Assess the Contribution of Terror to the French Revolution

The Reign of Terror throughout France had a significant contribution to the French Revolution. Between the years of 1792 Ð'- 1795, France experienced highly dramatic political, social and economic changes.

The French Revolution began when the most privileged class of France, the aristocracy, tried to resist reforms attempted by the government. The Terror was instigated and carried out by a coalition of Jacobins and sans-culottes. Among the most important leaders of those who encouraged and administered the Terror were Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Saint-Just, Jean Paul Marat, Jaques-Rene Hebert, Jaques Roux and Georges Danton. Robespierre was among the radical Jacobins and he opposed the idea of a war against the kings of Europe, arguing, "War would not create revolutions abroad but would lead to a military dictatorship in France." The Jacobins lost this argument resulting in the first stage of the radical revolution as France declared war on Austria, on 20 April 1792. Despite Robespierre's objections to the war, it was the Jacobins who gained from it politically. France was soon in a state of crisis with beliefs that the Queen, Marie Antoinette, was plotting with Austria to restore the absolute monarchy.

By August 1792 the constitutional monarchy was replaced with a republic. Determination grew among the poorer citizens to be in defence and to gain a fairer share of the Revolution's benefits. The election of a new assembly, the National Convention, made many changes to the newly proclaimed Republic. Robespierre proposed that the King be sentenced to death, being a traitor of France. King Louis XVI was convicted by the Convention, and although his party of Girondins tried to avoid his execution, they were outvoted and Louis was executed on 21 January 1793.

Following Louis XVI's execution early in 1793, a struggle developed between the more moderate Girondins and the radical Jacobins. In the contest between the two factions, the Jacobins outmanoeuvred the Girondins. They looked beyond the debating chamber of the Convention to draw in radical sans-culottes, whose threats of violence were used to intimidate moderate members of the Convention. Following a series of violent mob demonstrations early in May 1793, the Girondins were charged with being enemies of the State and were expelled from the Convention. Many were imprisoned and later executed. The Jacobins now dominated political life in France, and they transferred power from the Convention to two tight-knit groups, the Committee for General Security and the Committee of Public Safety, having Robespierre as their key figure.

Economic conditions pushed the Revolution in a more extreme direction in 1793. Inflation created fear of starvation; food shortages became serious. Prices rose almost daily and the black market flourished. The Girondins were discredited and clung to their belief in free trade and refused to support price fixing. However in May the Assembly passed a law, known as the Ð''Maximum.' This was supposed to hold down prices, and gave all local authorities the powers to control the price of bread.

Due to the shock and anger caused by the execution of Louis, British, Austrian and Prussian armies prepared to invade France. The French armies were defeated in Belgium in 1793. To deal with this issue everybody in the country was forced to play a role. On 23 August 1793 an appeal was made to the French citizens. It stated that all French people are to support their armies. "Young men must go and fight; married men must make weapons and help with transport and supplies; the women must make tents, clothes and help in the hospitals; children must make bandages; old men must inspire others to fight for the republic." (Government Decree, 1793). Anyone not obeying the decree would be regarded as a traitor. As a result of this help new recruits swelled the armies, and France had numerous victories during the first six months of 1974.

On 17 September 1973, a law was passed which made it possible for anyone to be executed purely on the suspicion of being an Ð''enemy' of the Revolution. This gave the Committee of Public Safety and its representatives vast powers to arrest and punish many categories of people who could be regarded as counter-revolutionaries.

In November Jaques-Rene Hebert encouraged a de-christianisation campaign, which spread through France. Hebert had taken on the role of Marat, the revolutionary leader who had been assassinated on 13 July 1793 by a Girondin member. Members of the Ð''Revolutionary Army' smashed religious statues and carried out other outrages against the church.

Throughout 1973, the Republic's survival was threatened by counter-revolutionary uprisings; several different groups aided these revolts including priests, nobles and Girondins. According to Fwet (1989) to save the revolution from such widespread revolts and from its numerous foreign enemies was a formidable task. The main body of directing that task was the Committee of Public Safety, to which Robespierre was elected. At the end of 1793 even more power was concentrated in the central government. The Revolutionary Government Act of 4 December put the Committee of Public Safety in control of all local authorities and suspended elections until the end of the war.

Ross