Reign of Terror Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror, or The Terror (), is the label given by most historians to a period during the French Revolution after the First French Republic was established. Several historians consider the "reign of terror" to have begun in 1793, placing the starting date at either 5 September, June or March (birth of the Revolutionary Tribunal), while some consider it to have begun in September 1792 (September Massacres), or even July 1789 (when the first lynchings took place), but there is a consensus that it ended with the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794. Between
Reign of Terror gave the central government more control over the actions of the representatives on mission. On 16 Pluviôse (4 February 1794), the National Convention decreed that slavery be abolished in all of France and French colonies. On 8 and 13 Ventôse (26 February and 3 March), Saint-Just proposed decrees to confiscate the property of exiles and opponents of the revolution, known as the Ventôse Decrees. By the end of 1793, two major factions had emerged, both threatening the Revolutionary Government: the Hébertists, who called for an intensification of the Terror and threatened insurrection, and the Dantonists, led by Georges Danton, who