Why was Marat's death important?

Answer 1

Assassination of JP Marat changed the Revolution several ways. His death created a cult and martyr of the revolution. He became a saint for the masses, and immediately the republican government utilized it as a Propaganda tool. Pictures, bust, cameos were dedicated to him, and helped to change old established symbols to new, revolutionary images. It helped with the removal of the Christian symbol and replace it with a new republican idol.

The political outcome of his assassination was official sanctioning and establishing the Reign of Terror. While the government had sanctioned state sponsored murders and execution for some time, they were sporadic and directed against particular person. After JP Marat death, the government expanded the tool of repression against entire nation and decided to exterminate groups that challenged the Revolution. The biggest anger and repression was directed against Girondists, to whom Charlotte Corday belonged. It helped to identify them with the enemy of the revolution, and Girondists were hunted down, killed on sight, arrested, and executed. The Reign of Terror progressed from the sporadic use of the national razor (two three people executed per week), to mass executions with dozens of people per day. In the peak of terror, sometimes up to 60 people were beheaded per day. Once the Jacobin power was destroyed in the summer of 1794, the post-Thermidor politics and revolution turned in the fall of 1794 against the cult of Marat, and his carcass was dumped into sewer before it was put in present day final resting place.

Third important outcome from JP Marat assassination was official suppression of the feminists. It was unthinkable that woman, like Charlotte Corday, would become politically involved. Politics was domain of the men. The action of Corday turned the attention of the government against various women groups and organizations, and against outspoken feminists of the time like Olympe de Gouge. By winter 1793, leading representative of women rights were arrested and executed. By 1794, there was no significant speaker of the woman rights in the France. Women were excluded from universal voting rights in France until 1945. The Republican government argued that women should not be involved in the politics, because it interfere with their domestic duties.