Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror


As the French Revolution continued, the king, the nobles, the lords and the the clergy began to lose most of their power over the people in poverty or the lower class men. However the people who were gaining power in France were now becoming greedy and power-hungry. During this time a legislative assembly was set up for the king to share power with but the king didn't agree with that. In results, the Jacobins end up cutting the king's head off for being accused of treason. Around this time, many people's head was cut off using an execution machine called the guillotine. This machine was used with the people found to go against the new government or even people following the old one as well.

Later, Maximilien Robespierre rose up in power. He was the one who came up with the Reign of Terror because during this time the people lived with this fear and terror of their heads being the next one to get cut off (that is how extreme things were). Robespierre as dictator of France did anything and everything he can to get rid of the old government or the old monarchy. For instance, the calendar was changed and Sunday was deleted from the days of the week because they believed religion was now "old fashion." In addition, kings, queens, and jacks were removed and placed with faces of revolutionaries.

Even though Robespierre had so much power, he didn't use it in the right way. The reason why is because people were afraid of getting their heads cut off for really no reason at all. Therefore, Robespierre was arrested and his head was cut off (what goes around comes around) and there ended the Reign of Terror.

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