This is another research paper that I wrote this past semester (Fall 2014). I hope you all enjoy.
The French Terror or
French Revolution as it is best known was a conflict between the aristocrats
and the bourgeois. The French Terror saw the rise of men such as Louis XVI, and
Maximillian Robespierre. This paper will focus specifically on Robespierre and
the role that he played during the French Terror. This paper will look at the
social, political and economic effects that Robespierre’s actions had, and will
also provide some background information about the Terror, and what various
historians think about the Terror.
Maximillian
Robespierre was the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. This group was
created at the end of the French Revolution. Their goal was to defend France,
and expose anyone who was an enemy to the Revolution. This was carried out
through an internal war. The leaders of the Terror also adopted what was known
as the Law of Suspects. Under this law ones right of defense was taken away. If
one was believed to have been enemy to the Revolution, then they were
automatically found guilty.
Some of the social
effects that the Terror had on the French people included getting rid of
secular holidays, as well as the implementation of a new calendar that was
fully based on nature, and included a ten hour clock, a metric system was also
put in place. These new ideas were embraced by some groups, but rejected by
others. The metric system was embraced by most groups, but on the other hand
the ten hour clock was not. The French Terror was already having a profound
effect on French society.
Robespierre was much
like a dictator. He wanted to obtain complete control over the French
government. To many French citizens he had already become the head of the
ruling faction in France. Robespierre saw the people of France as unequal. He,
like other dictators such as Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, terrorized those
that he did not like, and gave spared those that had the same views as him. The
Terror was Maximillian Robespierre’s way of carrying out this idea.
The Terror was much
like a mini war. It was a war that was being fought against men and women who
were believed to have been enemies of the French Revolution. In a way The
Terror was much like guerrilla warfare during the American Revolution, and
American Civil War. This is the case because not only were these enemies of the
Revolution tortured and killed, but so were their families and property. The
leaders of The Terror wanted to make a statement. That statement was to scare
people enough so that they would conform to their beliefs.
Maximillian
Robespierre was also an advocate of political morality. In February 1794, he
wrote the document entitled “On the Principles of Political Morality.” In this
document Robespierre tells the French people how he is going to protect
freedom. He believes that other nations will look to France as a model for how
to build their own government. Robespierre says
that
he wants to have a government that is similar to Caesar’s, and Cromwell’s.[1]
This document helps to show students of French history that The Terror was
having many political effects on France.
The Terror affected
all of France. The area that was affected the most, and was the most rebellious
was the Vendee. The Vendee was unique because of the way that these people were
persecuted. If one was found to be suspected of being an enemy to the
Revolution, then they, under the Law of Suspects were stripped of their right
to defense. In the Vendee the accused were put into boats and the boats were
then sunk. If a person was able to escape, then they were hacked, using a
knife, when they reached shore. The Vendee alone accounted for four thousand
casualties during The Terror. This made the Vendee the most rebellious and most
deadly area during The Terror.
A few years prior to
The Terror, the French Government had issued the document entitled “The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.” This document outlined the
rights that men living in France felt that they had. Many people living in
France at this time felt that The French Terror was basically these men
carrying out the ideas that were in “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen.” They felt that these men were carrying out their rights as citizens
to protect the nation.
Robespierre had many
men who were his allies. He thought that many of these men were destined to
hold a very prestigious office within the French government. He actually made a
list of the ten men that he thought would be able to hold a high office in
France one day. This list was basically a condensed version of the list that he
had made of one hundred and sixteen patriots who he felt would be able to deal
with the increased patronage that came as a result of the fall of the
Herbertists.[1]
This goes to show historians and history students alike that Robespierre had a
strong group of allies that supported him, as well as his political and social
ideas. Robespierre thought very highly of these people and was committed to
putting them in a position of power within the French government.
Maximillian
Robespierre, throughout The Terror, preached values of honesty, and morality as
a basis for his government. This was especially ironic since Robespierre and
his men were responsible for the death of so many people. Many historians
believe that Robespierre preached these things because he wanted to overcome
the persecution that he and his followers had faced at the hands of the French
high society. This was embraced by the French citizens. At the end of the
speeches where these ideas of morality and honesty were mentioned, the crowd
that was listening would give a rousing applause. These French citizens
embraced these ideas. Robespierre felt that by changing the values of France,
he could make people happy, and there would be no more, or less conflict.[1]
Maximillian
Robespierre was a supporter of a two party system. He felt that by having a two
party system, both parties could correlate with each other. Many French
citizens viewed Robespierre as a party chief. He did not like this view, and
found it very shocking. He wanted to be viewed as more than just that. He
wanted to be viewed as the head of France.[2]
Opponents of
Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety viewed them as “drinkers of blood.”
They felt like all they did was execute those whom they did not agree with.
They had the
view
that Robespierre had sent everyone in France to the guillotine. They realized
that something needed to be done. They had to rise up and overthrow the
Committee of Public Safety.
The enemies of The
Terror were known as the National Convention. The first step they took was to
remove all the fanatical priests from France. Their goal was to get them out of
France and deport them to colonies in Africa. They thought that by doing this
it would give them back control of the religious sector in France.[1]
The National
Convention was successful in removing these fanatical priests from France. Robespierre responded to this by issuing
a decree demanding that these priests be returned to France at once. The decree
proved to be ineffective, as the priests were not returned to France. This
further strengthened the animosity between the Committee of Public Safety and
the National Convention.[2]
The removal of the priests
that Robespierre had put in place was the beginning of the end for the
Committee of Public Safety. The National Convention was picking up steam and
gaining much support within France. Not only were the opponents of Robespierre
supporting the National Convention, but people who once supported Robespierre
were now turning their backs on him. The Committee of Public Safety was
becoming more and more like a lame duck government. This would lead to problems
for Robespierre in the future.
The National Assembly
felt that it was their duty to warn French citizens of the danger of
Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety. They passed out
anti-Robespierre pamphlets, and they also put ads in the newspaper. These
things helped to convince people to turn away from the Committee of Public
Safety. This further strengthened the idea that Robespierre and his government
were nothing but lame ducks.
Quite possibly the
most outspoken critic of the Committee of Public Safety and Robespierre was
Bernard de Saintes. He was a well-respected member of French society. He was
also one of the leaders of the Jacobin movement. He demanded a document be
printed that denounced all the former members of the Committee of Public
Safety. [1]
In July of 1794,
Maximillian Robespierre and some of his close associates were overthrown and
then executed by using the guillotine. This was known as the Thermidorean
Reaction. This reaction was all about taking back the French government from
the dictators like Robespierre. The reaction was led by men from the Upper
classes of society in France. They had finally succeeded in getting their
country back.[1]
After the fall of
Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety, France was sort of left in
limbo politically. They really did not know what they were going to do next. The
Terror had taken such a toll on France and her people both politically and
socially that they were extremely lucky to have been able to recover. The
government and political system of France was in shambles. Many of the men that
were qualified to lead the government had been followers of Robespierre and
could not be trusted. The question now for France was where should they turn?
The remaining
supporters of the Terror still made one more attempt to rise back up and take
control of the government. They did this by sending the Sans-Culottes out to
attack the National Convention which was located in the Prairial Coup in
France. This uprising by the Sans-Culottes
was
quickly put down by the French National Guard, and also by the Gilded Youth.[1]
The threat was officially over.
The Terror affected
the French economy in the sense that Robespierre and his cronies had destroyed
everything. France was essentially in ruins, and the little money that the
aristocrats and bourgeois had was worthless. The 1790s was a period of
depression for the French people.[2]
It took many French people this decade and more to fully recover economically
from the Terror. People who had been filthy rich before the Terror began were
now impoverished. It would take the French people years to recover economically
from this terrible event in French history.
The French economy’s
recovery was set in motion thanks to the development of a new paper currency.
This currency was modeled after the currency that was being used in England and
the United States during this time. This currency helped to make up for the
shortage of cash and helped to pull the French economy out of its recession,
that it had been in thanks to the Terror. [3]
The Terror affected both
the Aristocrats and the Bourgeois classes. The Terror and Committee of Public
Safety terrorized both of these groups in various ways. These groups had their
homes, farms, businesses, and many other things destroyed during the Terror.
Historians believe that the group most affected by the Terror was bourgeois
merchants as well as manufacturers. The loss of raw material had hurt both
groups, but especially the manufacturers.[1]
These manufacturers had nothing to make their products with. These people were
affected in the sense that the economic destruction that had taken place during
the Terror had hurt and sometimes killed their businesses or production lines,
and had plunged France into a recession.[2]
Historians have many
theories as to why the Terror happened. Francois Furet in his book Revolutionary France argued that the
Terror occurred because of the dialectic between the Revolution’s demand for
unity and its belief that there was a conspiracy among the aristocracy. He also
said that there divisions among the pro-Revolutionists. These divisions were
most likely created by the spread of lies.[1]
Historian Simon
Schama said that violence was the goal of the Terror all along. The Terror,
according to Schama was nothing more than a blood bath. The goal was to see how
many people they could send through the guillotine. Schama’s argument is
perhaps the simplest explanation of what happened during this period. His
argument is widely accepted among French Revolution historians. [2]
These arguments are
just a few of the many theories that historians have about why the Terror
occurred. The common theme, as one should be able to see, is that every person
who has ever studied the Terror believes that it was all about killing. Some
historians believe that it was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction by the
French citizens, to solve a serious situation as quick as they possibly could.[3]
In other words they rushed into it and paid a price for doing so.
Furet echoed these
same sentiments about the Terror. He said that it was nothing more than an
exceptional reaction to an exceptional emergency.[1]
In other words Furet echoed what was discussed in the above paragraph.
Robespierre and his cronies basically got too much power and overreacted and
went out and terrorized thousands of people who they suspected had done something
wrong. He had no concrete evidence that these people had done something wrong;
they just did not have the same views that he did. This is a prime example of
overreacting and seeing it backfire in one’s face.
There are really no beneficiaries of the
Terror. Everyone in France was affected in one way or another regardless of
their social standing. The Terror and its leaders took no prisoners; they were
out to change everything and everybody. Historians have debated as to who these
beneficiaries could have been. The French army comes up as a likely candidate. The
argument that is used to support this idea is that army men who survived the
Terror were honored upon the conclusion of this event for their service.[1]
Robespierre and his men could also be thought of as a beneficiary of the
Terror, but they were either executed or thrown in prison after the war was
over. They benefited more during the Terror then they did after it.
The Terror is one of
the most famous as well as deadly events in French history. It was all the
things mentioned in the previous paragraphs and more. It was indeed a knee-jerk
reaction by a group of people in French society, which ended up affecting every
French citizen. These people were affected socially, politically, and economically.
The actions of The Committee of Public Safety under the leadership of
Maximillian Robespierre were as heinous as one can be. The Terror under
Robespierre’s leadership led to the death and torture of many French citizens
young and old, male and female, and children. This was truly a time of great
bloodshed and evil doing within the country of France. Robespierre wanted to be
the head of the government and it led to
serious repercussions down the road for France and her citizens. The
Terror was truly a terrifying time for France.
Above is a picture of Maximillian Robespierre.
There have been many monuments erected to honor those who lost their lives during the French Terror and French Revolution. The one above commemorates Bastille Day which is much like our July 4th.
The book above entitled The Unseen Terror by Richard Ballard is a good book for anyone who wants to learn more about the French Terror. I highly recommend it.
I am sorry for the way this post is formatted. Like the previous one this one was copied and pasted from Microsoft Word, and came out weird.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about tales from Tennessee and beyond.
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