The Reign of Terror
Using the defection of Dumouriez and the military crisis presented by the military alliance against France, the Jacobins were able to gain control of the Convention. A small group within the Jacobins was given emergency dictatorial powers and they became known as the Committee for Public Safety. As the allied armies pressed France back into its own borders, the Committee worked to solidify its hold on the French government. One of its first acts was to drive the Girondins from the Convention. Most of the Girondin delegates were arrested and those that weren’t fled Paris and into the provinces. In all 29 delegates were arrested and 21 of them were executed by guillotine.
This radical purging of the Convention started a counter-revolution in the western countryside. This area had remained quite loyal to the King and the Church and resented the Conventions attempts to draft soldiers from the area for its armies. Other areas containing surviving Girondins also led revolts against the radicals in Paris and welcomed invading armies.
With the Girondins out of the Convention, the Jacobins were left in charge and used their power to find “enemies of Revolution”. Facing revolts in the countryside and invading armies, the Committee of Public Safety came under the control of Robespierre. Robespierre believed that France could become a perfect democracy and had an intense love for his country and his fellow man. He wanted everyone to be treated as equal and would use any means necessary to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, Robespierre’s blind devotion to these ideals would lead his to use ruthless methods to rid France of any that did not share the same views as Robespierre. Determined to restore order in France, Robespierre dispatched commissioners into the countryside to suppress enemies of the state. This began the period of time in the French Revolution known as the Terror.
The Reign of Terror under Robespierre lasted from Sept. 1793 until July 1794 vast numbers of people were executed by guillotine or jailed as enemies of the Revolution. Estimates place the number of deaths as high as 25,000 to 30,000 in France with less than 20,000 actually condemned by the court. In addition, over 500,000 people were jailed during this time. The victims during this time were not from any one social group. Anyone seen as a having been contaminated by the monarchy or the Girondins, regardless of social or economic position, was at risk. Many more peasants and labourers were killed than nobles and women.
Robespierre and his followers believed that the Terror was a justifiable means of national defense. In did produce the desired results. The government was stronger and more centralized than at any time under the ancien regime. The Terror blocked any general uprising and eventually all the insurrections in the countryside were squashed. This time period also saw advancements in France’s military as well. During this time the French army grew to a size of just over three quarters of a million men. This massive size advantage saw the devising of new strategies that helped France drive out invading countries and begin to make advances in Europe once again. France was once again on the offensive but the price of driving out invaders and restoring order in France had come at a terrible cost.
Robespierre would reap a terrible reward from the seeds he had sown during the Terror. In time, even his supporters in the Convention feared for their lives. He also offended people with his creation of a new religion based on the worship of a Supreme Being with himself as the main prophet.
Robespierre’s end came on July 24, 1794 when he was confronted by a group of men trying to arrest him. He tried to kill himself but only managed to blow off his own jaw. Half dead and his face wrapped up with a rough bandage, he was hauled off to guillotine and executed without a trial. In a span of a few days most of his supporters in the Jacobin club shared his fate.
After the Jacobins were removed, all the remained in the Convention were moderate-thinking men who were much more interested in more conservative politics for France. Gradually, these men would work to undo most of the radical legislation passed during the Terror.