Editing Georg Forster (section)

=== Death in revolutionary Paris ===
[[File:James Gillray Pinnacle of Liberty.jpeg|thumb|"The Pinnacle of Liberty", a satire by [[James Gillray]]]]

Based on a decree by Emperor [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] inflicting punishments on German subjects who collaborated with the French revolutionary government, Forster was declared an outlaw and placed under the [[Imperial ban]]; a prize of 100 ducats was set on his head and he could not return to Germany.{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=154}} Devoid of all means of making a living and without his wife, who had stayed in Mainz with their children and her later husband [[Ludwig Ferdinand Huber]], he remained in Paris. At this point the revolution in Paris had entered the [[Reign of Terror]] introduced by the [[Committee of Public Safety]] under the rule of [[Maximilien Robespierre]]. Forster had the opportunity to experience the difference between the promises of the revolution of happiness for all and its cruel practice. In contrast to many other German supporters of the revolution, like for instance [[Friedrich Schiller]], Forster did not turn back from his revolutionary ideals under the pressure of the terror. He viewed the events in France as a force of nature that could not be slowed and that had to release its own energies to avoid being even more destructive.{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=152}}

Before the reign of terror reached its climax, Forster died after a rheumatic illness{{sfn|Reintjes|1953|p=136}} in his small attic apartment at Rue des Moulins<ref name="hr">{{cite AV media|url=http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.blueorange.xred.util.GetFile/04-165.rtf?db=hrmysql&tbl=int_xredfile&key=id&keyval=11787328&imgcol=xred_file|medium=radio script (RTF)|last=Schell|first=Christa|title=Die Revolution ist ein Orkan|trans-title=The Revolution is a Hurricane|date=26 November 2004|access-date=12 April 2012|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001051325/http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.blueorange.xred.util.GetFile/04-165.rtf?db=hrmysql&tbl=int_xredfile&key=id&keyval=11787328&imgcol=xred_file|archive-date=1 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> in Paris on 10 January 1794,{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=154}} at the age of thirty-nine. At the time, he was making plans to visit India.<ref name=nie />