Lasted from July 1793 to July 1794, during which the Committee of Public Safety sought to eliminate opposition to the revolution, resulting in about 40,000 victims.

• A. Reign of Terror
• B. Directory
• C. National Convention
• D. Thermidorian Reaction

Answer: (A)

During the French Revolution, a period of intense fear and wartime crisis led the Committee of Public Safety to take centralized control and aggressively root out opponents of the revolution. This era saw the rapid use of arrests, revolutionary tribunals, and harsh measures under the Law of Suspects to suppress dissent, with the guillotine becoming a symbol of the effort to defend the republic. The aim was to eliminate real and suspected enemies to stabilize the revolution, even though this caused a high human cost—about 40,000 victims, including those executed and those who died in prison. This time frame and approach define the Reign of Terror. The other phases—like the later Directory, the earlier National Convention’s broader work, or the Thermidorian Reaction that ends the Terror—do not fit the July 1793–July 1794 period or it’s scale of oppression.