Michel Biard is Professor of Modern History at the University of Rouen.Marisa Linton is Professor Emerita in History, Kingston University.

• Note on the TextAcknowledgementsForeword by Timothy TackettIntroduction: The Demons of TerrorChapter 1: The Terror – a Concept Imposed by the Thermidoreans1. How the ’system of terror’ and the black legend of Robespierre were retrospectively invented2. Developing use of the word ‘terror’ between 1789 and 17943. ‘Terror as the order of the day’: an unsaid, unofficial yet widespread order from the ConventionChapter 2: The Meaning of ‘Terror’ Before the Revolution1. Terror and Enlightenment. A problematic connection2. The concept of ‘terror’ in the Ancien Régime3. The role of terror in political theoryChapter 3: Terror in the Heart: The Weight of Fear and Emotions1. The spectre of conspiracy and treason2. The flow of emotions and fears3. The impossible combination of virtue and terrorChapter 4: The Revolution and its Opponents: Clashes and the Intensification of Repression 1. Legislation targeting refractory clergy and émigrés2. ‘The suspects’: how the net of suspicion widened3. Repression against ‘federalism’ and the emblematic case of the Lyon revolt Chapter 5: Creating Revolutionary Law: A Time of Political Exception1. From ordinary law to ‘revolutionary’ law2. ‘Revolutionary institutions and their role in repression3. The recourse to extraordinary justiceChapter 6: Terror in the Convention: Political conflict as an engine of ‘terror’1. The Convention and the clubs: from political strife to ‘purging’2. From arrests to political trials3. Death as a means to eliminate opponents in the Convention4. The elimination of factions, the apogee of ‘terror’ or the will to end it?  Chapter 7: Paris and the Vendée at the heart of the ‘terror’1. Paris, capital of the sans-culotte movement2. Paris, epicentre of the ‘terror’ 3. The ‘military Vendée’, a zone of civil warChapter 8: Who Lived and Who Died? The Difficult Balance Sheets of Terror1. Working out the death toll2. Fraternal France and fratricidal FranceConclusion: How the Convention Reconstructed Itself After ThermidorChronology for the Years of the ConventionMapsSome Further ReadingNotesIndex

“This brief and compelling book confronts all the major issues posed by ‘the Terror’ of the French Revolution and lays to rest the myths and distortions created at the time and propagated ever since. It will be a continuing point of reference for anyone interested in these epochal events and their continuing resonance.”Lynn Hunt, University of California, Los Angeles“This is historical scholarship at its finest. Two of our leading historians of the Revolution dissect its most contentious, confronting period with lucidity, conceptual skill and cutting-edge knowledge. The result is a wise and illuminating rethinking of ‘the Terror’.”Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne“Some books crystallize an historiographical moment. Michel Biard and Marisa Linton’s condensed, indeed clarified, English translation of Terreur: La Révolution française face à ses demons does exactly that. They have synthesized recent research, both in French and English, and added their own very considerable expertise. This book is now the starting point in debates about the Terror/terror.”French History“The authors stress the overwhelming impact of emotions, some positive, some like fear, desperately negative. This account, impressively clear, concise and scholarly,  provides a very convincing account which will serve the needs of university students and provoke the interest of general readers. It is the work of two leading experts in France and Britain, endorsed by an American expert of world renown.”Modern & Contemporary France"[A] worthy text that very helpfully condenses several major historiographical and ideological debates around the French revolutionary Terror into a readable discussion."Journal of Modern History

Michel Biard is Professor of Modern History at the University of Rouen.Marisa Linton is Professor Emerita in History, Kingston University.

• Note on the TextAcknowledgementsForeword by Timothy TackettIntroduction: The Demons of TerrorChapter 1: The Terror – a Concept Imposed by the Thermidoreans1. How the ’system of terror’ and the black legend of Robespierre were retrospectively invented2. Developing use of the word ‘terror’ between 1789 and 17943. ‘Terror as the order of the day’: an unsaid, unofficial yet widespread order from the ConventionChapter 2: The Meaning of ‘Terror’ Before the Revolution1. Terror and Enlightenment. A problematic connection2. The concept of ‘terror’ in the Ancien Régime3. The role of terror in political theoryChapter 3: Terror in the Heart: The Weight of Fear and Emotions1. The spectre of conspiracy and treason2. The flow of emotions and fears3. The impossible combination of virtue and terrorChapter 4: The Revolution and its Opponents: Clashes and the Intensification of Repression 1. Legislation targeting refractory clergy and émigrés2. ‘The suspects’: how the net of suspicion widened3. Repression against ‘federalism’ and the emblematic case of the Lyon revolt Chapter 5: Creating Revolutionary Law: A Time of Political Exception1. From ordinary law to ‘revolutionary’ law2. ‘Revolutionary institutions and their role in repression3. The recourse to extraordinary justiceChapter 6: Terror in the Convention: Political conflict as an engine of ‘terror’1. The Convention and the clubs: from political strife to ‘purging’2. From arrests to political trials3. Death as a means to eliminate opponents in the Convention4. The elimination of factions, the apogee of ‘terror’ or the will to end it?  Chapter 7: Paris and the Vendée at the heart of the ‘terror’1. Paris, capital of the sans-culotte movement2. Paris, epicentre of the ‘terror’ 3. The ‘military Vendée’, a zone of civil warChapter 8: Who Lived and Who Died? The Difficult Balance Sheets of Terror1. Working out the death toll2. Fraternal France and fratricidal FranceConclusion: How the Convention Reconstructed Itself After ThermidorChronology for the Years of the ConventionMapsSome Further ReadingNotesIndex

“This brief and compelling book confronts all the major issues posed by ‘the Terror’ of the French Revolution and lays to rest the myths and distortions created at the time and propagated ever since. It will be a continuing point of reference for anyone interested in these epochal events and their continuing resonance.”Lynn Hunt, University of California, Los Angeles“This is historical scholarship at its finest. Two of our leading historians of the Revolution dissect its most contentious, confronting period with lucidity, conceptual skill and cutting-edge knowledge. The result is a wise and illuminating rethinking of ‘the Terror’.”Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne“Some books crystallize an historiographical moment. Michel Biard and Marisa Linton’s condensed, indeed clarified, English translation of Terreur: La Révolution française face à ses demons does exactly that. They have synthesized recent research, both in French and English, and added their own very considerable expertise. This book is now the starting point in debates about the Terror/terror.”French History“The authors stress the overwhelming impact of emotions, some positive, some like fear, desperately negative. This account, impressively clear, concise and scholarly,  provides a very convincing account which will serve the needs of university students and provoke the interest of general readers. It is the work of two leading experts in France and Britain, endorsed by an American expert of world renown.”Modern & Contemporary France"[A] worthy text that very helpfully condenses several major historiographical and ideological debates around the French revolutionary Terror into a readable discussion."Journal of Modern History

Michel Biard is Professor of Modern History at the University of Rouen.Marisa Linton is Professor Emerita in History, Kingston University.

• Note on the TextAcknowledgementsForeword by Timothy TackettIntroduction: The Demons of TerrorChapter 1: The Terror – a Concept Imposed by the Thermidoreans1. How the ’system of terror’ and the black legend of Robespierre were retrospectively invented2. Developing use of the word ‘terror’ between 1789 and 17943. ‘Terror as the order of the day’: an unsaid, unofficial yet widespread order from the ConventionChapter 2: The Meaning of ‘Terror’ Before the Revolution1. Terror and Enlightenment. A problematic connection2. The concept of ‘terror’ in the Ancien Régime3. The role of terror in political theoryChapter 3: Terror in the Heart: The Weight of Fear and Emotions1. The spectre of conspiracy and treason2. The flow of emotions and fears3. The impossible combination of virtue and terrorChapter 4: The Revolution and its Opponents: Clashes and the Intensification of Repression 1. Legislation targeting refractory clergy and émigrés2. ‘The suspects’: how the net of suspicion widened3. Repression against ‘federalism’ and the emblematic case of the Lyon revolt Chapter 5: Creating Revolutionary Law: A Time of Political Exception1. From ordinary law to ‘revolutionary’ law2. ‘Revolutionary institutions and their role in repression3. The recourse to extraordinary justiceChapter 6: Terror in the Convention: Political conflict as an engine of ‘terror’1. The Convention and the clubs: from political strife to ‘purging’2. From arrests to political trials3. Death as a means to eliminate opponents in the Convention4. The elimination of factions, the apogee of ‘terror’ or the will to end it?  Chapter 7: Paris and the Vendée at the heart of the ‘terror’1. Paris, capital of the sans-culotte movement2. Paris, epicentre of the ‘terror’ 3. The ‘military Vendée’, a zone of civil warChapter 8: Who Lived and Who Died? The Difficult Balance Sheets of Terror1. Working out the death toll2. Fraternal France and fratricidal FranceConclusion: How the Convention Reconstructed Itself After ThermidorChronology for the Years of the ConventionMapsSome Further ReadingNotesIndex

“This brief and compelling book confronts all the major issues posed by ‘the Terror’ of the French Revolution and lays to rest the myths and distortions created at the time and propagated ever since. It will be a continuing point of reference for anyone interested in these epochal events and their continuing resonance.”Lynn Hunt, University of California, Los Angeles“This is historical scholarship at its finest. Two of our leading historians of the Revolution dissect its most contentious, confronting period with lucidity, conceptual skill and cutting-edge knowledge. The result is a wise and illuminating rethinking of ‘the Terror’.”Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne“Some books crystallize an historiographical moment. Michel Biard and Marisa Linton’s condensed, indeed clarified, English translation of Terreur: La Révolution française face à ses demons does exactly that. They have synthesized recent research, both in French and English, and added their own very considerable expertise. This book is now the starting point in debates about the Terror/terror.”French History“The authors stress the overwhelming impact of emotions, some positive, some like fear, desperately negative. This account, impressively clear, concise and scholarly,  provides a very convincing account which will serve the needs of university students and provoke the interest of general readers. It is the work of two leading experts in France and Britain, endorsed by an American expert of world renown.”Modern & Contemporary France"[A] worthy text that very helpfully condenses several major historiographical and ideological debates around the French revolutionary Terror into a readable discussion."Journal of Modern History