The Terror

            The French revolution started in the year seventeen eighty-nine. From the start it quickly be came radical and violent with the overthrowing of King Louis the XVI and his execution by guotie. Later on the reign of Terror began with war between France and the rest of the European powers along with strong divisions in the National Convention that caused the already radicalized France to become even more violent in its ideas towards anyone and everyone that was opposed to the revolution, or showed any sympathy to the old king and his family. In June of seventeen ninety-three a group of radicals called the Jacobins took control of the National Convention and instituted many new and radical measures into the government including the creation of a new calendar and the eradication of the Christian church. Driven by fears of war, uprisings, rebellions, and a need to keep people in line the Jacobins began the ten-month long Reign of Terror. Anyone who was found or thought to be against the Jacobins ideals, or their practices would be arrested tried for treason and executed using a guotiene a form of execution made popular during the time by making everyone, whether they be noble or pheasant, die the same way. These measures along with parts of the ever-growing military given orders to hunt down any groups trying to stage rebellions or nobles who escaped the revolution it quickly became one of the bloodiest eras in history up to that point with an official number of over seventeen thousand people tried and executed with an unknown number having died in prison or without a trial being given to them. These practices continued into the beginning of the reign of Napoleon after he proclaimed himself Emperor of France.

            This form of governing by using fear to stay in control of a people was first proposed by the theorist Niccio Machiavelli in the fifteen hundred stating that in order for a ruler to remain in control he has to “Always act in his best interest.” Napolean and the rest of the Jacobins adopted this theory of ruling deciding that it would be best to be feared by the people so that no one would ever dare to try and start a rebellion against them like they had done against the king. The Reign of Terror eventually ended when one of the main perpetrators, Robespierre, the head of the Committee of Public Safety until he too was executed in July of 1794. His execution brought a change to the ideas of the French people where they revolted against the terrible bloodshed that the Reign of Terror had created in the country. This point of history was a dangerous example of how an idea that had started out with good intentions of giving people equal rights free of a monarchy became corrupted by power hungry rulers, and fear, which led to tragic consequences for a people and country.