“Terror” Period 1792-1794
The Terror Period (1792-1794) was the era of the French Revolution which was characterized by ruthless suppression. Terror began with a centralized political rule that saw most of the democratic accomplishments of the revolution suspended, and had an intention to venture the revolution on social matters. The Terror Period was unavoidable due to the rising number of internal enemies, an external force that had ganged up against France.
Facing local rivalry, and inversion from foreign countries in all corners of the country, the central government business was only war (McPhee, 2002). August 1793 the Convention voted for general conscription the “levee en masse” which was to mobilize people to join the army or supply the military with necessities to survive during the war. The Convention received a lot of pressure from the people of Paris, institutionalized The Terror. The systematic suppression of apparent enemies within the country.
Paris sections become in charge of the Convention in June 1973, advocating for political purges, low bread price, and restriction of the electoral permission to sans-culottes only (McPhee, 2002). Jacobins and the sans-culottes identified themselves with a popular movement, who viewed violence as a political right. The sans-culottes later invaded the Convention and overthrew Girondins. The sans-culottes politically engineered the rise of the Jacobins. Street violence saw Robespierre came back to power.
June 1993, the Convention attained the first Constitution of the Republic of France. Through the public referendum, the Constitution got ratified and was never implemented. The Constitution was officially suspended in October the same year, and it was declared that the government of France would be “revolutionary until the peace.” Robespierre being the leader of the Convention also released a statement of French foreign policy. The French foreign policy also painted the Convention’s fear of rivals of revolution. The Convention’s fear led to the passing of other legislation rules that extended Jacobin domination of the revolution.
Facing local rivalry, and inversion from foreign countries in all corners of the country, the central government business was only war. August 1793 the Convention voted for general conscription the “levee en masse” which was to mobilize people to join the army or supply the military with necessities to survive during the war (Rousseau, 2018). The Convention received a lot of pressure from the people of Paris, institutionalized The Terror. The systematic suppression of apparent enemies within the country.
The reign of terror helped in saving the revolutionary government from suffering military defeats. Through Jacobins leadership, army size was expanded, and aristocratic officers were replaced by Lazare Carnot with young soldiers who had shown their ability and patriotism. The republican army conquered the British, Spanish, Austrian, and the Prussian army. By the end of 1793, the Republican army was already prevailing and won battles with a lot of ease. The terror was identified with brutal, integrated radical government.
Dissent attained the recognition as counter-revolutionary. Hebert who was an extremist, and Danton a moderate Montagnards got guillotined in 1794 (McPhee, 2002). During the same year, Robespierre who was against the Cult of Reasons advocated for the need of the state to have a new religion. Robespierre requested the Convention to recognize the existence of God. The following day, worship of the Supreme Being was made official as part of the revolution. The Parisian public received this new religion with a lot of hostility, compared with Hebert’s festivals.
Implementation of the Law of Suspects improved terror politically to high levels of cruelty. A person who was suspected to by any chance to support tyranny and feudalism was a suspect of betrayal. The Law of Suspect took many people to jail which led to overcrowding in the prisons. These kinds of terrorism become an instrument for comprehension of much higher political achievement. Terror leaders exercised powers through the revolutionary tribunal and used them to get rid of internal and external enemies of the Republic (Rousseau, 2018). The terror reign promised results to the revolutionaries and vowed to maintain the revolutionary momentum when needed most. The National Convention came up with structures such as Committee of Public Safety and Revolutionary Tribunal which helped a lot in dealing with their external enemies. Revolutionary terror saved the revolution in many different ways as it enforced cooperation and togetherness among the French citizens, which was very important if they needed to survive the war against the Europeans monarchies.
Survival of the Republic, which symbolized success and achievement which accompanied the revolution was worth the battle. Incidences such as internal wars, and external political opposition all geared the survival of the Republic. The use of terror method eliminated Jacobin leader, also Robespierre and other political violence inherited from the Antique Administration.
References
Rousseau, J. J. (2018). Rousseau: The Social Contract and other later political writings. Cambridge University Press.
McPhee, P. (January 17, 2002). The French Revolution 1789-1799. Oxford University Press.