The Role Of The Reign Of Terror In France

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 Reign of Terror, the fight for freedom, that caused the complete opposite. The Reign of Terror was considered a period of remorseless repression and bloodshed. As of 1793 the newly acclaimed National Convention of France declared their first actions to be of those that destroy monarchy and create a republic. With inside and outside threats arising King Louis XVI, left France in hope of safety in his wife’s country of Austria. At the border of France he was caught. He was tried and executed for grounds of treason by newly acclaimed leader Maximilien Robespierre. After the execution of a poisoned monarch and newly created laws, France’s economy began to improve, until Robespierre grew paranoid. Through 1793-1794, he began killing anyone that he believed did not agree with him. He killed more than 40,000 people. Was the death of 40,000 people truly the cost of freedom and human rights? The Reign of Terror was and should not be justified due to the reasons that it was not required, it removed freedom and human rights, and had a negative outcome on France.

The women that had participated in the March on Versailles on 5 October, 1789, forced the King back to Paris the very next day under the conditions of a constitutional monarchy, because having him in the city meant that the revolution could thrive. But only a short 8 months later, the King and his family tried an unsuccessful late night escape to

While many people may be familiar with the story of the French Revolution and history of Marie Antoinette, they may not fully comprehend the lively debate that continues to exist around Marie Antoinette. A debate over how Marie Antoinette should be remembered exists, with some arguing that Antoinette was spoiled and careless and others taking the stance that Antoinette was a victim of her harsh circumstances. Before delving into this controversy, background knowledge of Marie Antoinette’s life can assist in understanding the controversy. In 1770 at the age of fourteen, Marie Antoinette, daughter of Austrian empress Maria Theresa, was married to Louis XVI of France to strengthen French and Austrian relations. In 1774, Louis XVI became king and Marie Antoinette became queen. Dissatisfaction toward Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and economic turmoil led the French Revolution to begin in 1789, with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette eventually being guillotined in 1793 (Covington 56-65).

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.

It can be easily said that the intended audience for this letter was to Marie Antoinette’s mother, Maria Theresa the empress of Austria. Marie states several times throughout the letter of her many thanks to her mother for the reciprocating letters. The excitement in Marie’s tone is evident that she is astonished, despite the chaotic excitement upon their arrival, the amount of order there is. Marie is overjoyed that despite the hardships that the peasants faced, such as taxes, they remain loyal to her and her husband Louis, and show their affection with cheering and excitement. In response to the love that they received, Marie makes a point to tell her mother that the dauphin and herself wished the citizens not to be harmed despite the fact that they were unable to move for hours from the sheer masses of people who gathered upon their arrival.

Bread was the main diet of the French people at this time. In fact, working people back in the revolutionary days spent about half of their wages to buy bread for food. However, in August of 1789, the price of the bread that these people had been purchasing all this time, increased greatly. The people had so much trouble trying to get food, that at Versailles, a mad crowd of people killed a baker who was trying to sell his bread at 18 sous [French money], which was very costly for the people. This incident showed exactly how much bread meant to the people in Paris.

(Doc F) As all hell broke loose within France it was the cause of the Reign of Terror which overall, was not justified.

The Terror cannot be isolated as a great event of the French Revolution without first examining the events that lead to it. The flight of King Louis XVI and his family, the eventual execution of the king and Marie Antoinette, the purge of the Girodins as a political group, and the assassination of radical journalist, Jean-Paul Marat, are a few of the significant events that lead to terror being called the order of the day. Although there are many other significant events throughout the French Revolution, the aforementioned occurrences are key in what led to the

The story of revolution and resistance in 18th-century France is a complicated one, and no two historians tell the story the same way. However, it is clear that for the revolutionaries, Marie Antoinette’s significance was mainly, powerfully symbolic. "She and the people around her seemed to represent everything that was wrong with the monarchy and the Second Estate: They appeared to be tone-deaf, out of touch, disloyal (along with her allegedly treasonous behavior, writers and pamphleteers frequently accused the queen of adultery) and self-interested"( Moore 17 ). What Marie Antoinette was actually like was beside the point; the image of the queen was far more influential than the woman herself.

Her need to see her enemies destroyed is so strong that it overrides any other emotion that Madame Defarge may have left, and it leaves her “absolutely without pity” (367). She cannot see the monster she has become because she is so focused on immolating every last aristocrat or enemy of the republic. France may have suffered from poverty,

Then, in October of 1789, a rumor started that Marie Antoinette was hoarding grain somewhere inside the palace. And with what became known as the Women’s March, a bunch of armed peasant women stormed the palace and demanded that Louis and Marie move from Versailles to Paris, which they did. This was a nice reminder that to many people at the time, the French Revolution was not primarily fancy Enlightenment ideas, it was mostly about lack of food and a political system that made economic tractions hardest on the poor.

After the storming of the Bastille the national assembly draws up the august decrees, a constitution with 13 points that promised the end of the french feudal era and the stoppage of noble gluttony, but the problem was that, the king would not accept the decrees, and this therefore made him a a foe to the wants of the french people and especially the Parisians. With the French already in discontent with king’s refusal to accept to the constitution and the growing economical difficulties, especially grain shortage and rumours of grain hoarding, a time arose known as the great fear, this was rural unrest and uprising in opposition to the nobles and an attack on the feudality itself as seigneurial symbols were destroyed, rasdicalisation of the people is clearly not in doubt and is clear that the situation in france is detereorating. Arriving at the palace of versailles stormed the 7000 female sans-cullotes along with 20,000 bourgeoise national guards setting the demands for the king, the king was therefore forced to accept the decrees of august, agree on the civil constitution of the right of man, and agree to provide paris with grain. In this we find out that, the radicalisation of the people had reached such an extent that no longer was it

As with many revolutions, the cause of the revolutionaries is quickly legitimized with military support (Katz 2004). In the case of the Women’s March, the French National Guard refused to stop the mob from storming the palace (Doyle 2002). Such examples of violent protest proved effective at the beginning of the revolution. The Women’s March on Versailles, from October 1 to 5, 1789, was successful albeit violent (Ibid). The peasant women marched on the palace with cannons and handheld weapons and engaged in armed skirmishes with members of the royal guard (Ibid). Following the raid, the National Guard transported the royal family to Paris on the orders of the peasantry

Before understanding the state mindset of modern europe during the French Revolution, it is mandatory to evaluate the state mindset like pre-Revolution. This allows us to comprehend the Old Régime. Prior to the French Revolution, women were considered property of men. When they were born they were considered under the tutelage of their fathers and once they are married they are under the tutelage of their husbands . This signifies the need for women to be controlled by men, describing the qualities of a patriarchal society. It also further points out women to be incapable of functioning on her own. Under these same rules, women were not allowed to own properties. Within the established spheres of a women’s role, there are hierarchies. Working class women has different rights as opposed to the bourgeoisie women or the aristocratic women. Working class women, unlike the upper class women, were more concerned about bread which is the necessity for survivability. Women were in charge of providing food on the plate, hence when there was a shortage of bread women were quickly concerned about their survival and how they were going to feed their family. This lead them on the venture on the street for ‘ Bread riot’,