Reign of Terror and Sardinia, began attacking France from all directions besieging and capturing ports and retaking ground lost to France. With so many similarities to the first days of the Revolutionary Wars, the French government with threats on all sides, unification of the country became a top priority. As the war continued and the Reign of Terror began, leaders saw a correlation between using terror and achieving victory. Well phrased by Albert Soboul, “terror, at first an improvised response to defeat, once organized became an instrument of victory.” The threat of defeat and foreign invasion may have helped spur the origins of
Reign of Terror tide would not turn from them until September of 1792 when the French won a critical victory at Valmy preventing the Austro-Prussian invasion. While the French military had stabilized and was producing victories by the time the Reign of Terror officially began, the pressure to succeed in this international struggle acted as justification for the government to pursue its tyrannical actions. It was not until after the execution of Louis XVI and the annexation of the Rhineland that the other monarchies began to feel threatened enough to form the First Coalition. The Coalition, consisting of Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Holland,