Committee of Public Safety

The Committee of Public Safety (French: Comité de salut public), created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794), a stage of the French Revolution. The Committee of Public Safety succeeded the previous Committee of General Defence (established in January 1793) and assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. As a wartime measure, the Committee – composed at first of nine, and later of twelve members – was given broad supervisory powers over military, judicial, and legislative efforts. It was formed as an administrative body to supervise and expedite the work of the executive bodies of the Convention and of the government ministers appointed by the Convention. As the Committee tried to meet the dangers of a coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within the country, it became more and more powerful.

In July 1793, following the defeat at the Convention of the moderate Republicans, or Girondists, the prominent leaders of the radical Jacobins - Maximilien Robespierre, Saint-Just and Georges Couthon - were added to the Committee. The power of the Committee peaked under the leadership of Robespierre - between August 1793 and July 1794. In December 1793 the Convention formally conferred the entire power of government on the Committee, and Robespierre established a virtual dictatorship. To defend France and suppress internal uprisings, Robespierre and the Committee raised fourteen armies, while to ensure supplies the Committee instituted a partial system of maximum prices and fixed wages. To repress domestic opposition, it instituted the Reign of Terror, in which those deemed enemies of the revolution were executed with the guillotine.

The execution of Robespierre in July 1794 saw a reactionary period against the Committee of Public Safety and the excesses of the Terror - this is known as the Thermidorian Reaction (as the month of July was known as Thermidor in the new calendar instituted by the Convention). The Committee's influence diminished, and it was disestablished in 1795.