The first dictionary definition of the word ‘terrorism’, ‘ syste`me, re´ gime de la terreur’, was offered by the Acade´mie franc¸aise in 1798 in the light of recent French experience. In order to understand how the term ‘terrorism’ originated, the author immediately started discussing the French republic. The French republic already have recently dealt with the execution of King Louis XVI in the fall of 1792, was under threat from foreign invasion and internal rebellion. In July 1792, the National Assembly had declared “la patrie en danger”, which translated to English is, the fatherland is in danger, and in August 1793 it decreed a leve´e en masse , which was an order given to mobilizing the whole French nation to defend the country.
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The Committees of Public Safety and General Security represented the progressive avant-garde of the French Revolution. It was their adoption of terror that first used the word ‘terrorist’ in the political agenda, and transformed the Revolution in the eyes of many outsiders from a liberating to now a destructive force. They had to find justifications for their violent killing, especially hanging. Which was the most problematic kind of violence because the most threatening to society. In the circumstances of public alarm and excitement, such killings could not be prevented, but couldn’t be allowed to appear random or just free
The Committees of Public Safety and General Security represented the progressive avant-garde of the French Revolution. It was their adoption of terror that first used the word ‘terrorist’ in the political agenda, and transformed the Revolution in the eyes of many outsiders from a liberating to now a destructive force. They had to find justifications for their violent killing, especially hanging. Which was the most problematic kind of violence because the most threatening to society. In the circumstances of public alarm and excitement, such killings could not be prevented, but couldn’t be allowed to appear random or just free