The Reign Of Terror

730 Words2 Pages

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

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