The Reign Of Terror, By Howard G. Brown

1213 Words3 Pages

The Reign of Terror was the bloodiest and deadliest period in French history. The Reign of Terror took place during the French Revolution in France from September 1793 to July 1794, when the French abolished the monarchy and were in the process of transitioning to a new governmental system. It was the act of making a statement by publicly silencing and executing those who were suspected to be against the revolution, or even attempting to restore the monarchy. Historians Colin Jones and Howard G. Brown both explore the Reign of Terror, the overthrowing of its leader, Maximilian Robespierre, and its aftermath in their articles. Both historians discuss similar events with similar ideas and tellings of history, but Jones focuses more on Robespierre, …show more content…

Though Robespierre was and is commonly agreed to be an evil, authoritarian figure in history, the tone and language used by Howard G. Brown show some evidence of a bias. This slightly differs from how Jones refers to him, as when analyzing the story of his downfall and death, he describes Robespierre as, “...so star-crossed and complex, his fate so ghastly,...and the motivations so tantalizing, that it is perhaps understandable that many historians who have written about [Robespierre’s death] have viewed it through the prism of individual destiny, psychology, or, for some, psychopathology” (Jones 692). The tone and language he uses in his writing are more objective and scientific than Brown’s, but he ensures to solidify that Robespierre was not necessarily a good person by including the stance of viewing him from a position of psychopathology. Saying this shows his objectivity, as he is simply expressing that he may have shown psychopathic behavior, giving a reason as to why he did some of the things he …show more content…

The “Thermidorian Reaction” was the plan for the French parliament to revolt against Robespierre’s regime in order to take back governmental control and remove Robespierre himself from power. Jones writes about what many historians believe and then clarifies what he believes happened by explaining, “Overthrowing Robespierre was not an act of ‘Thermidorian Reaction.’ The ‘Thermidorian Reaction’ came later” (Jones 711). He is saying that the overthrowing of Robespierre was not necessarily due to the “Thermidorian Reaction”, as it very well could have had something to do with it, but it went into full effect after he was killed, so it did not assist in that aspect of the transition of the governmental system. Brown, while he does not directly mention how the “Thermidorian Reaction” could have kicked out Robespierre, he does describe how and why he feels it was a plan that needed to take place. He believes all the ideas of this plan and why it was carried out were due to “desperate efforts to establish [Thermidorian] political legitimacy by appealing to public opinion” (Brown

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