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
Revolutionary terror Revolutionary terror Revolutionary terror (also referred to as revolutionary terrorism, or a reign of terror) refers to the institutionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see the Reign of Terror). The term "Communist terrorism" has also been used to describe the revolutionary terror, from the Red Terror in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) to the reign of the Khmer Rouge and others. In contrast, "reactionary terror", such as White Terror, has been used to subdue revolutions. German Social Democrat Karl Kautsky traces the origins of revolutionary terror to