1. Reign of Terror

2. The Move to Radicalism
Louis XVI is still on the throne as a new government is being negotiated
He agrees to uphold a new constitution that limits his power
France is still in chaos
Georges Danton rallies citizens to attack the King’s palace and violence erupts in the streets
Jean-Paul Marat emerges as a leader of the people

3. The Move to Radicalism
Jean-Paul Marat urged the poor to violently revolt against the nobility
He’s assassinated but…
He’s seen as a martyr for the revolution.

4. A Quick Note: The Guillotine: Embodies “Enlightenment Thinking”
Equality – everyone executed in the same way
Scientific – ends life quickly without pain
The guillotine was conceived as an egalitarian form of capital punishment, as nobility were commonly decapitated (with several blows) before the revolution and commoners were hanged / burned at the stake / broken on the wheel
The last person guillotined in France was in 1977

5. Crises and Response
Unrest and rebellion across France because some groups don’t accept the new gov’t.
Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch Republic all unite against France after the execution of King Louis XVI.
Maximilien Robespierre (and the Committee of Public Safety) gains broad power to protect the revolution from all threats.

6. Crises and Response
“We must smother the internal and external enemies of the Republic or perish with it; now in this situation, the first maxim of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people's enemies by terror.”

7. The Republic of Virtue
Committee of Public Safety tries to reshape French society
Laws established for education and outlaw slavery
De-Christianization of France with deist principles like the Cult of the Supreme Being
Robespierre wanted it to become the new French Religion
Not successful because of devout French Catholics

8. The Reign of Terror ( )
The Committee of Public Safety prosecutes anyone who it suspects is undermining the revolution.
Revolutionary Tribunals determine guilt and punishment
300,000 arrested
40,000 killed
Marie Antoinette and Olympe de Gouges both fall victim to the “National Razor”

9. The National Bathtub
As many as 4,000 are drowned in Nantes after being accused of not supporting the revolution

11. No, this is a totally reasonable way to voice your disagreements…

12. Some argue that the French revolution set the cause of democracy in Europe back 100 years…

13. End of the Terror Robespierre’s terror further intensifies
Members of the National Convention, condemn Robespierre before he goes after them too
Robespierre is executed on July 28, 1794, the Jacobins lose power, and the Terror ends.