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Robespierre, Maximilien Marie Isidore (mäksēmēlyăN` märē` ēzēdôr` rôbĕspyĕr`), 1758–94, one of the leading figures of the French Revolution French Revolution, political upheaval of world importance in France that began in 1789.

Origins of the Revolution

Historians disagree in evaluating the factors that brought about the Revolution.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Early Life

A poor youth, he was enabled to study law in Paris through a scholarship. He won admiration for his abilities, but his austerity and dedication isolated him from easy companionship. Returning to his native Arras, he practiced law and gained some reputation. He soon came under the influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau Rousseau, Jean Jacques (zhäN zhäk r
..... Click the link for more information. 's theories of democracy and deism, and Robespierre's emphasis on virtue—which in his mind meant civic morality—later earned him the epithet "the Incorruptible."

Robespierre was elected to the States-General of 1789, and his influence in the Jacobin Club grew steadily until he became its leader (see Jacobins Jacobins (jăk`əbĭnz), political club of the French Revolution .
..... Click the link for more information. ). In the National Constituent Assembly (June, 1789–Sept., 1791), he unsuccessfully championed democratic elections and successfully backed the law that made members of the Constituent Assembly ineligible to sit in the Legislative Assembly, which succeeded it.

In the spring of 1792 Robespierre opposed the war proposals of the Girondists Girondists (jĭrŏn`dĭsts) or Girondins
..... Click the link for more information. , and his opposition made him lose popularity. This was only temporary, however, and he was elected to the insurrectionary Commune of Paris Commune of Paris, insurrectionary governments in Paris formed during (1792) the French Revolution and at the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War . In the French Revolution, the Revolutionary commune, representing urban workers, tradespeople, and radical bourgeois,
..... Click the link for more information. set up on Aug. 10, 1792. As a deputy from Paris in the National Convention, he played an important part in the struggle for power between the Girondists and the Mountain Mountain, the, in French history, the label applied to deputies sitting on the raised left benches in the National Convention during the French Revolution. Members of the faction, known as Montagnards [Mountain Men] saw themselves as the embodiment of national unity.
..... Click the link for more information. , as the Jacobins in the assembly were known. He demanded the execution of the king and was instrumental in finally purging (May–June, 1793) the Girondists.

Reign of Terror

On July 27, 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, where his power and prestige grew. The dangers of foreign invasion and the urgent need to maintain order and unity led the committee to inaugurate the Reign of Terror Reign of Terror, 1793–94, period of the French Revolution characterized by a wave of executions of presumed enemies of the state. Directed by the Committee of Public Safety, the Revolutionary government's Terror was essentially a war dictatorship, instituted to
..... Click the link for more information. . Although it was a collective effort, the name of Robespierre is always associated with it because of his prominence on the committee. Robespierre opposed both the extreme left, under Jacques Hébert Hébert, Jacques René (zhäk rənā` ābĕr`), 1757–94, French journalist and revolutionary.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the moderates, led by Georges Danton Danton, Georges Jacques (zhōrzh zhäk däNtôN`)
..... Click the link for more information. and Camille Desmoulins Desmoulins, Camille (kämē`yə dām
..... Click the link for more information. . Each group was in turn arrested and guillotined (Mar.–Apr., 1794). By this time, however, Robespierre's position was becoming precarious; he was faced by divisions within the Committee of Public Safety and by opposition from the Plain Plain, the, in French history, term designating the independent members of the National Convention during the French Revolution . The name was applied to them because, in contrast to the radical Mountain , they occupied the lower benches of the chamber.
..... Click the link for more information. in the Convention. The establishment of a new civic religion, partly to combat the atheism of the Hébertists, also provoked criticism.

The Terror Ends

The law of 22 Prairial (June 10) gave the Revolutionary Tribunal greater powers just when military successes convinced the moderates in the Convention that emergency measures were no longer necessary. In answer to a speech by Robespierre that seemed to threaten further purges, former terrorists and ultrarevolutionaries joined the Plain in a dramatic rising within the Convention on 9 Thermidor Thermidor (thûr`mĭdôr, Fr. tĕrmēdôr`), 11th month of the French Revolutionary calendar .
..... Click the link for more information. (July 27, 1794). Robespierre was placed under arrest and was summarily tried and guillotined the next morning (July 28). Robespierre's character and influence have been the subject of great controversy. However, his integrity and devoted republicanism are beyond debate.

Bibliography

There are many biographies of Robespierre, notably those by G. F. E. Rudé (1975; the most favorable), D. Jordan (1979), and N. Hampson (1981); see also study by R. Scurr (2006).

Robespierre, Maximilien Marie Isidore

(1758–1794) architect of the Reign of Terror (1793–1794). [Fr. Hist.: EB, 15: 907–910]

See : Ruthlessness