The Reign of Terror
Final Essay:

Some of the reasons that the reign of terror occurred in France in 1793 were a high national debt, very unequal taxation, high unemployment rates and a scarcity of food. Also, in addition to economic matters, there were social and political matters which had come into focus due to the rise of the enlightenment ideals. Some of these ideas were the resentment of royalist absolutism, the resentment of manorialism and aspirations towards liberty.

Robespierre was not a cruel tyrant and has been cruelly judged by many people over time. He would always have preferred a more peaceful resolution to what ended up happening. Some of the ideas that will be discussed are what was the reign of terror, who were the main characters in the reign of terror, what was the committee of public safety and lastly, who was Maximilien Robespierre.

The Reign of Terror was a time when many different groups were struggling between one another for power and this led to the massive number of executions by the means of the guillotine. It began with the execution of the queen, Marie Antoinette. The aim was for the supporters to eradicate anyone who was opposing the revolution. Robespierre, who was the mastermind behind the terror, said, “Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe inflexible”. This shows that they were just trying to do the right thing and that they thought that they were simply acting within the laws of justice. While Robespierre was only trying to stop any form of counter-revolution taking place he was being quite extreme about his methods and even the Jacobins who were his supporters said that the methods were too extreme. Overall, the Reign of Terror was a time when the supporters of the Revolution acted against all the people who they suspected of counter-revolutionist activity by executing them by the means of the guillotine. It was this time that accounted for almost all of the deaths in the French Revolution.