Maximilien de Robespierre

**Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre** (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) is one of the best-known leaders of the French Revolution.  He was born in Arras, France and he went to school to become a lawyer and got his degree at law school. He was elected to the Estates General to help make laws for France. He fought against the French Monarchy, the death penalty, and slavery, and for democratic reforms and the people to have more power. He gained a reputation for defending the poor. His friends called him "incorruptible" for sticking to his moral values and killing his enemies. Later  he was elected president of the powerful Jacobin political group.

Robespierre led the committee of public safety during 1793.  Through it, he was able to execute the king. Even though Robespierre got thousands of people executed, Robespierre cared about the working class.

He executed King Louis XVI because he was convicted of treason.  Under the advice of Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety came to control France. The period that the Committee of Public Safety ruled France is known as “The Reign of Terror” and Maximilien de Robespierre was their leader. In the Thermidorian Reaction Robespierre was caught and executed with 21 of his followers with a guillotine.  The National Convention were the people who overthrew Maximilien de Robespierre.

## Early life

Maximilien de Robespierre was born in Arras in the old French province of Artois. His family has been traced back to the 12th century in Picardy; some of his ancestors in the male line worked as notaries in Carvin near Arras from the beginning of the 17th century. It has been suggested that he was of Irish descent, his surname possibly a corruption of "Robert Speirs".

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: Maximilien Robespierre
- **image**: Robespierre.jpg
- **caption**: , Musée Carnavalet
- **office**: Member of the Committee of Public Safety
- **term start**: 27 July 1793
- **term end**: 27 July 1794
- **predecessor**: Thomas-Augustin de Gasparin
- **successor**: Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
- **term start1**: 25 March 1793
- **term end1**: 3 April 1793
 Member of Committee of General Defence
- **office2**: 24th President of the National Convention
- **term start2**: 4 June 1794
- **term end2**: 19 June 1794
- **predecessor2**: Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois
- **successor2**: Élie Lacoste
- **term start3**: 22 August 1793
- **term end3**: 7 September 1793
- **predecessor3**: Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
- **successor3**: Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
- **office4**: Deputy of the National Convention
- **term start4**: 20 September 1792
- **term end4**: 27 July 1794
- **constituency4**: Seine (department), Paris
- **office5**: Deputy of the National Constituent Assembly (France), National Constituent Assembly
- **constituency5**: Artois
- **term start5**: 9 July 1789
- **term end5**: 30 September 1791
- **office6**: Deputy of the National Assembly (French Revolution), National Assembly
- **term start6**: 17 June 1789
- **term end6**: 9 July 1789
- **constituency6**: Artois
- **office7**: Deputy to the Estates-General of 1789, Estates General
 for the Third Estate
- **term start7**: 6 May 1789
- **term end7**: 16 June 1789
- **constituency7**: Artois
- **office8**: President of the Jacobin Club
- **term start8**: 31 March
- **term end8**: 3 June 1790
- **term start9**: 7 August
- **term end9**: 28 August 1793
- **birth name**: Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre
- **birth place**: Arras, Artois, Kingdom of France
- **death date**: 10 Thermidor, Year II
- **death place**: Place de la Révolution, Paris
- **death cause**: Guillotine, Execution by guillotine
- **party**: The Mountain (1792–1794)
- **otherparty**: Jacobin Club (1789–1794)
- **alma mater**: University of Paris
- **profession**: Lawyer, politician
- **signature**: БСЭ1. Автограф. Автографы. 3.svg
- **partner**: Éléonore Duplay (rumored)