The French Revolution: The Reign Of Terror In France

The initial impulse of the French revolution was destructive. For those who lived through all, or even part, of these vast upheavals, the shock was overwhelming. Maximilien Robespierre was a proud disciple of the enlightenment and declared that no political writer had foreseen this revolution. Robespierre (1758-1794) was one of the leaders of the Committee of Public Safety, the effective governing body of France during the most radical phase of the revolution. The leaders of this revolution attempted, perhaps more than any other revolutionary leaders before or since, to totally transform human society in every way. (Supreme Being) Although Robespierre began with patriotic intent he still was the face of the Reign of Terror and was viewed as being a radical person.

Just about any country that one can name has some history of civil unrest, class issues, rioting in the streets, and outright warfare. These patterns of behavior are common denominators for most civilization in the world. The names, faces, and places may change, but the motivations are generally the same, because of the need for change and the willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve it. In contrast to the United States, which was in the process of freeing itself from British colonial rule, France was working to free itself from royal absolutism. This period is historically known as the French Revolution. Many scholars do not agree on the chronology of the French Revolution; some scholars suggest that the Revolution took place between 1789 to 1799 while others feel that it did not end until Napoleon lost power in 1815. To better understand the history of the French Revolution it is necessary to discuss the causes, major events, significant figures, and the outcomes associated with these political developments. Without this uprising, that changed the face of the entire country and influenced local political life in many countries in Europe, in all likelihood the France we know today would never have existed.

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 Great Fear was a period of extreme fright and riot that became a massacre in the French Revolution. France's peasants began to hear wild rumors about the nobles who were hiring outlaws to terrorize them and overthrow the Third Estate. The peasants responded by arming themselves with pitchforks and other farm tools to defend their property. "The peasants soon became outlaws themselves." Although it seems the peasants feared those people who broke the law, they became the ones creating bigger damage such as destroying federal documents and stealing millions of private property's. Along with several deaths because of the lack of food. Thousands of Parisian women caused trouble over the rising price of bread. These big strong woman marched

The topic that I will be writing about is the French Revolution and how it affected France as a nation. The book that I read was "The French Revolution, A tale of Terror and Hope for Our Times", by Harold Behr. This book gave a very large and broad overview of what transpired during the French Revolution, which occurred during the years of 1789-1799. Though the book covered a lot of material that happened throughout those years, I will be covering the main topics, such as what were the events leading up to the revolution, how the revolution affected the people of France, how the revolution affected the country as a whole, how the revolution affected the world, and whether or not the revolution in the end helped or was more detrimental to the country. All of the topics will be covered from my point of view and how I interpreted the author, there is another point of views on the revolution but this will be from what I felt the book meant to me.

The French Revolution was a result of influence and inspiration gained from the American Revolution. This event occurred in 1789 and continued until the late 1790’s due to bloodshed and disagreement. During this time period the people with nothing began to have a voice and the people with power were rapidly executed leading to democracy, which meant every man was free with equal rights. The French’s method was named the Reign of Terror because of the French’s unique scare tactics. This event was not justified due to the oppression of the guillotine, the Tribunal system, and Declaration of the Rights of man.

The Reign of Terror defeated counterrevolutionaries and external forces like Austria and Prussia. In December of 1793, “[the] counterrevolution in western France is near collapse”, and in April and May of 1794, “[the] French victory over foreign enemies is nearly complete” (Doc A). The monarchy was destroyed along with its internal and external supporters. France had taken their government into their own hands and controlled opposing ideas through the Reign of

In 1789, an event would take place that would shake a nation. This event further altered the country of France’s history and drastically changed its future. This event was known as the Storming of the Bastille, the first violent instance to instigate the French Revolution and the formation of a rebel alliance to overthrow French monarchy. However the motives of the renegades is far and wide. The question must be asked; What were the major reasons for the French Revolution? Many elements of France’s infrastructure were created to suppress the qualms of the people. However, the major influences that caused the French Revolution were the new ideas of the enlightened thinkers, powerlessness of the Third Estate, and famine crises. Without these factors within French society, a governmental collapse may not have occurred.

The French Revolution is known as a model revolution for modern ideals and an example of the people’s power. The French Revolution had many stages that were influential in the outcome and lives of the Republic. The Reign of Terror was a year-long period that reflected the changing views of government and the means to do so. The Reign of Terror was unjustifiable as the wars in and out of France created more devastation, the rights established by the representative government were contradicted by the government itself, and fear was spread.

The screams and spirits weeped inside the walls of Versaille while the queen herself, Marie Antoinette lays on her freshly washed out white covers in sorrow. Baskets full with several heads, countless corpses, and terror, roamed the streets of France. France was in steep debt with a very high amount of starving poor civilians throughout the lowlife of the town. In addition, Louis created a severely unfair tax system by allowing only the peasants and lower class to pay taxes while the 3% of the upper class did not pay at all. The majority of France began to become angry and rebelled. A man named Maximilien Robespierre was a chief prosecutor who helped France turn on Louis and had him executed. Louis’ execution on January 21, 1793 was start of a 19 month period known as “The Reign of Terror” led by Maximilien. The Reign of Terror was not justified because the lack of rights given to the people, the amount of deaths, and the abstraction of power.

For my book review, I have read and evaluated Sylvia Neely’s history book entitled A Concise History of the French Revolution published in 2007 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Neely’s purpose is to gives an overview of the French revolution with the most important events, the most prominent people and the essential terms. We can see that the author proved her thesis by explaining the background causes of the revolution such as the ancient regime with Louis XVI. Also she described all important events in chronological orders which made it easier for the reader to understand. Neely’s book is at the same time an history book, but also an kind of encyclopedia because she included all essentials terms which were use during that time period, such as “dérogeance”, which means the loss of nobility.

A well-known milestone in European history, the French Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the Estates-General and ended in 1799 with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although there were many important events and ideas surrounding the Revolution, the focus for this essay is how the Revolution used terror to control the citizens of France.

In this essay I shall try to find whether the Terror was inherent from the French revolutions outset or was it the product of exceptional circumstances. The French revolution is the dividing line between the Ancien Regime and the modern world. After France the hierarchy that societies of the time had been founded on began to change and they began to sweep away the intricate political structures of absolute monarchy, but however to achieve this was the Terror absolutely necessary? And was it planned/ or was it just the extraordinary circumstances, which the French had lead themselves into once they had deposed of Louis the

Twenty thousand to forty thousand died; it is still unknown exactly how many people were lost through the blood drenching event of the Reign of Terror.[Footnote] Throughout the French revolution, specifically the eleven month, 1793-1794 Reign of Terror, revolutionary leaders, such as Maximilien Robespierre believed in enforcing fear to resolve the instability of France. “Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue”-Maximilien Robespierre.[Footnote] This period in history signified great atrocities of massacres, and a time where fear was evoked within every French civilian. The National Convention of France was a great factor in encouraging the start of the Reign of Terror; they continued on

Edmund Burke published the Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790; after the Bastille had been stormed by the Paris mol. He reflects upon about how France was very chaotic. Burke opposed the values of his contemporary revolutionaries; and he predicted that the French revolution would cause problems of fear and chaos to the country. Burke also believed that the revolutionary leaders were more interested in themselves and that they wanted power, however; and really did not care about the well-being of the French people. He believed in the concepts of liberty, equality and the right for everyone; he argues that people should have the opportunity to own their private property. Furthermore, Burke viewed the revolution as a violent takeover of the government, emphasizing that citizens should not have the right to do this. He also argues about importance of tradition in that tradition is what holds society together.