Robespierre's
Impact on the Reign of Terror
"Terror
is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore
an emancipation of virtue."
--Robespierre (Halsall, Paul. "Robespierre:Terror and Virtue, 1794." Internet
Modern History Sourcebook. Online. Netscape. 27 February 2001.)
The period in the French Revolution known as the Reign of Terror was characterized
as a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Before
the fall of Robespierre in Thermidor,
(July 1794) around 17,000 people were killed by the official Terror.
The Reign of Terror was Robespierre's plan to rid France of traitors to
the Revolution; but it was seen by others as essentially war dictatorship.
During the Terror, the government was centralized under the control of
Robespierre's Committee
of Public Safety. Dangers of foreign invasion and an urgent need
to maintain order and unity led the Committee of Public Safety to inaugurate
the Reign of Terror. Another aim of the Committee of Public Safety
was to eliminate internal counter-revolutionary elements. As Robespierre
stated,
"The
government has to defend itself against all the factions which attack it;
the punishment of the people's enemies is death"
(Thompson,
J.M. Robespierre and the French Revolution. London: English Universities
Press LTD, 1972.)
Under
Robespierre, the number of executions rose every month:
 258
in April of 1794 |
|
| 345
in May |
|
| 688
in June |
 |
 |
Opponents of the Terror felt Robespierre no longer targeted the clergy and aristocrats, but rather ordinary citizens accused of hoarding, profiteering, or any one of the various offenses included in the Law of Suspects. The Law of Suspects, initiated on September 17, 1793, defined those who could be arrested for treasonable activities. Robespierre formed committees to search out treason. People were being charged of treason in court based on gossip and casual conversations that were overheard. Trials were never fair, but Robespierre felt that if enough blood was shed, the state would be rid of all traitors. Further, Robespierre opposed the extreme left under Jacques-René Hébert and moderates under Georges-Jacques Danton. He saw these powerful men as potential threats in his creating a social democracy; to eliminate the threats Robespierre executed both leaders.
Internet
cite for the quote above:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robespierre-terror.html
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