The Reign Of Terror Essay Research Paper — страница 5

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Lyons had seized control, executing Republican leaders. Toulon, the royalists were handing over twenty six of France’s sixty one frigates over the Lord Hood, commander of the British navy. However, Maximilien Robespierre joined the Committee and would soon become the dominant revolutionary force. A man known for his virtue and upright moral standing, his rise to through the Jacobin club and the Assembly was that his ideas were supported by the Assembly and the people. In Paris, the Enrage, a group of those who wanted death to all who opposed the revolution and had guided the now abolished Insurectionary Commune, still troubled the government. Varlet still cried out for the needs of the poor and spurred them to riot against the price of food. The Committee was forced to deal

with these problems when a supporter of the Girondin, Charlotte Corday, assasinated Marat as he lay in his therapeutic bath on July 13th. His death caused him to become a martyr to the radicals, much to Ropespierre’s envy, and the Committee was forced by the prodding of the Enrages to institute warehouses to store the grain in Paris and give the death penalty to those that hoarded. The Committee also had to worry about it’s critics that followed Danton, who was now President of the Convention after losing his seat to Robespierre. The Hebertists followed the freed journalist, who accused the Jacobins of ignoring him after he helped them overthrow the Girondin. With so much pressure, the Committee authorized the destruction of all federalists, royalists, and other counter

revolutionaries. Those rebelling in the provinces were quickly dealt with. Still, the opposers wanted more, and a revolution on the Hotel de Ville, forced the Convention to allow the Hebertists, Varenne and Herbois into the Committee, and they declared that “Terror be the order of the day.” Along with the Queen, the twenty two Girondin leaders that had been arrested were also brought to the guillotine in the same month. The former president of the Convention, and converted noble, the Duc d’Orleans, more commonly known as Philippe Egalite’ was sentenced to death by the Tribunal also. The once mayor of Paris, Jean Bailly was also executed. The purpose of these killings that lasted in and out through the fall and winter of 1793 was the Committee’s ruthless drive to destroy

any and all enemies of the people, royalists and federalists alike. All in a effort to gain support from the sans culottes to continue their one handed control of France. The guillotine had struck over seventeen thousand necks in the Terror, and three thousand of those belonged to Parisians. Those who survived lived through the Terror fearing a knock on the door that would be their arrest. Robespierre himself said, “We must rule by iron those who cannot be ruled by justice?You must punish not merely traitors but the indifferent as well.” Yet, those who were brought before the Tribunal were not just the enemies of the people, they were women, children, families, the elderly, and every social class was represented. Those who shed tears for the loss of their family were executed

also, those who dared make the smallest misstep were dealt with harshly, the penalty death. The innocent lost their lives through clerical error, and some were killed being falsely accused by neighbors or enemies who wanted vengeance. In the Provinces, the guillotine could not work fast enough for some, and Joseph Fouche’, a Jacobin representative, killed over three hundred with cannon fire. At Toulon, they were shot, at Nantes, thousands died in the disease ridden prisons, and thousands more were sunk in barges, causing ships that anchored to pull out corpses. To the sans culottes of Paris, it was a lively entertainment. They drank and ate, some placed bets, while others knitted. They eagerly anticipated the sounds of the execution, and death was a trivial thing. A young and

eloquent opponent of the Girondins, Chaumette, led the movement of de-Christianization. He pushed for the republican calendar, likening it’s divisions to the divisions of the highest Reason. Religious holidays and services were suspended, treasures of the church were seized, images of Mary replaced with Marat, and any religious paraphernalia was strictly prohibited. Festivals of Reason were celebrated, with prostitutes or others such women playing the head of all Reason, the Goddess of Reason. Towns, streets, squares all changed their names. Revolutionary names were much more popular then saintly names in some districts. Yet, religion could not be easily undone, and still it’s hold was seen on France as threatening “acts of God” would force peasants back into the churches