In July 1793, the French Revolution was at its lowest ebb. The exhilaration of the storming of the Bastille four years earlier was long past and the central government was losing control. Enemy forces from Prussia and Austria were advancing over French soil, and British ships blockaded French ports expecting to link up with rebels. In Paris, tensions were high as power struggles began between revolutionary factions.

The Terror began on August 1, 1793 when the government's ad hoc Committee of Public Safety began to serve as the major trouble shooter in meeting the nation's crisis. It also presided over the bloodiest period of the French Revolution. One month later on September 17, a "Law of Suspects" was introduced allowing for the arrest of anyone whose conduct suggested they were supporters of tyranny or federalism, and this law was easily twisted to affect just about everyone in the nation.

There were also laws against nobles who had been anything less than zealous in their revolutionary activities. Even speech was affected when the Assembly passed a law abolishing the use of the term monsieur and madame in favor of the revolutionary and egalitarian "citizen." Failure to use the new term would automatically subject one to suspicion.

It is, of course, the excesses of the executions that made the Terror most infamous. Political enemies and suspected counter revolutionaries went to the guillotine. They were soon followed by the former French queen, Marie Antoinette on October 17. Around 16,000 people lost their heads during the next nine months, and around the same number died in prison.

Lyons, which had been in revolt and receiving support from the British, surrendered in 1793 to French revolutionary forces. The Committee of Public Safety decided to set an example of that rebellious town, whose numbers could not be accommodated by the guillotine. So, on December 4-8, 1793, people were executed en masse by cannon fire. French troops destroyed whole areas of the town and killed about 2,000 more. Toulon was also recaptured on December 17 thanks to a Captain Bonaparte and his artillery. Another 800 were shot and nearly 300 guillotined. As the central government regained control of Marseilles and Bordeaux, hundreds more were executed.

Around 500,000 people may have been imprisoned across France, and 10,000 may have died in prison without trial. It is significant to note, too, that the Terror was not aimed at nobles and the clergy, who made up only

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