In what ways, and for what reasons, did a "Reign of Terror" occur in France in 1793-1794? The Brunswick Manifesto and the rise of the Mountains to power in the National Convention

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

In what ways, and for what reasons, did a “Reign of Terror” occur in France in 1793-1794?

The Brunswick Manifesto and the rise of the Mountains to power in the National Convention were leading steps to the Reign of Terror. The Brunswick Manifesto led to increased suspicion against the king and counterrevolutionaries, and the Mountains’ rise to power led to the execution of the king and opposition to the Girondins. The suspicion aroused due to the Brunswick Manifesto intensified, and the National Convention created the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security so that they could win the war. The revolutionaries’ opposition to the Girondins, who had been against the king’s execution, gave rise to Robespierre’s “Republic of Virtue” and purgation of the Gironddins in the Reign of Terror.

The Brunswick Manifesto, declared by Austria and Prussia during the war against France, affirmed suspicious revolutionaries that the king was plotting treason against the revolution. Before the document was issued, the king’s attempted escape to Varennes and the Declaration of Pillnitz had already aroused suspicion against King Louis XVI in France. However, with the Brunswick Manifesto, the suspicions came to the maximum height as violent activists came to the rise. Masses of the French people felt threatened by enemies. This led to the passionate outbursts of Jacobin leaders, including Robespierre, who turned against the king and his supporters of the Old Regime. With the document issued, the majority of the French people were more than ready to rid themselves of King Louis XVI, which led to his execution and the abolition of monarchy. The execution of the king was a crucial event in the French Revolution not only because it physically ended monarchy in France but also because it alarmed monarchs of other European nations who became even more determined to kill the revolution in France so that they could secure their thrones. They became even more determined to win the war. As enemies of the war and the revolution grew in their desires to win the war, so did the revolutionaries’. In fact, the revolutionaries became so determined to continue the revolution that they became even more determined to kill counterrevolutions. Desires to win the war were so great that they led to the creation of the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security by the National Convention. To repress the “counterrevolution,” the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety set up the Reign of Terror. The committee of Public safety also issued the levee en masse so that they could win the war. Although suspicion of the king’s treason was present before, the issuance of the Brunswick Manifesto heightened the suspicions and also stirred up passionate desires to win the war.

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The Mountain’s rise to power in the National Convention is a major reason for the occurrence of the Reign of Terror. With the Mountains now dominating the convention, the Girondins fell, which was crucial. The Mountains were so radical that they considered the once “most-radical” Girondins as counterrevolutionaries to the French Revolution. The Girondins were against the execution of the king, while the Mountains were strongly for it. This caused the Mountains to hate the Girondins, which also led to further hatred of them. The Mountains called for the purge of the Girondins. With the purge of the Girondins, who were once members of the National Convention, the upholders of the revolution sought a democratic republic made up of good, virtuous, and honest citizens. Thus paved the road to Robespierre, who preached a “Republic of Virtue,” that was sought in the Reign of Terror. To accomplish this “republic of Virtue,” about 40,000 “counterrevolutionaries” were killed. The Mountains’ rise to power in the National convention was a crucial leading point to the Reign of Terror because it led to the rise of Robespierre who was an influential leader in the Terror even though he himself was a victim of it.

Although the Brunswick Manifesto and the influence of the Mountains on the revolutionists were major causes of the Reign of Terror, other factors like the confiscation of church lands and the Oath of the civil Clergy cannot be dismissed. These caused the clergy to revolt and thus separated them into refractory and constitutional clergy. The counterrevolutionaries who were against the separation of the church and the state revolted throughout the revolution which led to the launch of Dechristianization during the Reign of Terror. Robespierre’s attempt to reconcile the Catholics and agnostic anticlericals failed along with his proposal of the Cult of the Supreme Being and eventually led to his downfall. In other words, the extreme revolutionists would no where tolerate any form of forced religion, no matter how lenient the policies were.

The Reign of Terror was a period of hysteria and mass killing due to revolutionaries’ fear of counterrevolutionares that sprang with the desire to win the war and to spread and continue the works of the French Revolution. The Brunswick Manifesto sparked the height of the hatred against the enemies of the revolution and the Mountains’ rise to power gave rise to the revolutionaries’ desire for a “Republic of Virtue.”

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