Reign of Terror

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The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Reign of Terror
World War Diary: Reign of Terror
The Flow of History: Terror and Reaction
The History Guide: The French Revolution: The Radical Stage 1792-1794
Washington State University: Radical Revolution
Project Gutenberg: In The Reign of Terror by G.A. Henty
Video: Reign of Terror Documentary (Time: 3:40)

Reign of Terror Background and Causes

Mahalo's Guide to French Revolution
EyeWitness to History: The Execution of Louis XVI, 1793
Center for History and New Media: A British Observor of the September Massacres

The First Coalition

Wikipedia: The First Coalition
World History at KMLA: The First War of the Coalition, 1792-1797
World War Diary: The First Coalition

Revolt in the Vendee

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ExplanationGuide: Revolt in the Vendee: Meaning
The On-Line SourceBook: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Godspy: Remembering The Vendee (1996)

Downfall of the Girondins

World War Diary: Girondins
Wikipedia: Fall of the Girondins
Spiritus-Temporis.com: Destruction of the Girondins

Jacobins Rise to Power

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Mount Holyoke College: Jacobins
HistoryWiz: The Rise of the Jacobins

Sans-Culottes

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Mount Holyoke College: 1789: The Fact and Fiction of the Sans Culottes Movement
Google Books: The Sans-Culottes - The Popular Movement and Revolutionary Government 1793-1794

Reign of Terror Central Figures

Maximilien Robespierre

Mahalo's Guide to Maximilien Robespierre
Wikipedia: Maximilien Robespierre
Age-of-the-Sage.org: Maximilien Robespierre Biography - Reign of Terror
Loyola University New Orleans: "Maximilien Robespierre, Master of the Terror" (1983)
Fordham University: Maximilien Robespierre: Justification of the Use of Terror
The History Guide: Robespierre's Republic of Virtue

Georges Danton

Wikipedia: Georges Danton
Spiritus-Temporis.com: Georges Danton Biography
Bartleby.com: Invective Against Danton
Anecdotage.com: Danton's Death

Committee of Public Safety

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Archontology.com: Complete List of Members of the Committee of Public Safety
Fordham University: The Levée en Masse, August 23, 1793

The Guillotine

Wikipedia: Guillotine
Mount Holyoke College: Symbol of the Revolution
Decollete: Guillotine: The French Kiss Archives
How Products Are Made: Guillotine
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The University of South Dakota: The Guillotine: A Look into the Machine Built for a Humanitarian Death

Reign of Terror Images and Media

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BBC Radio: The Terror Radio Program

Reign of Terror Books and Research

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The New Yorker: Headless Horseman: The Reign of Terror Revisited (2006)
SparkNotes: The Reign of Terror Study Guide
Socialism Today: Terror in the French Revolution (2005)
Mister Dan's Home Page: The Heirs Of Madame Guillotine: The Descendants of France's... (1989)

Reign of Terror Blogs and Message Boards

Google Blog Search: Reign of Terror
Ronald Bruce Meyer: The Reign of Terror and the Churches
A Look At Our World Blog: French Revolution Reign of Terror: Truly Necessary?
Spiked: Remembering the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror Timeline

1793: September 5, The National Convention approves the Reign of Terror
1793: September 17, Law of Suspects introduced
1793: October, French Revolutionary Calendar goes into effect
1793: October 16, Marie Antoinette is executed
1793: December, Committee of Public Safety is granted complete Governmental Power
1794: February 4, Slavery is abolished in the Colonies
1794: April, Maximilien Robespierre establishes The Cult of the Supreme Being
1794: April 5, Georges Danton is executed
1794: May 7, Maximilien Robespierre delivers his speech on The Cult of the Supreme Being
1794: June 10, The Law of 22 Prairial goes into effect
1794: July 28, Maximilien Robespierre is executed at the guillotine, ending the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror in Popular Culture

BBC: Doctor Who - The Classic Series: The Reign of Terror
LibriVox: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
New York Opera Society: Dialogue of the Carmelites
Magellan's Log: Danton's Death
Motion within motion: Reign of Terror (1949)

Related Searches

French Revolution | Maximilien Robespierre | Guillotine | France | Georges Danton | Marie Antoinette | Louis XVI of France | Storming of the Bastille | History of France

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Guide Note:

The Reign of Terror was a 10 month period during the French Revolution in which mass executions were carried out daily by guillotine and mass drownings, known as Noyades. Fast Facts:

The Reign of Terror was led by Maximilien Robespierre, a Jacobin
The guillotine was often referred to as "Madame Guillotine" or "The National Razor"
Death toll estimates range from 16,000 to 40,000
Roughly 250,000 people were imprisoned
At the height of "The Terror," 50 people were being executed each day
The public executioner in Paris during this period was Charles-Henri Sanson

Background and Causes

While composing the new French Constitution, after the execution of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, the new French government faced increasing factionalization and internal strife.

Though some focused on external threats to the Revolution, from nations like Austria who had threatened the nation unless it restored a monarchy, many Jacobins, a radical Far Left party, and their leader, Robespierre, feared internal agitators and counter-revolutionaries more. Former French nobles and members of the clergy, most obviously, stood to benefit if the Revolution failed.

The Committee for Public Safety

On April 6, 1793, the Jacobins formed the Committee for Public Safety, with Robespierre as its President, essentially establishing a new de-facto dictatorship in France. Violence and threats were used to defend the government from any criticism or external threat, and thousands were tried (by the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal) and executed on the charge of counter-revolutionary activities.

The End of the Reign

After groups within the National Convention grew weary of the bloodshed, a plot was formed to overthrow Robespierre. He was executed by guillotine without trial, along with 14 followers, on July 28, 1794. The Committee for Public Safety disbanded soon after.

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