The Reign Of Terror

The People of France in the last part of the 18th century were experiencing severe food shortages, increasing the cost of living, and political leaders who were doing very little to fix the state of chaos in which most people found themselves. In both rural and

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.

France during the 18th century, was a country of great progress of society and established Paris as an urban powerhouse. When talking about the causes of the French revolution, many will point to a variety of factors that they believe to have been the root cause of the ordeal. Some might focus on the growing number of the farm employees who were contracted to keep order in areas of business, some might focus on the blurring of class lines that occurred in France as new venues of income transformed every portion of society, and some might point to implementation of these unfair taxes that were placed on the people to repay debts that had been occurred in previous administrations. The ideas previously mentioned played a key role in the development of revolutionary Paris and many other topics that weren’t mentioned also played a critical role in the changing of France, but arguably the most significant of these causes was that of the desacralization of the French monarchy and how aspects such as literature and secularization would lead to the eventual downfall of the once great colonial power.

An increase in prices, a lack of capital, and billions of national debt naturally led to the revolution inevitable. France’s economical climate was greatly influenced by Britain’s control of the commercial market. In addition to adverse economical conditions, France had no central bank, no paper currency, and no means of obtaining more money, as their tax system really taxed the poor. Similar to the Russians, the French people realized that King Louis XVI was harming the country, and the three levels of class systems could not come to terms. Moreover, just like Bolsheviks were fighting with Anti-Bolsheviks, conflict between radical Jacobins and liberal Girondins and the significant Reign of Terror played a key role in leading to and sustaining the revolution.

Revolutions are often started as a response to an unjust form of government, and the Reign of Terror’s new revolutionary government was no exception. Although the revolutionary government was meant to replace a tyrannical government, it quickly turned into the dictatorial government it tried to replace and in many cases stepped far outside of the bounds of lawful or just action. During late 18th century France in the time period between the execution of King Louis XVI and the execution of Maximilien de Robespierre, the Reign of Terror senselessly guillotined thousands of people. Conditions in France in 1793 and 1794 were not serious enough to justify the revolutionary government’s response due to the response to external threats, response to internal threats, and the extreme methods deployed.

Millions of French people suddenly revolted against a society that their past families had accepted forever. Ways of life that once worked well for people became rigid and not suitable over time. New conditions/thought changed the minds of many people across the country. Suddenly, what had seemed so reasonable before had become outrageous and unnecessary. In the French’s case, it was the institutions of feudalism and monarchy that stopped working. There was great divide between nobility and commoners which further perpetuated the process of conflict. By the 1770’s, France was on the edge of a full on war. People were unhappy. There is political corruption everywhere. The clergy and aristocracy owned 30% of French land even though they were only 2% of the French population. Many enlightenment thinkers give up on the operation of their country. Montesquieu, a French scholar once said, “There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” While most people are suffering through poverty, the government is spending on luxuries and over taxing. The Third Estate barely gets any say and gets worse when Louis XVI locks them out of the assembly. The debt was made worse from spending in both the Seven Years War and The American Revolution. These events added up and eventually seemed impossible to fix and impossible to be prevented. However, several things could have been done to stop the

not be able to hold out long, only containing a two day food supply, and no

The French Revolution, I my opinion can be summed up in really two words a “human bloodbath”. It begins with King Louis the 16th not noticing the problems of his people. Backing the American Revolution caused France to go into debt that they could not get out of. Therefore, by not making the proper reforms to solve the issues of the King’s subjects. Accordingly, one of the issues that were facing King Louis and his subordinates were two years of bad crops in 1787-1788. Further causing higher food prices, one-third of the population is poor, starvation and death for many of his people. Additionally, the essential staple of the French’s daily food source is bread. The French had further issues to contend with as the years passed.

Even though trusted that the main way France could accomplish a decent republic was through dread, the Reign of Terror was a horrible time for people because the government was poor, people were starving, and many were killed.This Research paper will be about maximilien Robespierre and the Reign of Terror,

Indifferent rulers and overindulgent spending left France in severe debt. Civilians were starved of both food and hope, yet nobles enjoyed a pleasant lifestyle within the comfort of Versailles. Revolted by this injustice, the common people of France rebelled and fought for equality, giving birth to the French Revolution of 1789. This period is often characterized as needlessly violent, as gruesome events such as the Reign of Terror took place, in addition to many executions and riots. Despite the excessive bloodshed that dominated the era, the French Revolution’s violence was not in vain, for the legacy of the revolution has ignited scores of independence movements in its wake and inspired new ideologies that continue to shape the modern

This radical revolt was exacerbated by the ideas of the Enlightenment. The bourgeoisie or as Darnton describes them as men “…who lived from land rents and annuities…” and those who were educated became fascinated with these inquisitorial ideas about individual rights and government. Furthermore, these challenging ideas “…also undermined notions of the divine rights of kings and traditional ways of life—all while intensifying expectations of rapid reforms,” meaning that they were going to use these as way to question the monarchy and its unfairness towards the Third Estate. To say that the absolute monarchy of France was in danger would have been an understatement. The Enlightenment gave the bourgeoisie the fuel they needed to commence the events that would lead to the end of the Old

This essay peels through the layers of the remarkable years from 1789 through to 1794 to explore the catalysts of that period of the French Revolution characterized by political repression and widespread violence known as la Terreur, or, The Reign of Terror. The French Revolution, which initially saw an overthrow of the dictatorship of Louis XVI, was a period of time when France descended into a stage of political purges and indiscriminate martial law where many innocent civilians were killed. This essay investigates the causes for this unfortunate turn in the trajectory of the revolution. These causes are the storming of Bastille, the

The French revolutionaries drastically replaced the old regime and monarchy in pursuit of liberty, equality, and fraternity. While the middle class gained power at the end of the revolution, the nation is still in a financial crisis, especially due to the cost of the war, France has a tremendous debt and peasants are still the ones suffering at the end. It is true that the circumstances and situations may be slightly better for the peasants, but they still suffered from starvation and poverty

The National Assembly was now known as the National Convention after the execution of Louis the XVI. The Jacobins were a very radical group, they were convinced that only they had the responsibility for saving and managing the Revolution. With the Sans-culottes (who did their dirty work and pretty much their army) seized the government and the Jocobins created The Committee of Public Safety in April 1793, the C.P.S. was mainly led by Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794). There was a lot of fighting going on with foreign invaders and the citizens, so in order to preserve the revolution, Robespierre and the C.P.S. created the Reign of Terror. Counter-revolutionaries, priests, nobility, clergy and aristocrats automatically lit up in their radar.

Beginning in 1789 with a dispute over new taxes at Louis XVI’s Palace of Versailles, it came at a time of major economic crisis. Fifty percent of France’s urban population was unemployed, and the situation was exacerbated by widespread hunger and starvation, ceaseless foreign warfare, and continued rounds of taxation from which France's ancien regime leaders, the clergy and nobles, were exempt. The nobles' refusal at the palace to begin paying a land tax triggered a series of events that led to the French Revolution. The revolution, which overturned the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI, was the result of rising expectations engendered by Enlightenment thought and fostered by the periods economic.