ABSTRACT
In Ancient Greek mythology, terror and dread were the names given to the twin horses that drew the chariot of Ares, the god of war. The development of the technique of guerrilla warfare as a path to revolution, however, was to create an important additional role for terror in the theory of revolution. The modern use of the concept of terror in revolutionary circumstances derives from the French Revolution of 1789. The most spectacular feature of terror was the execution of members of the aristocracy, not charged with a crime, not even with conspiracy against the state, but simply because they were aristocrats. Up to the Second World War terror remained a feature primarily of the consolidation phase of great social revolutions. The most chilling examples of the use of terror as a permanent governmental device dedicated to the eradication of the possibility of revolution are, however, to be found in Chile and Uruguay.
