The Importance Of The Reign Of Terror

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The period of 1792 to 1795, or commonly regarded as the ‘Reign of Terror’ served as a vital turning point for the French Revolution and effectively, the future of France. This period of time was distinguished by the fall of monarchy and the creation of the National Convention. Additionally. the Reign of Terror demonstrated more brutal punishments for counter revolutionaries and foreign enemies, in the hunt for freedom and liberty by French revolutionaries. The events that would take place under the Reign of Terror, would shape the outcome and effectiveness of the French Revolution.

The year of 1792 was characterised by an outbreak of Revolutionary Wars and the establishment of The French Republic by the National Convention.
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Rumours began to circulate that royalists in prison due to treason were planning to break out and attack revolutionary armies. As a result, crowds of Parisian workers entered the prisons and murdered more than a thousand of the prisoners, in an attack which was known as the September Massacres of 1792. Nothing was conducted by the Jacobin-influenced Commune or the government to aid in resisting these attacks. As a reaction, many foreign intellectuals lost their admiration for the French Revolution and caused a spread of shockwaves throughout other European …show more content…
The guillotine was re-introduced as a method of punishment in order to move away from what was deemed as barbaric punishment, such as burning, drowning or hanging. The use of the guillotine symbolised that despite your social class, everyone will receive the same punishment for the crime they commit. When King Louis XVI was put on trial, 380 voted for his execution, among those was Robespierre, and 310 voted against it. On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI, a once respected and feared King of France, became the first political subject to the guillotine. This event is what has thought to be the trigger on the Reign of Terror, after years of build up. For the period of 15 months, it is believed that over 40,000 people who were believed to be or were counter-revolutionaries were executed by guillotine. This including King Louis XVI’s wife and France’s last queen Marie Antoinette. Along the same route as her husband, Marie was placed on trial for high treason and was found guilty. She is executed nine months after King Louis XVI on 16 October

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