The reign of terror was the period of the French Revolution characterized by a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Directed by the Committee of Public Safety the Revolutionary government's Terror was essentially a war dictatorship instituted to rule the country in a national emergency. Initially the Committee of Public Safety was created to preserve the reforms of the French Revolution. Their aim was to eliminate all internal counterrevolutionary elements to raise new armies and to assure food supplies for the armies and cities (Hampson, 1963, p 132). The Committee of Public Safety tried to deal with Frances problems by using terror as a means of persuasion. The question is was the use of terror an effective means of dealing with these problems?
By the summer of 1792 disaffection with the Revolution had grown among the lower classes especially the peasantry. …
