The Jacobin Uprising

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

In 1793 and 1794, were conditions in France serious enough to require such a violent response by the revolutionary government.The Reign of Terror lasted less than two years, from the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793 to late July 1794.During those eighteen months, more than 20,000 French people were put to death by guillotine.The behavior by the revolutionary French government was not justified because Any society that invents the machine to publicly cut off people’s heads is off base. The action is unjustified because it is barbaric.The reign of terror was not justified because Robespierre’s s Desperate times required desperate measures not justified In a government that says it values liberty, passing a law like the levee en mass is unjust because it requires people to do things they do not want to do wrong in a government that says it values freedom and liberty. The revolutionary government made too many demands on individuals who were right to rebel against the oppressive revolutionary government. speech sounds rational, but he is out of touch. When a government has to “smother” its own citizens in order to eliminate individuals who challenge it, the government is not promoting freedom.To lay the foundations of democracy and the rule of law, rulers need to follow democracy and the rule of law, not the blade of terror. Any society that invents the machine to publicly cut off people’s heads is off base. The action is unjustified because it is barbaric.Nine people

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

With all of the chaos and commotion going on with the Revolution, a sense of victory without the people was impossible. Robespierre once said, "The domestic danger comes from the bourgeois; to defeat the bourgeois we must rally the people." This concept helped to create a defense policy that rested on the Sansculottes and the middle bourgeoisie, this of which Robespierre became that symbol (Soboul 56). The Jacobins and Sansculottes forced this revolutionary of national defense upon the French leadership and upper class. This is where Robespierre 's villainous side begins to emerge. Upon implementation of this strategy, overthrow and mass executions began to appear.

Robespierre had intended to rid France of any people that were considered a threat to the revolution through the Reign of Terror, but his actions were not necessary for France to progress. His intentions to overthrow the monarchy under Louis XVI and replace it with a new utopian republic were reasonable because, with a reformed republic, he could establish the principle stating, “the ‘rights of man’ should extend to all men – including the poor, and the slaves in the colonies” (Linton). He relentlessly advocated for equality within the working class, also known as the sans culottes, and fought for the abolishment of rigid class systems between the three estates. This allowed for him to gain a positive reputation with civilians who were mistreated within the Third Estate and obtain reverence from the Jacobins. Robespierre’s first order of business to purify France and progress the revolution began with the trial of Louis XVI. Originally, it had been known that Robespierre “was for a long time a vehement opponent of the death penalty” (Linton), so it was unexpected when he began to advocate for the King’s death. His change of opinion occurred after witnessing how Louis had committed treason through attempting to escape an unstable France which branded him as a traitor to the revolution. In his speech arguing against allowing the King to be given a trial, Robespierre claimed “yes the penalty of death generally is a crime...it can be justified only in cases when it is necessary for the safety of individuals or the social body...Louis must die, because the country must live” (“Maximilien”). It was this trial that became the root to which Robespierre’s terror stemmed from. He speculated that “...in order to defend the Revolution against those who would destroy it, the shedding of blood was justified” (Linton). From here on out, his philosophy of the ends

Although the Revolutionary Army was strong and merciless with their enemies, they ultimately were just adding fuel to the fire- creating more enemies to deal with later down the line. Many citizens died from “the guillotine and the firing squad” which was stated “did justice to more than four hundred rebels” (Document 12). The government justified themselves by blaming the executions on “hostile acts against the state” “conspiracy” and “counter revolutionary opinions” (Document 3), which only led to the French people questioning the reasons and filing complaints. A public opinion report to the government stated, "Bitter complaints already expressed numberless times, were repeated today of the arrest and imprisonment of citizens" (Document 8). Maximilien Robespierre’s former ally, Camille Desmoulins, stated, “Could you make a single man perish on the scaffold without making ten enemies for yourself from his family or his friends?” (Document 6). The French government treated their citizens as inferior and silenced the voices that expressed concern or ideas that went against the government's beliefs. The government had confidence that their ways of running their country was politically correct; however, their politics were just dragging the citizens of France to their tombstones. As a result, it gained the attention from the oppressed citizens of France that decided to take arms against

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

Maximilien Robespierre was the father and the corrupter of our beloved revolution. Whether you admired him or despised him, he got executed exactly 2 years ago. Before the revolution, Robespierre was a strong voice against the death penalty. He followed the philosophy of John Locke. After the revolution set its course and beheaded the king, the Committee of Public Safety was founded by Robespierre. The committee started with the purpose of the protection of the citizens, but it had a discourse. Who can forget the slash of the guillotine over the innocent necks? A simple action of calling an individual “mademoiselle” could’ve gotten you killed. Robespierre used fear to have control over the people, but was there a good reason to fight fear with

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.

Maximilien Robespierre was one of the most important leaders during the French Revolution who was responsible for thousands of suspected enemies throughout the Reign of Terror. This period began in 1793-1794, with the ascension of the radicalized Jacobins into power by Robespierre. But before that, Robespierre originally began as a lawyer for poor people and a deputy of the Third Estate, with a gradual rise to power. Eventually, Robespierre would have much influence over the organizations that controlled the Terror. But what kind of a man was he in order to direct the mass executions of the French people?

The published letter of the king’s reasoning for departure also served the public with rage, and, “equally significant for the future of the Revolution was the dramatic change in attitude toward the king…everything was transformed by the king’s flight.” (Tackett, 101) People in the streets of Paris were throwing out their portraits of the royal family and were seeing the king, the one they praised a week ago, as a deserter and conspirator to their newly-formed and praised government. The use of rumor and newspapers by members of The Cordelier Club also helped spread certain radical ideals in which prompted the idea of turning France into a republic, and of dissembling the monarchy and the king altogether. It was this power in the streets of Paris that would soon grow with every day after the king fled, as, “Outside the Legislative Assembly, however, the more radical revolutionaries had managed to hold the loyalty of most of the provincial club network, giving them a powerful propaganda tool.” (Popkin, 58) The National Assembly was still strong in its number of members favorable of this new constitutional monarchy, but it was in the streets and with the people that the actual aspect of the Revolution was shifting. Members of the National Assembly were getting restless

The period of the Reign of Terror, September 1793- July 1794, resulted in significant political and social changes in France. The National Convention and Committee of Public Safety declared the law of suspects, ‘terror’ measures as acceptable and a necessary means for the government. The purpose was to eradicate France of enemies of the revolution and to protect the country from foreign invaders. Over the course of nine months, seventeen thousand people were guillotined. This set the course for change and continuity with the struggle for control between the interactions of groups in France. The results that the Reign of Terror had on Europe

The Russian Revolution is a widely studied and seemingly well understood time in modern, European history, boasting a vast wealth of texts and information from those of the likes of Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Allan Bullock, Robert Conquest and Jonathan Reed, to name a few, but none is so widely sourced and so heavily relied upon than that of the account of Leon Trotsky, his book “History of the Russian Revolution” a somewhat firsthand account of the events leading up to the formation of the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that Trotsky’s book, among others, has played a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of the events of The Revolution; but have his personal predilections altered how he portrayed such paramount

The government should be second to the people, no matter what the orders were. The Jacobins get their name from the Jacobin Monastery where they frequently met. They wanted a centralized government and were comprised of cruel hearted people that were more often than not very poorly educated and poor in wealth that wanted to get involved. While on the other hand the Girondins were led by Jean-Marie Roland and his wife Marie Roland. The majority of the Girondins came from an area called Gironde, and were much more wealthy and honest as compared to the Jacobins. The district of Gironde was made up of people of high intellect. The Girondins urged citizens to stop the violence while Jacobins encouraged the bloodshed. At the begging of the struggle there was a wide gap between the Girondins and the Jacobins, as the Jacobins were seen as the minority. The Girondins saw themselves as strong enough to dissolve the Jacobins and may have gotten a little cocky as a result. The minister of War, Pache switched from the Girondins to the Jacobins in 1972, and just a year later the king was executed. The Jacobins quickly gained the edge and became the more powerful force. Now that they had a monopoly they seized and killed twenty-two Girondins. In the Girondins final attempt, Charlotte Corday snuck into Marat’s bathroom and snapped him to

The Royal Family of France’s attempted escape on June 20th, 1791 made many people very unhappy with the King. The mob, ever ready to exercise the uncontrolled Rights of Men, made a mock parade of the King’s Arms in the market places, and, dashing them and the figure of a crown to the ground, they trampled upon them, crying out, “Since the King has abandoned what he owed to his high situation, let us trample upon the ensigns of royalty” (Ascherson 48)! The Royal Family not only lost many of its followers through their attempted escape, but also because King Louis XVI kept making bad decisions, ones that had no benefit to France or its people. The people wanted someone who would lead them into a revolution and change France for the better, not because they wanted the power, but because they believed in France and wanted it to become a great nation. That man was Robespierre, who after the flight of the King followed the Jacobin club in its move toward republicanism. He called for universal male suffrage and the end of property qualifications for voting and office holding (Blumberg 290). Robespierre wanted to make France a republic, a government for the people and by the people, a country where everyone had the freedoms and rights they deserved. In January of 1793, Robespierre voted on whether or not he thought that King Louis should be executed for his actions. At the Convention on the trial