Reign of Terror: Government and Economy

The machinery of government was centralized in the hands of the Committee of Public Safety. Military mobilization, planned by Carnot, and based on the levée, a requisition of able-bodied males between the age of 18 and 25, was followed by a complete reorganization of the armed forces that paid dividends in the French Revolutionary Wars. In the field of economics, the demands of the enragés in Paris brought strict controls. The law of the maximum and other measures set price and wage ceilings, forbade hoarding and withholding from the market, requisitioned food and supplies for the army, and instituted rationing. Land purchase by the peasants was made easier. Despite these measures, economic problems continued to intensify.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Outcome
• Government and Economy
• Confinement and Execution
• Origins of the Terror
• Bibliography

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