A Biography of Robespierre

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre ( 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794 ) is one of the best-known leaders of the French Revolution. His supporters knew him as The 'Incorruptible' because of his austere moral devotion to revolutionary political change. He was an influential member of the Committee of Public Safety & was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror that ended with his arrest & execution in 1794. He studied at College of Louis-Le-grand in Paris & became a lawyer.

Politically, Robespierre was a disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, among other Enlightenment philosophes, & a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. He was described as physically unimposing & immaculate in attire & personal manners.

Early life
Maximilien Robespierre was born in Arras. His family, long rumored to have been of Irish descent, has actually been traced as far as the 12th century in northern France, & his direct ancestors in the male line had been notaries in the little village of Carvin near Arras from the beginning of the 17th century.

His paternal grandfather established himself in Arras as a lawyer. His father, also a lawyer, married Jacqueline Marguerite Carraut, the daughter of a brewer, in 1758. Maximilien was the eldest of four children. In 1767 Madame Derobespierre, as the name was then spelled, died. Her husband left Arras & wandered around Europe until his death in Munich in 1777, leaving the children to be raised by their maternal grandfather & aunts.

Maximilien attended the college of Arras. 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 idealized Roman Republic & the rhetoric of Cicero, Cato, & other classic figures. His fellow pupils included Camille Desmoulins & Stanislas Fréron.

Shortly after his coronation, Louis XVI visited Louis-le-Grand. After waiting two hours in the rain for the king & queen to arrive, Robespierre, then 17 years old, delivered a speech welcoming the king, during which the king & queen remained in their coach. Ironically, Robespierre would be one of those who would eventually work towards the death of the king.

Early politics
After having completed the law studies he had commenced after the completion of the classical program with distinction, Robespierre was admitted to the Arras bar in 1781. The bishop of Arras, M. 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. He then turned to literature & society & came to be regarded as one of the best writers & well-liked young men of Arras.

In December 1783 he was elected a member of the academy of Arras, the meetings of which he attended regularly. In 1784 he obtained a medal from the academy of Metz for his essay on the question of whether the relatives of a condemned criminal should share his disgrace. He & Pierre Louis de Lacretelle, an advocate & journalist in Paris, divided the prize. Many of his subsequent essays were less successful, but Robespierre was compensated for these failures by his popularity in the literary & musical society at Arras, known as the "Rosati," of which Carnot, who would be his colleague on the Committee of Public Safety, was also a member.

In 1788 he took part in the discussion of the way that the Estates-General should be elected, showing clearly & forcibly in his Adresse à la nation artésienne that if the former mode of election by the members of the provincial estates were again adopted, the new Estates-General would not represent the people of France.

Although the leading members of the corporation were elected, Robespierre, their chief opponent, succeeded in getting elected with them. In the assembly of the bailliage rivalry ran still higher, but Robespierre had begun to make his mark in politics with the Avis aux habitants de la campagne (Arras, 1789). With this he secured the support of the country electors, & although only 30, comparatively poor & lacking patronage, he was elected fifth deputy of the Third Estate of Artois to the Estates-General.

While the Constituent Assembly occupied itself with drawing up a constitution, Robespierre turned from the assembly of provincial lawyers & wealthy bourgeois to the people of Paris. He was a frequent speaker in the Constituent Assembly; often with great success. He was eventually recognized as second only to Pétion de Villeneuve - if second he was - as a leader of the small body of the extreme left; "the thirty voices" as Mirabeau contemptuously called them.

Robespierre soon became involved with the new Society of the Friends of the Constitution, known eventually as the Jacobin Club. This had consisted originally of the Breton deputies only. After the Assembly moved to Paris the Club began to admit various leaders of the Parisian bourgeoisie to its membership. As time went on, many of the more intelligent artisans & small shopkeepers became members of the club. Among such men Robespierre found a sympathetic audience. As the wealthier bourgeois of Paris & right-wing deputies seceded to the Club of 1789, the influence of the old leaders of the Jacobins, such as Barnave, Duport, Alexandre de Lameth, diminished. When they, alarmed at the progress of the Revolution, founded the club of the Feuillants in 1791, the left, including Robespierre & his friends dominated the Jacobin Club.

On 15 May 1791, Robespierre proposed & carried the motion that no deputies who sat in the Constituent could sit in the succeeding Assembly, his only successful proposition in this assembly.

The flight of Louis XVI & his family on 20 June & his subsequent arrest at Varennes resulted in Robespierre declaring himself at the Jacobin Club to be ni monarchiste ni républicain ("neither monarchist nor republican"). But this was not unusual; very few at this point were avowed republicans.

After the massacre of the Champ de Mars on 17 July 1791, in order to be nearer to the Assembly & the Jacobins, he moved to live in the house of Maurice Duplay, a cabinetmaker residing in the Rue Saint-Honoré & an ardent admirer of Robespierre's. Robespierre lived there (with two short intervals excepted) until his death. In fact, according to some sources, including his doctor, Souberbielle, Vilate, a juror on the Revolutionary Tribunal, & his host's youngest daughter (who would later marry Philippe Le Bas of the Committee of General Security), he became engaged to the eldest daughter of his host, Éléonore Duplay.

On 30 September, on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the people of Paris crowned Pétion & Robespierre as the two incorruptible patriots.

With the dissolution of the Assembly he returned for a short visit to Arras, where he met with a triumphant reception. In November he returned to Paris.

Opposition to war with Austria

Bust of Robespierre by Dessein (1792).On 18 December 1791, Brissot de Warville, the dame politique of the Girondist party in the Legislative Assembly, urged that France should declare war against Austria. Marat & Robespierre opposed him, because they feared the possibility of militarism, which might then be turned to the advantage of the reactionary forces. This opposition from expected allies irritated the Girondins & political rivalry arose between them.

In April 1792, Robespierre resigned the post of public prosecutor of Versailles, which he had officially held, but never practiced, since February, & started a journal, Le Defenseur de la Constitution, in his own defense.

During the summer of 1792, neither the Girondins nor Robespierre took any active part in the overthrow of the monarchy. Billaud Varenne & , it is said, Georges Danton led the insurrection of 10 August & took the Tuileries. The Girondins, however, were quick to take advantage of this. Robespierre took his seat on the Commune of Paris, hoping to check the Girondins.

Because of his popularity, his reputation for virtue & his influence over the Jacobin Club, the strongmen of the Commune were glad to have Robespierre's aid. On 16 August, Robespierre presented the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, demanding the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal & the summoning of a Convention.

Robespierre has often been reproached with failing to stop the September Massacres, but neither he nor any other individual were in any position to have done so. He was popular enough, however, to be elected first deputy for Paris to the National Convention. Robespierre & his allies took the benches high at the back of the hall, giving them the label 'the Montagnards'; below them were the Manège of the Girondins & then 'the Plain' of the independents.

At the Convention, the Girondins immediately attacked Robespierre. As early as 26 September the Girondin Marc-David Lasource accused Robespierre of wanting to form a dictatorship. He later heard a rumor that Marat, Danton & himself were plotting to become triumvirs. On 29 October, Louvet de Couvrai attacked Robespierre in a speech, possibly written by Madame Roland. Robespierre easily rebutted the false accusation in this attack on 5 November when he denounced the federalist plans of the Girondins.

The execution of Louis XVI
In December 1792 personal disputes were overshadowed by the question of the king's trial. Here Robespierre took the position that the king must be executed. In his speech on 3 December he said:

"This is no trial; Louis is not a prisoner at the bar; you are not judges; you are—you cannot but be—statesmen, & the representatives of the nation. You have not to pass sentence for or against a single man, but you have to take a resolution on a question of the public safety, & to decide a question of national foresight. It is with regret that I pronounce, the fatal truth: Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtuous citizens; Louis must die, so that the country may live."
Robespierre argued that the king, having betrayed the people when he tried to flee the country—indeed, as Robespierre said, having been a King at the first place—was a danger to the state as a unifying symbol for the enemies of the Republic. During the debate of January 1793, he & many other members, such as Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins & Antoine de Saint-Just, opposed the Girondins & the few remaining Royalists.

The Girondin arguments convinced the convention that there should be a trial. By a vote of 721–0 (with 29 deputies absent), the King was found guilty. The Girondins opposed executing the King & proposed that his verdict & sentence be submitted to a popular referendum.

Robespierre & his associates said that asking for a referendum showed sympathy for the King & were attempts to delay his execution. Rhetoric of Robespierre swayed the Convention & it voted 424–283 against the referendum. Last minute attempts to delay the King's execution failed. Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793.

Destruction of the Girondins
After the king's execution, Robespierre's, Danton's, & the pragmatic politicians' influence increased at the expense of the Girondins. The Girondins refused to have anything more to do with Danton & the government became more divided.

In May 1793 Camille Desmoulins, at the behest of Robespierre & Danton, published his Histoire des Brissotins, an elaboration on the earlier article Jean-Pierre Brissot, démasqué, a scathing attack on Brissot & the Girondins. Maximin Isnard declared that Paris must be destroyed if it came out against the provincial deputies. Robespierre preached a moral "insurrection against the corrupt deputies" at the Jacobin Club. On 2 June, a large crowd of armed men from the Commune of Paris came to the Convention & arrested 32 Girondin deputies on charges of counter-revolutionary activities.

Founding the Committee of Public Safety
On 11 March, 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.

Reign of Terror
Historians disagree on Robespierre's role in the Terror. Some say that he was a minor player in the Committee of Public Safety. Babeuf & Buonarroti have tried to absolve him by saying he acted only for reasons of practical expediency. However, Robespierre's role as a leader & mouthpiece of the Terror is clear. Robespierre is usually regarded as the dominant force on the committee. Louis-Sébastien Mercier coined the term "Sanguinocrat" to describe Robespierre. However, after his death many of his colleagues tried to save themselves by blaming him.

He was one of the most popular orators in the Convention & his carefully prepared speeches often made a deep impression. His panegyrics on revolutionary government & his praise of virtue demonstrate his belief that the Terror was necessary, laudable & inevitable. It was Robespierre's belief that political terror & virtue were of necessity inseparable. For example, in a speech he delivered to the Convention in early 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 & 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."

In the winter of 1793–1794, a majority of the Committee decided that the Hébertist party must 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" & bloodthirstiness. On Danton's suggestion, Camille Desmoulins protested the Terror in his third issue of Le Vieux Cordelier (Robespierre had read & approved of the first two issues).

From 13 February to 13 March 1794, Robespierre withdrew from active business on the Committee due to illness. During that time, he decided that the end of the Terror would mean the loss of political power he hoped to use to create the Republic of Virtue. He broke with Danton & joined in attacks of Danton & the Hébertists. Robespierre charged his opponents with complicity with foreign powers. The charges against Danton—reaching from accusations of corruption to alleged spying for Pitt & plotting to restore monarchy—were, "even by the standards of the Revolutionary Tribunal, an incredibly feeble document."

On 15 March Robespierre reappeared in the Convention; on 19 March Hébert & nineteen of his followers were arrested & on 24 March they were guillotined. On 30 March Danton, Camille Desmoulins & their friends were arrested, tried on 2 April & guillotined on 5 April.

After Danton's execution, Robespierre worked to develop his own policies. He used his influence over the Jacobin Club to dominate the Commune of Paris through his followers. Two of them, Fleuriot-Lescot & CF de Payan, were elected mayor & procurer of the Commune respectively. Robespierre tried to influence the army through his follower Saint-Just, whom he sent on a mission to the frontier.

The Great Terror
In Paris, Robespierre increased the activity of the Terror: no one could accuse him of being a moderate. He hoped that the Convention would pass whatever measures he might dictate. To secure his aims, another ally on the Committee, Couthon, introduced & carried on 10 June the drastic Law of 22 Prairial. Under this law, the Tribunal became a simple court of condemnation without need of witnesses. The result of this was that until Robespierre's death, 1,285 victims were guillotined in Paris.

Robespierre's desire for revolutionary change was not limited to the political realm. He sought to instill a spiritual resurgence in the French nation based on Deist beliefs. Accordingly, on 7 May 1794 Robespierre had a decree passed by the Convention that established a Supreme Being. The notion of the Supreme Being was based on ideas that Jean-Jacques Rousseau had outlined in The Social Contract. In honor of the Supreme Being, a great celebration was held on 8 June. Robespierre, as President of the Convention, walked first in the festival procession & delivered a speech.

In this speech, Robespierre made it clear that his concept of a Supreme Being was far different from the traditional God of Christianity. Robespierre's Supreme Being was a radical democrat, like the Jacobins,

"Is it not He whose immortal hand, engraving on the heart of man the code of justice & equality, has written there the death sentence of tyrants? Is it not He who, from the beginning of time, decreed for all the ages & for all peoples liberty, good faith, & 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 & to give to the world examples of baseness, pride, perfidy, avarice, debauchery, & falsehood. He created the universe to proclaim His power. He created men to help each other, to love each other mutually, & to attain to happiness by the way of virtue."

Downfall
Thermidorian Reaction
Robespierre appeared at the Convention on 26 July, the 8th of Thermidor according to the Revolutionary calendar, & delivered a two-hour-long speech. He defended himself against charges of dictatorship & tyranny, & 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 name names. Members who felt that Robspierre was alluding to them tried to prevent the speech from being printed, & a bitter debate ensued until Bertrand Berèreput 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, 27 July, the 9th of Thermidor, Saint-Just began to give a speech in support of Robespierre. However, those who saw 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 silent, in an out of character move. 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, & another, Marc Guillaume Valdiergave, gave a mocking impression of him. When one deputy realized Robespierre's inability to respond, the man shouted, "The blood of Danton chokes him!"

The Convention ordered the arrest of Robespierre, Couthon, Saint-Just, Le Bas, & Hanriot. Troops from the Commune arrived to liberate the prisoners. The Commune troops, under General Coffinhal, then marched against the Convention itself. The Convention responded by ordering troops of its own troops under Barras to be called out. When the Commune's troops heard the news of this, order began to break down, & Hanriot ordered his remaining troops to withdrawal to the Hôtel de Ville. Robespirre & his supporters also gathered at the Hôtel de Ville. The Convention declared them to be outlaws, meaning that upon verification the fugatives could be executed within 24 hours without a trial. As the night went on the Commune forces at the Hôtel de Ville deserted until none of them remained. The Convention troops under Barras approached the Hôtel around 2 o'clock in the morning on July 28. As they came Robespierre's brother Augustin threw himself out of a window. Couthon was found lying at the bottom of a staircase, crippled by his fall. Le Bas killed himself with a gun. Robespierre tried to shoot himself, but apparently missed, instead shooting himself in the jaw. Dispite the general historical consensus that Robespierre shot himself, one gendarme named Merda claimed to have pulled the trigger. Saint-Just made no attempt at suicide or concealment. Hanriot tried to hide in the Hôtel's yard, but the Convention troops quickly discovered him.

The next day, Robespierre was taken before the tribunal & guillotined without trial on the Place de la Révolution on the 10th Thermidor An II (28 July 1794). Couthon, Saint-Just & nineteen of his followers were also executed. His corpse & head both were buried in the common cemetery of Errancis (now the Place de Goubeaux), but were accidentally moved to the Catacombs of Paris.

Legacy
Robespierre is still a controversial figure. He has defenders like Albert Soboul, who viewed most of the measures of the Committee for Public Safety necessary for the defense of the Revolution & mainly regretted the destruction of the Hébertists & other enragés.

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

"A well-educated & accomplished young lawyer, he might have acquired a good provincial practice & lived a happy provincial life had it not been for the Revolution. Like thousands of other young Frenchmen, he had read the works of Rousseau & taken them as gospel. Just at the very time in life when this illusion had not been destroyed by the realities of life, & without the experience which might have taught the futility of idle dreams & theories, he was elected to the states-general.".
"At Paris he was not understood till he met with his audience of fellow disciples of Rousseau at the Jacobin Club. His fanaticism won him supporters; his singularly sweet & sympathetic voice gained him hearers; & his upright life attracted the admiration of all. As matters approached nearer & nearer to the terrible crisis, he failed, except in the two instances of the question of war & of the kings trial, to show himself a statesman, for he had not the liberal views & practical instincts which made Mirabeau & Danton great men. His admission to the Committee of Public Safety gave him power, which he hoped to use for the establishment of his favorite theories, & for the same purpose he acquiesced in & even heightened the horrors of the Reign of Terror. It is here that the fatal mistake of allowing a theorist to have power appeared:
"Billaud-Varenne systematized the Terror because he believed it necessary for the safety of the country; Robespierre intensified it in order to carry out his own ideas & theories. Robespierre's private life was always respectable: he was always emphatically a gentleman & man of culture, & even a little bit of a dandy, scrupulously honest, truthful & charitable. In his habits & manner of life he was simple & laborious; he was not a man gifted with flashes of genius, but one who had to think much before he could come to a decision, & he worked hard all his life."
Conservative & royalist historians have traditionally viewed Robespierre as a demagogue & have often criticized him over his role in the suppression of the royalist uprising in the Vendée.

Cultural depictions
Robespierre is featured in the play Danton's Death, written by German playwright Georg Buchner.
A highly-idealized Robespierre is featured in the anime & manga series Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda. He's initially shown in his younger & more idealistic self, prior to the Terror days, & as the series advances he becomes closer to the embittered leader usually portrayed in media. He's voiced by Katsuji Mori.
He plays an important role in the short story "Thermidor" from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.
He, along with Louis de Saint-Just, gives his name & role to Rob S. Pierre in the Honorverse.
In Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, he, & Rousseau are mentioned being deeply admired by the character Enjolras, the leader of the student revolutionaries.
In another novel by Victor Hugo, Quatrevingt-Treize, Robespierre is featured in the "Three Gods" scene, along with Danton & Marat.
In Danton he is played by Wojciech Pszoniak; the movie portrays the last days of Danton & is based on the Danton Case by Stanislawa Przybyszewska
In the 1989 film La Revolution Francaise, he is played by Andrzej Seweryn; this film spans six hours, or the entire revolution from 1789 to 1794. & in a 2005 Documentary done by the History Channel (the French Revolution) he is played by George Ivascu
in the 1927 silent film Napoléon: Maxime is played by Edmond Van Daële; though this 6 hour long epic is about the rise of Napoleon, it does incorporate some aspects of Robespierre's presence.
The Al Stewart song "The Palace of Versailles", from his 1978 album Time Passages, mentions Robespierre ("We burned out all their mansions/In the name of Robespierre").

In conclusion whatever you say about him, the beliefs he had and what was pushed on the world, was right, the Jacobins were undoubtably right. Some say his kills were essential to keep the revolution going, whatever, the fact is his beliefs scared the elite, and imposed a better society.

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