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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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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
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.
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
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
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.
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 Reign of Terror started in June 1793 and it ended in July 1794. The purpose was to kill French enemies that rebelled against them and protect their country from foreign invaders. 40,000 people were killed in this event in the French Revolution. This event has affected the french revolution by people turning against the King and trying to get rid of him.
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
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
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
The Reign of Terror was one of the most bloodiest and violent periods in the history of France. The Terror lasted thirteen months and with it saw the law of Maximum, which in theory was supposed to help with the food storages France had dealt with since 1788. But in practice, caused insufficient amounts of food getting into the cities and caused the food shortage to worsen. The Terror also brought the de-Christianisation of France, which led to the loss of approximately ten percent of all constitutional priests and resulted in the French citizens having to practice their religion in clandestine from the government. Finally, with the Terror came the rule of Maxilmilien de Robespierre, he was the cause of the Terror starting in the beginning. The rule of Robespierre was one of mass execution, as he believed that anyone who didn’t agree with his ideas of equality and rights for all were deserved to be sent to the guillotine. Through these points it is needless to say the Reign of Terror was unquestionably harmful to the French citizens.
...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.
...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.
Imagine being forced into laying down horizontally and looking out towards the masses of people surrounding you. You attempt to look up, but the wooden restraints around your neck are holding you down. The only thing that you can see is the blue sky, and just floating on the edges of your peripheral vision, the slight glint of the incredibly shiny and heavy metal blade hanging about fourteen feet above your head. As you hear the creaking of the rope that holds your life in place, you begin to sweat. This was how death came to King Louis XVI, and many others who fell under the mighty power of the French military. These individuals were executed by one of the most powerful death machines of the day: the infamous guillotine. According to the article, “Off With Their Heads- History of the Guillotine,” it took about a seventieth of a second for the guillotine to fall from its apex to its nadir, (a distance that was an even fourteen feet on average,) while the actual beheading only took a miniscule two hundredths of a second. The rate of speed for a guillotine was approximately twenty one feet a second. Despite this apparent speediness, these executions were apparently far fr...