ABSTRACT
Terror became the order of the day on 5 September 1793, following pressure from the sections of Paris to ‘give force to the law’. Bad news from the war, federal revolts throughout France, counter-revolutionary activities, not only in the Vendée and Brittany but also in Lyon and Toulon, treason even in Paris, where Marat had been murdered on 13 July: all these had convinced Parisians that a firm government was essential to the survival of the Revolution. It was clear that the new Constitution agreed by the Convention would not do for a country at war, and so it had been accepted on 10 August, only to be suspended. The government was to be ‘revolutionary until the peace’. Although the structures were not fully in place immediately, from September to the following July the Committee of Public Safety effectively exercised control over all aspects of life in France. Some of the mechanisms had been established earlier, such as the levée en masse, a first Law of Suspects on 12 August and an attempt to control the price of bread in May. Representatives from the Convention had been sent into the départements as early as March, and the Revolutionary Tribunal had been established to deal with traitors.
