The Reign Of Terror Essay -- History Historical Terror Essays

The Reign of affrightHistory is said to be written by the winners, but is it possible to decree history? In a way, the French, like many who view preceded them, andmany who will proceed them have through with(predicate) the impossible, rewriting history. Fromtrivial folklore, such as George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, to theincredibly wrong, the African slave trade peoples views of history can beshaped and molded. The French have done a superb job of instilling all of uswith the concept that their Revolution was a fight for liberty, justice and thegood of all Frenchmen everywhere. Their glorification of the Bastille with itsdepictions in painting and sculpture and how the Revolution was the beginning ofa new age pales to some of the events during this period. In fact, the stormingof the Bastille was merely a hole in the dike, and more would follow. The guinea pig Guard, the Paris Commune, the September Massacre, are all words thatthe French would prefer us not to hear . These events were a subtle dnouementtoan climax that was filled with two blood and pain. The Reign of Terror, or theGreat Terror, was a massive culmi acres to the horror of the French Revolution,the gutters flowing with blood as the people of Paris watched with an amused eye. No matter what the French may claim, if one chooses to openhis eyes and read about this tragedy, they are most certainly welcome.The revolution begins quietly in the fiscal crisis of Louis XVIs reign.The government was running deeply into bankruptcy, and at the urging of hisfinancial advisors, he called the Estates General. The governing body had notbeen called for almost two centuries, and now its plant seemed outdated. Asmall number of people said that the Third Estate, that which was drawn from thetowns, should have power to equal the other Estates. Clubs of the bourgeoisie,the middle class, were formed, proclaiming, Salus populi lex est. It was asimple holler out meaning the welfare of the people is la w. To these people, theEstates General was like a pair of shoes that no longer fit. Reformed seemediminent, the phrase, The Third Estate is not an order, it is the nation itselfbegan to circulate.1With much fanfare and circumstance, the three estates were calledtogether. However, on trying to meet, the Third Estate found the doors to t... ...aldepiction of man at his worst. The sad truth is that events of this nature haveoccurred with amazing regularity. Perhaps if the Reign of Terror was just oneappalling moment of human cruelty, the world would be a different place. Withsuch things as the Gulag, the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade, and evenreturning back to ancient times of the Assyrians and the Crusades, man has beenknown to slaughter his brethren wholesale. We are a race, bred with violencecoursing through our veins, and we can do little about it. Perhaps myspeculations are wrong, but if such tragedies have occurred over and over, canwe truly ever change. The Reign of Terror is just the culmination to thebloodiness and the atrocities of the French Revolution. It is quite ironic thata Revolution based on the ideals of Reason and the fight for the people, wouldkill over thirty kibibyte of their countrymen. In conclusion, the Reign ofTerror was the climax of this terrible Revolution. The violence and paranoia ofthe sans culottes, the lust for political power in the convention, and the pettydifferences of one person to another at long last reached a head, exploding into amass execution.