France’s answer to terrorism: The Law of Suspects

On April 5, 1793, decorated French military commander Charles Dumouriez caused a sensational panic in Paris when he fled the country and defected to Austria.

It had been nearly four years since French peasants stormed the Bastille, the event that historians generally regard as the start of the French Revolution.

And hardly a week had gone by since without some major crisis, emergency, or tragedy in France.

There were regular violent riots across the country– in Paris, other major cities, and even the rural countryside. Widespread massacres were commonplace.

And given that one of the key goals of France’s new revolutionary government was to eliminate Christianity from the nation, civil war between religious factions broke out as well.

To cap things off, France was under constant threat of foreign invasion.

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