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The guillotine the french revolution essay points
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Sixteen thousand die in the guillotine. During the French Revolution, citizens wanted a change and they went to extreme measures to make these changes. The French revolution knows as the reign of terror because the national assembly, which was the new people’s government, insisted on using force in order to see change. Unfortunately, because of this conflict many people had to die for what they believed in. This causes one to think, could the French government have done things differently. The reign of terror was necessary for these three reasons: all citizens would have the rights, the guillotine was a symbol of change, and the revolution would allow all citizens to participate in political affairs.
The first reason the reign of terror was
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justified was that all men should have equal rights and they did not under the monarch rule. At this time in history, the citizens who had rights were males who were either born into the royal family or were wealthy. Many citizens’ ideas, thoughts, and basic needs did not matter to those in power. Citizens were fed up with not having their basic needs taken care of by a government that proclaimed to protect and serve them. The uprising of important figures like Robespierre and new government like the national assembly helped to enforce this change. The declaration and the rights of man and the citizens that were developed by the national assembly se the revolution in motion. This document helped the citizens support the change because it supported equal rights. It supported the rights for liberty. Property, security, and the resistance to oppression. “liberty consists in the ability to do whatever does not harm another” (Document A). This evidence supports why the reign of terror was justified because without demanding these basic rights citizens were being controlled by a monarchy that was only concerned with themselves living a wealthy comfortable life while their citizens were left to be poor with no means to support their families. All men are born free and should have equal rights regardless of where they are born. It is true that Louis XVI was born into his position, but one must consider that it does not necessarily mean that he would not be a good leader. It is possible that leaders born into their positions of power can be great leaders. However, Louis XVI did not make sure all citizens were able to live good quality of life and French citizens revolted. The second reason the reign of terror was justified was the use of the guillotine.
During the revolution citizens became vocal about what changes and rights they wanted. Not all people supported the revolution and their lack of support tried to weaken what the national assembly was trying to create. Maximilien Robespierre was on the committee of public safety and his intent was to give citizens the right to vote and have equal rights. A way of enforcing that this actually happened was the result of the guillotine being designed and sued. The guillotine was a symbol of the French revolution. “The guillotine was regarded as a humane was to execute criminals” C9document F). This evidence shows that the Reign of Terror was justified because leaders used the guillotine as a way to enforce citizens to follow the laws that had been set in place for all French citizens. “Society owes protection only to peaceable citizens; the only citizens in the republic are republicans” (document D). This source validates why the national assembly felt justified in the use of the guillotine because it got rid of people who did not support peace. The guillotine was a symbol of fear, but it ensured that citizens supported the revolution. Killing people to get them to support the government appears harsh. But in the end, it was not just Louis XVI and his wife that were killed this way even Robespierre lost his life by the guillotine. During the revolution there was a change in power away from the monarchy. It was a time for the people and even though lives were lost on both sides it was necessary in order to make France
united. The third reason the Reign of terror was justified was the revolution allowed French citizens to participate in political affairs. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and the republic government was established. Once the republic took over Louis XVI was convicted for treason and sentenced to death. “To achieve the peaceable reign of the constitutional laws, we must end war of liberty against tyranny and pass safely across the storm of the revolution” (document D). This evidence shows that the reign of terror was justified because in order to have peace, war needed to happen to get rid of the people against the revolution. Change needed to occur and the people standing in its way needed to be removed. As the revolution continued there were times when even the republic would take matters into their own hands and act without the following proper protocol like when the “tribunal was established tot try all crimes against the state” (Document E). This shows while this was in direct conflict to what the revolution stood for the government was in the process of making strong decision to get those against the revolution to join it and make France a country for the people. This action was necessary to keep the French people safe counter-revolutionaries. The reign of terror was justified. Violence was necessary and the deaths of many did have to occur to ensure the revolution was successful. When the monarchy was in power citizens were not given their natural born rights because they were not born into o the royal family. The image of the guillotine was scary but it was necessary to get counter-revolutionaries to consider the new government. The new republic was not perfect especially since several of the French were sentenced to death, but in the end the reign of terror was necessary to ensure a fair and equal society would prevail.
The guillotine was first introduced during the French Revolution by a man named Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin. He is a physician who first was involved with the issues of medicine. On December 1, 1789 he became interested in the idea of capital punishment. He invented the guillotine. It was a contraption used for causing immediate and painless death. It included a falling blade, running between two upright boards of wood and later a basket. Therefore, one may believe that the design of the guillotine helped with executions.
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.
A guillotine is a decapitation device that quickly chops off it’s victims head in the blink of an eye. According to document F, About 16,000 people were believed to have died at the hands of it. No matter how small or petty a crime was, people would have been executed for it. Even Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, the leaders of France before the Revolution, were decapitated by one, as was the leader of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre. Another method to weed out the counter revolutionaries was a network of spies that watched out for anyone who spoke out against the government, “A careless word of criticism spoken against the government could put one in prison or worse” (Document E). The punishment for a crime as small as ththis was more often than not
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
The guillotine was one of the fastest and most painless ways to kill people. Before that though there were a lot more painful and torturous ways to execute people. For example, they used to hang people but they would also torture them, to make their death even more painful. During the Enlightment, people favored human rights and their well being, so they didn’t torture people as bad as before. During the Enlightment, people got more rights so they couldn’t be tortured as much like former executions. The guillotine made execution a lot better. The guillotine was an enlightened way to execute people.
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.
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.
40,000 people were killed by the guillotine in the time period of 1789 to 1799, this made the guillotine ineffective during the Reign of Terror. The reasons being were, it was a messy execution machine, people got bored of people being killed the same way, and it was a cruel way to die by being executed by the guillotine. Here are the reasons why.
The Guillotine brought equality in death to the French Revolution. Sometimes people of higher classes would receive quick deaths whereas people of the lower classes would receive slow, torturous deaths. People of many classes were being killed and the Guillotine allowed everyone to receive equal punishments rather than being tortured. The tribunals were self-selected revolutionaries that dictated who was guilty and who needed to be executed. There were 44,000 of these councils. During the tribunals, most people were prosecuted bases on suspicions and no hard evidence. The Guillotine was also depicted on pins which were worn by supporters of the French Revolution. The Guillotine was a very significant tool and a minimum of 440,000 were executed via the Guillotine. In my analysis, the Guillotine added to the motto of the French Revolution “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.” The Guillotine made death equal and assured liberty and
...st powerful symbols of the French Revolution and killed an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 people during the Reign of Terror. (Doc F) The guillotine was a sharp, angled blade that killed quickly the most deadly and feared method of invoking fear during the revolution. (Doc F) These methods; however, became too extreme and the deaths of the incident was not justified.
France experienced a great change in 1793, When the radical Jacobins became in power. The country was in havoc, and a Reign of Terror developed by local revolutionary committees. Because of this, thousands of people were killed by guillotine or other methods. The Terror was successful in executing the counter-revolutionaries of the French Revolution to no longer conspire against the radicals and reformers, and The Reign of Terror also united France as a nation under a new government, making the era of terror justifiable for themselves. Unfavorably, The Terror led to persecution of the people of France, as many people who were in various ways undeserving of capital punishment were killed.
The Committee of Public Safety was very worried with the idea of a royalist rebellion. Those who believed that there should be a monarch were upset that the Committee of Public safety did not have one. To stop this rebellion the Committee of Public Safety decided to kill those who opposed the revolution. This time period in which they began to kill the rebels is now known as “the Terror”. Steven Otfinoski explains the reason behind the “Terror” “ The purpose was to protect the public safety from enemies both in and outside of France” (Doc 34). The biggest supporter of the “Terror” was Maximilien Robespierre. In his speech to the National Convention he said “We must smother the internal and external enemies of the republic or parish” (Doc 36). This shows that Robespierre wanted to be opposed by no one. This shows his motivation to become the only man who had power in the french government. Robespierre needed a new way to get rid of those who opposed him in a way to set an example to others. This way he found in the Guillotine. This use of the Guillotine betrayed the punishment ideas that were encouraged by Beccaria. In Beccaria's “Essay on Crimes and Punishments” he states “Such punishments,therefore,and such a mode of inflicting them,ought to be chosen, as will make the strongest and most
n 1789, France was ruled by an absolute monarch named King Louis XVI. King Louis XVI failed to be the king of France because he did not really care about his people and he only cared about himself and his money. Group of men vowed to make a new constitution. Meanwhile, the French Revolution begun. During the time of the French Revolution, 20,000 people are killed and France was a disaster because Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity was what the people wanted but it turned into a riot and did not really get what they wanted. Does the French Revolution sounds justified to you? Maximilien Robespierre became the leader of the revolutionary government. The new government proceeded to execute large numbers of individuals whom it considered to be enemies of the an assembly revolution. This was called the reign of terror, which lasted two years. The new government had to do battle both inside and outside the country. The reign of Terror was not justified. This claim can be supported by the internal conflicts, external conflicts, and deaths occurred in French Revolution.
The Guillotine became a popular method of execution in the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789 and it was introduced by Dr. Joseph Guillotine. The Guillotine was a notorious instrument that was used since the French Revolution up until 1977, and it dates all the way back to the Middle Ages; executions that were done by the Guillotine, were a popular spectator event that frightened and entertained its viewers at the same time. It was considered a part of life during the reign of terror since executions went on a daily basis. “Torturous punishment was considered something that needed elimination which is why the Guillotine was introduced as a swifter more certain and thus more humane method of execution.” (Upshur et al.654). The Guillotine consisted of a sharp razor blade that weighed between 80-90 pounds (The blade originally was a straight razor, but then it was replaced with an angled razor to decrease the amount of maintenance required, increase the amount of operation between blades, and decrease the duration of death). Death by the Guillotine was supposedly a humane way because of its quick beheading
...wn the monarchy because “World History,” states that, “Louis was well-intentioned and sincerely wanted to improve the lives of the common people.” (Beck Roger, Black Linda, Krieger, Larry, Naylor Phillip, Shabaka Dahia, 653) However, King Louis XVI lacked the conviction and initiative to carry out any of his plans to truly improve the lives of the French citizens. Proof of this was that the French citizens were desperate enough to riot the streets of France and storm the prison of Bastille. After all that has been said, it is clear that the citizens were indeed justified to overthrow the monarch.