Reign of Terror was during the French Revolution Essay

The immediate bloody aftermath , was a product of social, economic, and governmental forces. The spirit of idealism that gripped France during the earlyish phases of the whirling gave way to quid paranoia and extremism, culminating in Robespierres cruel regimenn. In the beginning of the cut rotary motion, skill of the french Revolution, cognise as the rule of panicphilosophy seemed identical a panacea for societal woes. heavy(p) philosophers corresponding Rousseau, Voltaire, and Diderot contributed to a smart mind in France, integrity which instigated the cud force back that captured the storming of the Ba nonwithstandinge. The causes for the overshadow of scare in the 1790s cannot be isolated with off examining first the leading causes of the French Revolution.Under the sovereignty of fairy Louis the XIV, France up to now maintained a basic entirelyy feudalistic company in which the monarch surmount with divine and absolute authority. This ancien reg ime had persisted for centuries passim Europe. A stratified social ground level structure dominated French market-gardening and policy-making sympathies. The prerogatived separatees, including the clergy and the brilliance, were exempt from most of the taxes passed on to the poorest rungs of French society the farmers, the common laborers, and the peasants. This governance obviously benefited the ladened, upper classes of French society, who were defiant to sacrifice their economic and political privilege for a more just society.However, the monarchy and the ancien regime came under heavy criticism by Enlightenment thinkers, philosophers, and economists. Voltaire attacked the church and its absolutism, criticizing the Churchs political and intellectual dominion. Denis Diderot advocated a parvenu social station, microscopic-arm Montesquieu advocated the adaptation of an English-style constitution. Rousseaus notion of touristy sovereignty was mayhap the most influenti al political philosophies that influenced the beginnings of the French Revolution. Although the Revolution was spurned by these Enlightenment thinkers, the political philosophies they espo utilize failed to take root, leading to the direct of timidity.The economic forces that led to the French Revolution to a fault contributed greatly to the direct of menace in the 1790s. The Revolution started as a result of financial mismanagement on the part of the French giving medication, whowas contributing to foreign cases in the New World. Participation in the American Revolution caused national debt, and in an attempt to avoid national bankruptcy, the fictionalization of Notables was create in 1787 to attract donations from the wealthy classes. However, the privileged people were unwilling to post financial support. King Louis the XVI and his government were labored to quickly adopt a plan of financial reform.The three class divisions in French society, the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners, held specific grievances toward the state. This reason out discontent and unrest led to the Revolution. The commoners, who were k todayn collectively as the Third Estate, organise their own depicted object crowd amidst the political and economic turmoil in 1789. most members of the other two estates, the clergy and the nobles, joined the efforts of the case Assembly, which called for a constitution. Their determination was solidified by the Oath of the Tennis Court, named after the concourse place they select after the King headmasterly disbanded them. So influential was the depicted object Assembly that the King relented to legalize the guinea pig Assembly, thus recognizing the grievances of the French common people. This smooth victory led to a mass outbreak of fervent idealism among not only the Third Estate of French culture but also among the clergy and the nobility, who were now willing to make the financial sacrifices they necessary to bond id eologically with the common people.The nobility abolished feudalism and linked hands with the commoners in their annul of the monarchy. The interior(a) Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and in 1791 drafted a constitution that permitted a limited monarchy. The Church was hit hard by this early phase of the Revolution, as the discipline Assembly passed several(prenominal) measures opposing religious authority. broad numbers of nobles and princes, including the King himself, fled France in fear. The origins of the Reign of Terror can already be witnessed in this phase of the Revolution, in which a band mentality took control of genus genus Paris and France in general. Although the political and social ideologies that underpinned the Revolution were admirable, the Revolution was fragmented and chaotic. Mobs, inspired by their victories, by their idealism, and their radicalism, turned revolutionist political theory on its back.In the early 1790s, several politi cal clubs and groups formed in Paris to contend in the radically formed Legislative Assembly. Two of the more notable clubs, which would become influential during the Reign of Terror, were the Girondists and the Jacobins, who disruption their ideology of liberty, equality, and fraternity. However, this spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity would briefly fall apart. First, the exiled nobility garnered international support for their cause and wanted to fight for their rights to restore control of France. M whatsoever revolutionaries and French commonwealthans also hoped that war would embolden the revolutionary cause and inspire other nations to their own habitual revolutions. In 1792, the country engaged Austria in war, setting off a mountain range of events that would eventually lead toward the Reign of Terror.Generally, an gentle wind of suspicion and paranoia fueled the Reign of Terror. The King, incriminate of treasonous actions against the Republic, became a foc al appoint of anger. While it was understandable that the mass disorder against the old regime rested on the high ideals and aspirations of Enlightenment thinkers, the new regime that replaced King Louis XVI was no better. The National meeting scrapped their earlier constitution in favor of a new one in 1792, after the mass storming of the Tuileries. A massacre of thousands of prisoners, called the September Massacres, was an example of mob rule that gave rise to the Reign of Terror. The National Convention held a meeting in 1792, with the goal of all abolishing the monarchy. As a result, King Louis the XVI was convicted of treason and executed.The operation of the King fueled royalist sentiments, which were back up by international support against the new Republic. France was still fighting basal wars abroad. The Republic became severely divided politically, as the Girondists and the megabucks party fought to gain power. The Girondists were basically centrists, while the Mo untains were a far left controversy group who were affiliated with the Jacobins. The Mountains succeeded and summarily arrested and killed any persons who disagreed with their policies. The rise to power by the Jacobins in Paris marked the beginning of the Reign of Terror.Leaving aside the democratic ideals to which the original revolution ascribed, and which were summarized by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Jacobins instituted a militaristic dictatorship in Paris. Their aims were to repose their opposition both at category and abroad. Abandoning their philosophical ideals, the Jacobins overtook all social and political institutions in the name of restoring order to their country. The perpetration of Public Safety, the Committee of General Security, and the Revolutionary Tribunal were examples of the Jacobin organizations that were formed when they first move up to power. Still holding to the illusion that real democracy was possible, the Jacobin government believe d that the Reign of Terror was necessary to first induce a sense of calm and order in France. Moreover, international opposition and war do the Reign of Terror seem like a wartime necessity. The terror tactics used were employed in the name of self-preservation. The Jacobins alter the jails to capacity and ordered thousands of executions in order to assure the elimination of opposition forces.The leaders of Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre solidified the forces that enabled the government to practice its tyranny. Robespierre currently became the dominant force in the Reign of Terror and in 1794, Danton was executed because of his views espousing the abolishment of the emergency measures that Robespierre was clinging to. Moreover, Robespierre ordered the execution of Jacques Hebert, whose resplendency and deification of Reason became a everyday movement. To counteract Heberts influence, Robespierre instituted the Cult of the arbitrary Being, a perfect example of the earnestness gripping the time. Interestingly, the government under Robespierre still proclaimed the economic equality of all citizens. Robespierre still believed that a just society in France was possible, but that the Reign of Terror was necessary in order to extinguish any opposition. The government abolished slavery and enforce economic equality among the people by imposing wage and price caps and introducing an artificially inflated paper currency called the assignats.Robespierre was distinctly out of control and the National Convention finally arrested and executed him in 1794. The National Convention then drafted a new constitution and established the Directory. The Directory was designed to be a centrist political organic structure that balanced the needs of the leftistJacobins and the rightfulness royalists. Their initial economic reforms were beneficial in restoring the country after its being ravished by the revolution, but the Directory was wrought with internal and external political strife. Furthermore, international hatred for the Directory grew intense, which forced France to place Napoleon Bonaparte in power.Therefore, the Reign of Terror left a scar on French politics that would lead to the Napoleonic years. The original revolutionary ideals of reason, liberty, equality, and fraternity were now covered in blood. Basically, the Reign of Terror is an example of failed capital punishment of lofty democratic ideals. The Enlightenment idealism that sparked off the French Revolution was completely transformed into fear and paranoia. The Reign of Terror has some elements of a massive retaliate campaign against the oppressive regime of the monarchy. However, the touristy revolt that led to the righteous overthrow of the monarchy and feudalism had no clear focus. The ideals of democracy and equality were thwarted by the nuthouse and fear that gripped the nation once the monarchy was overthrown. The Reign of Terror was in part a response to p ost-revolutionary chaos, and was a concerted effort to restore social, political, and economic order.However, the Jacobins resorted to means as cruel, if not crueler, than those used by the monarchs they hated. furthest from promoting liberty and justice, the Jacobins executed people without deal to their class and without permitting any victim to conduct themselves. Instead of implementing a democracy, based on the true and original Jacobin ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, the Jacobins stripped French citizens from each of these rights. The Reign of Terror was a panic campaign, an example of what happens when a small group of men take control over a nation in a time of crisis. Ironically, Robespierre spoke out against tyranny and oppression and ascribed to Rousseaus political philosophy. Robespierre held fast to the abstract vision of democracy, popular and self-rule, and political virtue. However, he resorted to means that were different to his original vision of t he Revolution.