Radical Phases Of The French Revolution

The leaders of the French Revolution valued Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity above all else and held this to be true throughout the revolution. However, they would soon follow down the path of the Bourbon Monarchy, the oppressive monarchs of their country and their most hated enemy. From the Tennis Court Oath to the reign of Napoleon, the revolutionary peoples and their leaders demanded a more just and equal society. It was because this goal that the French people allowed their leaders to twist and mangle their cause into an oppressive regime that would grip France for decades. Throughout the four phases of the French Revolution, the revolutionary leaders would continue to use oppression to subdue and the people, even while they preached …show more content…
While the French Revolutionaries may have managed to keep their ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity together for the duration of the Moderate Phase, the same could not be said of the Radical Phase as a wave of blood and beheadings swept across the country. Both the invention of the guillotine and the revolutionary leaders increasing vigor on killing those who opposed them led the people of France into one of the most oppressive and terrifying reigns in history. The guillotine was invented by Joseph-Ignace Guillotin and took over 40,000 lives at its blade, perhaps most famously Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and Maximilien Robespierre. The guillotine came at a perfect time for the leaders of the French Revolution, allowing them to commit mass executions in a relatively quick and painless manner. Their increasing bloodlust would drive them to use the device until they were executing people who complained about the revolution. Spies were everywhere, and would instantly report those who complained about the revolution, which would lead to arrest and, most likely, execution. This period was known as the Reign of Terror. This Terror would, of course, lead the revolutionary leaders to stray from their ideals. The people were not truly free to speak as they wished, they were not free to voice opinions against what the new revolutionary government believed. The people were not truly equal as the government enjoyed a higher standard of living compared to the slums that were soon common for the general citizen. There was no Fraternity as the people’s beliefs began to stray from that of their leaders. Their leaders believed that by continuing the terror, it would lead to a republic of virtue, where all were happy and all were virtuous. The people, on the other hand were beginning to feel dissonant as they lived in terror of death. The Radical Phase was the beginning of the end for the revolutionary