Western History 136: What events characterized the period of the Reign of Terror?

The Reign of Terror began on the 17^th of September, 1793 with the introduction of the Law of Suspects. An early victim of the Terror was Queen Marie Antoinette. Her trial began on October 3^rd and she was found guilty on the 12^th of that month. Four days later she was executed by guillotine.

The New Revolutionary Calendar source: jocelyngreen.com



Marion Roland - Key Figure in the moderate Girondins source: wikipedia

On  October the5th the  Revolutionary Calendar  was adopted as the Purge of the Girondins continued. Olympe de Gouges,  Manon Roland.and  Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité)were all guillotined as was Jean Sylvain Bailly the  First Mayor of Paris. Notre Dame Cathedral was transformed into a Temple for Cult of Reason. All churches and Places of worship were ordered closed by the Paris Commune 

An all too common site during the Reign of Terror source: britannica.com




The Feast of Reason associated with the Cult of Reason source: alarmy.com

In December 1793, Napoleon Bonaparte forced the  British troops to withdraw from Toulon.. Royalist insurrections were put down however a new savagery engulfed the revolution – the Mass drowning of convicted prisoners (6000 by one count).  Robespierre in the interim consolidated his power base by having one of his key rivals Fabre d'Églantine arrested. . Jean-Baptiste Carrier, the  man responsible for the killing of ten thousand Vendéen prisoners  entered the political scene. He would become a key player at the Cordeliers Club.

Jean-Baptise Carrier source: geriwalton.com

Two months later slavery was abolished in the French colonies. At around the same time former sans-culotte leader Jacques Roux committed suicide.

In March 1793 -  The Committees of Public Safety and General Security came down hard on the Cordeliers.  Leading the purge was Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins were both arrested and guillotined on April 5th, Another revolutionary leader

Jacques-Rene Hébert had already been executed (on March 24th).

Robespierre would go on to create a  new Bureau of Police that Saint-Just sought to place  under the Committee for Public Safety. The Republic was for all intent of purpose a police state.Matters continued to deteriorate as  Robespierre pushed ahead to expand his  Cult of the Supreme Being. The famous chemist Antoine Lavoisier was executed. In June 1794 the French suffer a Naval loss at the Battle of Ushant against the British. 

Louis Saint-Just source: alphahistory.com

Soon afterward Robespierre was elected President of the Convention. The Festival of the Supreme Being was held on June 8th. The Law of 22 Prairial expedited the trial of those accused of harming the Republic.

Robespierre though was growing more paranoid. He accused  his opponents of conspiring against him.On  July 26th he denounced them as  traitors. This would prove his undoing. A backlash ensued resulting   in his arrest on July 27th along with Saint-Just and others. Robespierre would injure himself in a failed suicide attempt but would ultimately face the guillotine on the 28th of July. Many of his followers would meet a similar end fate. The events of this specific time period are called the Thermidorian Reaction.

In August there was a mass release from prison for those who erred against the Law of Suspects. Anti-Jacobin Demonstrations occurred in Paris. The Convention stepped  in to avoid destruction of National Monuments. Fighting between pro and anti Terror groups continued into September..

By October/November  the Sans-Culottes were purged.  The Jacobins battled the rival Muscadins with the Convention suppressing Jacobin meetings during the Period of White Terror. To their credit the  Convention eventually sentenced Jean-Baptiste Carrier to death for his role in the mass drownings that occurred following the suppression of the Vendée insurrection. The Reign of Terror was now at an end.

Yes...the Revolution had eaten its own.