Jacobin more prominent in leading France, the period when war was declared on Austria and Prussia, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic created. In May 1793, the leaders of the Mountain faction led by Maximilien Robespierre succeeded in sidelining the Girondin faction and controlled the government until July 1794. Their time in government was characterized by high levels of political violence and for this reason the period of the Jacobin/Mountain government is also commonly referred to as the Reign of Terror. In October 1793, 21 prominent Girondins were guillotined. The Mountain-dominated government executed 17,000 opponents nationwide, purportedly to suppress the
Battle of Saorgio (1793) The government ordered Anselme suspended on 16 December 1792 and his temporary replacement was Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet. Anselme was arrested on 12 April 1793 but managed to survive the Reign of Terror. Meanwhile, Brunet led the expedition to Sardinia which began on 8 January and ended in complete failure within two months. Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron assumed command of the "Army of Italy" on 10 February and pushed eastward with his right flank on the Mediterranean Sea. Dismayed by the incapacity shown by his general officers in 1792, King Victor Amadeus III begged Habsburg Austria to send