Reign of Terror

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/reign-of-terror

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary governing body?Committee of Public Safety
2. What is the key legislation enabling repression?Law of Suspects (September 17, 1793)
3. What was the Reign of Terror in France?It was a scary time from about 1793 to 1794 when the government used fear and violence to protect the revolution. The guillotine was used to execute people who were seen as enemies.
4. Why did people in France fear speaking up during the Reign of Terror?The Committee of Public Safety could arrest anyone suspected of being against the revolution, and many were executed. This made people very scared to say anything that might be seen as disloyal.

Federalist Revolts: Uprisings in various French regions against the central government in Paris during the revolution.
Anticlerical Sentiment: Opposition to the influence and power of the clergy and religious institutions.
Thermidorian Reaction: The parliamentary revolt and subsequent execution of Robespierre that ended the Reign of Terror.