Nearly 10,000 French army officers and aristocrats had moved to the Austrian-controlled Netherlands, forming armies and allying themselves with France’s foreign enemies Despite an early lead, The Reign of Terror allowed the French to fight back and win in the Battle of Valmy. (Doc B). The French punished the émigrés harshly after this victory, but their punishment was neither overly cruel or out of the ordinary. Even today, in the U.S, treason is punishable by death. Treason is not and was not taken lightly at any point in time, and the émigrés knew this. Due to the Reign of Terror, the French were able to defend themselves and their country, punish those who threaten France, and defend the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality, and …show more content…
The Reign of Terror was not about killing or revenge. It was about improving the lives of the citizens of France. It was about defending the nation from foreign attackers and improving the government to offer equality to the people. It may seem extreme to some, but the revolutionaries simply did what was necessary to defend their country attackers foreign and domestic. Some would say it was the responsibility of the revolutionary government to do what was necessary to keep the people safe and support their country in a time of need. In the words of Maximilien Robespierre, “In order to lay the foundations of democracy among us and to consolidate it, in order to arrive at the peaceful reign of constitutional law, we must finish the war of liberty against tyranny and safely cross through the storms of the