Abstract:

This article examines varieties of political violence in the French Revolution between 1789-1804. When historians write about violence in the revolution, they usually focus on the Jacobin terror of 1793-1794. However, violence took place on every stage of the revolution from the taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 to the appointment of Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor on May 18, 1804. Government repressions continued after the overthrow of the Jacobins in 1794. Mass revolutionary, antirevolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements suggested to their followers that violence was a legitimate means of political struggle. The intensity of violence was conditioned by outbreaks of political and religious eschatology. The massiveness of violence reflected the splintering of society and elements of civil war.

Keywords: French Revolution, political violence, terror