The French Revolution remains one of the most talked-about episodes in world history. A republic was declared after the overthrow of despot Louis the Sixteenth. To thwart counter-revolution, the new regime waged a Reign of Terror across France. Historian Marisa Linton says, “For the first time in history terror became … official government policy.”
In 1793 new President Georges Danton said: “Let us be terrible in order to stop the people from being so." Fellow committee member Maximillian Robespierre said, “Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue.” Aristocrats and priests were slaughtered, and even criticizing the regime was punishable by death. Those deemed insufficiently-radical went to the guillotine as well, with no evidence or defense lawyers allowed. The chief prosecutor proudly said, "Heads were falling like [tiles] off [a] roof." In ten months, 16,000 were guillotined; many more died in sanctioned mob violence.
Yet many scholars to this day praise Robespierre. Biographer George Rudé calls him an “outstanding leader;” and a “champion of democracy.” He was ahead of his time for opposing capital punishment—except for those who really needed to die. And he stood up for the common man—though 80% of the condemned were peasants. Historian Ian Davidson says the Reign of Terror "came without any defined aims or policy, and was carried out without any detectable rules." History’s first police state invented military conscription and outlawed the Church.
Soon Robespierre himself fell into the wrong faction, and died by the guillotine. Then the revolution was lost when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in a coup d'état. It’s hard to imagine, but the French Revolution proved worse than the tyrannical monarchy that preceded it. Somehow, they found a way.
I’m Jeff Gentry
Best reference:
Linton, M. (2006, August 1). Robespierre and the terror: Marisa Linton reviews the life and career of one of the most vilified men in history. History Today, 56(8), 23.
Dumb Ideas that Changed the World copyright 2024 by Jeff Gentry. All rights reserved.
