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Reign of Terror
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Oil painting by Pierre Antoine De Machy showing a large crowd gathered around a guillotine during a public execution at Place de la Revolution in Paris during the French Revolution.
Engraving of a Revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror, with judges at a table, armed guards, and citizens, some pointing and gesturing in a crowded courtroom.
Eighteenth-century painted portrait of Maximilien de Robespierre wearing a brown striped coat, high collar, and white cravat, set against a plain background. Prisoners awaiting execution during the Reign of Terror Engraving depicting the dramatic arrest of Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution, with armed guards seizing him in a crowded, torch-lit chamber. Maximilien Robespierre
Engraved portrait of Maximilien Robespierre, shown from the shoulders up with curled hair, a high-collared coat, and a cravat, against a dark background.
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Oil painting by Pierre Antoine De Machy showing a large crowd gathered around a guillotine during a public execution at Place de la Revolution in Paris during the French Revolution.
Pierre-Antoine Demachy: Une Exécution capitale, place de la Révolution An execution by guillotine during the Reign of Terror, depicted in Une Exécution capitale, place de la Révolution, oil on paper mounted on canvas by Pierre-Antoine Demachy, c. 1793; in the Carnavalet Museum, Paris.

Reign of Terror

French history
Also known as: La Terreur, the Terror
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History

Reign of Terror, period of the French Revolution from September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor, year II). With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day (September 5 decree) and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution (nobles, priests, and hoarders). In Paris a wave of executions followed....

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