The Great Terror of the French Revolution was the most violent phase of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. It took place in the summer of 1794 and saw executions reach their highest levels as Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety moved against anyone they believed was a threat to the revolution. The Great Terror lasted only a matter of weeks but resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and ended only with the arrest and execution of Robespierre himself.
What Was the Reign of Terror?
The Great Terror was the final and most extreme phase of the wider period known as the Reign of TerrorA period of extreme violence during the French Revolution when thousands were arrested and executed as enemies of the revolution., which lasted from September 1793 to July 1794. The Reign of Terror was a time of extreme violence and paranoiaAn extreme and irrational fear that others are plotting against you, leading to dangerous overreactions. during the French Revolution in which the radical Jacobins, led by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, worked to eliminate anyone they considered an enemy of the revolution. During this period, thousands of people were arrested and executed by guillotine, including nobles, clergy, and ordinary citizens. Fear and suspicion spread throughout French society as accusations of treason could come from anyone and result in swift execution. The Great Terror refers specifically to the final weeks of this period, beginning in June of 1794, when the pace of executions increased dramatically and even powerful revolutionary leaders were not safe from the guillotineA device with a heavy blade used during the French Revolution to execute people by beheading..
FactsthatCrunchGreat Terror – Background and Causes
By the spring of 1794, Robespierre had become the dominant figure within the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. He had used the Reign of Terror to eliminate his political rivals one by one, including the moderate Girondins and later even fellow Jacobins who called for an end to the violence. When Georges Danton, one of the most prominent figures of the revolution, publicly argued that the killings had gone too far, Robespierre had him arrested and executed in April of 1794. The message was clear: no one was safe from accusation, no matter how committed they were to the revolution. As Robespierre’s power grew, so did the paranoia that drove it. By June of 1794, the pace of trials and executions in Paris began to accelerate sharply, marking the beginning of what historians call the Great Terror.
FactsthatCrunchTap each impact to read what it led to.
Great Terror – The Law of 22 Prairial
The event that directly triggered the Great Terror was the passing of the Law of 22 PrairialA June 1794 law that removed the right to a defense lawyer and made death the only alternative to acquittal. on June 10th, 1794. This new law, pushed through the National Convention by Robespierre and his allies, dramatically changed how trials were conducted during the revolution. Under the new law, accused persons were denied the right to a defense lawyer and could no longer call witnesses on their behalf. The only verdict available to the Revolutionary TribunalThe special court set up during the French Revolution to try people accused of being enemies of the revolution. was either acquittalAn official court decision that a person is not guilty and will be set free. or death. There was no longer any middle ground. The law also expanded the definition of who could be considered an enemy of the revolution to include an extremely wide range of behaviors, making it possible to accuse almost anyone of treason. The result was a sharp increase in executions in Paris. In the six weeks following the passing of the law, the Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced over 1,300 people to death in Paris alone, compared to roughly 1,200 in the entire preceding year of the Reign of Terror.
Great Terror – Robespierre’s Fall
As the summer of 1794 progressed, Robespierre’s behavior became increasingly erraticUnpredictable and unstable in behavior, making others uncertain about what a person might do next. and his grip on power became more extreme. In June, he introduced a new state religion known as the Cult of the Supreme BeingA new state religion introduced by Robespierre in June 1794 to replace traditional religion in France. and oversaw a large festival in Paris to celebrate it. Many members of the National Convention found this deeply troubling and saw it as a sign that Robespierre was becoming a dictator. At the same time, Robespierre made a speech in the National Convention in which he suggested he had a list of enemies within the government itself. Without naming anyone specifically, his words created widespread panic among the members of the convention, as no one knew whether their own name was on the list. Fearing that they would be the next to face the guillotine, a group of convention members began working together in secret to bring Robespierre down before he could act against them.
FactsthatCrunchIt is July 26th, 1794, during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. You are a member of the National Convention in Paris. Robespierre has just given a speech warning that hidden enemies exist within the government itself, but he has not named anyone. You have no way of knowing whether your name is on his list, and the Law of 22 Prairial, passed in June, means an accusation is almost certain to end in death by guillotine. Every choice you make in the next days could save your life or end it.
Great Terror – End of the Great Terror
On July 27th, 1794, known in the French revolutionary calendar as 9 Thermidor, members of the National Convention moved against Robespierre. During a session of the convention, he was shouted down when he tried to speak and was formally arrested along with his closest allies. As soldiers arrived to take him into custody, Robespierre attempted to shoot himself in the head but only succeeded in shattering his jaw. He was held captive for the remainder of the day and executed by guillotine the following afternoon on July 28th, 1794, without a trial. The fall of Robespierre brought the Great Terror and the wider Reign of Terror to an immediate end. The period that followed, known as the Thermidorian ReactionThe period after Robespierre’s fall when the new government dismantled the Terror and released political prisoners., saw the new government move quickly to dismantle the machinery of the Terror, close the Jacobin clubs, and release thousands of political prisoners.
FactsthatCrunchIn what order did these events unfold during Robespierre's arrest and fall from power?
Significance of the Great Terror
The Great Terror remains one of the most studied and debated episodes of the French Revolution. It is often used by historians to illustrate how a revolution built on ideals of liberty and equality can turn into a system of oppression and fear. In total, over 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed during the entire Reign of Terror, with the Great Terror accounting for a significant portion of those deaths in a very short period of time. The Great Terror showed that the revolution had lost sight of the very principles it was founded on and that unchecked political power, even in the name of protecting the people, could lead to devastating results. The end of the Great Terror and the fall of Robespierre marked a major turning point in the French Revolution, paving the way for more moderate government and eventually the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.
FactsthatCrunchHistorians estimate that around 40,000 people died during the Reign of Terror, but fewer than half of those deaths came from official executions by guillotine.
About 17,000 people were formally sentenced and executed after trials. The remaining deaths came from prison conditions, mass shootings, and extrajudicial killings such as the noyades, the mass drownings carried out in Nantes by government agent Jean-Baptiste Carrier between November 1793 and February 1794. Commoners, including peasants and ordinary city residents, made up the large majority of victims, not the nobles that popular memory tends to picture.
French Revolution timeline · 1789 – 1799
Key Vocabulary
Reign of Terror
Guillotine
Law of 22 Prairial
Acquittal
Cult of the Supreme Being
Erratic
Thermidorian Reaction
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Great Terror?
The Great Terror was the most violent phase of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. It took place in the summer of 1794, when executions in Paris reached their highest levels. Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety struck at anyone they saw as a threat to the revolution.
What was the Law of 22 Prairial?
The Law of 22 Prairial was passed on June 10th, 1794, and it directly triggered the Great Terror. It denied accused people the right to a defense lawyer and stopped them from calling witnesses. The only verdicts allowed were acquittal or death, which caused executions to rise sharply.
How many people were executed during the Great Terror?
In the six weeks after the Law of 22 Prairial, the Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced over 1,300 people to death in Paris alone. That total was higher than the roughly 1,200 killed in the entire year before. This shows how fast the pace of executions rose in a short time.
How did the Great Terror end?
The Great Terror ended when the National Convention turned against Robespierre on July 27th, 1794. He was shouted down, arrested, and executed by guillotine the next day without a trial. His fall brought both the Great Terror and the wider Reign of Terror to an immediate stop.
Why did members of the Convention turn against Robespierre?
Members of the Convention feared they would be the next to face the guillotine. Robespierre gave a speech claiming he had a list of enemies inside the government, but he named no one. This spread panic, so a group secretly worked together to bring him down before he could act.
Cite This Article
To cite this article as a source, use one of the formats below.
MLA: Millar, B. “Great Terror of the French Revolution: A Detailed Summary.” HistoryCrunch, 22 September 2026, https://historycrunch.com/great-terror-of-the-french-revolution/.
APA: Millar, B. (2026). Great Terror of the French Revolution: A Detailed Summary. HistoryCrunch. https://historycrunch.com/great-terror-of-the-french-revolution/
Chicago: Millar, B. “Great Terror of the French Revolution: A Detailed Summary.” HistoryCrunch. September 22, 2026. https://historycrunch.com/great-terror-of-the-french-revolution/
Sources
- Fordham Modern History Sourcebook
- Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (revolution.chnm.org), George Mason
