Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (/ˈroʊbzpjɛər/; French: [maksimiljɛ̃ ʁɔbɛspjɛʁ]; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fervently campaigned for the voting rights of all men and their unimpeded admission to the National Guard. Additionally, he advocated the right to petition, the right to bear arms in self-defence, and the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.
A radical Jacobin leader, Robespierre was elected as a deputy to the National Convention in September 1792, and in July 1793, he was appointed a member of the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre faced growing disillusionment due in part to the politically motivated violence associated with him. Increasingly, members of the Convention turned against him, and accusations came to a head on 9 Thermidor. Robespierre was arrested and along with around 90 individuals, he was executed without trial.
A figure deeply divisive during his lifetime, Robespierre's views and policies continue to evoke controversy. His legacy has been heavily influenced by his actual or perceived participation in repression of the Revolution's opponents, but he is notable for his progressive views for the time. Academic and popular discourse continues to engage in debates surrounding his legacy and reputation, particularly his ideas of virtue in regards to the revolution and its violence.
Maximilien de Robespierre was baptised on 6 May 1758 in Arras, Artois. His father, François Maximilien Barthélémy de Robespierre, a lawyer, married Jacqueline Marguerite Carrault, the daughter of a brewer, in January 1758. Maximilien, the eldest of four children, was born four months later. His siblings were Charlotte Robespierre, Henriette Robespierre, and Augustin Robespierre.
Robespierre's mother died on 16 July 1764, after delivering a stillborn son at age 29. Charlotte's memoirs indicate that she believed that the death of their mother had a major effect on her brother. About three years after the death of his wife, their father left the children in Arras. Maximilien and his brother were raised by their maternal grandparents and his sisters were raised by their unmarried paternal aunts.
Demonstrating literacy at an early age, Maximilien commenced his education at the Arras College when he was only eight. In October 1769, recommended by the bishop Louis-Hilaire de Conzié [fr], he secured a scholarship at the prestigious Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Among his peers were Camille Desmoulins and Stanislas Fréron. During his schooling, he developed a profound admiration for the Roman Republic and the rhetoric skills of Cicero, Cato and Lucius Junius Brutus. In 1776 he earned the first prize for rhetoric.
His appreciation for the classics inspired him to aspire to Roman virtues, particularly the embodiment of Rousseau's citizen-soldier. Robespierre was drawn to the concepts of the influential philosophe regarding political reforms expounded in his work, Contrat Social. Aligning with Rousseau, he considered the general will of the people as the foundation of political legitimacy. Robespierre's vision of revolutionary virtue and his strategy for establishing political authority through direct democracy can be traced back to the ideologies of Montesquieu and Mably. While some claim Robespierre coincidentally met Rousseau before the latter's passing, others argue that this account was apocryphal.
During his three-year study of law at the Sorbonne, Robespierre distinguished himself academically, culminating in his graduation in July 1780, where he received a special prize of 600 livres for his exceptional academic achievements and exemplary conduct. Admitted to the bar, he was appointed as one of the five judges in the local criminal court in March 1782. However, Robespierre soon resigned, due to his ethical discomfort in adjudicating capital cases, stemming from his opposition to the death penalty.
Robespierre was elected to the literary Academy of Arras in November 1783. The following year, the Academy of Metz honoured him with a medal for his essay pondering collective punishment, thus establishing him as literary figure. (Pierre Louis de Lacretelle and Robespierre shared the prize.)
In 1786 Robespierre passionately addressed inequality before the law, criticising the indignities faced by illegitimate or natural children, and later denouncing practices like lettres de cachet (imprisonment without a trial) and the marginalisation of women in academic circles. Robespierre's social circle expanded to include influential figures such as the lawyer Martial Herman, the officer and engineer Lazare Carnot and the teacher Joseph Fouché, all of whom would hold significance in his later endeavours. His role as the secretary of the Academy of Arras connected him with François-Noël Babeuf, a revolutionary land surveyor in the region.
In August 1788, King Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General to convene on 1 May 1789. Robespierre advocated in his Address to the Nation of Artois that following the customary mode of election by the members of the provincial estates would fail to adequately represent the people of France in the new Estates-General. In his electoral district, Arras, Robespierre began to assert his influence in politics through his Notice to the Residents of the Countryside in 1789, targeting local authorities and garnering the support of rural electors. On 26 April 1789, Robespierre secured his place as one of 16 deputies representing French Flanders in the Estates-General.
On 6 June, Robespierre delivered his maiden speech in the Estates General, targeting the hierarchical structure of the church. His impassioned oratory prompted observers to comment, "This young man is as yet inexperienced; unaware of when to cease, but possesses an eloquence that sets him apart from the rest." By 13 June, Robespierre aligned with deputies, who later proclaimed themselves the National Assembly, asserting representation for 96% of the nation. On 9 July, the Assembly relocated to Paris and began deliberating a new constitution and taxation system. On 13 July, the National Assembly proposed reinstating the "bourgeois militia" in Paris to quell the unrest. The following day, the populace demanded weapons and stormed both the Hôtel des Invalides and the Bastille. The local militia transitioned into the National Guard, a move that distanced the most impoverished citizens from active involvement. During an altercation with Lally-Tollendal who advocated law and order, Robespierre reminded the citizens of their "recent defense of liberty", which paradoxically restricted their access to it.
In October, alongside Louvet, Robespierre supported Maillard following the Women's March on Versailles. That same month, while the Constituent Assembly deliberated on male census suffrage on 22 October, Robespierre and a select few deputies opposed property requirements for voting and holding office. Through December and January Robespierre notably drew attention from marginalised groups, particularly Protestants, Jews, individuals of African descent, domestic servants, and actors.
A frequent orator in the Assembly, Robespierre championed the ideals in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen but his views rarely garnered majority support among fellow deputies. Despite his commitment to democratic principles, Robespierre persistently donned knee-breeches and retained a meticulously groomed appearance with powdered, curled, and perfumed wig tied in a queue in line with the style of the 18th century. Some accounts described him as "nervous, timid, and suspicious".
Following the forcible relocation of the King and National Constituent Assembly from Versailles to Paris, Robespierre lived at 30 Rue de Saintonge in Le Marais, a district with relatively wealthy inhabitants. He shared an apartment on the third floor with Pierre Villiers who was his secretary for several months. Robespierre associated with the new Society of the Friends of the Constitution, commonly known as the Jacobin Club. Among these 1,200 men, Robespierre found a sympathetic audience. Equality before the law was the keystone of the Jacobin ideology. Beginning in October and continuing through January he made several speeches in response to proposals for property qualifications for voting and officeholding under the proposed constitution. This was a position he vigorously opposed, arguing in a speech on 22 October the position that he derived from Rousseau:
During the continuing debate on suffrage, Robespierre ended his speech of 25 January 1790 with a demand that "all Frenchmen must be admissible to all public positions without any other distinction than that of virtues and talents". On 31 March 1790 he was elected as president of the Jacobin Club. Robespierre supported the cooperation of all the National Guards in a general federation on 11 May. On 19 June he was elected secretary of the National Assembly. In July Robespierre demanded "fraternal equality" in salaries. Before the end of the year, he was seen as one of the leaders of the small body of the extreme left of the Assembly, known as "the thirty voices".
On 5 December Robespierre delivered another speech on the National Guard. "To be armed for personal defence is the right of every man, to be armed to defend freedom and the existence of the common fatherland is the right of every citizen". Robespierre also coined the famous motto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" by adding the word fraternity on the flags of the National Guard.
In 1791, Robespierre gave 328 speeches, almost one a day. On 28 January, in the Assembly, he spoke on the organisation of the National Guard, On 27 and 28 April, Robespierre opposed plans to reorganise it and to restrict its membership to active citizens. He demanded that it should be reconstituted on a democratic basis, with an end to military decorations and an equal number of officers and soldiers in courts martial. He argued that the National Guard had to become the instrument of defending liberty rather than a threat to it.
In the same month Robespierre published a pamphlet in which he argued the case for universal manhood suffrage. On 15 May, the Constituent Assembly declared full and equal citizenship for all free people of colour. In the debate Robespierre said: "I feel that I am here to defend the rights of men; I cannot consent to any amendment and I ask that the principle be adopted in its entirety." He descended from the rostrum in the middle of the repeated applause of the left and of all the tribunes.
On 16–18 May when the elections began, Robespierre proposed and carried the motion that no deputy who sat in the Constituent assembly could sit in the succeeding Legislative assembly. A tactical purpose of this self-denying ordinance was to block the ambitions of the old leaders of the Jacobins, Antoine Barnave, Adrien Duport, and Alexandre de Lameth, who aspired to create a constitutional monarchy roughly similar to that of England. On 28 May, Robespierre proposed all Frenchmen should be declared active citizens and eligible to vote. On 30 May, he delivered a speech on abolishing the death penalty, which the Assembly did not support.
On 10 June, Robespierre delivered a speech on the state of the police and proposed to dismiss officers. On 11 June 1791 he was elected or nominated as (substitute) public prosecutor in the criminal tribunal preparing indictments. On 15 June, Pétion de Villeneuve became president of the "tribunal criminel provisoire", after Duport refused to work with Robespierre.
After Louis XVI's flight to Varennes, the Assembly suspended the king from his duties on 25 June. Robespierre declared in the Jacobin Club on 13 July: "The current French constitution is a republic with a monarch. She is therefore neither a monarchy nor a republic. She is both."
After the Champ de Mars massacre, the authorities ordered numerous arrests. Robespierre, after attending the Jacobin club, did not go back to the Rue Saintonge where he lodged, and asked Laurent Lecointre if he knew a patriot near the Tuileries who could put him up for the night. Lecointre suggested Duplay's house and took him there. Maurice Duplay, a cabinetmaker and ardent admirer, lived at 398 Rue Saint-Honoré near the Tuileries. After a few days, Robespierre decided to move in permanently, motivated by a desire to live closer to the Assembly and the Jacobin club. Robespierre took up residence in the back house where he was distracted by the noises of work.
In September, the French Constitution of 1791 was accepted and the Assembly had therefore completed its task. On 30 September, the day of the dissolution of the Assembly, Robespierre opposed Jean Le Chapelier, who wanted to proclaim an end to the revolution and restrict freedom of expression. He succeeded in getting any requirement for inspection out of the constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression: "The freedom of every man to speak, to write, to print and publish his thoughts, without the writings having to be subject to censorship or inspection prior to their publication..." Pétion and Robespierre were brought back in triumph to their homes. Madame Roland labelled Pétion de Villeneuve, François Buzot, and Robespierre the "incorruptibles" in honour of their principles, their modest ways of living, and their refusal to take bribes.
On 16 October, Robespierre delivered a speech in Arras; one week later in Béthune. On 28 November, he was back in the Jacobin club, where he met with a triumphant reception. Collot d'Herbois gave his chair to Robespierre, who presided that evening. On 5 December he gave a speech on the organisation of the Garde National, which he saw as a unique institution born from the ideals of the French Revolution. On 11 December, Robespierre was finally installed as accusateur public.
The Declaration of Pillnitz issued by Austria and Prussia on 27 August 1791 warned the people of France not to harm Louis XVI or these nations would "militarily intervene". Brissot rallied the support of the Legislative Assembly for war with Austria. As Jean-Paul Marat, Georges Danton and Robespierre had not been elected in the new legislature, thanks to the Self-Denying Ordinance, anti-war politics mainly took place outside the Assembly. On 18 December 1791, Robespierre gave a second speech at the Jacobin club against war, warning against the threat of dictatorship stemming from it:
At the end of December, Guadet, the chairman of the Assembly, suggested that a war would be a benefit to the nation and boost the economy. Marat and Robespierre opposed him, arguing that victory would create a dictatorship, while defeat would restore the king to his former powers.
This opposition from expected allies irritated the Girondins, and the war became a major point of contention between the factions. In his third speech on the war, Robespierre countered on 25 January 1792 in the Jacobin club, "A revolutionary war must be waged to free subjects and slaves from unjust tyranny, not for the traditional reasons of defending dynasties and expanding frontiers..." Robespierre argued such a war could only favour the forces of counter-revolution, since it would play into the hands of those who opposed the sovereignty of the people. The risks of Caesarism were clear: "in troubled periods of history, generals often became the arbiters of the fate of their countries." Robespierre failed to gather a majority, but his speech was nevertheless published and sent to all clubs and Jacobin societies of France.
On 10 February 1792, Robespierre gave a speech on how to save the State and Liberty. He advocated specific measures to strengthen, not so much the national defences as the forces that could be relied on to defend the revolution. Robespierre promoted a people's army, continuously under arms and able to impose its will on Feuillants and Girondins in the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI and the Legislative Assembly. The Jacobins decided to study his speech before deciding whether it should be printed.
On 26 March, Guadet accused Robespierre of superstition, relying on divine providence. Shortly after Robespierre was accused by Brissot and Guadet of "trying to become the idol of the people". Being against the war, Robespierre was also accused of acting as a secret agent for the "Austrian Committee". The Girondins planned strategies to out-maneuver Robespierre's influence among the Jacobins. On 27 April, as part of his speech responding to the accusations by Brissot and Guadet against him, he threatened to leave the Jacobins, claiming he preferred to continue his mission as an ordinary citizen.
On 17 May, Robespierre released the first issue of his weekly periodical Le Défenseur de la Constitution (The Defender of the Constitution). In this publication, he criticised Brissot and expressed his scepticism over the war movement. The periodical, printed by his neighbour Nicolas, served multiple purposes: to print his speeches, to counter the influence of the royal court in public policy, to defend him from the accusations of Girondist leaders; and to give voice to the economic and democratic interests of the broader masses in Paris and defend their rights.
On 15 February, Robespierre failed to get elected to the city council (Conseil général); on the same day the installation of the criminal trial court of the department of Paris took place. For Robespierre thus meant a thankless position as public prosecutor. Robespierre was responsible for the coordination of the local and the federal police in the department and the sections.
When the Legislative Assembly declared war against Austria on 20 April 1792, Robespierre stated that the French people must arm themselves, whether to fight abroad or to prevent despotism at home. An isolated Robespierre responded by working to reduce the political influence of the officer class and the king. On 23 April Robespierre demanded that Marquis de Lafayette, the head of the Army of the Centre, step down. While arguing for the welfare of common soldiers, Robespierre urged new promotions to mitigate the domination of the officer class by the aristocratic and royalist École Militaire and the conservative National Guard. Along with other Jacobins, he urged the creation of an armée révolutionnaire in Paris, consisting of at least 20,000–23,000 men, to defend the city, "liberty" (the revolution), maintain order and educate the members in democratic and republican principles, an idea he borrowed from Jean-Jacques Rousseau. According to Jean Jaures, he considered this even more important than the right to strike.
On 29 May 1792, the Assembly dissolved the Constitutional Guard, suspecting it of royalist and counter-revolutionary sympathies. In early June 1792, Robespierre proposed an end to the monarchy and the subordination of the Assembly to the general will. The monarchy faced an abortive demonstration of 20 June.
Because French forces suffered disastrous defeats and a series of defections at the onset of the war, Robespierre and Marat feared the possibility of a military coup d'état. One was led by Lafayette, head of the National Guard, who at the end of June advocated the suppression of the Jacobin Club. Robespierre publicly attacked him in scathing terms:
On 2 July, the Assembly authorised the National Guard to go to the Festival of Federation on 14 July, circumventing a royal veto. On 11 July, the Jacobins won an emergency vote in the wavering Assembly, declaring the nation in danger and drafting all Parisians with pikes into the National Guard. On 15 July, Billaud-Varenne in the Jacobin club outlined the program for the next insurrection: the deportation of the Bourbons and "enemies of the people", the cleansing of the National Guard, the election of a Convention, the "transfer of the Royal veto to the people", and exemption of the poorest from taxation. On 24 July a "Central Office of Co-ordination" was formed and the sections received the right to be in a "permanent" session.
On 25 July, according to the Logographe [fr], Carnot promoted the use of pikes and provided to every citizen. On 29 July Robespierre called for the deposition of the King and the election of a Convention. In late July the Brunswick Manifesto began sweeping through Paris. It was frequently described as unlawful and offensive to national sovereignty. The authorship was frequently in doubt.
On 1 August, the Assembly voted on Carnot's proposal, enforcing the distribution of pikes to all citizens, excluding vagabonds. By 3 August, the mayor and 47 sections demanded the removal of the king. On 5 August Robespierre disclosed the discovery of a plan for the king to escape to Château de Gaillon. Aligning with Robespierre's stance, almost all sections in Paris rallied for the dethronement of the king and issued a decisive ultimatum. Brissot urged the preservation of the constitution, advocating against both the dethronement of the king and the election of a new assembly. Simultaneously, the Council of Ministers recommended the arrest of Danton, Marat and Robespierre if they attended the Jacobin club.
In the early hours of Friday, 10 August 30,000 Fédérés (volunteers hailing from the countryside) and sans-culottes (militant citizens from the Paris) mounted a successful assault upon the royal palace of the Tuileries. Robespierre considered it a triumph for the "passive" (non-voting) citizens. The Assembly, rattled by the events, suspended the king’s powers and authorised the election of a new National Convention in the light of the changing role of the monarchy. On the night of 11 August. Robespierre secured a position in the Paris Commune, representing the Section de Piques, his residential district. The governing committee advocated universal male suffrage in the election of the new National Convention. Despite Camille Desmoulins' belief that the turmoil had concluded, Robespierre asserted that it marked merely the beginning. By 13 August, Robespierre openly opposed the reinforcement of the départements. Subsequently, Danton invited him to join the Council of Justice. Robespierre published the twelfth and final edition of Le Défenseur de la Constitution, serving as an account and political testament.
On 16 August, Robespierre submitted a petition to the Legislative Assembly, endorsed by the Paris Commune urging the establishment of a provisional Revolutionary Tribunal specifically tasked with dealing with perceived "traitors" and "enemies of the people". The following day, he was appointed as one of eight judges for this tribunal. However, citing a lack of impartiality, Robespierre declined to preside over it. This decision drew criticism.
The Prussian army crossed the French frontier on 19 August. To fortify defence, the Paris armed sections were integrated into 48 battalions of the National Guard under Santerre's command. The Assembly decreed that all the non-juring priests must leave Paris within a week and leave the country within two weeks. On 28 August, the assembly ordered a curfew for the next two days. The city gates were closed; all communication with the country was stopped. At the behest of Justice Minister Danton, thirty commissioners from the sections were ordered to search every suspect house for weapons, munitions, swords, carriages, and horses. "As a result of this inquisition, more than 1,000 "suspects" were added to the immense body of political prisoners already confined in the jails and convents of the city". Marat and Robespierre both disliked Condorcet who proposed that the "enemies of the people" belonged to the whole nation and should be judged constitutionally in its name. On 30 August the interim minister of Interior Roland and Guadet tried to suppress the influence of the Commune because the searches of suspect houses had been completed. The Assembly, tired of the pressures, declared the Commune illegal and suggested the organisation of communal elections.
Robespierre was no longer willing to cooperate with Brissot and Roland. On Sunday morning 2 September the members of the Commune, gathering in the town hall to proceed the election of deputies to the National Convention, decided to maintain their seats and have Roland and Brissot arrested.
On 2 September, the 1792 French National Convention election began. Meanwhile Paris was organising its defence against the Prussians, but there was a lack of arms for the thousands of volunteers. Danton delivered a speech in which he said: "We ask that anyone who refuses to serve in person, or surrender their weapons, is punished with death." His speech acted as a call for direct action among the citizens, as well as a strike against the external enemy. Not long after, the September Massacres began. Robespierre and Manuel, the public prosecutor, responsible for the police administration, visited the Temple prison to check on the safety of the royal family.
In Paris, suspected Girondin and royalist candidates were excluded both before and after the vote due to "Robespierre's unabashed vote rigging"; Robespierre contributed to the failure of Brissot and his associates Pétion and Condorcet to be elected in Paris. On 5 September, Robespierre was elected deputy to the National Convention but Danton and Collot d'Herbois received more votes than Robespierre. Madame Roland wrote to a friend: "We are under the knife of Robespierre and Marat, those who would agitate the people." The election was not the triumph for the Jacobins that they had anticipated, but during the next nine months they gradually eliminated their opponents and gained control of the Convention.
On 21 September, Pétion was elected as president of the Convention. The Jacobins and Cordeliers took the high benches at the back of the former Salle du Manège, giving them the label the Montagnards ("the Mountain"); below them were the "Manège" of the Girondists, the moderate Republicans. The majority, known as the Plain, was formed by independents like Barère, Cambon and Carnot. On 25 and 26 September, Barbaroux and the Girondist Lasource accused Robespierre of wanting to form a dictatorship. Rumours spread that Robespierre, Marat, and Danton were plotting to establish a triumvirate to save the First French Republic, although there is no evidence to support this claim.
On 30 September, Robespierre advocated several laws; the registration of marriages, births, and burials was taken away from the church. On 29 October, Louvet de Couvrai attacked Robespierre. He accused him of governing the Paris "Conseil Général" and of having done nothing to stop the September massacre; instead, according to him, he had used it to have more Montagnards elected; allegedly paying the septembriseurs to gain more votes. Robespierre, who was sick, was given a week to respond. On 5 November, Robespierre defended himself, the Jacobin Club, and his supporters:
Turning the accusations upon his accusers, Robespierre delivered one of the most famous lines of the French Revolution to the Assembly:
After publishing his speech "A Maximilien Robespierre et à ses royalistes (accusation)", Louvet was no longer admitted to the Jacobin Club. Condorcet considered the French Revolution as a religion and believed that Robespierre had all the characteristics of a leader of a sect, or a cult. As his opponents knew well, Robespierre had a strong base of support among the women of Paris called tricoteuses (knitters). According to Moore, "He [Robespierre] refuses offices in which he might be of service, takes those where he can govern; appears when he can make a figure, disappears when others occupy the stage".
After the Convention's unanimous declaration of a French Republic on 21 September 1792, opinion turned sharply against Louis XVI following the discovery of a secret cache of 726 documents consisting of his communications with bankers and ministers. The National Convention decreed that the king should be put on trial. On 28 December, Robespierre was asked to repeat his speech on the fate of the king in the Jacobin club. On 14 January 1793, the king was unanimously voted guilty of conspiracy and attacks upon public safety. On 16 January, voting began to determine the king's sentence; Robespierre worked fervently to ensure the king's execution. The Jacobins successfully defeated the Girondins' final appeal for clemency. On 20 January, half of the deputies voted for immediate death. The next day Louis XVI was guillotined. The influence of Robespierre, Danton, and the Montagnards had reached its peak.
On 24 February, the Convention decreed the first, albeit unsuccessful, levée en masse, triggering uprisings in rural France. Protesters, supported by the Enragés, accused the Girondins of instigating the unrest and causing soaring prices. In early March 1793, the War in the Vendée and the War of the Pyrenees began. On the evening of 9 March, a crowd gathered outside the Convention, shouting threats and calling for the removal of all "traitorous" deputies who had failed to vote for the execution of the king. On 12 March 1793, a provisional Revolutionary Tribunal was established; three days later, the Convention appointed Fouquier-Tinville as the accusateur public and Fleuriot-Lescot as his assistant. Robespierre was not enthusiastic and feared that it might become the political instrument of a faction. Robespierre believed that all institutions are bad if they are not founded on the assumption that the people are good and their magistrates corruptible.
Meanwhile, the population of the Austrian Netherlands, who were terrorised by an Army of Sans-Culottes, resisted the French invasion. On 11 March, Charles François Dumouriez addressed the Brussels assembly, apologising for the actions of the French commissioners and soldiers. Dumouriez promised the Austrians that the French army would leave Belgium by the end of March, without obtaining the permission of the Convention to give this undertaking. He urged the Duke of Chartres to join his plan to negotiate peace, dissolve the Convention, restore the French Constitution of 1791 and a constitutional monarchy, and to free Marie-Antoinette and her children. The Jacobin leaders were quite sure that France had come close to a military coup mounted by Dumouriez and supported by the Girondins.
On 25 March, Robespierre became one of the 25 members of the Committee of General Defence to coordinate the war effort. Robespierre called for the removal of Dumouriez, who in his eyes aspired to become a Belgian dictator or chief of state, and Dumouriez was placed under arrest. Robespierre demanded that relatives of the king should leave France, but that Marie-Antoinette should be put on trial. He spoke of vigorous measures to save the Convention, but left the committee within a few days. The Montagnards launched a vigorous campaign against the Girondins after the defection of General Dumouriez, who refused to surrender himself to the Revolutionary Tribunal. On 3 April, Robespierre declared before the Convention that the whole war was a prepared game between Dumouriez and Brissot to overthrow the Republic.
On 6 April, the Committee of Public Safety was set up, composed of nine deputies from the Plaine and the Dantonists, but no Girondins or Robespierrists. As one of the first acts of the Committee, Marat, president of the Jacobin club, called for the expulsion of twenty-two Girondins. Robespierre, who was not elected, was pessimistic about the prospects of parliamentary action and told the Jacobins that it was necessary to raise an army of sans-culottes to defend Paris and arrest disloyal deputies. There were only two parties according to Robespierre: the people and their enemies. On 10 April, Robespierre accused Dumouriez in a speech: "He and his supporters have brought a fatal blow to the public fortune, preventing circulation of assignats in Belgium". Robespierre's speeches during April 1793 reflect his growing radicalisation. "I ask the sections to raise an army large enough to form the kernel of a Revolutionary Army that will draw all the sans-culottes from the departments to exterminate the rebels..." Suspecting further treason, Robespierre invited the Convention to vote the death penalty against anyone who would propose negotiating with the enemy. Marat was imprisoned for calling for a military tribunal as well as the suspension of the Convention. On 15 April, the Convention was stormed again by the people from the sections, demanding the removal of those Girondins who had defended the King. Until 17 April, the Convention discussed the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1793, a political document that preceded the first republican constitution of 1793. On 18 April, the Commune announced an insurrection against the Convention after the arrest of Marat. On 19 April, Robespierre opposed article 7 on equality before the law; on 22 April, the Convention discussed article 29 on the right of resistance. On 24 April, Robespierre presented his version with four articles on the right of property. He was in effect questioning the individual right of ownership, and advocated a progressive tax and fraternity between the people of all the nations.
On 1 May 1793, according to the Girondin deputé Jacques-Antoine Dulaure, 8,000 armed men surrounded the Convention and threatened not to leave if the emergency measures they demanded (a decent salary and maximum on food prices) were not adopted. On 4 May, the Convention agreed to support the families of soldiers and sailors who left their home to fight the enemy. Robespierre pressed ahead with his strategy of class war. On 8 and 12 May in the Jacobin Club, Robespierre restated the necessity of founding a revolutionary army that would search for grain, to be funded by a tax on the rich, and would be intended to defeat aristocrats and counter-revolutionaries. He said that public squares should be used to produce arms and pikes. In mid-May, Marat and the Commune supported him publicly and secretly. The Convention decided to set up a commission of inquiry of twelve members, with a very strong Girondin majority. Jacques Hébert, the editor of Le Père Duchesne, was arrested after attacking or calling for the death of the twenty-two Girondins. The next day, the Commune demanded that Hébert be released.
On 26 May, after a week of silence, Robespierre delivered one of the most decisive speeches of his career. He called on the Jacobin Club "to place themselves in insurrection against corrupt deputies". Isnard declared that the Convention would not be influenced by any violence and that Paris had to respect the representatives from elsewhere in France. The Convention decided Robespierre would not be heard. The atmosphere became extremely agitated. Some deputies were willing to kill if Isnard dared to declare civil war in Paris; the president was asked to give up his seat.
On 28 May, a weak Robespierre excused himself twice due to his physical condition, but still attacked Brissot for his royalism. Robespierre left the Convention after applause from the left side and went to the town hall. There he called for an armed insurrection against the majority of the Convention. "If the Commune does not unite closely with the people, it violates its most sacred duty", he said. In the afternoon, the Commune demanded the creation of a revolutionary army of sans-culottes in every town of France, including 20,000 men to defend Paris.
On 29 May, Robespierre was occupied in preparing the public mind. He attacked Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux, but admitted he almost gave up his political career because of his anxieties. The delegates representing thirty-three of the Paris sections formed an insurrectionary committee. They declared themselves in a state of insurrection, dissolved the general council of the commune, and immediately reconstituted it, making it take a new oath; Francois Hanriot was elected as Commandant-Général of the Parisian National Guard. Saint-Just was added to the Committee of Public Safety; Couthon became secretary.
The next day, the tocsin in the Notre-Dame was rung and the city gates were closed; the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June began. Hanriot was ordered to fire a cannon on the Pont-Neuf as a sign of alarm. Around ten in the morning, 12,000 armed citizens appeared to protect the Convention against the arrest of Girondin deputies.
On 1 June, the Commune gathered over the course of the day and devoted it to the preparation of a great movement. The Comité insurrectionnel ordered Hanriot to surround the Convention "with a respectable armed force". In the evening, 40,000 men surrounded the building to force the arrest. Marat led the attack on the representatives, who had voted against the execution of the King and since then paralysed the Convention. The Commune decided to petition the Convention. The Convention decided to allow men to carry arms on days of crisis and pay them for each day and promised to indemnify the workers for the interruption in the past four days.
Unsatisfied with the result, the Commune demanded and prepared a Supplement to the revolution. Hanriot offered (or was ordered) to march the National Guard from the town hall to the National Palace. The next morning a large force of armed citizens (some estimated 80,000 or 100,000, but Danton spoke of only 30,000) surrounded the Convention with artillery. "The armed force", Hanriot said, "will retire only when the Convention has delivered to the people the deputies denounced by the Commune." The Girondins believed they were protected by the law, but the people in the galleries called for their arrest. Twenty-two Girondins were seized.
The Montagnards now had control of the Convention. The Girondins, going to the provinces, joined the counter-revolution.
During the insurrection, Robespierre had scrawled a note in his memorandum-book:
On 3 June, the Convention decided to split up the land belonging to Émigrés and sell it to farmers. On 12 June, Robespierre announced his intention to resign due to health issues. On 13 July, Robespierre defended the plans of Le Peletier to teach revolutionary ideas in boarding schools. On the following day, the Convention rushed to praise Marat – who had been murdered in his bathtub – for his fervor and revolutionary diligence. Opposing Pierre-Louis Bentabole, Robespierre simply called for an inquiry into the circumstances of Marat's death. On 17 or 22 July the property of the Émigres were expropriated by decree; proofs of ownership had to be collected and burnt.
The French government confronted significant internal challenges as the provincial cities rebelled against the more radical revolutionaries in Paris. Marat and Le Peletier were assassinated, instilling fear in Robespierre and other prominent figures for their own safety. Corsica formally seceded from France and sought protection from the British government. In July, France teetered on the brink of civil war, besieged by aristocratic uprisings in Vendée and Brittany, by federalist revolts in Lyon, Le Midi, and Normandy, and confronted with hostility from across Europe and foreign factions.
At the end of June, Robespierre launched an attack on Jacques Roux, portraying him as a foreign agent, which led to Roux's expulsion from the Jacobin Club. On 13 July, the day Marat was assassinated, Robespierre voiced support for Louis-Michel le Peletier's proposals to introduce revolutionary concepts into schools. He also condemned the initiatives of the Parisian radicals, known as the Enragés, who exploited rising inflation and food shortages to incite unrest among the Paris sections.
On 27 July 1793, Robespierre finally joined the Committee, replacing Thomas-Augustin de Gasparin. This marked Robespierre's second stint in an executive position to oversee the war effort. While Robespierre was generally considered the most recognisable member of the Committee, it operated without a hierarchical structure.
On 4 August, the Convention promulgated the French Constitution of 1793. However, by the end of August, the rebellious cities of Marseille, Bordeaux, and Lyon had not yet accepted the new Constitution. French historian Soboul suggests that Robespierre opposed its implementation before the rebellious départements had acknowledged it. By mid-September, the Jacobin Club proposed that the Constitution should not be published, arguing that the general will was absent, despite an overwhelming majority favouring it.
On 21 August, Robespierre was elected as president of the Convention. Two days later, on 23 August Lazare Carnot was appointed to the committee and the provisional government introduced the Levée en masse against the enemies of the republic. Couthon proposed a law punishing any person who sold assignats at less than their nominal value with twenty years imprisonment in chains. Robespierre was particularly concerned with ensuring the virtue of public officials. He had dispatched his brother Augustin, also a representative, and sister Charlotte to Marseille and Nice to quell the federalist insurrection.
On 4 September, the sans-culottes once again stormed the Convention, demanding stricter measures against rising prices, even though the circulating assignats had doubled in the preceding months. They also called for the establishment of a system of terror to eradicate counter-revolution. During the session on 5 September 1793, Robespierre yielded the chair to Jacques Thuriot, as he needed to attend the Committee of Public Safety to supervise the report on the constitution of the revolutionary army. During that day's session, Barère, representing the Committee of Public Safety, introduced a decree that was promptly passed, establishing a paid armed force of 6,000 men and 1,200 gunners "tasked with crushing counter-revolutionaries, enforcing revolutionary laws and public safety measures decreed by the National Convention, and safeguarding provisions."
On 11 September, the authority of the Committee of Public Safety was extended for one month. Robespierre threw his support behind Hanriot in the Jacobin Club and voiced opposition to the appointment of Lazare Carnot on 23 August to the committee, citing Carnot's non-membership in the Jacobin Club and his refusal to endorse the events of 31 May.
Thuriot resigned on 20 September due to irreconcilable differences with Robespierre, becoming one of his more vocal opponents. The Revolutionary Tribunal underwent reorganisation, being divided into four sections, with two sections always active simultaneously. On 29 September, the Committee introduced the price controls, particularly in the area supplying Paris. According to historian Augustin Cochin, shops were emptied within a week due to these measures.
On 3 October, Robespierre perceived the Convention as split into two factions: those aligned with the people, and those he deemed conspirators. He defended seventy-three Girondins "as useful", but over twenty were subsequently brought to trial. He criticised Danton, who had declined a seat on the Committee of Public Safety, advocating instead for a stable government capable of resisting the Committee's directives. Danton, who had been dangerously ill for a few weeks, withdrew from politics and departed for Arcis-sur-Aube. By 8 October, the Convention resolved to arrest Brissot and the Girondins.
On 10 October, the Convention officially recognised the Committee of Public Safety as the supreme "Revolutionary Government", a designation that was solidified on 4 December. Despite the overwhelming popularity of the Constitution and its drafting, which bolstered support for the Montagnards, the Convention indefinitely suspended it on 10 October until a future peace could be achieved. The Committee of Public Safety transformed into a war cabinet with unprecedented authority over the economy and the political life of the nation. However, it remained accountable to the Convention for any legislative measures and could be replaced at any time.
On 12 October, amid accusations by Hébert implicating Marie-Antoinette's engaging in incest with her son, Robespierre shared a meal with staunch supporters including Barère, Saint-Just, and Joachim Vilate. During the discussion, Robespierre, visibly incensed, broke his plate with his fork and denounced Hébert as an "imbécile". The verdict on the former queen was delivered by the jury of the Revolutionary Tribunal on 16 October at four o'clock in the morning, and she was guillotined at noon. Courtois reportedly discovered Marie-Antoinette's will among Robespierre's papers, concealed beneath his bed.
On 25 October, the Revolutionary government faced accusations of inaction. Several members of the Committee of General Security, aided by armées revolutionnaires, were dispatched to quell active resistance against the Revolution in the provinces. Robespierre's landlord, Maurice Duplay, became a member of the Revolutionary Tribunal. On 31 October, Brissot and twenty-one other Girondins were guillotined.
On the morning of 14 November, François Chabot allegedly barged into Robespierre's room, dragging him from bed with accusations of counter-revolution and a foreign conspiracy. Chabot waved a hundred thousand livres in assignat notes, claiming that a group of royalist plotters had given it to him to buy votes. Chabot was arrested three days later; Courtois urged Danton to return to Paris immediately.
On 25 November, the remains of the Comte de Mirabeau were removed from the Pantheon and replaced with those of Jean-Paul Marat. Robespierre initiated this change upon discovering that Mirabeau had secretly conspired with the court of Louis XVI in his final months. At the end of November, under intense emotional pressure from Lyonnaise women, who protested and gathered 10,000 signatures, Robespierre proposed the establishment of a secret commission to examine the cases of the Lyon rebels and investigate potential injustices.
On 3 December, Robespierre accused Danton in the Jacobin Club of feigning an illness to emigrate to Switzerland. Danton, according to him, showed too often his vices and not his virtue. Robespierre was stopped in his attack. The gathering was closed after applause for Danton. On 4 December, by the Law of Revolutionary Government, the independence of departmental and local authorities came to an end when extensive powers of the Committee of Public Safety were codified. Submitted by Billaud and implemented within 24 hours, the law was a drastic decision against the independence of deputies and commissionaires on a mission; coordinated action among the sections became illegal. On 5 December, the journalist Camille Desmoulins launched a new journal, Le Vieux Cordelier. He defended Danton, attacked the de-Christianisers, and later compared Robespierre with Julius Caesar as dictator. Robespierre made a counterproposal of setting up a Committee of Justice to examine some of the cases under the Law of Suspects. Seventy-three deputies who had voted against the insurrection on 2 June were allowed to take their seats in the Convention. On 6 December, Robespierre warned in the Convention against the dangers of dechristianisation, and attacked "all violence or threats contrary to the freedom of religion".
On 12 December, Robespierre attacked the wealthy foreigner Cloots in the Jacobin club of being a Prussian spy. Robespierre denounced the "de-Christianisers" as foreign enemies. The Indulgents mounted an attack on the Committee of Public Safety, accusing them of being murderers. Desmoulins addressed Robespierre directly, writing, "My dear Robespierre... my old school friend... Remember the lessons of history and philosophy: love is stronger, more lasting than fear."
On 25 December, provoked by Desmoulins' insistent challenges, Robespierre produced his "Report on the Principles of Revolutionary Government". Robespierre replied to the plea for an end to the Terror, justifying the collective authority of the National Convention, administrative centralisation, and the purging of local authorities. He said he had to avoid two cliffs: indulgence and severity. He could not consult the 18th-century political authors, because they had not foreseen such a course of events. He protested against the various factions that he believed threatened the government, such as the Hébertists and Dantonists. Robespierre strongly believed that the strict legal system was still necessary:
Robespierre would suppress chaos and anarchy: "the Government has to defend itself" [against conspirators] and "to the enemies of the people it owes only death". According to R. R. Palmer and Donald C. Hodges, this was the first important statement in modern times of a philosophy of dictatorship. Others see it as a natural consequence of political instability and conspiracy.
In his Report on the Principles of Political Morality made on 5 February 1794, Robespierre praised the revolutionary government and argued that terror and virtue were necessary:
Aulard sums up the Jacobin train of thought: "All politics, according to Robespierre, must tend to establish the reign of virtue and confound vice. He reasoned thus: those who are virtuous are right; error is a corruption of the heart; error cannot be sincere; error is always deliberate." According to the German journalist K. E. Oelsner, Robespierre behaved "more like a leader of a religious sect than of a political party. He can be eloquent but most of the time he is boring, especially when he goes on too long, which is often the case."
From 13 February to 13 March 1794, Robespierre had withdrawn from active business on the Committee due to illness. Robespierre seems to have suffered from acute physical and mental exhaustion, exacerbated by an austere personal regime, according to McPhee. Saint-Just was elected president of the Convention for the next two weeks. On 19 February, Robespierre decided to return to the Duplays.
In early March, in a speech at the Cordeliers Club, Hébert attacked both Robespierre and Danton as being too soft. Hébert used the latest issue of Le Père Duchesne to criticise Robespierre. There were queues and near-riots at the shops and in the markets; there were strikes and threatening public demonstrations. Some of the Hébertistes and their friends were calling for a new insurrection. Robespierre managed to acquire a small army of secret agents, which reported to him.
A majority of the Committee decided that the ultra-left Hébertists would have to perish or their 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 "bloodthirstiness" and atheism, which he associated with the old aristocracy. On the night of 13–14 March, Hébert and 18 of his followers were arrested as the agents of foreign powers. On 15 March, Robespierre reappeared in the Convention. The next day, Robespierre denounced a petition demanding that all merchants should be excluded from public offices while the war lasted. Subsequently, he joined Saint-Just in his attacks on Hébert. The leaders of the "armées révolutionnaires" were denounced by the Revolutionary Tribunal as accomplices of Hébert. Their armies were dissolved on 27 March. Robespierre protected Hanriot, the commander of the Paris National Guards, and Pache. Around twenty people, including Hébert, Cloots and De Kock), were guillotined on the evening of 24 March. On 25 March, Condorcet was arrested, as he was seen as an enemy of the Revolution; he committed suicide two days later.
On 29 March, Danton met again with Robespierre privately. On 30 March the two committees decided to arrest Danton and Desmoulins. On 31 March, Saint-Just publicly attacked both. In the Convention, criticism was voiced against the arrests, which Robespierre silenced with "whoever trembles at this moment is guilty." Legendre suggested that "before you listen to any report, you send for the prisoners, and hear them". Robespierre replied, "It would be violating the laws of impartiality to grant to Danton what was refused to others, who had an equal right to make the same demand. This answer silenced at once all solicitations in his favour." No friend of the Dantonists dared speak up in case he too should be accused of putting friendship before virtue.
Danton, Desmoulins, and several others faced trial from 3 to 5 April before the Revolutionary Tribunal, presided over by Martial Herman. Described as more politically charged than criminally focused, the trial proceeded in an irregular manner. Hanriot had been informed not to arrest the president and the "public accuser" of the Revolutionary Tribunal. The accusations of theft, corruption, and the scandal involving the French East India Company paved the way for Danton's downfall, accusing him of conspiracy with count Mirabeau, Marquis de Lafayette, the Duke of Orléans and Dumouriez. In Robespierre's eyes, the Dantonists had ceased to be true patriots, instead prioritising personal and foreign interests over the nation's welfare. Following Robespierre's advice, a decree was accepted to present Saint-Just's account on Danton's alleged royalist tendencies at the tribunal, effectively ending further debates and restraining any further insults to justice by the accused.
Fouquier-Tinville asked the tribunal to order the defendants who "confused the hearing" and insulted "National Justice" to the guillotine. Desmoulins struggled to accept his fate and accused Robespierre, the Committee of General Security, and the Revolutionary Tribunal. He was dragged up the scaffold by force.
On the last day of their trial, Desmoulins's wife, Lucile Desmoulins, was imprisoned. She was accused of organising a revolt against the patriots and the tribunal to free her husband and Danton. She admitted to having warned the prisoners of a course of events as in September 1792, and that it was her duty to revolt against it. Robespierre was not only his school friend but also had witnessed at their marriage in December 1790, together with Pétion and Brissot. Following the executions of Danton and Desmoulins on 5 April, Robespierre had a partial withdrawal from public life. He did not reappear until 7 May. The withdrawal may have been an indication of health issues.
On 1 April, Lazare Carnot proposed the provisional executive council of six ministers be suppressed and the ministries be replaced by twelve Committees reporting to the Committee of Public Safety. The proposal was unanimously adopted by the National Convention and set up by Martial Herman on 8 April. On 3 April, Fouché was invited to Paris. On 9 April, he appeared in the Convention; in the evening he visited Robespierre at home. On 12 April, his report was discussed in the Convention; according to Robespierre, it was incomplete. When Barras and Fréron paid a visit to Robespierre, they were received in an extremely unfriendly manner. At the request of Robespierre, the Convention ordered the transfer of the ashes of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the Panthéon.
On 22 April, Malesherbes, a lawyer who had defended the king and the deputés Isaac René Guy le Chapelier and Jacques Guillaume Thouret, four times elected president of the Constituent Assembly, were taken to the scaffold. The decree of 8 May suppressed the revolutionary courts and committees in the provinces and brought all political cases for trial in the capital. The police bureau, directed by Martial Herman, became a serious rival of the Committee of General Security after a month. Payan, even advised Robespierre to get rid of the Committee of General Security, saying it broke the unity of action of the government.
On 10 June, Georges Couthon introduced the Law of 22 Prairial to liberate the Revolutionary Tribunals from Convention control while severely restricting suspects' ability to defend themselves. The law significantly expanded the scope of charges, criminalising virtually any criticism of the government. Legal defence was sidelined in favour of efficiency and centralisation, as all assistance for defendants before the revolutionary tribunal was outlawed. The Tribunal transformed into a court of condemnation, denying suspects the right to counsel and offering only two verdicts: complete acquittal or death, often based more on jurors' moral convictions than evidence. Within three days, 156 people were sent in batches to the guillotine, including all the members of Parlement of Toulouse. On 11 July, shopkeepers, craftsmen, and others were temporarily released from prison due to overcrowding, with over 8,000 "suspects" initially confined by the start of Thermidor Year II (in the French Revolutionary calendar), according to François Furet. Paris saw a doubling of death sentences.
Robespierre's stance on abolition exhibits certain contradictions, prompting doubts about his intentions regarding slavery.
On 13 May 1791, he opposed the inclusion of the term "slaves" in a law, vehemently denouncing the slave trade. He emphasised that slavery contradicted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. On 15 May 1791, the Constituent Assembly granted citizenship to "all people of colour born of free parents". Robespierre passionately argued in the Assembly against the Colonial Committee, which was composed predominantly of plantation owners and slaveholders in the Caribbean. The colonial lobby contended that granting political rights to black individuals would lead to France losing her colonies. In response, Robespierre asserted, "We should not compromise the interests humanity holds most dear, the sacred rights of a significant number of our fellow citizens," later exclaiming, "Perish the colonies, if it will cost you your happiness, your glory, your freedom. Perish the colonies!" Robespierre expressed fury at the assembly's decision to grant "constitutional sanction to slavery in the colonies", and advocating equal political rights regardless of skin colour. Despite the decree, the colonial whites refused to comply the decree, leading them to contemplate separation from France thereafter.
Robespierre did not advocate the immediate abolition of slavery. However, proponents of slavery in France viewed Robespierre as a "bloodthirsty innovator" and accused him of conspiring to surrender French colonies to England. On 4 April 1792, Louis XVI affirmed the Jacobin decree, which granted equal political rights to free blacks and mulattoes in Saint-Domingue. On 2 June 1792, the National Assembly appointed a three-man Civil Commission, led by Léger Félicité Sonthonax, to travel to Saint-Domingue and ensure the enforcement of the 4 April decree. However, the commission eventually issued a proclamation of general emancipation that included black slaves. Robespierre condemned the slave trade in a speech before the Convention in April 1793.
Babeuf urged Chaumette to spearhead efforts to persuade the Convention to adopt the seven additional articles proposed by Maximilien Robespierre on 24 April 1793, regarding the scale and scope of property rights, to be incorporated into the new Declaration of Rights. On 3 June 1793, Robespierre attended a Jacobin meeting to lend support for a decree aimed at ending slavery. On 4 June 1793, a delegation of sans-culottes and men of colour, led by Chaumette, presented a petition to the Convention requesting the general emancipation of the blacks in the colonies. The abolition of slavery was officially included into the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1793. The radical 1793 constitution, championed by Robespierre and the Montagnards, was ratified in August through a national referendum. It granted universal suffrage to French men and explicitly condemned slavery. However, the French Constitution of 1793 was never put in effect.
Starting in August, former slaves in St Domingue were granted "all the rights of French citizens". In August 1793, an increasing number of slaves in St Domingue initiated a Haitian Revolution against slavery and colonial domination. Robespierre, however, prioritised the rights of free people of color over those of the enslaved. On 31 October 1793, slavery was officially abolished in St Domingue. Robespierre criticised the actions of the former governor of Saint-Domingue Sonthonax and Étienne Polverel, who initially had freed slaves in Haïti, but then proposed arming them. Robespierre also cautioned the Committee against relying on white individuals to govern the colony. In 1794 the National Convention passed a decree abolishing slavery in all the colonies. On the day following the emancipation decree, Robespierre addressed the Convention, lauding the French as pioneers to "summon all men to equality and liberty, and their full rights as citizens". Although Robespierre mentioned slavery twice in his speech, he did not specifically reference the French colonies. Despite petitions from the slaveholding delegation, the Convention resolved to fully endorse the decree. However, its implementation and application were limited to St Domingue (1793), Guadeloupe (December 1794) and French Guiana.
Robespierre's stance on the decree of 16 Pluviose year II regarding the emancipation of the slaves remains a topic of contention. French historian Claude Mazauric interpreted Robespierre's cautious approach in February 1794 toward the abolition decree as an attempt to avoid controversy. On 11 April 1794, the decree underwent alterations, with Robespierre endorsing orders to ratify it. This decree significantly bolstered the Republic's popularity among black individuals in St. Domingue, many of whom had already liberated themselves and sought military alliances to safeguard their freedom. In May 1794, Toussaint Louverture aligned with the French after the Spanish declined to take actions against slavery and in repelling the English. Following the events of 9–10 Thermidor, an anti-slavery campaign emerged targeting Robespierre. Critics accused him of attempting to perpetuate slavery, despite its abolition by the Convention on 4 February 1794, following the precedent set by Sonthonax's abolition decree in August 1793 in St. Domingue.
Robespierre's quest for revolutionary change extended beyond politics to his opposition to the Catholic Church and its policies, particularly clerical celibacy. Despite denouncing excesses in the dechristianisation efforts of his political adversaries, he aimed to rejuvenate spirituality in France through Deist beliefs. On 6 May 1794 Robespierre announced the Committee of Public Safety's recognition of the existence of God and the immortality of the human soul. The following day, he delivered a detailed presentation to the Convention on religious and moral principles intertwined with republican ideals, introducing festivals dedicated to the Supreme Being and other virtues.
On 8 June, during the "Festival of the Supreme Being," Robespierre made his public debut as a leader and Convention president, expressing his passion for virtue, nature, and deist beliefs. Climaxing at the Champ de Mars, he delivered speeches emphasising his concept of a Supreme Being devoid of religious figures like Christ or Mohammed. Criticism ensued, with some accusing him of aspiring to godhood and creating a new religion, particularly after allegations of involvement in Catherine Théot's prophecy conspiracy. The Cult of the Supreme Being he championed aroused suspicion among anticlericals and political factions, leading to doubts about his grasp on reality and ultimately contributing to his downfall. According to Madame de Staël, this period marked Robespierre's decline.
On 20 May, Robespierre signed Theresa Cabarrus's arrest warrant, and on 23 May, following an attempted assassination on Collot d'Herbois, Cécile Renault was arrested near Robespierre's residence with two penknives. She was executed on 17 June. Robespierre refused to reunite dispersed families in different prisons into common detention facilities, citing security concerns after the assassination attempt.
The Law of 22 Prairial, introduced on 10 June without consultation from the Committee of General Security, intensified the conflict between the two committees, and led to a doubling of executions in Paris. Moderate judges were dismissed; Robespierre ensured only his supporters became judges, marking the beginning of the "Great Terror". Between 10 June and 27 July, another 1,366 were executed. There was widespread agreement among deputies that their parliamentary immunity, in place since 1 April 1793, had become perilous.
On 11 June, Robespierre accused Fouché of leading a conspiracy and on 12 June, he appeared in the Convention to denounce his opponents for trying to turn the Montagnards against the government, claiming a conspiracy to discredit him. Facing minority opposition on 12 and 13 June, Robespierre withdrew, vowing not to return to the committee while the conflict persisted. His presidency of the Convention ended on 18 June. Robespierre also censured the journalists of the Moniteur Universel. By the end of June, Saint-Just, realising Robespierre's political decline, was recalled hastily. Robespierre's deteriorating health and increasing irrationality led to calls for more purges, ultimately losing him favour within the committees. Carnot described Saint-Just and Robespierre as "ridiculous dictators".
On 1 July, Robespierre addressed the Jacobin club, denouncing slanders against him in London and Paris. He stormed out of a Committee meeting on 3 July, expressing resignation from saving the country without his involvement. The following day, he lamented his failing health and excluded Tallien from the Jacobin club. On 14 July, Robespierre had Fouché expelled.
He rarely appeared in the Convention for forty days but signed decrees by the Committee of Public Safety; he stopped working with the police bureau at the end of June. Robespierre occasionally sought refuge in Maisons-Alfort, 12 km (7.5 mi) outside of Paris. He walked through the fields and along the Marne river with his Danish dog. He had four friends in the revolutionary government, Couthon and Saint-Just in the Committee of Public Safety, and the painter Jacques-Louis David and Joseph Le Bas in the Committee of General Security, with whom he met privately, as they lived under the same roof.
Robespierre desired to maintain the Committee of General Security's subordination to the Committee of Public Safety, viewing them as acting as two separate governments. Saint-Just negotiated concessions with Barère, proposing more cooperation between committees. On 22 and 23 July, he attended a plenary session of the committees but underestimated his opponents' strength. Feeling his grip on power slipping, he commenced an attack in the Convention and decided to make himself clear with a new report. Robespierre was compared to Catiline; he himself preferred the virtues of Cato the Younger.
On Saturday, 26 July, Robespierre reappeared at the Convention and delivered a two-hour-long speech on the villainous factions. He defended himself against charges of dictatorship and tyranny and then proceeded to warn of a conspiracy against the Committee of Public Safety. Collot questioned Robespierre's motives, accusing him of seeking to become a dictator. When called upon to name those whom he accused, Robespierre simply refused, except referring to Joseph Cambon, who flew to the rostrum: "One man paralyses the will of the National Convention". His vehemence changed the course of the debate. At length, Lecointre of Versailles arose and proposed that the speech should be printed. This motion was the signal for agitation, discussion, and resistance. The Convention decided not to have the text printed, as Robespierre's speech had first to be submitted to the two committees. It contained matters sufficiently weighty that it needed to first be examined. Robespierre was surprised that his speech would be sent to the very deputies he had intended to sue. According to Saint-Just, he understood nothing of the reasons for his persecution; he knew only his misery. A bitter debate ensued until Barère forced an end to it. According to Couthon, not his speech, but the conspiracy had to be examined. Saint-Just promised to prepare a report how to break the deadlock.
In the evening, Robespierre delivered the same speech, which he regarded as his last will, at the Jacobin Club, where it was very well received. He spoke of drinking hemlock, and Jacques-Louis David cried out: "I will drink it with you." Collot d'Herbois and Billaud-Varenne were driven out because of their opposition to the printing and distribution of the text. Billaud managed to escape before he was assaulted, but Collot d'Herbois was knocked down. They set off to the Committee of Public Safety, where they found Saint-Just working. They asked him if he was drawing up their bill of indictment. Saint-Just promised to show them his speech before the session began. Collot d'Herbois, who chaired the Convention, decided not to let him speak and to make sure he could not be heard on the next day.
Gathering in secret, nine members of the two committees decided that it was all or nothing; to protect themselves, Robespierre had to be arrested. Barras said they would all die if Robespierre did not die. The crucial factor that drove them to make up their minds to join the conspiracy seems in most cases to have been emotional rather than ideological — fear of Robespierre's intentions towards them, or enmity, or revenge. The Convention had lost 144 delegates in 13 months; 67 were executed, committed suicide, or died in prison. The Convention often insisted on deputies' executions as the final steps in a process of political revival through purging. Now extremists and indulgents joined against him. Laurent Lecointre was the instigator of the coup. He contacted Robert Lindet on the 6th, and Vadier on the 7th Thermidor. Lecointre was assisted by Barère, Fréron, Barras, Tallien, Thuriot, Courtois, Rovère, Garnier de l'Aube and Guffroy. Each one of them prepared his part in the attack. They decided that Hanriot, his aides-de-camp, Lavalette and Boulanger [fr], the public prosecutor Dumas, the family Duplay and the printer Charles-Léopold Nicolas had to be arrested first, so Robespierre would be without support. (Fouché was seen as the leader of the conspiracy but hid in a garret at the rue Saint-Honoré; little is known about his part on the actual day.)
At noon, Saint-Just entered the Convention and prepared to place blame on Billaud, Collot d'Herbois, and Carnot. After a few minutes, Tallien (who had a double reason for desiring Robespierre's end following Robespierre’s refusal, the evening before, to release Theresa Cabarrus) interrupted him and began to speak against him. According to Tallien, "Robespierre wanted to attack us by turns, to isolate us, and finally he would be left one day only with the base and abandoned and debauched men who serve him". Almost thirty-five deputies spoke against Robespierre that day, most of them from The Mountain. As the accusations began to pile up, Saint-Just remained silent. Robespierre rushed toward the rostrum, appealed to the Plain to defend him against the Montagnards, but his voice was shouted down. Robespierre rushed to the benches of the Left but someone cried: "Get away from here; Condorcet used to sit here". He soon found himself at a loss for words after Vadier gave a mocking impression of him referring to the discovery of a letter under the mattress of the illiterate Catherine Théot.
When Robespierre, very upset, was unable to speak, Garnier shouted, "The blood of Danton chokes him!" Robespierre then regained his voice: "Is it Danton you regret? ... Cowards! Why didn't you defend him?" At some time Louis Louchet [fr] called for Robespierre's arrest; Augustin Robespierre demanded to share his fate. The whole Convention agreed, including Couthon, and Saint-Just. Le Bas decided to join Saint-Just. Robespierre shouted that the revolution was lost when he descended the tribune. The five deputies were taken to the Committee of General Security and questioned.
Not long after, Hanriot was ordered to appear in the Convention; he warned the sections that there would be an attempt to murder Robespierre, and mobilised 2,400 National Guards in front of the town hall. What had happened was not very clear to their officers; either the Convention was closed down or the Paris Commune. Around six o'clock, the city council summoned an immediate meeting to consider the dangers threatening the fatherland. It gave orders to close the gates and to ring the tocsin. For the Convention, that was an illegal action without the permission of the two committees. It was decreed that anyone leading an "armed force" against the Convention would be regarded as an outlaw. The city council was in league with the Jacobins to bring off an insurrection, asking them to send over reinforcements from the galleries, "even the women who are regulars there".
In the early evening, the five deputies were taken in a cab to different prisons; Robespierre to the Palais du Luxembourg, Couthon to "La Bourbe" and Saint-Just to the "Écossais". Augustin Robespierre was taken from Prison Saint-Lazare to La Force Prison, like Le Bas, who was refused at the Conciergerie. Around 8 p.m., Hanriot appeared at the Place du Carrousel in front of the Convention with forty armed men on horses, but was taken prisoner. After 9 p.m., the vice-president of the Tribunal Coffinhal went to the Committee of General Security with 3,000 men and their artillery. As Robespierre and his allies had been taken to a prison in the meantime, he succeeded only in freeing Hanriot and his adjutants.
How the five deputies escaped from prison was disputed. According to Le Moniteur Universel, the jailers refused to follow the order of arrest, taken by the Convention. According to Courtois and Fouquier-Tinville, the police administration was responsible for any in custody or release. Around 8 p.m., Robespierre was taken to the police administration on Île de la Cité, but refused to go to the Hôtel de Ville and insisted on being received in a prison. He hesitated for legal reasons for possibly two hours. At around 10 p.m., the mayor sent a second delegation to go and convince Robespierre to join the Commune movement. Robespierre was taken to the Hôtel de Ville. The Convention declared the five deputies (plus the supporting members) to be outlaws. It then appointed Barras and ordered troops totalling 4,000 men to be called out.
After a whole evening spent waiting in vain for action by the Commune, losing time in fruitless deliberation without supplies or instructions, the armed sections began to disperse. Around 400 men seem to have stayed on the Place de Grève, according to Courtois. At around 2 a.m., Barras and Bourdon, accompanied by several members of the Convention, arrived in two columns. Barras deliberately advanced slowly, in the hope of avoiding conflict by a display of force. Then Grenadiers burst into the Hôtel de Ville, followed by Léonard Bourdon and the Gendarmes. Fifty-one insurgents were gathering on the first floor. Robespierre and his allies withdrew to the smaller secrétariat.
There are many stories about what happened next, but it seems in order to avoid capture, Augustin Robespierre took off his shoes and jumped from a broad cornice. He landed on some bayonets and a citizen, resulting in a pelvic fracture, several serious head contusions, and an alarming state of "weakness and anxiety". Le Bas handed a pistol to Robespierre, then killed himself with another pistol. According to Barras and Courtois, Robespierre wounded himself when he tried to commit suicide by pointing the pistol at his mouth, but the gendarme Méda prevented him from killing himself successfully. Couthon was found lying at the bottom of a staircase. Saint-Just gave himself up without a word. According to Méda, Hanriot tried to escape by a concealed staircase. Most sources say that Hanriot was thrown out of a window by Coffinhal after being accused of the disaster. (According to Ernest Hamel, it is one of the many legends spread by Barère.) Whatever the case, Hanriot landed in a small courtyard on a heap of glass. He had strength enough to crawl into a drain where he was found twelve hours later and taken to the Conciergerie. Coffinhal, who had successfully escaped, was arrested seven days later.
Robespierre spent the remainder of the night at the antechamber of the Committee of General Security. He lay on the table, his head on a pine box, his shirt stained with blood. By 5 a.m., his brother and Couthon were transported to the nearest hospital, Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. However, Barras prohibited Robespierre from being taken there. At ten in the morning, a military doctor was summoned and extracted some of his teeth and fragments of his broken jaw. Subsequently, Robespierre was confined to a cell in the Conciergerie.
On 10 Thermidor, the Revolutionary Tribunal assembled around noon. By 2 p.m., Robespierre and twenty-one "Robespierrists" faced accusations of counter-revolution and were sentenced to death under the provisions of the law of 22 Prairial, although without even a cursory hearing. At approximately 6 p.m., the condemned were conveyed in three carts to the Place de la Révolution for execution, alongside Nicolas Francois Vivier, the final president of the Jacobins, and Antoine Simon, the cobbler who served as the jailer of the Dauphin. A furious mob, hurling curses, accompanied the grim procession.
Robespierre was the tenth to ascend the platform. During the preparation for his execution, the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson, dislodged the bandage securing his shattered jaw, eliciting an anguished scream until his demise. Following his beheading, the crowd erupted in applause and jubilant cries, which reportedly endured for fifteen minutes. Robespierre and his associates were interred in a mass grave at the newly established Errancis Cemetery. Between 1844 and 1859 (likely in 1848), the remains of all those buried there were transferred to the Catacombs of Paris.
Robespierre is best known for his role as a member of the Committee of Public Safety. He exerted his influence to suppress the republican Girondins to the right, the radical Hébertists to the left and the indulgent Dantonists in the centre. Though nominally all members of the committee were equally responsible, the Thermidorians held Robespierre as the most culpable for the bloodshed. For Carnot: "this monster was above all a hypocrite; it is because he knew how to seduce the people".
In mid-August, Courtois was appointed by the Convention to collect evidence against Robespierre, Le Bas and Saint-Just, whose report has a poor reputation, selecting and destroying papers. At the end of the month, Tallien stated that all that the country had just been through was the "Terror" and that the "monster" Robespierre, the "king" of the Revolution, was the orchestrator. According to Charles Barbaroux, who visited him early August 1792, his pretty boudoir was full of images of himself in every form and art; a painting, a drawing, a bust, a relief and six physionotraces on the tables. The eyewitness Helen Maria Williams attributed all the grim events to his hypocrisy and cunning. She described him as the great conspirator against the liberty of France. For Samuel Coleridge, one of the authors of The Fall of Robespierre, he was worse than Oliver Cromwell. For Madame de Staël: "Robespierre acquired the reputation of high democratic virtue and so was believed to be incapable of personal views. As soon as he was suspected of having them, his power was at an end." Vanity was Robespierre's ruling passion according to Sir Walter Scott.
In fact, a whole new political mythology was being created. On 23 Thermidor, Coleridge started to write the first act of The Fall of Robespierre. Vilate, who exaggerated the numbers, raged against keeping 300,000 people in prison and trying to execute two or three hundred people every day. To preach the ideals of '93 after Thermidor was to expose oneself to suspicions of Robespierrism, suspicions which had to be avoided above all others. Two contrasting legends around Robespierre developed: a critical one that held Robespierre as an irresponsible, self-serving figure whose ambitions generated widespread calamity, and a supportive one that held him as an early friend of the proletariat, about to embark on economic revolution when he fell.
Robespierre's reputation has experienced several cycles of re-appraisal. His name peaked in the press in the middle of the 19th century, between 1880 and 1910 and in 1940. Buchez produced volumes in which the Incorruptible rose up as the Messiah and sacrificial being of the Revolution. For Jules Michelet, he was the "priest Robespierre" and for Alphonse Aulard he was a "bigot monomaniac" and "mystic assassin". For Mary Duclaux he was the "apostle of Unity".
His reputation peaked in the 1920s, during the Third French Republic, when the influential French historian Albert Mathiez rejected the common view of Robespierre as demagogic, dictatorial, and fanatical. Mathiez argued he was an eloquent spokesman for the poor and oppressed, an enemy of royalist intrigues, a vigilant adversary of dishonest and corrupt politicians, a guardian of the First French Republic, an intrepid leader of the French Revolutionary government, and a prophet of a socially responsible state. Lenin referred to Robespierre as a "Bolshevik avant la lettre" (before the term was coined) and erected the Robespierre Monument to him in 1918. In the Soviet Union, he was used as an example of a revolutionary figure. However the Marxist approach that portrayed Robespierre as a hero has largely faded away.
In 1941 Marc Bloch, a French historian, sighed disillusioned (a year before he decided to join the French Resistance): "Robespierrists, anti-robespierrists ... for pity's sake, just tell us who was Robespierre?" According to R. R. Palmer: the easiest way to justify Robespierre is to represent the other Revolutionists in an unfavourable or disgraceful light. This was the method used by Robespierre himself. Soboul argues that Robespierre and Saint-Just "were too preoccupied in defeating the interest of the bourgeoisie to give their total support to the sans-culottes, and yet too attentive to the needs of the sans-culottes to get support from the middle class". For Peter McPhee, Robespierre's achievements were monumental, but so was the tragedy of his final weeks of indecision. The members of the committee, together with members of the Committee of General Security, were as much responsible for the running of the Terror as Robespierre. They may have exaggerated his role to downplay their own contribution, and used him as a scapegoat after his death. Jean-Clément Martin and McPhee interpret the repression of the revolutionary government as a response to anarchy and popular violence, and not as the assertion of a precise ideology. Martin holds Tallien responsible for Robespierre's bad reputation, and that the "Thermidorians" invented the "Terror" as there is no law that proves its introduction.
He is a major figure in the history of France, and a controversial subject, studied by the favourable Jacobin School and the unfavorable neo-liberal school, by "lawyers and prosecutors". François Crouzet collected many interesting details from French historians dealing with Robespierre. In an interview Marcel Gauchet said that Robespierre confused his private opinion and virtue. The sale at Sotheby's in 2011 of selected manuscripts, including speeches, draft newspaper articles, drafts of reports to be read at the Convention, a fragment of the speech of 8 Thermidor, and a letter on virtue and happiness, kept by the Le Bas family after the death of Robespierre, sparked interest among historians and politicians; Pierre Serna published an article entitled: "We must save Robespierre!" in Le Monde, and the Society of Robespierrist Studies launched a call for subscriptions, while the French Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Radical Party of the Left alerted the French Ministry of Culture.
Many historians neglected Robespierre's attitude towards the French National Guard from July 1789, and as "public accuser", responsible for the officers within the police till April 1792. He then began promoting civilian armament and the creation of a revolutionary army of 23,000 men in his periodical. He defended the right of revolution and promoted a revolutionary armed force. Dubois-Crancé described Robespierre as the general of the Sans-culottes. The revisionist historian Furet thought that Terror was inherent in the ideology of the French Revolution and was not just a violent episode. Equally important is his conclusion that revolutionary violence is connected with extreme voluntarism. Furet was especially critical of the "Marxist line" of Albert Soboul.
Historians in support of Robespierre have been at pains to try to prove that he was not the dictator of France in the year II. McPhee stated that on several previous occasions, Robespierre had admitted that he was worn out; his personal and tactical judgement, once so acute, seem to have deserted him.
The assassination attempts made him suspicious to the point of obsession. There is a long line of historians "who blame Robespierre for all the less attractive episodes of the Revolution." Robespierre was not part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of the revolution. Jonathan Israel is sharply critical of Robespierre for repudiating the true values of the radical Enlightenment. He argues, "Jacobin ideology and culture under Robespierre was an obsessive Rousseauiste moral Puritanism steeped in authoritarianism, anti-intellectualism, and xenophobia, and it repudiated free expression, basic human rights, and democracy." He refers to the Girondin deputies Thomas Paine, Condorcet, Daunou, Cloots, Destutt and Abbé Gregoire denouncing Robespierre's ruthlessness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, lust for power, and intellectual mediocrity. According to Jeremy Popkin, he was undone by his obsession with the vision of an ideal republic. Zhu Xueqin became famous for his 1994 book titled The Demise of the Republic of Virtue: From Rousseau to Robespierre. For Aldous Huxley, "Robespierre achieved the most superficial kind of revolution, the political." Georges Lefebvre believed Robespierre to be a "staunch defender of democracy, a determined opponent of foreign war, saviour of the Republic and man of integrity and vision. Robespierre remains as controversial as ever, two centuries after his death."
Over 300 actors have portrayed Robespierre, in both French and English. Prominent examples include: