french help: i need some facts about the “reign of terror” during the French Revolution! - Help.com

Fast Facts: The Reign of Terror was led by Maximilien Robespierre, a Jacobin
The guillotine was often referred to as “Madame Guillotine” or “The National Razor”
Death toll estimates range from 16,000 to 40,000
Roughly 250,000 people were imprisoned
At the height of “The Terror,” 50 people were being executed each day
The public executioner in Paris during this period was Charles-Henri Sanson

Background and Causes: While composing the new French Constitution, after the execution of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, the new French government faced increasing factionalization and internal strife.

Though some focused on external threats to the Revolution, from nations like Austria who had threatened the nation unless it restored a monarchy, many Jacobins, a radical Far Left party, and their leader, Robespierre, feared internal agitators and counter-revolutionaries more. Former French nobles and members of the clergy, most obviously, stood to benefit if the Revolution failed.