<P> Though the Terror was organized in September 1793, it was not introduced until October . It had resulted from a popular movement . A new chapter of the Revolutionary Tribunal was opened after 5 September, divided into four sections: the Committees of Public Safety and General Security were to propose the names of judges and jurymen; Fouquier - Tinville stayed as public prosecutor, and Herman was nominated president . The Terror was meant to discourage support for the enemies of the Revolution by condemning outspoken critics of the Montagnards . </P> <P> The great political trials began in October . The queen was guillotined on 16 October . A special decree stifled the defense of 21 Girondins, including Vergniaud and Brissot, and they perished on the 31st . </P> <P> At the summit of the apparatus of the Terror sat the Committee of General Security, the state's second organization . It consisted of twelve members elected each month by the Convention, and vested with security, surveillance and police functions, including over civil and military authorities . It employed a large staff, headed the gradually constituted network of local revolutionary committees, and applied the law on suspects by sifting through the thousands of local denunciations and arrests which it then had to try . </P> <P> It struck down the enemies of the Republic whoever and wherever they were . It was socially indiscriminate and politically perspicacious . Its victims belonged to the classes which hated the Revolution or lived in the regions where rebellion was most serious . "The severity of repressive measures in the provinces," wrote Mathiez, "was in direct proportion to danger of revolt ." Many outspoken members of the community were tried and executed for claims of treason: Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton were two of the more notable men executed for their "threats" against the Revolution . </P>

What was the main purpose of the french revolution