The Reign of Terror The French were losing the war, and Europe was weakening them. The Jacobins were afraid that the anti revolutionaries would ruin all their efforts. As a result, they expelled the declaration. They had police roaming the streets for anyone that may be against the revolution. If there was the slightest suspicion, they were immediately imprisoned, tried, and executed. Hundreds and thousands of lives were lost throughout this period of “emergency government,” which came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The terror was a period of paranoia and blood. Anyone could have been accused and killed on the spot. If people used the old forms of address, “Madame”and “Monsieur,” instead of “citizen,” they were killed. If they did not seem enthusiastic enough about the revolution, they were executed . As if they hadn't done enough, the revolutionaries formed yet another group, the Committee of Public Safety, to rule France. The twelve men, including Robespierre, did everything in their power to prevent anyone from stopping the revolution, including the destruction of religion. Churches and any other religious items were destroyed, leaving the people with only one thing to …show more content…
They realized that they do not have to be treated unfairly, and can change their ways to establish equality amongst all the citizens. As a result, they started to fight for their rights. However, when they were refused their simple requests, things started to get violent. This enlightenment, alongside the terrible financial debt France was left in, was the beginning of the revolution. It lead to the strikes during the period if the Great Fear, to the downfall of the monarchy, to the beginning of violence as the revolution took a wrong turn, and the pointless deaths during the Reign of Terror. Then finally, the revolution was over, and Napoleon was crowned
To many this is a major tragedy. I do not think the Reign of Terror was justified. Simply because of these three points; they threatened with unnecessary force, secondly, they used fear as a controlling device and lastly, their actions don 't add up to their reasons. The first reason the Reign of Terror was not justified is that they used unnecessary force. They threatened with the draft and made them fight against their will (Document C).
Government response was one of the reasons why the Reign of Terror was unjust because they treated their own citizens very poorly. On the map, it shows that the Reign of Terror was unjust because the government was forcing people to join the military against their will. “The Vendee region was the hub of the counterrevolution. People here fiercely fought against military draft called the levee en masse and against laws that tried to abolish Christianity in France” (Doc C). The government proved to be very strict and forced people into the military draft called the levee en masse.
Robespierre led the French Revolution known as “The Reign of Terror”. The new government would execute large numbers of individuals whom they believed to be enemies of the revolution. So, the Reign of Terror was unjustified, for it not only violated the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen in multiple cases, specifically articles two and ten, but also caused the death of thousands. Although the Committee of Public Safety had good intentions, it ended up doing more harm than good as they invaded people’s lives and disregarded their rights as human beings.
The main goal for the “Reign of Terror” was to get rid of Frances enemies of the war that was happening and protect the country from foreign invaders. There was another name for the “Reign of Terror” it was “The Terror.” This happened during the “French Revolution” between the ninth month of later seventeen hundred and the seventh month of the later seventeenth hundred. The Government decided to make the “Terror” the order of the day on September fifth. This was against those suspected of being enemies or against them.
“In October 1793, Revolutionaries decided to make an example of counter-revolutionaries in Lyons. On one day, revolutionaries destroyed 1600 homes and chopped off 12 heads in five minutes” (Doc C). The revolutionary government did not accept any type of rebellion or disagreement no matter where you are in France or what class you are. They monitored all of France and would do everything in their power to end any opposing opinions. “Historians estimate that anywhere between 80,000 and 500,000 French people on both sides died in the Vendée in 1793” (Doc C).
In the early months of the war a jacobin leader Maximillien Robespierre slowly gained power. He had many supporters who helped him set out to build “republic of virtue” by wiping out all of Frances past. They then changed the way the calendar was, dividing it into 12 months of 30 days and renaming each month. Since the radicles considered religion old-fashioned and dangerous they didn't include Sundays on the calendar. They closed all the churches in Paris and cities and towns in France soon followed and did the same thing.
Because the patriots posed as a threat, “forty of their number were killed” (Document D). This issue should have been dealt with differently; there is a way to stop uprisings like this other than killing people. Also, the government abolished “Sunday worship, Christmas, and Easter” (Document C). This is not fair for the French citizens who normally participate in these events. The people should be free to follow their own beliefs.
Since most of the Third Estate was starving while only three percent of the upper class enjoyed an overabundance of food, the French civilians decided to revolt against the monarchy. However, instead of using their act of disobedience to promote positive change, the leaders of the revolution instead invoked fear in the hearts of everyone in France to increase their own power. For example, Maximilien Robespierre was one of the great leaders of the revolution until he decided to abolish Catholicism and crown himself the leader of his own new religion. This period of time was known as the Reign of Terror because Robespierre sent 600,000 civilians to the guillotine and civilians forgot what they were fighting for out of fear for their lives. Because the French were done with all the death and greed that surrounded them, the French Revolution was widely unsuccessful and France regressed back to a monarchy.
The Reign of Terror did not support the ideals of the revolution. Unfortunately for French citizens, they were not able to elect tribunal members. The tribunal members, who have absolute power were “appointed by the National Convention” (Document E). French people were rejected in their own country, which is proven by the statement that “conspirators are, in its eyes, only strangers”(Document G). The original ideals were made to protect the people of France but instead they were killing
Sunday worship, Christmas, and Easter were abolished…in Auxerre.” (Map created from various sources, Document C). The Reign of Terror was not justified because they enforced laws that made people do things that they didn’t want to do, which means that they don’t value liberty. Robespierre ultimately ruined the chances of peace, killing anyone who got in his way to stay in
Do the ends justify the mean? If you were an American soldier ready to be deployed for a massive land invasion of Japan, the atomic bombs saved your life. World War II ended when the United States dropped the atomic bombs and saved thousands of American lives. The French Revolution faced a similar dilemma. The rallying cry for the revolution was equality, liberty, and fraternity, bringing the first democracy to France.
The French Revolution, which lasted from 1789 to 1799, was primarily a response to the poor leadership of King Louis XVI who had been ruling France at the time. A number of commoners took to the streets of Paris to protest against the monarchy after years of alienation and paying abundance of tax and fees. The bourgeoisie was also out of touch with the rigid social structure orchestrated by the regime as they were often excluded from law-making decisions and other political rights that were given exclusively to noblemen. Shortly after the monarchy had been abolished, the church became victimized at the hands of the revolutionaries who recognized the institution as a chunk of the Ancien Regime that needed to be destroyed. On that note, the French
How revolutionary was the French Revolution? Did the Revolution simply replace the old ruling elite with a new bourgeois one? What were the major effects on different groups of people, including nobles, priests, peasants, urban workers, slaves, and women? This essay will address the French Revolution and the degree to which it can be aptly described as “revolutionary.” How revolutionary was the French Revolution? Was the storming of the Bastille, the destruction of feudalism, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of a fundamental and radical and revolutionary nature, or, alternatively, simply a series of historical events that results in the supplanting of one authoritarian regime for another and at great cost in
The people of France tried to resolve issues peacefully but the king cared only about his power and acted at the expense of the citizens. According to the French Revolution portion of the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the bourgeoisie wanted to have political power and the peasants did not want the feudal system to continue (French Revolution 2). A large meeting was held to discuss and solve issues, but, “rumors of an ‘aristocratic conspiracy’ by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate led to the Great Fear of July 1789.” (French Revolution 2). With the king of France being unwilling to actually resolve any conflicts, the only choice that was left was to overthrow the government as a whole and rebuild it into being a more fair and just system.
This enormous massacre of people went against Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, all of which the national assembly declared were every man 's right. Much of the killing can be blamed on Robespierre and King Louis XVI. Although it was mostly a failure, some achievements can be seen through the Revolution. The French Revolution helped the French people become a more equal and socialist state. This showed Europe that the French were capable of revolting and they were not afraid to stand up for what they believed.