18 Ventôse
An CCXXXIV
Terror
During the period of the Jacobin dictatorship, terror functioned as a normatively positive concept. It signified the Republic’s capacity for self-defence, deploying mortal fear as a political instrument against enemies within. Tyranny exercised in the name of liberty. For Maximilien Robespierre, terror and virtue were two sides of the same coin: a form of justice that was swift, uncompromising, and inexorable. Institutionally, the Terror was embodied in the Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety, the Revolutionary Tribunal, and a network of regional revolutionary committees. In the phase of the Grande Terreur (June–July 1794), denunciation was imposed as a binding legal duty upon all citizens. The Terror ultimately claimed the lives of tens of thousands.
JK
1792 - 1795
- September 1792 · September Massacres. Parisian crowds storm the prisons and kill more than one thousand prisoners.
- March 10, 1793 · The National Convention establishes a political court of exception (Revolutionary Tribunal) in order to
channel popular anger
(Danton). - July 13, 1793 · Charlotte Corday assassinates Marat. Political radicalization intensifies, and calls for uncompromising action against enemies of the Revolution grow louder.
- September 17, 1793 · The Law of Suspects orders the indefinite imprisonment of
enemies of liberty
. - October 1793 · Beginning of the first wave of executions. Marie Antoinette, the Girondins (including Vergniaud and Brissot), Olympe de Gouges, Phillippe Égalité, Madame du Barry, and many others are guillotined. Granted extensive powers, the representatives on mission suppress all resistance to the Revolution in the provinces.
- February 5, 1794 · In his speech on political morality, Robespierre defines virtue and terror as the central guiding principles of the Republic.
- March 24, 1794 · Execution of the ultra-radical Hébertists.
- April 5, 1794 · Execution of the Dantonists, who had called for an end to the Terror.
- June 10, 1794 · With the Law of Prairial, the Great Terror begins. Defendants are denied legal counsel. Moral evidence alone suffices for conviction. In six weeks, as many people are executed in Paris as in the entire previous year.
- July 27, 1794 · 9 Thermidor. Fall of Robespierre.
- July 28, 1794 · Execution of Robespierre and 21 of his supporters. During the two following days, a further 83 people are guillotined.
- August 1, 1794 · The Law of Prairial is suspended and definitively repealed on 10 August. This brings an end to the phase of accelerated trials and mass executions.
- May 7, 1795 · Execution of Fouquier-Tinville, public prosecutor of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
- May 31, 1795 · Abolition of the Revolutionary Tribunal.
Quotes
Immediately after the publication of the present decree, all suspicious persons who are within the territory of the Republic and who are still at liberty shall be placed under arrest.
Law of suspects, Article 1, 17 September 1793
Virtue, without which terror is disastrous; terror, without which virtue is powerless.
Robespierre, 5 February, 1794.
The purpose of establishing the Revolutionary Tribunal is to punish the enemies of the people.
Law of Prairial, Art. 4, 10 June 1794.
Le Moniteur
Nonidi 19 Pluviôse, l'an 2 de la République Française une et indivisible
(February 7, 1794)
Mass drownings in the Loire during the Reign of Terror
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