The Path to Terror: The Destruction of Liberty and Equality in the French Revolution

Abstract

The French Revolution declared the principle of liberty and equality, but soon the revolutionaries chose terror and misinterpreted the foundational principles of the Revolution. By using dialectical analysis with the combination of philosophical and historical narrative, the essay attempts to provide a systematic analysis of terror. In this way, readers will understand how terror came from ideological misinterpretation of liberty and equality, how terror is connected to the myth of the virtuous republic and nationalism, how the harsh conditions of economic crisis and the lack of political authority made terror inevitable, as well as how the revolutionary government intensified terror by choosing war and forcing the priests to take oath . Finally, this paper analyzes the implication of terror in the psychological aspect, thereby revealing the hidden consequences of terror.