apr 6, 1793 - Committee of Public Safety Founded

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The Committee of Public Safety, created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the provisional government in France during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794), a phase 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 new republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. As a wartime measure, the committee was given broad supervisory powers over the armed forces, judiciary and legislature. 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. The power of the committee peaked between August 1793 and July 1794, during which it gained dictatorial powers and organised the Reign of Terror. In December 1793, the convention formally conferred executive power upon the committee. Among the members, the radical Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre emerged as a leader. After the killing of the rival factions of Hébertists and Dantonists, sentiments in the convention eventually turned on Robespierre, who was killed in July 1794. In the following Thermidorian Reaction – named after the month of Thermidor in the French Republican calendar – the committee's influence diminished and it was abolished in 1795.

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