1-624-340 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Arch of Marius at Orange on the Rhone', c1792, (1875). Executions by guillotine taking place by the arch which was erected in honour of Roman generals Gaius Marius and Lutatius Catulus, in the town of Orange in the South of France. The Terror was imposed by the revolutionary authorities with the objective of suppressing counter-revolutionary activity by means of state terrorism. Under the direction of Maximilien Robespierre and his fellow members of the Committee for Public Safety, thousands of people were condemned to death between September 1793 and July 1794. Estimates of the number of victims vary widely, from 18,000 to as many as 40,000.