The French Revolution: The Reign Of Terror

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Economic: As France was in the midst of their economic crisis, due to the several wars France participated in, it created debt for the nation state - which kept growing. Since the population was divided into three groups called estates due to the feudal system - where third estate was 98% of the population. The third estate consisted of the commoners - these people had to pay all the taxes, even though they had no money - due to them not being nobility or clergies - which did not help France get rid of their debt. In addition to this, commoners were not able to afford bread due to the the debt France was in, and how they also had to pay all the taxes for the king, with the money they didn't have - which is important as bread is essential to …show more content…

The Reign of Terror had leading events that caused it, such as the creation of the National Convention. The National Convention was an assembly that governed France, during an important period of the French Revolution. The National Convention was elected to provide a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy. By doing so, they were to abolish France, and create a republic from it. To do this the National Convention split into three different political groups: the Jacobins (wanted strong government), the Moderates (in between Jacobins and Girondins), and the Girondins (wanted little government). Within the Moderates, Maximilien Robespierre was one of the leaders. Robespierre used the influence of the Jacobins to rise in the new revolutionary government of France. The Jacobins were considered a radical group - their goal was to preserve the revolution, even if it meant violence and terror, which then led to the reign of terror. During the reign of terror, thousands of citizens of France were executed by the guillotine due to small things Robespierre was against. This Event is important as it was a turning point for the revolutionaries, but it was a corrupt turning point. It was corrupt as the whole situation has has gone to for, hundreds of citizens were executed daily for such little things Robespierre did this because he believed he had to remove everyone who was against the Revolution - which lead to the outbreak of deaths. This connects to nationalism because, it created a new constitution and government due to the

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