Essay: The Terror and the French Revolution“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death, - the last, by far the easiest to grant, or Guillotine!”― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two CitiesOn the evening of July 14, 1989, 1.5 million people from 17 different countries gathered along the Champs-Élysées to celebrate Bastille Day, the anniversary of the French Revolution that had occurred two hundred years earlier. But what were the French celebrating, the storming of the Bastille and the death of ninety-eight people in a violent revolt? The meaning of the storming of the Bastille has long been debated and will continue to be, but the shockwaves it left in France at the time can still be felt today. One thing is certain and without question, the storming of the Bastille marked the fall of King Louis XVI and marked the beginning of a new era in the history of France. A period not sprinkled with glorious battles and epochal triumphs as will be seen in the Napoleonic era, but full of senseless executions by the guillotine blade and a new and brief period of "terror" under the influence of Maximilien Robespierre. To denounce Maximilien Robespierre as the perpetrator of terror and as a “bad guy” in the post-revolution period would be unwise. Robespierre simply represented the thoughts and feelings of the majority (or minority, depending on the perspective you take) of the French public. His actions reflected the judgment of the people and while his actions led to the deaths of approximately sixteen thousand people, it should be noted (to remain impartial) that France was in turmoil at the time, the atmosphere in Paris mirrored the atmosphere in Russia during late 1930s. The purges were com...... middle of paper ......evolution Voices from an epochal speech 1789-1795. Singapore, Guild Publishing.Websites1. Good reads (author not mentioned), GR (2012), Quotes on the French Revolution,[Good Reads], (Website: www.goodreads.com), (URL: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show_tag ?id=French Revolution), 6/5/122. Victor Hugo, VH (unknown) The French Revolution of Terror, [The French Revolution]. (Website: www.mtholyoke.edu), (URL: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/kat_anna/lesmis1.html) 5/14/123. TG Pearson, (2011) The popular movement during the French Revolution: a note on recent work, [Labour History], (website: www.jstor.com), (URL: http://www.jstor.org/discover / 10.2307/27507758?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=50221840154377 ) 17/5/12