Terrorism in the French Revolution

The Order of the Day: Terror in the French Revolution

By 1792, the many of the issues that had led to the French Revolution in the first place continued to be unsolved. The French economy was still in steady decline, The newly introduced paper currency called the assagnat, had depreciated. And that along with bad harvests, and the rise of the price of sugar due to a slave revolt in Haiti, left food prices very high. War with major European countries seemed imminent. Austria, Prussia, and England in order to maintain the order of monarchy defended the French monarchy’s right to rule their people and would be willing to fight for it. There was still a power struggle as to how the country would be ruled. There were those who wanted a halt, or reverse of the Revolution, and there were those who wanted further strides towards Democracy. And on top of that, “Out of fear, the King and his family tried to flee to Austria”(Brink), but were caught at the border between the two countries. All these factors contributed to the Revolution taking a turn in a more violent direction. This violence is now called the “Terror” because of the politically motivated mass executions that took place during the French Revolution.

Shortly after the fall of the Old Regime, The National Assembly drafted the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The Rights of Man and Citizen was greatly influenced by Enlightenment thinkers. The Enlightenment and the ideas that came from it were extremely influential. During this time, France, like many other European countries, was caught up in the ideas of such men as Locke, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, among others. The National Assembly drew ideas from a renaissance thinker. In the Rights of Man, statements like “The source of sovereignty is essential in the nation,” and “The law us the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to participate in the making of the law, and its administration is the same for all,”(Lewis) are greatly influenced by Rousseau. This new document was based on the hope that France would become a community of free and equal citizens who would obey the law because the law was reflected by the will of the people. But this would not be the case, The Rights of Man and Citizen was shunned because of the political turmoil and civil unrest that was about to take place as The Terror continued.

The sans-culotte was a term used to label the underrepresented French laborers and commoners, akin to Karl Marx’s Proletariat, who resorted to mob violence because they were the real people who were suffering and wanted change. “An Answer to the Impertinent Question: But What is a Sans-Culotte?” was a document taken from a meeting of the Parisienne government in 1793. The tone of the document is in opposition of nobility, and states that the sans-culotte are hard working people who “has no millions, as all of you wish to have, no castle, no valets to serve him, and who lives simply with his wife and children, if he has any, on the fourth or fifth floor.”(Baker) At the time of the revolution, the sans-culotte were seen as extremely influential people because they were the working class, the simple people who were most affected by the Revolution, and when stirred, they would come out in force to wreak havoc in the name of their plight. The speaker in the document points out that the sans-culotte “support good motions with all his force and pulverize those which come from the abominable faction of the men of estate.” The view of the man speaking seems to be rooted in English Political Philosopher, John Locke’s theory of “Right of Revolution”. Locke was a believer that all people have the right to life, liberty, and estate. And under a social contract, like the The Rights of Man and Citizen, “the people could instigate a revolution against the government when it acted against the interests of citizens” (Brink). So in a way the speaker justifies the sans-culotte’s behavior, because the sans-culotte have the right to revolt because they are the ones being mistreated. They are unfairly taxed, and have no fair representation under the Estates to improve their situations. During the Terror, the sans-culotte would do the dirty work in order to obtain the more direct-democracy they felt would represent them better than they had been before.

The Decree establishing Levée en Masse was in response to the declaration of war on France by Austria, Prussia, England, and Spain who were against the Revolution because of what it might incite in their own countries. The Levée en Masse effectively allowed for a draft, or conscription. This was the first time in the modern world that a national army made up of citizens, rather than an professional army, had been called up to defend the state. The war effort meant that all grain and essential food would be put toward feeding the troops, which had gone from “under 500,000 to over 800,000.” (HU) The war effort successfully rebuffed attacks from all sides of France but during this time, the Terror grew. The sans-culotte rioted in Paris and forced the government to take a harder stance on counter-revolutionaries which included, freezing the prices of food, and broadening the parameters at which someone could be charged with treason. Many people were arrested and imprisoned during this period, many were executed in masses. The war effort and pillaging the countryside for grain were accomplished hand in hand and were very much a part of the Terror as it got towards its later stages.

“The Law of Suspects“ shows how bad the Terror got. In the beginning of the Revolution, The Rights of Man and Citizen was a shining beacon of hope for the future of France and democracy, it stressed a community of free and equal citizens who would obey the law. The Law of Suspects put a legal base to all the unjust things that had been happening during the Revolution. It opened the margins for what a traitor or anti-revolutionist could be defined by so much that as many as five hundred thousand people were arrested, many of them being killed by guillotine. The “Decree Establishing the Worship of the Supreme Being” was also a way for the French Government during the Terror to try and assimilate the people to conform to their ideals, and stressed the “punishment of traitors” (Stewart) as a way to get the citizens of the country to Conform. The Terror was the period of the French Revolution marked by the implementation of violence and oppression as political policy. The ideas of Enlightenment thinkers were used in good and bad parts of the Revolution, but there is no doubt that the enlightenment had an influence in the period of the Terror.
Baker, Keith Michael, ed. The Old Regime and the French Revolution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), p. 331.

Brink "Western Civilization Class Lecture." Jan. 2012 . Lecture.

Brink "Western Civilization Class Lecture." Feb. 2012. Lecture.

Gavin, Lewis. WCIV Vol. II: Since 1300. Wadsworth/Cengage, 2012.

History Unbound, “The Second Terror”.

Stewart, John Hall, ed. A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution (New York: Macmillan, 1951), pp. 526-528.