Maximilien Robespierre Began the Terror
As dozens of leaders struggled for power, one man, Maximilien
Robespierre (ROHBZ-pihr) slowly gathered control into his own hands.
His period in power (July 1793-July 1794) is fittingly known as the
Reign of Terror.
Robespierre and his
fellow radicals set out
to build a “Republic of
Virtue” by wiping out
every trace of France’s
past monarchy and
nobility. For example,
decks of cards no longer had kings, queens, and jacks. Instead, they had cards called
Liberties, Equalities, and Fraternities to honor the ideals of the revolution. The radicals also
made the calendar more scientific. They divided the year into 12 months of 30 days and
gave each month a new, “scientific”
name; for instance, October was
renamed Brumaire or Fog month.
The new calendar had no Sundays
because the radicals considered
religion old-fashioned and
dangerous. In Paris churches were
closed down; towns all over France
soon did the same.
In the summer of 1793, Robespierre formed the Committee of
Public Safety. As head of the
committee, he decided who should
be judged an enemy of the republic.
Those he accused were often put
on trial in the morning and
executed that very afternoon. By
October 1793, many of the leaders who had first helped set up the republic were executed.
Their only crime was that they either challenged Robespierre’s leadership or they weren’t
radical enough.
Besides leading political
figures, thousands of lesserknown people were also sent
to their death, often on
flimsy charges. For example,
an 18-year-old male was
guillotined for cutting down
a tree that had been planted
as a symbol of liberty. A bar
keeper was executed
because he had sold sour
wine to the defenders of the
country.
Perhaps as many as 40,000
were executed during the
Terror. Of those executed, about 80% were peasants, urban workers, or bourgeoisiecommon people for whom the revolution had supposedly been fought for.
Robespierre Fell from Power
By July 1794, members of the
National Convention knew that none
of them was safe from Robespierre.
To save themselves, they turned on
him and demanded his arrest.
Robespierre tried to speak in his own
defense, but delegates on both the
left and right shouted him down.
Within two days, the revolution’s last
powerful leader went to the guillotine.
With Robespierre’s execution on July
28, 1794, the radical phase of the
French Revolution ended.