Reign Of Terror Dbq

The French Revolution spanned ten years and was a period of great change within France. The official beginning of the French Revolution was in May-August of 1789 when common citizens, upset with how the upper class was treated them, forced King Louis XVI (the king of France at the time) to sign the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen (the DoRoMaC). The DoRoMaC was a document that described exactly what rights the citizens wanted, such as freedom of speech and religion and innocence until proven guilty. Over the next four years, commoners lobbied for a democracy and, when King Louis XVI was executed in early 1793, a new governing body was formed called Committee of Public Safety., which was designed to subdue counterrevolutionaries. A man named Maximilien Robespierre was part of the Committee, and on September 5, 1793, he decided that the best way to keep France under control was fear. That day marks the start of the Reign of Terror.

The Reign of Terror was not justified because it created internal threats.‘‘The levee en masse was a military draft imposed by the Revolutionary Government’’ On one occasion, a crucifix was even taken from

The French Revolution began in 1789 as an attempt, by the revolutionaries, to form a new government that would give the people more liberty, equality and value people’s rights. Between 1793 and 1794 the government used extreme ways to achieve their goals. This period of time, led by Robespierre, was called the reign of Terror because between 20,000-40,000 french people were killed by the government forces. The Reign of Terror was not justified for three reasons:The external and internal threat did not deserve it, they denied natural rights against people who opposed them and the methods of the Terror were too extreme.

The French Revolution is arguably the bloodiest period in French history, with men such as Maximilien Robespierre leading the country into a situation of state sponsored terror. Originally being quite a liberal thinker inspired by the works of Rousseau, Robespierre quickly gained a reputation for being a radical throughout the course of the Revolution, especially during the Terror. Early on terror was justified as a means to root out foreign and domestic enemies of the Revolution, however; once the foreign threat had been taken care of it became increasingly difficult for Robespierre to rationalize his use of terror to bring about a supposed Republic of Virtue. In his speech, the “Justification of the use of Terror” which he presented to

From a timeline of the Reign of Terror, in 1789 the French country had an absolute monarchy. Then in 1792, the goal of having a Constitutional Republic was completed (Document B). From 843 AD to 1792 France had a monarchy and the move from a monarchy to a republic was a huge step in the right direction for France. The Reign of Terror was necessary to help the change become smoother because there was a strong revolutionary government and had a humane way of keeping the government alive by killing some of the enemy “citizens”. One of the leaders of this revolutionary government was Maximilien Robespierre, he believed that the most effective way of governing, comes from the people. In 1794, he made a Report of the Principles of Public Morality to the National Convention. His most powerful weapon, wasn’t the guillotine, but his words. He describes how one must finish fighting for liberty against tyranny to complete a revolution and to complete the goal of having a Constitutional Republic. He also reports that the only citizens in a republic, are republicans, so the conspirators are no longer citizens, but enemies (Document G). Some of these enemies are the nobility and the clergy, because they only wanted what was best for them and their social groups, not what was best for the Republic. The fight against tyranny was not over till there were only republicans in the republic. The government leaders and courts made sure of this by using the guillotine. By getting rid of their enemies, France had a Constitutional Republic after the Reign of Terror. This is justified because the Constitutional Republic’s leaders were making sure that they got rid of all the Republic’s enemies and keeping their government safe, just like countries want to do

The radical turning point of the revolution, marked by the Reign of Terror, was an atmosphere of mass executions and imposed paranoia, with more than ten thousand “counterrevolutionaries” (vaguely defined, which at the end turned out to be anyone with dissent) sent to death under the Law of Suspects. Robespierre himself states that “Terror is nothing but prompt, severe, inflexible justice; it is therefore an emanation of virtue… The government of the revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny”. “Severe and inflexible”, as justified by Robespierre, the revolution needed a push in order to reach its goals. France under the committee's total control sent anyone with dissent to the guillotine because they were considered to be a threat to the new government, which ironically named itself “for the people”. An anonymous eyewitness during the reign commented on the Reign of Terror collection of authentic narratives that “It seemed as if their blind fury was particularly directed against the weakest and most amiable.The loveliest, the youngest, and the most interesting females, were dragged in crowds into this receptacle of misery, whence they were led, by dozens, to inundate the scaffold” (325). The sickening extent of human toll

Maximilien Robespierre has always been known to be controversial and misunderstood. He was the face of the French Revolution. In accordance with the Jacobins, they controlled the time known as the Reign of Terror, due to their influence in the accumulation of murders of those opposed to the revolution. Reign of Terror was a symbolic time period within the French Revolution that involved corruption of power and influence and mass executions. With Robespierre at the forefront, he became one of the most important men in the Revolution. As soon as Maximilien Robespierre decided to react to enemies of the revolutions, mass execution being his choice of force; his implementation of the Reign of Terror was a villainous act striking those who

The Reign of Terror was full of deaths, wars and invading for what? Power? Is that all they wanted, is that all it took for someone to look bigger and more powerful. The real question is was the Reign of Terror Justified? I believe the reign of terror was not justified for these three reasons: Their were unnecessary killings, human rights were violated and not acknowledged in the situation, and no good came out of the reign of terror. in 1789 the french revolution began and in 1794 everything ended. At the beginning the poor people were starving and the bread prices would go up because bad weather had devastated the grain harvest. here were unfair tax systems, louis to his credit sought the advice of nobles, church officials and even commoners but the problems just grew and grew. On August 26 the new revolutionary government had signed a new document called the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen which also ensured the liberty, equality and fraternity, For the people of france.

The Reign of Terror was a period of violence that succeeded the beginning of the French Revolution; it was caused by conflict between two rival political parties, and tens of thousands were executed by guillotine on account of being ‘enemies of the revolution’. The French Revolution started with the storming of the Bastille, and since then the government had been in a state of constant turmoil. Civil war broke out in multiple regions and various foreign countries started attacking France on all sides; a man named Maximilien Robespierre, who belonged to a radical group known as the Jacobins, saw his chance and seized the government along with his fellow extremists. The Jacobins felt that “it was their duty to preserve the revolution, even if it meant violence and terror” which

Under the reign of Robespierre, the government conducted large numbers of executions of people who were considered enemies of the revolution (BE). The Reign of Terror was not justified because the violent response by the government violated the

King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette were two people that should not have been ruling a country. King Louis was always gone on hunting trips and Marie Antionette spent every dime of French money. Once the Monarchy ran out money, they started to tax the Third, and poorest, estate. The third estate took up 97% of the population. 97% of the population was starving and the royal family kept spending large amounts of money until the people revolted. The people of France tried to reason with King Louis, but he refused to change his ways and kept taxing the third estate. When the people revolted, they stormed the Bastille and took all of the weapons they could. The people then went to the King’s palace and demanded he fix the way he was ruling before they killed him. The King didn’t listen and was executed along with his wife. Of the three kids that Marie Antionette had, the two boys died of Tuberculosis in jail and the daughter was sent to live the remainder of her life in exile in Austria. It may seem as though the people of France had successfully overgrown their monarchy and could begin a life of freedom, however this is not the case. The French had rushed into combat too fast and did not have a plan for what to do after they had killed their rulers. The right of Terror begins where Maximilian Robespierre beheads 40,000 people in the span of ten months for speaking against the revolution. In the end, Robespierre ends up getting

During the French revolution, French citizens went against absolute monarchy and the feudal system that was antiquated. They were influenced by Enlightenment ideas such as inalienable rights and popular sovereignty. Louis XVI was the ruler at the time; he believed that his power was given to him by God, thus making him think his ruling was right despite people’s opinion. The citizens of France especially the 3rd estate disliked the king for treating them poorly. Eventually the Jacobins convicted Louis XVI to death by a guillotine for treason after finding a large iron box holding Louis XVI’s secret correspondence with foreign monarchs. The beheading of King Louis XVI was justified because he took people’s rights away and made people follow his inadequate rules and biased judgments based on status. Furthermore, if he were to be left alive it would have posed a threat to the security and stability of France.

France was experience a great amount of change in the summer of 1793, when the Jacobins succeeded the moderates in the National Convention. With the radical Jacobins in power, the country was in tumult, and a Reign of Terror ensued due to a law of suspects that legalized local revolutionary committees. Because of this, thousands of people were killed by guillotine or other methods. Throughout the summer of 1793, the radical Jacobins’ control of the Committee of Public Safety instituted the Terror which was advantageous in it’s intended purpose, yet it was disadvantageous because of the enemies it created.

The French Revolution began in 1789 aiming to transform France into a more liberal, equal society ruled by a constitutional monarchy. Yet by 1793 it had generated something else entirely— a system of repression and violence referred to as the Terror. While some insist that the Revolution’s culmination at this point was inevitable, others assert that key events between 1789 and 1793 set the Revolution on this particular trajectory. Siding with the latter, I argue that King Louis XVI’s attempted flight in 1791 was an incredibly significant turning point in the Revolution, as its social and political consequences played a vital role in placing the Revolution on the path toward the Terror. While it is impossible to definitively say that

21st January 1793: the day that Louis Capet would wake up and realise it would be his last. Helman’s painting illustrates Capet’s execution at the guillotine and exposes the haunting and violent side of the French Revolution. When looking at Helman’s work, the viewer can see the large crowds that flocked to the square, then known as the Place de la Revolution, to see their former King become a victim to the guillotine. Louis Capet, formerly known as King Louis XVI of France, was found guilty of ‘supporting rebels inside and émigrés outside revolutionary France and for his negotiations with foreign powers planning and then actually engaged in an invasion of the country.’ Helman’s work carries a great importance as it gives the viewer an insight into the violence, conflict and social division that defined the French Revolution.