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The
Reign of Terror
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Once the queen of France, Marie
Antoinettemet her death at the hands of the guillotine. During
the Reign of Terror over 17,000 people were killed, many by
guillotine.
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On the first week of September 1792, a rash of mob
slaughters occurred in the streets of Paris. These attacks were a
response to fears that a counterrevolution was brewing. In their defense
of France, revolutionaries killed anyone suspected of being a Royalist
or a supporter of the Ancien Regime. Even suspects in prisons were
killed. Between 1,400 and 4,000 people were brutally murdered in the
name of saving the new proletarian republic.
The Committee of Public Safety, with a total of 9
members, was given the power to do anything to save the republic from
internal and external dangers. The group was later enlarged to include
12 members who were able to exercise their control over every aspect of
French life.
Formed by the Jacobians, the committee leader was
Maximillian Robespierre, a stunning orator and a leading revolutionary.
Elected to the Estates General in 1789, he made his mark as a radical
member of the Jacobian club. In 1792 he became a Paris deputy to the
Convention and emerged as the leader of the Montagnards, or the Mountain
Party.
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The Reign of Terror
ended with the overthrow of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor Year II
(July 27 1794).
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In addition to the Committee of Public Safety, a
revolutionary tribunal was also set up. The purpose was to try suspected
counterrevolutionaries. The Committee developed a new policy that
involved the use of the guillotine to punish its victims. Robespierre
used this committee to carry out his brutal methods of ensuring the
safety of the republic.
This Reign of Terror launched by Robespierre in
September of 1793 led to the death of many in the aristocratic or
wealthy class. During this period 300,000 people were arrested and
17,000 were put to death. Many more died in prison or without a trial.
Robespierre had stated in one of his famous orations that:
In times of peace the springs of popular government are in virtue, but
in times of revolution, they are both in virtue and terror.
He used the constant threat of foreign invasion and
Royalist plots to excuse his methods of terror and by 1794 he had gained
almost limitless power. When his fellow leaders called for an end to the
terror, Robespierre had them executed. The public wondered, if his
fellow leaders were not safe, then who was?
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Revolutionaries take to the
streets and punish those with whom they disagree.
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Public opinion demanded a relaxation of the emergency
measures that had existed. The Jacobins were soon outvoted in the
Convention and Robespierre was labeled a terrorist and eventually
executed for his crimes. The Committee of Public Safety had been
responsible, however, for making some lasting and meaningful reforms.
The metric system of weights and measures was
established, Negro slavery was outlawed, and cultural centers, such as
libraries and art galleries, including the Louvre, were opened to the
masses. The Committee of Public Safety and the revolutionary tribunals
were abolished after the fall of Robespierre.
The following years saw a return to the protection
of the bourgeois class and a move away from support of the masses. The
Convention formed the Constitution of the Year III (Year III of the
Revolutionary Calendar), which included a Directory with five directors
holding the chief executive offices and a Parliament consisting of two
houses: the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders.
The democratic government of France came to an end.
Upon the announcement of the constitution, mass uprisings erupted. With
the rise of Napoleon, peace in France began to reign, but it is just the
beginning of a long period of international turmoil. |
