Reign of Terror
Overview
 
The Reign of Terror (the latter is date 10 Thermidor
Thermidor
Thermidor was the eleventh month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the French word thermal which comes from the Greek word "thermos" which means heat....

, year II of the French Revolutionary Calendar), also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...

 and the Jacobins
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...

, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution."

The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with an estimated 16,000 to 17,000 executed by guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

, and another 25,000 by firing squad in summary executions across France.
There were a large number of additional victims who were not executed, but killed in a number of massacres across the country, such as the infernal columns
Infernal columns
The infernal columns were operations led by general Louis Marie Turreau during the War in the Vendee, aimed at eliminating all resistance after the setback of the virée de Galerne.-Other uses:...

 organized by Louis Marie Turreau
Louis Marie Turreau
Louis Marie Turreau , also known as Turreau de Garambouville or Turreau de Linières, was a French general officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. He was most notable as the organisor of the colonnes infernales during the war in the Vendée, which massacred tens of thousands of Vendéens and ravaged...

, which resulted in an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 deaths, or the Battle of Le Mans (1793)
Battle of Le Mans (1793)
The Battle of Le Mans was a battle of the War in the Vendée. It resulted in the rout of the Vendéen forces by Republican troops during the Virée de Galerne.-Prelude:...

 where the revolutionaries killed an estimated 20,000 non-combattants (on top of 15,000 soldiers killed in the battle itself).

The guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

 (called the "National Razor") became the symbol of the revolutionary cause, strengthened by a string of executions: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

, the Girondins, Philippe Égalité (Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans)
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror...

 and Madame Roland
Madame Roland
Marie-Jeanne Roland, better known simply as Madame Roland and born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon , was, together with her husband Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière, a supporter of the French Revolution and influential member of the Girondist faction...

, as well as many others, such as pioneering chemist Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...

, lost their lives under its blade.

During 1794, revolutionary France was beset with both real and imagined conspiracies by internal and foreign enemies.
 
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