The French Revolution: The Terror

France is in the midst of a revolution. The National Assembly has been renamed The National Convention, and holds all the power. The royal family has been executed; the monarchy abolished. Throughout Europe, royal families are worried that revolution might spread to their countries too! They also believe that the chaos in France makes it easier to attack.

They are right to worry. The revolutionary leaders in Paris do want liberty from monarchism to spread beyond France. But the belief that France is weak is a mistake. Because the revolutionary leaders introduce a law: All French men aged eighteen to twenty-four must do military service. Now, France can quickly gather armies, defend or win back important areas, and even expand.

The French seize the area west of the River Rhine - the Rhineland - from Prussia. But many young Frenchmen die in the battles. The farmers in rural areas protest. They are tired of their sons dying in meaningless wars. Fighting breaks out between sections of the population all over France.

During this time, France is primarily governed by these three gentlemen: Marat, Danton and Robespierre. They are well educated and talented, but cruel and ruthless. It's a troubled time. As leaders under pressure, they are on the lookout for enemies everywhere. They execute thousands they suspect are in opposition to the revolution.

Their time of rulership in France is called The Reign of Terror. Jean Paul Marat is a scientist. He has studied medicine, but now publishes a newspaper: The People’s Friend. In it, he writes that all those who betray the revolution will be executed. Marat himself is murdered in his bath tub, by a woman named Charlotte Corday.

Georges Jacques Danton is a lawyer, and very popular with the people of Paris. He organises the armies. But it's a time of paranoia. Danton himself is guillotined in the spring of seventeen ninety-four. Before his execution, Danton predicts: “Robespierre, you'll follow me!” And the prediction is correct.

Maximilien de Robespierre is a successful lawyer, and one of the revolution's most important figures. He wants to introduce compulsory and free education. He wants to abolish slavery in the French colonies. But Robespierre is also the politician who orders the cleansing of the National Convention, and who demands most death sentences. In June and July, seventeen ninety-four, more than one thousand, three hundred people are executed in Paris.

Now people have had enough! They are scared of being next in line for execution. Robespierre must be stopped. On July the twenty-seventh, the National Convention votes for Robespierre to be arrested. On July the twenty-eighth, he is brought, without trial, to the guillotine at the Place de la Revolution.

He is executed, alongside one hundred and eight of his closest followers. During this period, at least three-hundred thousand people are arrested, and perhaps as many as thirty-five thousand people are executed in France. Nobody knows exactly how many. Most of them are not aristocrats, but people from the Third Estate. With Robespierre's death, The Reign of Terror is finally over.

In seventeen ninety-five, a new constitution is established. The country is now governed by five directors, and The National Convention regains its former name: The National Assembly. Several of the laws established during the revolution are abolished, including universal suffrage; now only the rich can vote. The labourers, peasants, and craftworkers who fought in the revolution for the right to vote feel betrayed and angry. Once again, there is uprising in Paris.

But this time, the rioters face military forces. The uprising is beaten down, leaving hundreds of dead and severely injured on the streets of Paris. Leading the military is General Napoleon Bonaparte, a man who will soon play a leading role in the history of France - and Europe.