The Reign of Terror Begins
What happened
In 1793, revolutionary France entered the Reign of Terror, when the Committee of Public Safety used executions and emergency laws to defend the republic. The guillotine became an emblem of state violence. Revolutionary virtue turned into organised fear.
Literary impact
The Terror forced Romantic writers to reconsider political idealism and human nature. Wordsworth's disillusionment, Shelley's radical anger, and later Victorian reflections on revolution all drew on the spectacle of liberty becoming coercion.
Source: Wikipedia
