The Reign Of Terror Essay -- History Historical Terror Essays

The hold of fear account statement is said to be written by the winners, but is it possible to alteration history? In a way, the cut, standardised galore(postnominal) who have preceded them, andmany who will proceed them have done the impossible, rewriting history. Fromtrivial folklore, much(prenominal) as George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, to theincredibly wrong, the Afri clear slave trade peoples views of history can beshaped and molded. The French have done a superb job of instilling only of uswith the concept that their novelty was a fight for liberty, justice and the well-behaved of all Frenchmen everywhere. Their glorification of the Bastille with itsdepictions in painting and sculpture and how the Revolution was the generator 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. TheNational Guard, the Paris Commune, the September Massacre, are all words thatt he French would prefer us not to hear. These events were a subtle dnouementtoan climax that was filled with both blood and pain. The curb of Terror, or theGreat Terror, was a massive culmination to the horror of the French Revolution,the gutters flowing with blood as the people of Paris watched with anentertained eye. No matter what the French may claim, if one chooses to openhis eyes and take in 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 hisfiscal advisors, he called the Estates General. The governing body had notbeen called for almost two centuries, and nowadays its workings seemed outdated. Asmall number of people said that the terce 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 cry meaning the welfare of the people is law. To these people, theEstates General was like a pair of shoes that no longer fit. Reformed seemediminent, the phrase, The terce 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 solid ground would be a different place. With much(prenominal) things as the Gulag, the Holocaust, the African hard worker Trade, and evenreturning back to ancient times of the Assyrians and the Crusades, man has been cognize to slaughter his brethren wholesale. We are a race, bred with strengthcoursing through our veins, and we can do little about it. Perhaps myspeculations are wrong, but if such tragedi es 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 30 thousand 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 individual to another finally reached a head, exploding into amass execution.