Was the Reign of Terror Justified
In September of 1793 Robespierre declares the beginning of the Reign of Terror. During this time many innocent people were beheaded for speaking out against the government. The Committee of Public Safety did not have sufficient reason to restrict the rights of the french people and kill them. The increasing pressure from the outside and inside threats did not justify the cruel treatment of the French people who were punished for speaking out, this only caused them to rebel against the government. The committee of public safety used intimidation to control the people instead of using fair laws and regulations. They disregarded the French constitution that the National assembly had previously made. All of this eventually led up to the unhappiness and civil unrest that they had previously wanted
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Even though the French went through this stressful and hard time, it does not justify the Reign of Terror because it directly contradicts the Promises made by the National Assembly in the French constitution. Article 10 of The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens states that “ No one should be silenced on account of his opinions”. During the Reign of Terror many innocent people were killed because they chose to speak against the government. The government is no longer following the constitution that they had made. According to the constitution, the government did not have any right to kill those who stated their opinions. The French were also nearing victory against the outside threats of Prussia and Austria when the Reign of Terror began. According to document C “ By the fall of 1793 the foreign threat was halted”. At this time, the French government only had to worry about the problems within France. Finding a better and more peaceful solution to the civil unrest should have been a priority instead of creating a new version of the monarchy they had tried to
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 abused human rights.‘’Revolutionary Government denied legal counsel to accused enemies which went against human right.‘’In 1793, a revolutionary campaign was launched against the Catholic Church. Sunday worship, christmas, and easter were abolished.’’(Document _A_and C_)This facts proves that they took way people freedom they are not allowed to have any religious holiday. The Revolutionary they have been ended up all religions practice. The Reign of Terror were not justified because they abused the human rights and they did not protect the human rights.
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
The French Revolutionary wanted all the foreign countries to have the same government as them with no liberty and equality. In June of 1794, it says, “Two thirds of all executions during the Reign of Terror occur in June and July” (Doc A). I think this is when everyone started to die because everyone was being sentenced for saying bad things about the government. Also, in Document B it states, “in August 1792, an 80,000 man army marched into France.” (Doc B) The army consisted of half Austrians and half Prussians. They were going against France because they were frightened that the revolution would spread to their countries. Due to this France declared war and the French army unfortunately won the famous Battle of Valmy. While fighting in war they had three things on their mind which were, “to protect the new government at home; to spread the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity beyond its borders; and to punish the French émigrés. The French émigrés were people, mostly nobles and/or aristocrats who fled during the Revolution between 1789 through 1792. In my opinion, I don’t understand why it was necessary for them to try and overthrow any monarchy that fought with them like they did to the Austrian
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 Reign of Terror lasted from September 1793 until Robespierre was executed in 1794. The Reign of Terror’s main purpose was to protect France from foreign enemies and eliminate counterrevolutionaries. People who disagreed with the revolution were executed in town square in front of the town’s people. During the Reign of Terror, about 40,000 people were murdered or executed. Was this method of protecting France from external and internal enemies reasonable? The Reign of Terror was not justified because the external affairs were small, the internal affairs were not serious, and the methods of the Terror were too extreme.
Long ago, people used to be persecuted and executed for having their own personal beliefs, this period of time was known as the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror began after the execution of Louis XVI on January 21, 1793, lasting almost 2 years. It was a period during the French Revolution where waves of executions arose to those who were enemies of the state. This occurred due to revolutionaries attempting to form a new government based on the freedom for citizens. In order to achieve this, they went through extreme measures to reach their goal and were responsible for the death of thousands.
The Reign of Terror, led by Robespierre, was a frightening period during the French Revolution that occurred to bring liberty, property, and equality to the citizens of France so they could live in peace within the government. The Reign of Terror began after the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793 to late July 1794. Between those 18 long months, more than 20,000 french citizens were put to the death by the guillotine; a machine used for beheading people. The threats, methods, and ideals are the reasons for why the Reign of Terror was not justified.
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
As more peoples blood is split to gain the rights not extended to them, the Terror grows becoming more and more gruesome. The French revolution began in late 1789 to obtain the rights that every citizen in born with. The motto of the French was liberty, equality, or death and the price to be paid for the civil liberties was blood. The revolutionary leader Robespierre and journalist Marat explained the more blood the better so that was what raged the people and started the Reign of Terror. Were the values expressed by the French Revolution necessary though? Even though, the French Revolution saw the Terror as a sign to create peace and restore a new France it was not justified because the extremities of the internal and external threats
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.
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 Reign of Terror was one of history's symbolic events that have changed the world for the better. Have started with King Louis XVI's reign in 1789 to 1793 (document B); which lead France down a rabbit hole of poverty, starvation of the people, and an unfair tax system (background essay). All of France's problems have manifested into something that King Louis has done, but cannot stop. With the help of Maximilien Robespierre, the Reign of Terror was declared to fix a corrupted government. The Reign of Terror was justified to rebuild the government that problems that Louis XVI created. With the help of Robespierre and the death contraption known as the guillotine, the Reign of Terror served it's purpose and helped France with its
In June of 1793, the Committee of Public safety began the Reign of Terror, which would not end until July of 1794. As a result of the Terror, over 14,000 people were killed by the use guillotines, firing squads, and drowning. A large majority of these deaths occured in the French Departments of Lore, Lyon, and Vendee (Document 1). In Paris, most of those executed were nobles and upper middle class citizens, while throughout the rest of France, the majority of those executed were peasants and working class citizens. (Document 2). Over 10,000 of the people executed committed hostile acts against the French State (Document 3). The Reign of Terror was a chaotic time period in which France was warring against Austria and Prussia and in deep financial troubles. The revolutionaries used the terror to their advantage, eliminating all of those who were in opposition. The terror, however, was disadvantageous to the revolutionaries because it caused more chaos and civil unrest throughout all of France.