Reign of Terror

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"New order never comes without destruction of the old. And if men are made to fear untrammeled liberty, so much the better. A brief taste of chaos will remind them why they crave obedience."

―François-Thomas Germain on the reasons for his instigation of the Terror, 1794.

A satirical caricature of Maximilien de Robespierre executing an executioner

The Reign of Terror, sometimes referred to simply as the Terror, was a period of intense social and political violence in France - and particularly in Paris - during the French Revolution. During the Terror, thousands of people across the country were executed, imprisoned or exiled for real or perceived crimes of treason against France.

The Terror was secretly planned by Templar Grand Master François-Thomas Germain, as the final phase of the "Great Work". Germain and his radical faction of the Templar Order sought to turn the revolution as chaotic and violent as possible. Doing so would crush the old social order and lead to a capitalist society in which the Templars could control the populace in far greater secrecy. The people would also fear the concept of revolution, as the Terror made an anarchic revolutionary society appear violent and brutal.

History

After King Louis XVI was executed in January 1793, he was followed in death by his wife, Marie Antoinette, and most members of the Girondin political party.

The newly formed Revolutionary government run by the Committee of Public Safety was tasked to defend France from the threat of invasion, organize its war effort, stifle civil war and local dissent and to centralize administration to meet these challenges. To this end, the National Convention provided them the powers of dictatorship over the political process.

The executions soon sparked off a long series of arrests, trials which would find the accused guilty based on very little evidence, and executions across the nation, with the most popular method of execution being decapitation by a guillotine. Almost 17,000 people were recorded to have been beheaded during the Terror. Another 25,000 summary executions took place throughout the country. Notable victims included chemist Antoine Lavoisier, lawyer Georges Danton, and the comte d'Estaing.

In July 1794, the Terror intensified into "The Great Terror" before finally ending on 27 July, when several revolutionaries revolted against the Terror's leaders and their excessive violence. Soon after, most of the Terror's instigators were executed, including Robespierre, becoming the last victims of their own violent reign, though the day after their fall witnessed the worst mass executions when 77 people were executed in a single day.

Reference

• Assassin's Creed: Unity