Colin Jones | The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris
Channel: The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory
Date: 2022-07-21

In celebration of the publication of Colin Jones's book, The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris (Oxford University Press, 2021), Jones was joined in conversation by 3CT fellow William H. Sewell Jr., Paul Cheney, and Mauricio Tenorio. 

The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.

By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day.

The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24 hours.

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Recorded February 9, 2022. All rights to the words and ideas expressed in this video are retained exclusively by their authors. If you would like to reuse a segment of this video, please contact the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory to request permission.