The Jacobins

A detailed Summary of The Jacobins

The Jacobins are the regime that ruled France by terror From early June 1793 until late July 1794. To some they are to be praised, to others they are hated upon and justifiably. "Albert Mathiez (1874-1932), depicts Maximilien Robespierre [the leader of the Jacobins] as a hero". But, on the other hand, "Alphonse Aulard (1849-1928) suggests that Danton was a martyr". Taking into consideration the commodious deaths that the Jacobins are responsible for it is hard to believe one would praise Robespierre. The Jacobins ruled by terror, others did not belie them for fear of death, those who did, often were guillotined.

The Guillotine became a Jacobin trademark; in fact, the way the Jacobins stayed in power as long as they did was by executing the opposition. The Girondins in particular, suffered the guillotine in immeasurable amounts. All that apposed to the Jacobins were subject to fatal consequences. The Jacobins had supreme power and abused it. They are responsible for many deaths, massacres, and assassinations. Whether the Jacobins invited liability for these plotted murders, they were always tied to mass killings. "No more than one third of all victims were nobles, clergy, or rich commoners. Just over one third were property own

However, every political group has a rival just like sports. There was the Jacobins, and there was the Girondins. Although it is said by historians that the leaders of both these groups had similar views on topics they were constantly in conflict with each other. The Jacobins would not put up with an uprising against them. "they fought a good hard fight until the Jacobins used the king's trial to put the leading Girondins in the wrong and, pressed hard by the Paris sections, had them purged in June 1793 and executed [by Guillotine] in October".

The actions that the Jacobins took during the revolution and as ruler for just over a year are simply appawling. There was corruption, innocent lives being taken, and gruesome displays of violence, taking all into consideration, one would have to believe that the Jacobins were simply no better than terrorists.

Near the fall of the Jacobins, the club was slowly splitting many turned on each other and killed fellow Jacobins by guillotine. With less and less men the Jacobins were becoming less powerful and more prone to an uprising. The power of the Jacobins had gotten the best of them and they were out of control as they were form the start. They eventually killed off their own leader. This however, was after Robespierre had been shot in the jaw, which is still unknown today whether it was a suicide attempt or someone had actually shot him. He was dragged off to the guillotine and executed in a direct order form the Jacobins, this pretty much was the end of the Jacobins.

"The first trial began on 6 April......In its first six months it sentenced only 70 people to death. By the end of the year, however, it had guillotined more than 500, and by the end of July 1794, when the dictatorship was overthrown, the score was at 2,700".

The courts played a very big part in the deaths of the people. During the time of the Jacobin dictatorship, many of the deaths were form the guillotine that the Jacobins adored. However, the guillotine was not the only thing killing of people enormous amounts. Riots, and massacres broke out often claiming the lives of the rich the poor and political officers.

"Successes were won by the terrorizing of millions of people. The Jacobins arrested many, massacred 100,000 or more, and executed approximately fifteen or sixteen thousand after the revolutionary mock trials".

They Jacobins would also kill common people, and make claims that these people were uprising against them. The Jacobins would make the execution of these innocent people into a show to let everybody know that if they were to try anything like this they would also be killed. Going to court and pleading innocent for a small crime in front of a Jacobin government and coming out with your life was nearly impossible. Much of the jury was made up of Jacobins them

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Approximate Word count = 1919
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History