A much worse Reign of Terror

So following on from a wise suggestion.

This thread has been created to discuss how to make the Reign of Terror a more well terrorising time.

It started in 1793, and was insighted by a conflict between the Jacobins and the Girondins.

What I want to know is how could we make the reign of terror start in 1793, and last until potentially the late 1790s, and have there be anarchy in Paris and the rest of France?

Thoughts?
 
I don't think that's an actually good depiction how Terror began.

Revolutionary France didn't have political parties, but "clubs" which were sorta mix between think-tank, lobbies and parlementarian groups.
You had Girondins members of the "Jacobin Club", as you had a lot of Montagnards outside it and part of Cordeliers, for exemple.

OCsOyRz.png

Main revolutionary clubs along a left-wing/right-wing placement, and their relations with Jacobins. -> Indicate filiation, - indicate at least partial fusion or concordance.

The Comité de Salut Public managed to be largely empowered because, as long as everyone remotely in charge was concerned, the geopolitical and geostrategical situation was a whole mess : inner threats coupled with foreign threat and economical issues didn't fared well and it was seen as a more or less sound move to deal with it harshly.
I'd stress that : Terror was accepted, including popularily (which doesn't mean wholy supported), because it was percieved as an acceptable break of the constitutional order for the sake of preserving the republican order.

By 1794, the whole state of exception was being less accepted, because the situation was better off than in 1793 : and even members of the Comité tried to cut down most of the worst outbreaks of power abuses (it's why représentants en mission as Fouché made a heel-face turn, they were politically, if not legally, threatened by the Comité at this point).
Long story short, even if the Comité survives thermidor, you'd have a return to a constitutional order because things went good enough for that a state of exception was seen as no longer needed, or at least not as much as in 1793.

I stress this particularily : Comité's rule actually managed to make the situation less anarchic and somehow more legalist by 1794 (regardless of its intentions, even if its members abided by some strong legalist tendencies). If it lives on, not only it wuldn't be able to maintain a non-constitutional rule; but I don't even think it would want to in first place.

The only way for Terror to be maintained way beyond the mid 1790's, would be Revolutionary France doing far less well in its wars for some reason : being in constant threat would certainly provoke the held of constitutional order, granted; but if France manages to be that threatened, you can bet that it wouldn't end in anarchy but by an eventual foreign/royalist occupation at term.
 
Top