some land, but more times than not France lost the wars, putting them into extreme war debt.
O: Rage and revolt can describe the country of France at the time of the Revolution faced because of turmoil and struggle they faced. Different estates were formed based on what you did and your class in society. The people of society wanted more say in the government and decisions that King Louis XVI made. The public didn't approve with much of what King Louis did. His lack of ability to be a strong king and leader affected his reputation to the public eye. King Louis was tried for committing treason to the country of France. Treason is the attempt to kill a sovereign and overthrow the government. Some of the reasons were his attempt to flee to Varennes, living in Versailles which was not in Paris, and reforms he passed as a ruler. These actions performed by King Louis isn’t what a King does, but that doesn’t prove any
To accomplish this task, he murdered close to 40,000 people, most by guillotine, and some sentenced to life in jail. The Reign of Terror was one of the most controversial, and terrifying phases of the Revolution. Some French colonists thought it to be a path to democracy; others thought it was just an attempt by Robespierre to assume dictatorship. The other great leader was Napoleon Bonaparte. He believed that the only way to have control in France was to put a limit on democracy.
...pave the way for democracy, but the bloodshed could have been more limited. Many people during the Revolution believed that France needed a change in many ways. They had achieved that by 1793. Many new reforms had been implemented in the country and it was much better off than it had been four years prior. I do agree with Kropotkin that the abolishing of serfdom and absolutism was a great achievement for France and that it did lead to a democratic system. Though this is true, the violence and bloodshed during the Revolution could have been minimized through committees and discussions. Schama is also right in that some men were too radical and their new found power went to their head. All said and done, the French Revolution was a bloody time in history, but it paved the way for a new democratic system not only for France but for many other countries as well.
Do the actions ever justify the end result? The Reign of Terror, the revolution lead by Maximilien Robespierre, began on January 21, 1793 when King Louis XVI and his wife were guillotined due to the way they had led the government into a financial crisis and as a result when Robespierre took over with his radical new government 20,000-40,000 people were brutally executed. So was this radical period in France really necessary or was it just mass killings with little progress. The Reign of terror was not justified because of the threats against the revolution, the methods used by the revolution were not justified, and the ideals of the revolution were not justified.
In 1789, the French people began to stand up to their current monarchical government in order to obtain rights and laws that they felt they deserved. The Reign of Terror followed after the Revolution and seemed to stand for the complete opposite of what the people had previously stood up for. The Reign of Terror began in 1793 and ended in 1794 due to the decapitation of Maximilien Robespierre. The Reign of Terror can be explained as a time period in France when many counter revolutionaries were killed because of their traditional beliefs. Counter revolutionaries believed in preserving the ways of the monarchy, but since the majority of people thought otherwise, these opposing beliefs led to death. The French government did not have good reason to conduct such drastic measures against those who challenged the Revolution.
The Great Terror, an outbreak of organised bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in the years 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure, Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and yearning to be a complete autocrat was enforced by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin’s ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror impacted on the communist party, government officials and the peasants. The NKVD, Stalin’s instrument for carrying out the Terror, the show trials and the purges, particularly affected the intelligentsia.
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 are 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. Is The Reign of Terror justified? An outstanding number of people died for good and bad reasons.
making laws that abolish christianity is insane and trying to control an individual’s religion is very unfair and controlling for the new french government to do. Abolishing Sunday worship, Christmas, and Easter is a horribly crude thing for a revolutionary to do (Doc. C). France Representatives also took a cropper crucifix which was on the altar and carried it mockingly, upside down on a cart, offering it to passers-by to sit on (Doc. C). In Vendee, historians estimate that anywhere between 80,000 and 500,000 French people on both sides died in 1793 (Doc. C). Townspeople fought fiercely against a military draft called levee en masse and against laws to try to abolish Christianity in France (Doc. C). These pieces of evidence display that the Reign of Terror was in no way
In September 1791, France achieved the movement of freeing and outlawing slavery. In turn, Haitian slaves were inspired to do the same by revolting against French plantation owners. This transformative movement of 100,000 slaves was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture; unfortunately, he died before experiencing Haiti’s separation from France in 1804. However, along the way of success of both revolutions, a toll occurred on the numerous lives lost. The Reign of Terror in France was created as a way to protect the republic from its internal enemies, but instead 16,000 people were guillotined. Many documents were shown to be describing the execution of the Reign of Terror to be gruesome and wrongful such that J.G. Milligen stated, “The process of execution was also a sad and heartrending spectacle”, in The Revolutionary Tribunal. Milligen continued to describe the vivid scene of the execution, but this was only one event and many others have died in the fall of the Bastille and the attack on the royal palace. Haiti has also lost many lives as an outcome of the revolutions especially in the slave revolts and battles with French soldiers sent by Napoleon. In addition, the Haitian Revolution leader L’Ouverture died in captivity in France. Both of these revolutions were known to have successfully achieved its goals, but it was chaotic and
Both the French and Haitian revolutions resulted in lots of bloodshed in order to achieve their goal. During The French Revolution, The Reign of Terror was perhaps the greatest example of violence. During this time anyone found guilty of being an enemy of the revolution was executed by guillotine, causing many unnecessary deaths and chaos. The
Although, the Reign of Terror was seen as a way to let the revolution live and was well supported it was not justified. Because the internal threats propagated radicalism, the external threats raged and became stronger, and the methods became chaotic the Reign of Terror extended its stay in France until the death of the powerful leader Robespierre. The Reign of Terror was an outreach to gain rights but during this period they were taken away until the fateful day of Robespierre’s death ending the Terror.
The French Revolution, known for the political intrigue present during its course, specifically contained the highest quantity and quality of political intrigue within the Reign of Terror. This aptly named “Reign of Terror” lasted for around eleven months from September 1793 to July 1794, during which a handful a men belonging to a Committee of Public Safety, hereinafter referred to as the “CPS”, ruled as the executive branch of French Government, supplemented by a larger National Convention. Elected to serve by their peers in the National Convention, nine men were selected to lead the French Government, one of them being Georges Danton. Soon after, however, more radical individuals replaced the moderates led by Georges Danton in the CPS. One