A dictatorship was imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution.
The Committee of Public Instruction ( Comité de l'Instruction Publique ) , often called the Committee of Public Education , was established in 1793 by the National Convention in an attempt to reorder the education system in France during the particularly hectic Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution . French Revolution . The dictatorship imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror , from 1793 until 1794 , established price controls on food and other items , abolished slavery in French colonies abroad , dechristianised society through the creation of a new calendar and the expulsion of religious figures , and secured the borders of the new republic from its enemies . The Reign of Terror or The Terror ( la Terreur ) is the label given by some historians to a period during the French Revolution , in an apparent attempt to retorically discredit or ` curse ' the politics and events especially during the dominating presence ( July 1793 -- July 1794 ) of Maximilien Robespierre on the Committee of Public Safety -- the de facto executive government of Revolutionary France .