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 in the French people. As a result, he decided to weed out those he believed could never possess this virtue. The result was a continual push towards Terror. The Convention used this as justification for the course of action to “crush the enemies of the revolution, ... let the laws be executed, … and let liberty be saved.” These members of the Enlightenment movement greatly influenced revolutionary leaders; however, cautions from other Enlightenment thinkers were blatantly ignored. Voltaire’s warnings were often overlooked, though some of his ideas were used for justification of the Revolution and the start of the Terror.