overnment. Beginning in September 1792, France was ruled by the National Constitutional Convention. The September Massacres occured when peasants went into jail and began to kill people. In January 1793, the National Assembly decides they were guilty of treason and Louis XVI was beheaded at the guillotine. The Convention eleceted twelve members to be a Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien de Robespierre, to stop any possible counterrevolution. The Committee started a Reign of Terror. More than forty thousand people were killed. The queen was one of the first to be executed, thousands of others were imprisoned. The Committee started a program of price controls and started a national draft. By 1794, France had the biggest army in Europe, it was a citizen army. Although the war lasted until 1797, the country was saved. The rule of the Committee of Public Safety had no purpose. In 1794, Robespierre and his followers were executed. During the period between the 16th and 18th century, there were many rulers that contributed to the rise and fall of the French Monarchy. The ideas of the enlightenment, class struggles, and policies of the king had different effects on the reigns of each king. It is very ironic that after years of fighting for a democracy, the Fench people decide that they want a dictatorship. If I was a ruler during the period of the French Revolution, I would have ruled as an absolutist. I would not expect the people to love me, as Louis XVI did, because this would only show my weakness. People are unsure of what they want and need a strong ruler to tell them what they need. I am sure that I would fall as the other rulers did, but as the saying goes,"what goes up, must come down." ...
