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The Terror

By 1793 France had under-gone many revolutionary changes, however it could not keep together its idealistic republic without having to resort to violence, thus the Terror was unleashed for two years. There were four problems that compounded to create the Terror; military disaster, provincial uprisings, economic dislocation and political turmoil in France.   The role of the Terror was to quell the enemies of the republic the above problems had created. Consequently, Robespierre, a devoted advocate of the Terror, pushed forth the political maxim; ‘…guide the people by reason and the enemies of the people by Terror.’   It was the fate of the Terror for it to run its course and eventually turn on its most avid supporters.

Military disaster and provincial rebellion gave France a war to fight on two fronts; a civil war and a general war. Execution of the King made war with other sovereign states inescapable and by the end of March 1793, the French had been kicked out of Belgium, lost the left Bank of the Rhine, and seen their general officer commanding in the northeast defect to the enemy . By the end of summer France had peasant rebellions to deal with and a massive external war.

The essential decisions on how to deal with the impending crisis were to be made in Paris. However, the political factions had become divided over principles. The Girondins believed solely in the fundamental principles of the revolution the Montagnards believed that infringements of these principles had to be made in order to defend the republic. With the insurrection of a group of radical popular militants known as the sans-culottes the Girondins were expelled as being men who had betrayed the cause of the people. They believed that the vigilance of the people the only defense of the Republic and wanted a purge of all traitors, controls placed on the economy and the adoption of a set of institutions and measures designed to repress any counter-revolution and win the war. The Terror had...