Maximilien Robespierre

Name	Maximilien Robespierre
Caption	Robespierre c. 1790, (anonymous), Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France
Office	Deputy and member of the Committee of Public Safety
Term start	27 July 1793
Term end	27 July 1794
Government	First French Republic
Constituency	Paris
Office2	President of the National Convention
Term start2	4 June 1794
Term end2	17 June 1794
Term start3	22 August 1793
Term end3	5 September 1793
Office4	Member of the National Convention
Term start4	20 September 1792
Term end4	27 July 1794
Office5	Member of the National Constituent Assembly
Term start5	9 July 1789
Term end5	30 September 1791
Office6	Member of the National Assembly
Term start6	17 June 1789
Term end6	9 July 1789
Office7	Deputy for the Third Estate of the Estates-GeneralConstituency of Artois
Term start7	6 May 1789
Term end7	17 June 1789
Birthname	Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre
Birth date	May 06, 1758
Birth place	Arras, France
Death date	July 28, 1794
Death place	Paris, France
Nationality	French
Party	Jacobin
Alma mater	Lycée Louis-le-Grand
Profession	Lawyer and Politician
Religion	Deism(Cult of the Supreme Being)
Signature	RobespierreSignature.jpg

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his arrest and execution in 1794.

Robespierre was influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu, and he was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. He was described as being physically unimposing yet immaculate in attire and personal manners. His supporters called him "The Incorruptible", while his adversaries called him dictateur sanguinaire (blood-thirsty dictator).

Early life

Maximilien de Robespierre was born in Arras, France. His family has been traced back to the 12th century in Picardy; some of his direct ancestors in the male line were notaries in the village of Carvin near Arras from the beginning of the 17th century. He is sometimes rumoured to have been of Irish descent, and it has been suggested that his surname could be a corruption of 'Robert Speirs'. George Henry Lewes, Ernest Hamel, Jules Michelet, Alphonse de Lamartine and Hilaire Belloc have all cited this theory although there appears to be little supporting evidence.

His paternal grandfather, Maximilien de Robespierre, established himself in Arras as a lawyer. His father, Maximilien Barthélémy François de Robespierre, also a lawyer at the Conseil d'Artois, married Jacqueline Marguerite Carrault, the daughter of a brewer, in 1758. Maximilien was the oldest of 4 children and was conceived out of wedlock – his siblings were Charlotte, Henriette and Augustin. To hide the fact as best they could, his father and mother had a rushed wedding (which the grandfather refused to attend). In 1764, Madame de Robespierre died in childbirth. Her husband left Arras and wandered around Europe until his death in Munich in 1777, leaving the children to be brought up by their maternal grandfather and aunts.

Maximilien attended the collège (middle school) of Arras when he was eight years old, already knowing how to read and write. In October of 1769, on the recommendation of the bishop, he obtained a scholarship at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Here he learned to admire the idealised Roman Republic and the rhetoric of Cicero, Cato and other classic figures. His fellow pupils included Camille Desmoulins and Stanislas Fréron. He also was exposed to Rousseau during this time and adopted many of the same principles. Robespierre became more intrigued by the idea of a virtuous self, a man who stands alone accompanied only by his conscience. Robespierre believed that the people of France were fundamentally good and were therefore capable of advancing the public well-being of the nation.

After having completed his law studies, Robespierre was admitted to the Arras bar. The Bishop of Arras, Louis François Marc Hilaire de Conzié, appointed him criminal judge in the Diocese of Arras in March 1782. This appointment, which he soon resigned to avoid pronouncing a sentence of death, did not prevent his practicing at the bar. He quickly became a successful advocate and chose in principle to represent the poor. During court hearings he was known to often advocate the ideals of the Enlightenment and argue for the rights of man: i.e., his clients. On 11 March 1793, a Revolutionary Tribunal was established in Paris. On 6 April, the nine-member Committee of Public Safety replaced the larger Committee of General Defense. On 27 July 1793, the Convention elected Robespierre to the Committee, although he had not sought the position. The Committee of General Security began to manage the country's internal police.

Though nominally all members of the committee were equal, Robespierre has often been regarded as the dominant force and, as such, the de facto dictator of the country. He is also seen as the driving force behind the Reign of Terror—Louis-Sébastien Mercier called him a "Sanguinocrat"—although, after 1794, other participants may have exaggerated his role to downplay their own contribution.

As an orator, he praised revolutionary government and argued that the Terror was necessary, laudable and inevitable. It was Robespierre's belief that the Republic and virtue were of necessity inseparable. He reasoned that the Republic could only be saved by the virtue of its citizens, and that the Terror was virtuous because it attempted to maintain the Revolution and the Republic. Therefore, "Robespierre didn’t see the use of terror as a compromise of virtue, but as the enforcement of it." For example, in his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, given on 5 February 1794, Robespierre stated:

If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country ... The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.

Robespierre’s popularity and appeal to the community came out mostly in the way that he spoke. His speeches were exceptional, and he had the power to change the views of almost any audience. (This is one of the reasons why he became such a strong force in the Terror.) His speaking techniques included talk of virtue and morals, and also quite often he had a few rhetorical questions in his speeches in order to identify with the audience. He would also gesticulate and use ideas and personal experiences in life to keep the listeners’ attention. And his final method was to state that he was always prepared to die in order to save the Revolution. (Ironically, his death would be an end to the Revolution.)

Robespierre believed that the Terror was a time of discovering and revealing the enemy within Paris, within France, the enemy that hid in the safety of apparent patriotism. Because he believed that the Revolution was still in progress, and in danger of being sabotaged, he made every attempt to instill in the populace and Convention the urgency of carrying out the Terror. In his Report and others, he brought tales and fears of traitors, monarchists, and saboteurs throughout the Republic and also the Convention itself.

Robespierre expanded the traditional list of the Revolution's enemies to include moderates and "false revolutionaries". In Robespierre's understanding, these were not only ignorant of the dangers facing the Republic, but also in many cases disguised themselves as active contributors to the Revolution, who simply repeated the work of others, or even impeded the progress of the patriots. Anyone not in step with the decrees of Robespierre's committee is said to have been eventually purged from the Convention, and thoroughly hunted in the general population. While it is debated whether Robespierre targeted moderates to accelerate his own agenda, or out of legitimate concern for France, it is known that his policy led to the execution of many of the Revolution's original and staunchest advocates.

Robespierre saw no room for mercy in his Terror, stating that "slowness of judgments is equal to impunity" and "uncertainty of punishment encourages all the guilty". Throughout his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, Robespierre assailed any stalling of action in defense of the Republic. In his thinking, there was not enough that could be done fast enough in defence against enemies at home and abroad. A staunch believer in the teachings of Rousseau, Robespierre believed that it was his duty as a public servant to push the Revolution forward, and that the only rational way to do that was to defend it on all fronts. The Report did not merely call for blood but also expounded many of the original ideas of the 1789 Revolution, such as political equality, suffrage, and abolition of privileges. Despite executing a good number of his fellow revolutionaries, Robespierre was still one of them in his theory, even if his practice was questionable.

In the winter of 1793–1794, a majority of the Committee decided that the Hébertist party would have to perish or its opposition within the Committee would overshadow the other factions due to its influence in the Commune of Paris. Robespierre also had personal reasons for disliking the Hébertists for their "atheism" and "bloodthirstiness", which he associated with the old aristocracy.

In early 1794, he broke with Danton who had more moderate views on the Terror and had Camille Desmoulins protest against it in the third issue of Le Vieux Cordelier. Robespierre considered an end of the Terror as meaning the loss of political power he hoped to use to create the Republic of Virtue. Subsequently, he joined in attacks on the Dantonists and the Hébertists. Robespierre, as President of the Convention, walked first in the festival procession and delivered a speech in which he emphasised his concept of a Supreme Being:

Is it not He whose immortal hand, engraving on the heart of man the code of justice and equality, has written there the death sentence of tyrants? Is it not He who, from the beginning of time, decreed for all the ages and for all peoples liberty, good faith, and justice? He did not create kings to devour the human race. He did not create priests to harness us, like vile animals, to the chariots of kings and to give to the world examples of baseness, pride, perfidy, avarice, debauchery and falsehood. He created the universe to proclaim His power. He created men to help each other, to love each other mutually, and to attain to happiness by the way of virtue.

Throughout the "Festival of the Supreme Being", Robespierre was beaming with joy; not even the negativity of his colleagues could disrupt his delight. He was able to speak of the things about which he was truly passionate, including Virtue and Nature, typical deist beliefs, and, of course, his disagreements with atheism. Everything was arranged to the exact specifications that had been previously set before the ceremony; the ominous and symbolic guillotine had been moved to the original standing place of the Bastille, all of the people were placed in the appropriate area designated to them, and everyone was dressed accordingly. Not only was everything going smoothly, but the Festival was also Robespierre’s first appearance in the public eye as an actual leader for the people, and also, as President of the Convention to which he had been elected only four days earlier. By Théot stating that he was the “herald of the Last Days, prophet of the New Dawn,” (because his Festival had fallen on the Pentecost, which she claimed would be the day revealing a “divine manifestation”) Catherine Théot made it seem as though Robespierre had made these claims himself to her. Many of her followers were supporters or friends of Robespierre as well, which made it seem as though he was attempting to create a new religion with himself as its god. While Robespierre had nothing to do with Catherine Théot or her followers, many assumed that he was on his way to dictatorship, and it sent a current of fear throughout the Convention, which led to his downfall the following July.

Downfall

On 25 May, only two days after the attempted assassination of Collot d’Herbois, Robespierre’s life was also in danger as a young woman by the name of Cécile Renault approached him with two small knives in an attempt to murder him. At this point, the decree of 22 Prairial (also known as law of 22 Prairial) was introduced to the public without the consultation from the Committee of General Security, which in turn doubled the number of executions permitted by the Committee of Public Safety.

This law permitted executions to be carried out even under simple suspicion of citizens thought to be counter-revolutionaries without extensive trials. When Robespierre allowed this law to be passed, the people of France began to question him and the Committee because they were executing people for seemingly meaningless reasons, and also because they had passed a law without the help of the Committee of General Security. This was part of the beginning of Robespierre’s downfall.

Reports were coming into Paris about excesses committed by the envoys sent en-mission to the provinces particularly Jean-Lambert Tallien in Bordeaux and Joseph Fouché in Lyons. Robespierre had them recalled to Paris to account for their actions and expelled from the Jacobins club. However they evaded arrest. Fouché spent the evenings moving house to house with a spurious whispering campaign among members of the Convention warning them that Robespierre was after them and set about organising a coup d'état.

Robespierre appeared at the Convention on 26 July (8th Thermidor, year II, according to the Revolutionary calendar), and delivered a two-hour-long speech. He defended himself against charges of dictatorship and tyranny, and then proceeded to warn of a conspiracy against the Republic. Robespierre implied that members of the Convention were a part of this conspiracy, though when pressed he refused to provide any names. The speech however alarmed members particularly given Fouché's warnings. These members who felt that Robespierre was alluding to them tried to prevent the speech from being printed, and a bitter debate ensued until Bertrand Barère forced an end to it. Later that evening, Robespierre delivered the same speech again at the Jacobin Club, where it was very well received.

The next day, Saint-Just began to give a speech in support of Robespierre. However, those who had seen him working on his speech the night before expected accusations to arise from it. He only had time to give a small part of his speech before Jean-Lambert Tallien interrupted him. While the accusations began to pile up, Saint-Just remained uncharacteristically silent. Robespierre then attempted to secure the tribune to speak but his voice was shouted down. Robespierre soon found himself at a loss for words after one deputy called for his arrest and another, Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier, gave a mocking impression of him. When one deputy realised Robespierre's inability to respond, the man shouted, "The blood of Danton chokes him!"

The Convention ordered the arrest of Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, François Hanriot and Le Bas. Troops from the Commune, under General Coffinhal, arrived to free the prisoners and then marched against the Convention itself. The Convention responded by ordering troops of its own under Barras to be called out. When the Commune's troops heard the news of this, order began to break down, and Hanriot ordered his remaining troops to withdraw to the Hôtel de Ville, where Robespierre and his supporters also gathered. The Convention declared them to be outlaws, meaning that upon verification the fugitives could be executed within twenty-four hours without a trial. As the night went on, the forces of the Commune deserted the Hôtel de Ville and, at around two in the morning, those of the Convention under the command of Barras arrived there. In order to avoid capture, Augustin Robespierre threw himself out of a window; Couthon was found lying at the bottom of a staircase; Le Bas committed suicide; another radical jumped out of the window, only to break both of his legs; yet another shot himself in the head. Robespierre tried to kill himself with a pistol but only managed to shatter his lower jaw, although some eye-witnesses claimed that Robespierre was shot by Charles-André Merda.

For the remainder of the night, Robespierre was moved to a table in the room of the Committee of Public Safety where he awaited execution. He lay on the table bleeding abundantly until a doctor was brought in to fix up his jaw. Although Robespierre was known for his speeches, the last words that have been recorded of him saying are, “Merci, monsieur,” to a man that had kindly given him a handkerchief to sop up some of the blood from his face and his clothing. Later, Robespierre was held in the same containment chamber where Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI, had been held.

The next day, 28 July 1794, Robespierre was guillotined without trial in the Place de la Révolution. His brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, Hanriot and twelve other followers, among them the cobbler Simon, were also executed. Only Robespierre was guillotined face-up. When clearing Robespierre's neck the executioner tore off the bandage that was holding his shattered jaw in place, producing an agonised scream until the fall of the blade silenced him. Together with those executed with him, he was buried in a common grave at the newly opened Errancis cemetery (cimetière des Errancis) (March 1794 – April 1797) (now the Place de Goubeaux). Between 1844 and 1859 (probably in 1848), the remains of all those buried there were moved to the Catacombs of Paris.

Legacy

Maximillien Robespierre remains a controversial figure to this day. Apart from one Metro station in Paris, there are no memorials or monuments to him in France. He was a bourgeois who championed the cause of the poor city workers, the sans-culottes. By making himself their spokesman, he took control of the Revolution in its most radical and bloody phase – the Jacobin republic. His goal in the Terror was to use the guillotine to create what he called a 'republic of virtue', wherein terror and virtue, his principles, would be imposed. He argued, "Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie.

In terms of historiography, he has a few defenders, who agree on the use of terror to purify society. Marxist historian Albert Soboul viewed most of the measures of the Committee for Public Safety necessary for the defense of the Revolution and mainly regretted the destruction of the Hébertists and other enragés.

Robespierre’s main ideal was to ensure the virtue and sovereignty of the people. He disapproved of any acts which could be seen as exposing the nation to counter-revolutionaries and traitors, and became increasingly fearful of the defeat of the Revolution. He instigated the Terror and the deaths of his peers as a measure of ensuring a Republic of Virtue; but his ideals went beyond the needs and wants of the people of France. He became a threat to what he had wanted to ensure and the result was his downfall.

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica sums up Robespierre as a bright young theorist but out of his depth in the matter of experience:

Gallery

Cultural depictions

Samuel Taylor Coleridge together with Robert Southey wrote a verse drama, The Fall of Robespierre in 1794, Coleridge writing Act 1 and Southey, Acts 2 and 3, although the work was published under Coleridge's name. Coming very soon after Robespierre's execution, it may be regarded as the first literary portrayal of the man. Indeed, much of the material was drawn from contemporary newspaper accounts of the events in Paris.

In Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, Robespierre and Rousseau are mentioned being deeply admired by the character Enjolras, the leader of the student revolutionaries.

In another novel by Hugo, Quatrevingt-treize, Robespierre is featured in the "Three Gods" scene, along with Danton and Marat.

Robespierre is a significant character in the 1912 novel The Gods Are Athirst by Anatole France, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Robespierre is a significant character in the 'Roger Brook' series of historical novels written by Dennis Wheatley.

Robespierre's dispute against Joseph Fouché, and the coup against Robespierre are described in Stefan Zweig's 1929 biography of Fouché, Portrait of a Politician.

He appears frequently in The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. He also plays a prominent role in the BBC mini-series version.

Robespierre is featured in the 1835 play Danton's Death, written by German playwright Georg Büchner.

A highly-idealized Robespierre is featured in the anime and manga series Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda. He's initially shown in his younger and more idealistic self, prior to the Terror days, and as the series advances he becomes closer to the embittered leader usually portrayed in media. He's voiced by Katsuji Mori.

A more cruel and ruthless portrayal of Robespierre is featured in Tow Ubukata's novel (later adapted as an anime series) Le Chevalier D'Eon. He appears as a villain of the story and a mysterious occultist. He is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai. However, the Robespierre known to history (as seen in the anime, being beheaded at the end of the Terror) is the main character named Robin, who assumed the name after the first Robespierre's death.

John Eaton wrote an opera, "Danton and Robespierre" in 1978.

He plays an important role in the short story "Thermidor" from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, serving as the antagonist to Lady Johanna Constantine's protagonist, with his guillotining depicted at the conclusion.

He, along with Louis de Saint-Just, gives his name and role to Rob S. Pierre in the Honorverse.

One of the two primary plot lines of Katherine Neville's 1988 novel The Eight features Robespierre alongside other famous figures of the French Revolution.

In the 1927 silent film Napoléon, he is played by Edmond Van Daële. Although this six-hour long epic is about the rise of Napoleon, it does incorporate some aspects of Robespierre's presence.

In the 1949 film Reign of Terror (also known as The Black Book), Robespierre is played as a bloodthirsty tyrant by Richard Basehart, with Robert Cummings and Arlene Dahl as adversaries.

Robespierre is a central character in Hilary Mantel's novel A Place of Greater Safety, along with Camille Desmoulins and Georges-Jacques Danton. The novel traces the lives of the three men from their respective childhoods through to the end of their careers.

He plays a supporting role in A Far Better Rest (2000), a re-imagining of A Tale of Two Cities, by American author Susanne Alleyn.

The 1964 Doctor Who serial ''The Reign of Terror concerns the involvement in this period of history of the time-travelling Doctor and his friends. It portrays Robespierre as an implacable tyrant obsessed with increasing the pace of executions, despite the Doctor's attempts (in disguise) to influence him for the good. The time-travellers play a small part in his downfall, with his arrest and imprisonment, even the infamous shot to the mouth, included at the serial's climax (albeit with the violence itself taking place off-camera).

In the 1983 French and Polish film Danton, Robespierre is played by Wojciech Pszoniak. The film depicts the last days of Danton and is based on The Danton Case by Stanislawa Przybyszewska. While Przybyszewska's Robespierre is a heroic figure, Wajda's film radically deviates from the play and portrays him in a negative light.

In the 1989 film La Révolution Française, he is played by Andrzej Seweryn; this film spans six hours, or the entire revolution from 1789 to 1794.

"The Palace of Versailles", a song about the French Revolution from the 1978 Al Stewart album Time Passages, includes the lyrics "We burned out all their mansions/In the name of Robespierre."

In Frank Wildhorn's 1997 The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical), Robespierre, played by David Cromwell in the original Broadway cast, makes a brief appearance.

In The French Revolution, a 2005 History Channel documentary, he is played by George Ivascu.

In Joni Mitchell's song "Sex Kills", she sings "Doctor's pills give you brand new ills and the bills bury you like an avalanche, and lawyers haven't been this popular since Robespierre slaughtered half of France."

In an episode of Blackadder The Third, Edmund Blackadder claims to have broken into Monsieur Robespierre's bedroom and left him a box of chocolates and an insulting note.

The 1996 Marge Piercy novel; City of Darkness, City of Light, features Robespierre as one of six first-person characters.

The Brooklyn-based punk band Team Robespierre is named after him.

It is customary for practitioners of socionics to refer to the Logical Intuitive Introvert personality type as "Robespierre", who is a recognized representative of the type.

Famous British children's series ChuckleVision has featured Robespierre as a villain trying to steal the Countess and defeat the Purple Pimple (who is actually Sir Percy with a purple headcover in the series). Citizen Robespierre calls himself "the best swordsman of France". He was featured in Series 17 and 18 (2005/2006), where Barry and Paul go back in time during the French Revolution.

See also

Jacques-Louis David

References

Further reading

Cobban, Alfred. "The Fundamental Ideas of Robespierre," English Historical Review Vol. 63, No. 246 (Jan., 1948) , pp. 29–51 in JSTOR

Cobban, Alfred. "The Political Ideas of Maximilien Robespierre during the Period of the Convention," English Historical Review Vol. 61, No. 239 (Jan., 1946), pp. 45–80 in JSTOR

A collection of essays covering not only Robespierre's thoughts and deeds but also the way he has been portrayed by historians and fictional writers alike.

* Reviewed by Hilary Mantel in the London Review of Books, Vol. 22, No. 7, March 30, 2000.

Presents Robespierre as the origin of Fascist dictators.

Goldstein Sepinwall, Alyssa. "Robespierre, Old Regime Feminist? Gender, the Late Eighteenth Century, and the French Revolution Revisited," Journal of Modern History Vol. 82, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 1–29 in JSTOR argues he was an early feminist, but by 1793 he joined the other Jacobins who excluded women from political and intellectual life.

Presents three contrasting views

Linton, Marisa. "Robespierre and the Terror", History Today, August 2006, Volume 56, Issue 8, pp. 23–29 online

A sympathetic study of the Committee of Public Safety. Sympathetic Marxist analysis comparing him with Lenin and Mao. A revisionist account.

Scurr, Ruth. Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution. London: Metropolitan Books, 2006 (ISBN 0-8050-7987-4).

* Reviewed by Hilary Mantel in the London Review of Books, Vol. 28 No. 8, April 20, 2006.

* Reviewed by Sudhir Hazareesingh in the Times Literary Supplement, June 7, 2006.

Soboul, Albert. "Robespierre and the Popular Movement of 1793–4", Past and Present, No. 5. (May, 1954), pp. 54–70. in JSTOR

Traditional biography with extensive and reliable research.

External links

Maximilien Robespierre Internet Archive on Marxists.org

Maximilien Robespierre, 1758–1794

The French Revolution, Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre – bronze miniature by Igor Zeinalov

Why Robespierre Chose Terror by John Kekes. City Journal, Spring 2006.

Robespierre.org.uk

Family tree (back to the 18th generation) (also here)

Remembering the Reign of Terror by Dolan Cummings, Spiked Review of Books, Issue No. 7, November 2007

A.M.R.I.D (Association Maximilien Robespierre pour l'Idéal Démocratique)(in French)

Category:1758 births Category:1794 deaths Category:Deist thinkers Category:Deputies to the French National Convention Category:Executed French people Category:French jurists Category:French republicans Category:Leaders ousted by a coup Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Category:People executed by guillotine during the French Revolution Category:People from Arras Category:People of the French Revolution Category:Regicides of Louis XVI