Who is robespierre

In such cases, the public good could justify their deaths. He could not be co-opted into the ruling elite, or bought by promises of wealth and powerful jobs. Though he certainly had flaws — he could be self-righteous, thin-skinned, and obdurate — for most of his revolutionary career he showed sound political judgment, and cautioned against violent extremism that could make the revolution hated.

Unlike some of the reckless radicals, he believed until relatively late that the monarchy should be retained. He was almost a lone voice in opposing the declaration of war with Austria in April , a conflict that brought about the overthrow of the monarchy, destabilised the country, and sent the revolution hurtling towards terror.

When the Jacobins came to power they wrote the most democratic, egalitarian and libertarian constitution that the world had yet seen. Robespierre did not cease to be a democrat.

But he thought that other things were more important — chief of which was the survival of the republic. Everything must be subordinated to that. The summer of saw a major crisis in the revolution.

France was now at war with a number of European powers. The revolutionaries were beset on all sides. In this context, the Convention itself voted for stringent measures that permitted terror in time of extreme danger for the country.

While some Committee members were more practical organisers, Robespierre was the man whose speeches provided the legal and moral justification of terror, a role for which he would pay dearly. He became its public apologist. What makes idealistic men choose terror? It is a problem as relevant today as it was in the late 18th century.

To understand why Robespierre and other revolutionary leaders supported such extreme measures we must unravel the tangled, toxic world of revolutionary politics in the Year II. Like his colleagues, Robespierre was motivated by conviction — but also by fear. The revolutionary leaders were under intense pressure.

The integrity of their words and actions was judged by suspicious observers. This could be a spectator in the public galleries, a member of the crowds on the streets, a revolutionary journalist, or, indeed, one of his readers. He and Augustin were brought up by their mother's parents and sent to school as charity boys in Arras.

At eleven Maximilien won a scholarship to a prestigious school in Paris, Louis-le-Grand College, where he learned to admire the Roman Republic and such figures as Cato and Cicero. A fellow-student who would also play a leading role in the Revolution was Camille Desmoulins. Robespierre did brilliantly in classics, so that in he was selected to deliver the official address in Latin verse to welcome Louis XVI when he and Marie Antoinette visited the school on the way back from their coronation in Rheims.

The King and Queen were late, kept everyone hanging around for hours in pelting rain, sat in their coach all through the ceremony and departed as hastily as possible with smiles, but not a word in reply or even an approving nod. In Robespierre went back to Arras to set up as a lawyer while Charlotte kept house for him. He would never marry, though Charlotte said he was attracted by and attractive to women and he courted several, including Eleanore Duplay, the eldest daughter of the cabinet-maker in whose house in Paris he lodged in the s.

His practice was only moderately successful. Revolutionary justice is swift and the next day the heads of he and 22 of his followers rolled into the bloody baskets on the Place de la Revolution. Caught in the death machine of his own creation, Robespierre would in the early years be condemned as a bloodthirsty tyrant, but later historical reflection softened this analysis and he is also remembered as a champion of the poor, destitute and politically oppressed.

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Birth Location:. Birth Date:. Death Location:. Against a backdrop of the threat of foreign invasion and increasing disorder in the country, the committee began the 'Reign of Terror', ruthlessly eliminating all those considered enemies of the revolution. These included leading revolutionary figures such as Georges Danton.

In May , Robespierre insisted that the National Convention proclaim a new official religion for France - the cult of the Supreme Being. This was based on the thinking of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau of whom Robespierre was a passionate advocate. The intensification of the 'Reign of Terror' and Robespierre's autocracy made him increasingly unpopular.

French military successes served to undermine the justification for such ruthlessness and a conspiracy was formed to overthrow Robespierre. On 27 July , he was arrested after a struggle.