French Revolution – Motives of Committee of Public Safety

Essay Subject: Go over the motives of the Committee of Public Safety and the role they played in the running of France (up to 27 July 1794)

“Anarchy inside, invasion without having. A nation cracking from outdoors pressure, disintegrating from internal strain. Revolution at its height” This was the nation the Committee of Public Security (“The committee”), inherited and it was announced their mission by the Convention, to “create a viable (republican) state amid political turmoil” , by implies of intimidation and eventually terror, indeed the proclamation of “terror as the order of the day” so as to establish a peaceful, stable government for the introduction of the constitution. “The aim of constitutional government is to preserve republic. The aim of revolutionary government is to establish it” This was to be achieved by the passing of “laws and controls needed to strike terror in the hearts of counter revolutionaries” . Nonetheless as is revealed by way of their actions and policies, the Committee had ulterior motives, harnessing Jacobin ideals. Throughout the years of terror, ending July 27th 1794, the Committee established themselves within the operating of France, by assuming handle of areas of the economy, sections of war and munitions, as properly as education and provide and provisioning as portion of their bid for ultimate alter.

“laws passed went beyond national security and revealed a Jacobin social vision for a secular and republican education system and a national plan of social welfare” . The terror was their weapon, with which to establish and restructure regions of education, war and munitions, provisioning and provide, and ultimately modify the pretty principles and traditions everyday life relied upon. It became both their motive, and their mission, and it was component of their role which they played in the operating of France. No longer was “The central objective of the terror to institute the emergency and draconian measures necessary at a time of military crisis” , but rather to establish an official ideology from which would stem republicanism and other Jacobin ideals.

The Committee were capable to acquire control over the Convention and the industries of France, by relying on the help of Jacobin members of the Convention. “The national convention claimed sovereign authority, but in half of France its authority was denied.” . It is for this reason that they had been capable to make a virtual dictatorship more than France and introduce policies such as the policy of Suspects, and…

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