You be the Judge. Here's the question: Why did the government of France turn to a policy of Terror in the years 1792-1794 and what effect did this have on the events of those years? Had to be at least 750 words and a maximum of 1250 words. I wrote 1259, leave comments i truly want to know
Terror Thy Name is France?
Between the years of 1792-1794 the French government took a violent turn and changed their policy to that of terror. This is referred to as the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution and it had an effect on the events in those years. The Reign of Terror takes place during the part of the Revolution that historians refer to as the Radical Revolution, which follows the Liberal Revolution. Historians also split this Reign of Terror into three parts: aptly named the First Terror, the Second Terror, and the Third Terror. It is during this terror that thousands upon thousands of people where decapitated by the infamous guillotine due to the government deeming them a threat to the Revolution. As aforementioned the Revolution wasn’t always a radical one it was actually a very liberal Revolution up until a few events that had taken place.
Before the Radical Revolution began the Revolution was considered to be liberal with a lot of talking and peace. Along with the many issues that had yet to be resolved, most of which had led France to Revolution in the first place, there were a few specific reasons for the newly empowered government to turn to a Reign of Terror. The first would be when Louis XVI attempted to flee France due to the feeling that his safety was in question. Louis had reached the border town of Varennes when he was spotted and escorted back to Paris by a profound amount of guards only to become a hypothetical prisoner of the Revolution. This caused uproar and became a catalyst for a more radical revolution. The bad economy that was bestowed upon the New Regime by the Old Regime also contributed to a more radical view. The economy took more of a dip when the government started printing more and more paper currency which weakened the economy and again when food prices went up due to another bad harvest causing the majority of France to be close to destitution and hunger. Soon factions started appearing in the Assembly as well causing more discourse. One side of the Assembly favored the possibility of a traditional monarchy having some power and the other side, with more of a radical view, wanted to create more of a pure democracy. Most likely the biggest factor in the switch to radicalism was the threat of war coming from other countries in Europe. The first threat came from Austria and Prussia who joined forces to try and recruit other European monarchs to join them in getting rid of the idea of monarch-less governments. Though their motives were not to go to war but just to threaten them into stopping the revolution, it was the threat of rebellion was also to be of a concern. It wasn’t until after the spring of 1792, when France declared war on Austria in possible fear of counter-revolutionaries invading precious France which went against the Constitution of 1791, that terror would soon become the policy of the French government.
On August 10th, 1792 a mob of sans-culottes stormed the Tuileries Palace killing every guard in sight leading to around a thousand people being killed. This was the official beginning of the Reign of Terror. Also on this day the Legislative Assembly fashioned what was to come by passing acts that included removing the king from power, disregarding the Constitution of 1791, extending voting rights to all men of proper age, and called for a convention to create a new constitution in hopes of ridding the monarchy forever. Near the end of the First Terror the Committee of Public Safety was established with Robespierre leading the way for terror and paranoia to become as common as oranges in Florida. Louis XVI was executed by what would become the symbol of the Reign of Terror, the guillotine. He was the first major figure to be executed via beheading, but the terror was just beginning.
As the Reign of Terror began it immediately began to take effect on events that took place during those violent years. The main effect it seemed to have was that it made the major groups involved with the revolution like, the san-culottes, resort to violence more to get there point across to the National Convention. An example of this is when the sans-culottes took over the Convention forcing them to take more action against “enemies of the Revolution” and to create an army whose sole purpose was to gather food and hunt for counter-revolutionaries. Many people were executed due to the act that broadened the scope of counter-revolutionaries causing prisons to fill up quickly. Another example of the Reign of Terror effecting events in a violent way is easily found in the main symbol of this period of time, that symbol would be the guillotine. It was put to a lot of use taking the lives of many including Louis XVI and the famous Marie-Antoinette. There are around 17,000 recorded executions that took place during this time along with maybe 40,000 more deaths with no trial or waiting for trial. The Reign of Terror had such an effect even after it ended. This slight burst of violence is called the “White Terror” because the groups carried white flags and banners around. These groups wanted revenge for all the grief they were put through attacking Jacobin officials and committing massacres in prisons.
Though violence was prevalent during this time what affected the events the most was the constant paranoia of the head officials. This idea becomes more and more of a sure thing with each subsequent act that is passed by the National Convention. The height of this paranoia occurs when the Law of 22 Prairal an III is passed increasing the Committee’s power of life and death. This document allows for one to accuse another of counter-revolution on moral grounds which are stated in the document as “Every citizen has the right to seize conspirators and counter-revolutionaries, and to arraign them before the magistrates. He is required to denounce them as soon as he knows of them.” (22 Prairial, 1974). It also states that the Tribunal needed no evidence against the accused to send them to death allowing for mass convictions without the accused even being heard. The increased paranoia doomed the leaders of the Committee o .This sort of paranoia can be closely related to that of the Salem Witch Trials. This is because in both cases many were accused with little to no evidence needed and that the accused were brought to a trial that was lost before it even began.
As the Reign of Terror was coming to an end there were less and less people who supported the Committee of Public Safety. The end was marked by the arrest and execution of Robespierre after he was jeered of the podium of the Convention and was denounced after making more and more accusations. Soon after, all institutions of Terror were broken down and scrapped and France was heading for a less violent approach to government. This time period proves in itself that history is important and that if we can learn from the past then we won’t be doomed to repeat it, though it will always be hard to avoid. Just recently a revolution has taken place in Egypt where the dictator was forced to give up his power to the Army of Egypt. For some reason it happens to sound like a certain revolution that forced a King out of power and put a Committee of Public Safety in charge.
http://college.cengage.com/history/049509286x/student/unbound/product/wawc2m01c/content/wciv2/modules/rev_wcii_terror/modindex.html
http://college.cengage.com/history/049509286x/student/unbound/product/wawc2m01c/content/wciv2/readings/rev_prairial.html
p.s.- I'm not blogging for the rest of the day. Fuck it
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Comment Pussies