The Reign of Maximilien de Robespierre

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Isn’t a revolution supposed to help and protect people instead of killing them? During the French Revolution, an estimate of 20,000 to 40,000 people died. This was a result of what we call the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror was an 18 month period from January 1793 to July 1794. The reason why there were so many deaths within the French Revolution time was because France was dealing with external threats and internal threats. The external threats were the neighboring countries that were in the alliance with Austria and Prussia to stop the spread of the French Revolution. The internal threats were the counterrevolutionaries who were against the revolution and wanted the old government back. The Reign of Terror was established, and ran by Maximilien de Robespierre, to deal with the situation of the French Revolution and all of its threats. Now the question is: “Was this 18 month period reasonable to protect France’s people?” The Reign of Terror was not justified for three reasons: the external threats did not deserve the treatment they received, the internal threats were dealt with non-humane measures, and the methods used were outrageous.
The external threats formed an alliance to attack France to prevent the French Revolution from spreading to their countries. Along their mission to stop the spread of the French Revolution, they received harsh treatment that goes beyond being human. These countries were just looking out for their rulers’ power because they did not want to lose their power and die due to the spread. As stated in Document A, “Government denies legal counsel to accused enemies of the revolution. The number of government executions sharply increases. Two-thirds of all executions during the Reign of Terror occur ...

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...his wife Marie Antoinette, and even the key figure behind the Reign of Terror, Robespierre, all died of decapitation” (Document F). The king of France was decapitated so that the republican government can take his place. This is beyond humane it’s a corrupted way to get rid of people.
Although France won in the end, many French people lost their lives for a cause not worth fighting for. Overall, the Reign of Maximilien de Robespierre was unjust in everything they did from demolishing neighboring countries and taking over their land, killing France’s people to protect them, and using non-humane measures to carry out their duties to “fix the problems”. The argument is clear that the Reign of Maximilien de Robespierre was not justified. The French Revolution had done more harm to its people than protect and help them in the way the French revolutionaries intended.

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