The French Revolution

This research paper discusses the role of violence and its

more malignant manifestation, organized and systematic terror,

during the French Revolution. In the early stages of the

Revolution, sporadic acts of violence occurred, sometimes

spontaneously, generally in response to specific events. They

were used by groups interested in obtaining power and/or in

pushing the Revolution to one extreme or the other. Later, the

use of terror began to be employed systematically to deal with

the enemies, real and imagined, internal and external, of the

Revolution, and eventually to silence all organized opposition. Additionally, the creation of extreme fear throughout the country was used by political terrorist groups such as the Jacobins to promote the utopian ideal. Furthermore, other revolutionary goals were pursued through intimidation, and instilling fear within the public. Terror fed on itself and acquired a grotesque momentum of its own until it finally ran its course, devouring many of its most extreme proponents and leading to counterrevolution. Unwise political judgments and mistakes by various leaders facilitated the expansion of violence and terror being inflicted upon the innocent. However, its root causes lay in the sudden collapse of the ancien régime, which was weaker

than it appeared, and the lack of any moderating tradition and institutions, which could have mediated conflict and prevented political p

. . .
eve political ends was becoming much more organized. 17921793 The key event which triggered the widespread incidence of violence and its use in the form of Terror as a systematic and centralized means of defeating the enemies of the Revolution and at the same time moving it in more radical directions was the decision of the newly elected Legislative Assembly to declare war on Austria and Prussia in the spring of 1792. The King went along under the mistaken impression that such a war would save his throne because the republicans would be easily defeated. The most moderate group then left in the Assembly, the Girondins, advocated war because they thought, according to Blanning, it "would put a stop to domestic unrest, restore political stability and arrest the depreciation of the Republic's new currency, the assignat" (60). Instead, he said only the excitement created by the drive for war could have radicalized so many so quickly. In the autumn of 1791, most deputies . . . were moderate centrists; by the following spring they were well down the republican road, borne along by the chariots of war (64). War fever and panic produced by early French defeats and retreats led to the grant of emergency powers to
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Approximate Word count = 2410
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)