Intro
Closely following the onset of the French Revolution, France's Reign of Terror was a markedly violent period of mass executions set off by differences between the rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins. The death count rose into the tens of thousands, with almost 17,000 people being executed by guillotine alone, the symbol of the revolutionary cause.
Following Robespierre's principle that "Terror is nothing else than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible," the newly established Committee of Public Safety was swift in crushing any resistance to its actions with liberal use of the guillotine.