The National Convention of 1792 abolished the monarchy and created the French First Republic marking the start of a New France. Nonetheless, the summer was brutal and Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The National Convention then created the Committee of Public Safety to protect the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. The Committee of Public Safety exercised virtual dictatorial power over the French government. Maximilien Robespierre was a Jacobin in the Estates General, who took over executive power of the Committee. Robespierre believed that terror was a necessary evil, to obtain “liberty and equality.” The Terror had an economic side represented in the Maximum, a price-control measure demanded by the lower classes of Paris, and a religious side that was represented in the program of de-Christianization pursued by the followers of Jacques Hebert. Robespierre believed that without terror there was no justice and without virtue, there is no terror, and without terror there is no power. His powerful speech only confused the hungry citizens. Robespierre went to extreme measures to control political activity in France. Throughout his Reign of Terror, Robespierre ordered around 17,000 deaths, about half of those deaths held no trial. Robespierre was dedicated to get rid of any enemies within France to end the revolution once and for all. The Terror ended a few months later with the execution of Maximilien Robespierre and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of
The National Convention of 1792 abolished the monarchy and created the French First Republic marking the start of a New France. Nonetheless, the summer was brutal and Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The National Convention then created the Committee of Public Safety to protect the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. The Committee of Public Safety exercised virtual dictatorial power over the French government. Maximilien Robespierre was a Jacobin in the Estates General, who took over executive power of the Committee. Robespierre believed that terror was a necessary evil, to obtain “liberty and equality.” The Terror had an economic side represented in the Maximum, a price-control measure demanded by the lower classes of Paris, and a religious side that was represented in the program of de-Christianization pursued by the followers of Jacques Hebert. Robespierre believed that without terror there was no justice and without virtue, there is no terror, and without terror there is no power. His powerful speech only confused the hungry citizens. Robespierre went to extreme measures to control political activity in France. Throughout his Reign of Terror, Robespierre ordered around 17,000 deaths, about half of those deaths held no trial. Robespierre was dedicated to get rid of any enemies within France to end the revolution once and for all. The Terror ended a few months later with the execution of Maximilien Robespierre and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of