The peaceful revolution that began in France on the 5th May
1789 later turned its shape to violence and terror. The reign of terror was
therefore, the second most significant stage in the course of the French revolution.
The reign of terror started shortly after the death of Mira beau, the president
of national assembly and it ended with death of Robespierre who was the leader
of the Jacobin political club that actually caused reign of terror in France.
During this period, many people lost their lives and there
was massive destruction of property as the period was characterized by lawlessness
and human life was actually made to be very cheap. The reign of terror never
spared King Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette including other 27000 people in
France
THE CAUSES OF REIGN OF TERROR IN FRANCE:
1. The death of Mira
beau (April, 1791.
The death of Mira beau in 1791 had deprived the
revolutionary France a true parent, soul and spirit. His death led to power
struggle and reign of terror in France.
He had been one of the most outstanding revolutionary leaders since 1789 when
the revolution started. As a leader of national assembly, he would sympathize
with monarchs. That is why at his death bed, he had to say, “ I hold with me the last rag of this
monarchy.” Truly, with the absence of Mira beau, revolutionaries lacked
sense of direction and some one to guide them.
2. The formation of
political clubs;
In 1792, many political parties have been formed which led
to out break of reign of terror in France. These clubs among others
included the Jacobin club under Robespierre, Girondin led by Murato and the Cordilier
which was also under leadership of Danton.This political clubs and their
leaders had different ideologies and actually had hatred for one another that
built foundation for reign of terror in France. They tried to kill as many
people as possible in order to survive being killed, but at the end of reign of
terror, all these leadersof politic clubs were swept away by the broom of the
terror.
3. The influence of
the émigrés:
Émigrés were the nobles and clergy who fled out of France
when revolution was in motion. They went to countries like Austria, Russia, and Prussia etc and began
asking for military assistance from these countries o comes back to fight the
revolutionaries and to restore aking back to power. In 1792, they had mobilized over 20,000
troops in the boarder of Austria
and France.
This forced Murato to murder over 1500 suspected royalist in prison, hence,
causing reign of terror
4. The violent nature of the mob action:
Mob action was the order of the day ever since revolution
started in France.
e.g., the Paris
mob of 1789. As revolution progressed from stage one, the desire of mob action
mounted making France un ruly since 1792.Since the mob does not put into
consideration the art of reasoning, whenever words like traitor or suspect were
mentioned, many of those suspects ended up being killed hence, causing reign of
terror in France.
5. The declaration of rights of man:
The declaration of rights of man that were confirmed by
the 1791 constitution also created a period of violence. It made France men mad
under emotion of excitement of freedom. There was lack of conduct, general
norms and guideline. Instead people set up personal self regards and principles
where by every one acted his own way claiming for personal rights hence,
causing reign of terror.
6. Declaration of civil constitution of the clergy:
This caused the gap between Catholic Church leaders and
revolutionaries to be wide. This led to hostility especially by the non juring priests
(those who refused to take an oath. E.g., non juring priests defied orders of
government and organized rebellions against it. These rebellions were seen in
districts like Lavendee and were organized by Catholic leaders. These
rebellions could not be suppressed peacefully, hence, leading to reign of
terror in France.
7. The death of King Louis and his wife:
The murder of King Louis threatened the whole Europe and
it made al the monarchs in Europe to become
enemies of the French revolution. It made revolution to be an international
matter and concern of all powers in Europe. European
powers therefore, declared war against France
and inviting reign of terror in France.
The fact that the whole king would be killed by revolutionaries shows that the
life of an ordinary French man was surely worthless.
8. Economic crisis in France:
France
experienced inflation, unemployment, and shortage of basic necessities were
very common in France.
This was because there was wide spread smuggling and hoarding by the business
men. Business men were there fore, accused of sabotaging leading to massive
destruction and looting of there property and commodities, this led to economic
terror in France.
9. The weakness of King Louis xvi:
The king refused to accept the reforms proposed by the
revolutionaries. He stubbornly refused to sign the document of the declaration
of rights of man, the civil constitution of the clergy; he dismissed Necker and
provoked violence from the revolutionaries. He even made attempts to suppress
revolutionaries using foreign army. To make matters worse, the attempt of his
flight to Varennes made him be referred to as a traitor and some documents
against revolution were discovered in his pocket during his arrest at the
boarder with Austria.
This led to reign of terror in France.
10. The need to export the revolutionary ideas:
The revolutionaries had an ambition to carry revolutionary
ideas to other countries. The first coalition was made comprising of Britain, Austria,
Russia and Holland
in 1793.They invaded France,
defeated France and occupied
towns like Verdun.
This made revolutionaries to turn on suspects and those who never showed
interest in the revolution were killed i.e., over 1000 royalists were
butchered.