Committee of Public Safety

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For other uses, see Committee of Public Safety (disambiguation).

The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public), set up by the National Convention on April 6, 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France during the Reign of Terror (1793-4) of the French Revolution. Under war conditions and with national survival seemingly at stake, the Jacobins under Robespierre centralized denunciations, trials, and executions under the supervision of this committee of twelve members. The committee was responsible for thousands of executions, most by the guillotine, in what was known as the "Reign of Terror." Frenchmen were executed under the pretext of being a supporter of monarchy or against the revolution. The Committee ceased meeting in 1795.

Contents

[edit] Actions

  • Passed the Maximum Price Act
  • Hundreds of thousands conscripted in the Levée en masse. France had over 850,000 men in its armies
  • Creation of a war dictatorship.
  • Suppression of counter-revolution and rebellions.
  • Created the Law of 22 Prairial

[edit] Failures

  • Tens of thousands of French citizens were killed.
  • Many tens of thousands more were alienated from the Revolution
  • Grain shortages and hoarding caused by price controls.
  • The poor bore the burden of conscription and grain requisitions.
  • Hospitals, schools and charities were deprived of staff because of attacks on religious orders.
  • Deepening hostilities in the countryside over the dechristianisation campaign.

[edit] Prominent members

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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