For Maximilien Robespierre, chief architect of the reign of terror that followed the revolution, God and religion were far too useful in keeping the population in line.

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In short, he was in the midst of a reign of terror in the ring.

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French revolutionaries used it first to distinguish the common man from the reviled aristocracy, then to enforce their reign of terror on both.

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Francisco Macias Nguema's reign of terror - from independence in 1968 until his overthrow in 1979 - prompted a third of the population to flee.

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