Maximilien de Robespierre (b. 1758)

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Biography

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential 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.

Timeline

The story of Maximilien de Robespierre, told in moments.

1789 Event

Elected to the Estates-General as a representative of the Third Estate from Arras. He's 31, already known as an opponent of the death penalty. That will change.

Was opposing the death penalty at 31 sincere? Did the Estates-General feel like the beginning of something? Was representing the Third Estate a duty or an honor?

1793 Event

Joins the Committee of Public Safety. Over the next year, the committee sends an estimated 17,000 people to the guillotine. Robespierre justifies it as "virtue without which terror is fatal; terror without which virtue is powerless." He means it.

How do you justify 17,000 guillotine executions? Was 'virtue without terror is powerless' a philosophy or a confession? Did the Committee of Public Safety save or destroy France?

1794 Life

Presides over the Festival of the Supreme Being, a new civic religion to replace Christianity. He walks at the head of the procession, separate from the other deputies. They notice. Some begin to think he wants to be more than a committee member.

Was the Festival of the Supreme Being sincere or theatrical? Did walking at the head of the procession reveal your ambitions? Did the other deputies' suspicion surprise you?

1794 Death

Arrested on 9 Thermidor. Shot in the jaw during the arrest, possibly by his own hand, possibly by a gendarme. Guillotined the next day, face down, so the executioner has to rip away the bandage holding his jaw together. He was 36. The crowd cheers.

Was the shot to the jaw self-inflicted? Did the executioner ripping your bandage feel like the Revolution's final act? Was 36 enough to build and destroy a revolution?

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