Reign Of Terror Analysis

During the moderate phase King Louis’s political power was altered from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, but during the radical phase is where that all fell apart. In a period ruled with the violence, fear, and dictatorship of Robespierre. The first event that shows this theme is the “Reign of Terror.” This event relates to the theme of fear and violence since Robespierre's goal was to inflict fear on others in hopes of having them listen to him. The Reign of Terror was the time period in which Maximilien Robespierre assumed control after the execution of King Louis. The terror was created to kill off people who opposed the Revolution and to also stop a counter revolution. In Robespierre's speech he addressed to the French
citizens on February 5, 1794 he said, “outside of France, all the tyrants of Europe surround us. Inside France all of the tyrant's friends conspire against us. We must defeat the internal and external enemies of our new republic or perish with it. Now in this situation, the first rule of our policy must be to check the enemies of the people through terror. Terror is nothing more than quick and strict justice, and we apply it only to protect the country's most urgent needs. In this situation, terror is a virtue.” This shows how Robespierre believes that fear is the only way to get things done. The Reign of Terror was started to expose those who were conspiring against the revolution and to kill them. When Robespierre says how many tyrants were located in the country and outside, he means the people conspiring against him. But the only way to check this is by terror and by showing others the power of the Jacobins. This event relates back to the theme as Robespierre is now leading a country in desperate need and there are many others conspiring against him to overthrow him. But by using fear and terror he is able to show that he has power and that he can kill anyone who tries to stop him. Many people died to this but this was not the end of Robespierre's reign.
The second aspect of the Radical Phase was the Committee Of Public Safety. The Comity of Public Safety was the executive government in France during the Terror and it was created to decide who should be considered an enemy of the republic. This connects back to the theme as many people feared this since anyone could randomly be sentenced to the guillotine if the committee decided they were guilty, even if they were innocent. During this time period Robespierre ruled as a dictator and he justified his ideals by saying that the Reign of terror, and the Comity we're here to enable citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution. In document C of assignment 13 it shows how many people were convicted of going against France and their punishment. It also says, “approximately 13,000 people were executed by the Jacobins during the Reign of Terror.” An example is, “Jean Baptiste Henry was executed for having cut down a ree f liberty to celebrate the revolution. This shows how countless individuals dies just because Robespierre and his comity though they had done something wrong. This connects back to the main ideas as it shows Robespierre's idea of fear and how he used it on many people during the
revolution. By usings fear he allowed others to see what trying to joining opposing sides could do to them if they were found guilty. Also how he acted as a dictator and took full control of France, and also the way he handled everything by using fear to govern his people. But finally when people saw how bad the rule of Robespierre had gotten they sentenced him to the guillotine, this then lead to a creation of a new government known as the Directory, and also a new dictator coming to power known as Napoleon Bonaparte.