Who led the Committee of Public Safety and was responsible for the Reign of Terror?

• A. Danton
• B. Marat
• C. Robespierre
• D. Carnot

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is how centralized leadership within the revolutionary government can turn fear into a tool for enforcing political change. Maximilien Robespierre became the dominant figure on the Committee of Public Safety, the body responsible for directing the war effort and internal security during the radical phase of the French Revolution. He helped shape the committee’s approach, relying on the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Law of Suspects to try and purge perceived enemies of the revolution. This combination—strong centralized control, a fierce justification of using harsh measures to defend the republic, and the practical use of tribunals and executions—produced the Reign of Terror, a period marked by widespread arrests and executions aimed at silencing counterrevolution.

Danton, while a major early leader and a key voice in revolutionary policy, opposed some of the later excesses and was executed as Robespierre’s influence grew. Marat was a radical voice and agitator whose impact was influential but not as a chair of the committee. Carnot played an important military organizing role but did not drive the Terror in the same way Robespierre did. Robespierre’s leadership, and his fate after the Thermidorian Reaction, are what tie him most directly to the Committee of Public Safety and the Reign of Terror.