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Unlock This CourseFrom autumn 1793 to July 1794 the revolutionary government used fear, arrest and execution against anyone it saw as an enemy. This is called the Terror. There were three main reasons for it.
France was at war with most of Europe and fighting the Vendée rebels and the federalist cities at home. After Dumouriez changed sides and Toulon was handed to the British, deputies saw traitors everywhere.
On 5 September 1793 crowds of sans-culottes pushed into the Convention. They demanded bread and harsh action against hoarders and traitors. The deputies gave way.
Leading Jacobins believed the Republic could only survive if its citizens were loyal and its enemies were destroyed. To them, terror was a way of defending the Revolution.
Key terms:
Maximilien Robespierre was a lawyer from Arras. He lived simply and could not be bribed, so he was known as 'the Incorruptible'. He was never a dictator. He was one of twelve members of the Committee of Public Safety, which made its decisions together. His power came from his speeches, which won over the Convention and the Jacobin Club.
However, Robespierre did not run the Terror alone. It began under pressure from the sans-culottes, and the worst killing in the provinces was ordered by representatives on mission. He even had one of the most brutal, Carrier, called back to Paris.
Passed on 17 September 1793. A suspect was anyone who, by their behaviour, words or writings, seemed to be an enemy of liberty. Former nobles and relatives of émigrés were suspects unless they had always shown support for the Revolution. The wording was so vague that almost anyone could be accused. Watch committees drew up the lists and made the arrests. Suspects could be held in prison until the war ended.
Set up in Paris in March 1793. There was no appeal against its verdicts, and death sentences were usually carried out within a day. Its public prosecutor was Fouquier-Tinville. It sent Marie Antoinette to the guillotine on 16 October 1793 and the Girondin leaders two weeks later.
Most victims of the Terror died far from Paris. About 70 per cent of death sentences were passed in the west and the south-east, the areas that had rebelled.
In other parts of France there were very few executions. Most victims were peasants and workers, not nobles.
Prairial was a month in the new revolutionary calendar. The law was passed on 10 June 1794. It was put forward by Couthon, an ally of Robespierre on the Committee.
The result is often called the Great Terror. In under seven weeks about 1,400 people were guillotined in Paris, more than in the previous fourteen months. Yet the danger to France was fading. The revolts had been crushed, and on 26 June 1794 the French army beat the Austrians at Fleurus.
'The main reason for the Terror in France in the years 1793-94 was the threat from foreign armies.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own. [16 marks]
I agree that the foreign threat was the main reason the Terror began, but it does not explain why it carried on into 1794.
The threat from foreign armies was a very important reason. By spring 1793 France was at war with Austria, Prussia, Britain, Spain and the Dutch Republic. The Revolutionary Tribunal was set up in March 1793, as French armies were being driven out of Belgium. Dumouriez then went over to the Austrians, and in August Toulon was handed to the British. Deputies believed that defeat would destroy the Revolution, so they accepted harsh measures against anyone who might help the enemy.
The role of Robespierre was also important. In February 1794 he told the Convention that terror was simply 'prompt, severe, inflexible' justice, which made it seem right as well as necessary. He backed the executions of HĂ©bert and Danton, and he helped to write the Law of 22 Prairial. However, he joined the Committee of Public Safety only in July 1793, after the Tribunal already existed, and he was one of twelve members. He shaped the Terror more than he caused it.
A third reason was the danger inside France. The Vendée rising and the federalist revolts in cities such as Lyon meant the Republic was fighting a civil war. This explains where the Terror was worst: about 70 per cent of death sentences were passed in the rebel areas of the west and south-east. Pressure from the sans-culottes mattered too. Their march into the Convention on 5 September 1793 led within days to the Law of Suspects.
Overall, I agree to a large extent. Judged by what set the Terror going, the foreign threat was the main reason, because it lay behind the others. Conscription for the war sparked the Vendée rising, and fear of invasion made deputies give way to the sans-culottes. But judged by timing, it cannot be the only reason. In Paris the Terror was at its worst in June and July 1794, when the revolts were over and France had won at Fleurus. That last stage is better explained by Robespierre and his allies.
What lifts it to the top level: it covers three reasons, uses precise dates and figures, and reaches its judgement by stated tests (what started the Terror, and its timing).
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level. Here, bring in the revolts in the provinces or the sans-culottes as your own third reason, then weigh all three in your conclusion.