Case Study: The Reign of Terror
The period following Louis’s execution became known as ‘The Terror’ in France. In the years 1793 — 1794, thousands of people suspected of anti-revolutionary activities or of helping France’s enemies were sent to the guillotine. We need to look at the situation in France to understand why the reign of terror began. In January 1793, Louis was executed. In February, it was clear that the war with foreign powers like Austria and Prussia were still going badly for France. And in March, there was a peasant revolt in Vendee, in the northwest. In August, the Jacobins declared that ‘Terror is the order of the day’. By the late summer, many areas of France were rebelling against the new radical Jacobin government. Because of these threats to the stability of France, the Convention took emergency measures. It set up a Committee of Public Safety (source 1), which had twelve members. Measures such as setting up the Committee for Public Safety, were aimed at allowing the revolution to survive during a crisis. A fear of traitors had grown in France following revolution and war, and this led to another measure, revolutionary tribunals. (sources 2 and 3) The law was changed to try people quickly.
Sources:
Source 1: Decree by Convention, April 1793 - On the Committee of Public Safety
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“The Committee shall talk in secret; it shall be responsible for watching over the work of the government…under the critical circumstances it is authorized to take measures to defend the revolution against internal and external enemies.”
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Who was executed? One of the first to be executed was Marie-Antoinette, the former Queen. It is impossible to estimate how many people met their deaths. More than 12,000 were officially guillotined, but many others were shot, drowned, or put to death some other way. The Terror was supposed to help the revolution survive, but it was not just the former members of the first and second estates who suffered at its hands. Of the 12,000 or so who were guillotined, 1031 were Nobles; 2923 were from the middle classes; 674 were from the clergy; 7878 were workers & peasants; and 140 were of unknown classes. Some of those who faced tribunal were clearly treated in a most severe manner. Sources 4 and 5 show examples of individual cases where innocent French people were put to death un-necessarily.
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Source 2: A painting of a revolutionary tribunal
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Source 3: Extract from a law introduced by the Committee for Public Safety, 17th September 1793, to deal with suspects brought to tribunals
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“Suspects shall be locked up…. The proof necessary to convict enemies…can be any kind of evidence….If proof already exists there need be no further witnesses….The penalty for all offences under the law of revolutionary tribunal is death.”
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Source 4: Execution Record
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A) - Jean-Baptiste Henry, aged 18, journeyman tailor, convicted of having sawn down a tree of liberty, executed 6th September, 1793.
B) – Marie Plaisant, seamstress, convicted of having exclaimed that she was an aristocrat and that she did not care a fig for the nation, condemned to death and executed the same day. C) – Henriette Francoise Marboeuf, aged 55, convicted of having hoped for the arrival of the Austrians and Prussians and of keeping food for them, condemned to death and executed the same day. D) – Francois Bertrand, aged 37, publican, convicted of having provided the defenders of the country with sour wine, condemned and executed the same day. |
Source 5: A description of the Terror at Bordeaux
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“A Woman was charged with the crime of having wept at her husband’s execution…she was condemned to sit for hours under the blade which shed upon her, drop by drop the blood of her dead husband…before she was released by death…”
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The Jacobins controlled the Committee of Public safety. The leading figure in the Committee was Maximilien Robespierre. As you can see from source 4, the Committee allowed revolutionary tribunals to convict people without hearing evidence. This was called the Law of Prairial. In September 1793, the Convention passed a law called the Law of Suspects. People could now be put in prison without trial.
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There were many incidents of horror during the Terror. In Lyons, a Jacobin ordered 300 people to be executed by cannon fire as the guillotine was ‘too slow’. At Nantes, barges containing 2000 people were towed into the middle of the River Loire and sunk. Everyone drowned. Birds hovered above the water, eating dead flesh. The river water was so contaminated that fishing was banned. In Paris, thousands watched the executions. Women took their knitting with them, bets were placed on the order the prisoners would be executed in. Eventually, people got sick of all the killing, and by mid-1794, the Terror had died out. As the Austrian threat decreased, so too did the need for the emergency government. Many now looked for someone to blame for the Reign of Terror. The leading Jacobin, Robespierre found himself at the center of the blame, despite acting on the wishes and with the backing of the Convention, and was arrested and locked up. In July 1794, Robespierre found himself facing the same fate as thousands of other French people, the guillotine.
The Guillotine
If you think the guillotine was a cruel form of capital punishment, think again. Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine proposed a machine that satisfied many needs - it was efficient, humane, and democratic.
A physician and member of the National Assembly, Guillotine claimed that those executed with the device "wouldn't even feel the slightest pain." Prior to the guillotine's introduction in 1792, many French criminals had suffered through horrible punishments in public places. Although public punishments continued to attract large crowds, not all spectators were pleased with the new machine. Some witnesses felt that death by the guillotine occurred much to quickly to be enjoyed by an audience. |
Source 6: Robespierre's Philosophy
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“One’s duty is to punish traitors, to help the needy, respect the weak, defend the oppressed, do good to one’s neighbor and behave justly.” “Terror is nothing but quick and hard justice.” “ I detest the death penalty.” “… in a revolution the state is at war, it doesn’t have to follow all the laws.”
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Source 7: Robespierre's Detractors
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Viktor Suvorov, in his book Inside the Aquarium (1986), states: "Millions are killed only by those who consider themselves good. People like Robespierre do not grow out of criminals but out of the most worthy and most humane types. The guillotine was invented not by criminals but by humanists. The most monstrous crimes in the history of mankind were committed by people who did not drink vodka, did not smoke, were not unfaithful to their wives and fed squirrels from the palms of their hands
Questions:
- Explain what happened in France following the execution of King Louis XVI.
- What were the main causes of the ‘Reign of Terror’?
- Approximately what percentage of those guillotined were nobles and clergy?
- Look at sources 1 – 5 and at the information on the Committee for Public Safety. Do you think the system of Tribunals in France was fair? Explain why, giving examples from each source.
- Using sources 4 and 5, and the information on the Terror continuing, what examples of particular ‘horrors’ are there? Explain at least 3, in full.
- How and why do you think the Terror came to an end?
- Was Robespierre to blame for the Terror? Answer in a short paragraph, using the sources, the information and the fact file on Robespierre.
- Read the quote from Viktor Suvorov, do you agree with Suvorov’s argument? Do you think people with good intentions sometimes committee the worst crimes in the name of their ultimate goal? From your own knowledge write an example of someone who made the same mistake as Robespierre.