The Reign of Terror or simply The Terror started in September 5, 1793 and the repression accelerated in June 1793 to July 1794. During the French Revolution the periods of about ten months when struggles between rival factions led to mutual radicalization which took on a violent character with mass executions by guillotine.

The upheaval following the overthrow of the monarchy, fear of invasion by foreign monarchist powers and from pro-monarchy parties within France all combined to throw the nations into chaos and the government into frenzied paranoia.

The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people and in the single month before it ended 1,900 executions took place. The figure most associated with The Terror was Maximilien Robespierre, when he became the most powerful men in the government, after the execution of former King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette in 1793.

While terror may initially be adopted only to eliminate opponents in the pursuit of some idealized social vision, once that behavior has been established, the existence of almost total does not prevent its use.

In 27 July 1794 Robespierre was executed, and the new government was predominantly made up of Girondists who had survived the Terror. They took revenge after taking power by persecuting even those Jacobins who had helped to over throw Maximilien Robespierre.

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