Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de Robespierre (IPA: [maksimilj fswa mai izid d bspj]) (6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his arrest and execution in 1794.
Robespierre was influenced by 18th century Enlightenment philosophes such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu, and he was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. He was described as being physically unimposing and immaculate in attire and personal manners. His supporters called him "The Incorruptible", while his adversaries called him the "Tyrant" and dictateur sanguinaire (bloodthirsty dictator). [spoiler]
Maximilien de Robespierre was born in Arras, France. His family has been traced back to the 12th century in Picardy; some of his direct ancestors in the male line were notaries in the village of Carvin near Arras from the beginning of the 17th century. He is sometimes rumoured to have been of Irish descent, and it has been suggested that his surname could be a corruption of 'Robert Speirs'. Lewes, Hamel, Michelet, Lamartine and Belloc have all cited this theory although there appears little supporting evidence.
His paternal grandfather, Maximilien de Robespierre, established himself in Arras as a lawyer. His father, Maximilien Barthelemy Francois de Robespierre, also a lawyer at the Conseil d'Artois, married Jacqueline Marguerite Carrault, the daughter of a brewer, in 1758. Maximilien was the oldest of four children and was conceived out of wedlock - his siblings were Charlotte, Henriette and Augustin. To hide the fact as best they could, his father and mother had a rushed wedding (which the grandfather refused to attend). In 1764, Madame de Robespierre died in childbirth. Her husband left Arras and wandered around Europe until his death in Munich in 1777, leaving the children to be brought up by their maternal grandfather and aunts.
Maximilien attended the college (middle school) of Arras when he was eight years old, already knowing how to read and write. In October of 1769, on the recommendation of the bishop, he obtained a scholarship at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Here he learned to admire the idealised Roman Republic and the rhetoric of Cicero, Cato and other classic figures. His fellow pupils included Camille Desmoulins and Stanislas Freron. He also was exposed to Rousseau during this time and adopted many of the same principles. Robespierre became more intrigued by the idea of a virtuous self, a man who stands alone accompanied only by his conscience.
Shortly after his coronation, Louis XVI visited Louis-le-Grand. Robespierre, then 17 years old, had been chosen out of five hundred pupils to deliver a speech to welcome the king; as a prize-winning student, the choice had been clear. On the day of the speech, Robespierre and the crowd waited for the king and queen for several hours in the rain. Upon arrival, the royal couple remained in their coach for the ceremony and immediately left thereafter. Robespierre would become one of those who eventually sought the death of the king. Early politics
As an adult, and possibly even as a young man, the greatest influence on Robespierre's political ideas was Jean Jacques Rousseau. Robespierre’s conception of revolutionary virtue and his program for constructing political sovereignty out of direct participatory democracy came from Rousseau, and in pursuit of these ideals he eventually became known during the Jacobin Republic as “the Incorruptible.” Robespierre believed that the people of France were fundamentally good and therefore the people needed only to speak in order to advance the well being of the nation.
After having completed his law studies, Robespierre was admitted to the Arras bar. The Bishop of Arras, Louis Francois Marc Hilaire de Conzie, appointed him criminal judge in the Diocese of Arras in March 1782. This appointment, which he soon resigned to avoid pronouncing a sentence of death, did not prevent his practicing at the bar. He quickly became a successful advocate and chose in principle to represent the poor. During court hearings he was known to often advocate the ideals of the Enlightenment and argue for the rights of man: i.e. his clients. Later in his career he read widely and also became interested in society in general and became regarded as one of the best writers and most popular young men of Arras.
In December 1783, he was elected a member of the academy of Arras, the meetings of which he attended regularly. In 1784, he obtained a medal from the academy of Metz for his essay on the question of whether the relatives of a condemned criminal should share his disgrace. He and Pierre Louis de Lacretelle, an advocate and journalist in Paris, divided the prize. Many of his subsequent essays were less successful, but Robespierre was compensated for these failures by his popularity in the literary and musical society at Arras, known as the "Rosatia", of which Lazare Carnot, who would be his colleague on the Committee of Public Safety, was also a member.
In 1788, he took part in a discussion of how the French provincial government should be elected, showing clearly and forcefully in his Addresse a la nation artesienne that if the former mode of election by the members of the provincial estates were again adopted, the new Estates-General would not represent the people of France. It is possible he addressed this issue so that he could have a chance to take part in the proceedings and thus change the policies of the monarchy. King Louis XVI later announced new elections for all provinces, thus allowing Robespierre to run for the position of deputy for the Third Estate. Portrait of Robespierre after his election to the Estates General, 1789
Although the leading members of the corporation were elected, Robespierre, their chief opponent, succeeded in getting elected with them. In the assembly of the bailliage rivalry ran still higher, but Robespierre had begun to make his mark in politics with the Avis aux habitants de la campagne (Arras, 1789). With this he secured the support of the country electors and, although only thirty, comparatively poor and lacking patronage, he was elected fifth deputy of the Third Estate of Artois to the Estates-General. When Robespierre arrived at Versailles, he was relatively unknown, but he soon became part of the representative National Assembly which then transformed into the Constituent Assembly.
While the Constituent Assembly occupied itself with drawing up a constitution, Robespierre turned from the assembly of provincial lawyers and wealthy bourgeois to the people of Paris. He was a frequent speaker in the Constituent Assembly; he voiced many ideas for the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Constitutional Provisions, often with great success. He was eventually recognized as second only to Petion de Villeneuve - if second he was - as a leader of the small body of the extreme left; "the thirty voices" as Mirabeau contemptuously called them.
Robespierre soon became involved with the new Society of the Friends of the Constitution, known eventually as the Jacobin Club. This had consisted originally of the deputies from Brittany only. After the Assembly moved to Paris, the Club began to admit various leaders of the Parisian bourgeoisie to its membership. As time went on, many of the more intelligent artisans and small shopkeepers became members of the club. Among such men, Robespierre found a sympathetic audience. As the wealthier bourgeois of Paris and right-wing deputies seceded from the club of 1789, the influence of the old leaders of the Jacobins, such as Barnave, Duport, Alexandre de Lameth, diminished. When they, alarmed at the progress of the Revolution, founded the club of the Feuillants in 1791, the left, including Robespierre and his friends, dominated the Jacobin Club.
On 15 May 1791, Robespierre proposed and carried the motion that no deputy who sat in the Constituent could sit in the succeeding Assembly, his only successful proposition in this assembly.
The flight on 20 June, and subsequent arrest at Varennes of Louis XVI and his family resulted in Robespierre declaring himself at the Jacobin Club to be "ni monarchiste ni republicain" ("neither monarchist nor republican"). But this was not unusual; very few at this point were avowed republicans.
After the massacre on the Champ de Mars on 17 July 1791, in order to be nearer to the Assembly and the Jacobins, he moved to live in the house of Maurice Duplay, a cabinetmaker residing in the Rue Saint-Honore and an ardent admirer of Robespierre. Robespierre lived there (with two short intervals excepted) until his death. In fact, according to some sources, including his doctor, Souberbielle, Vilate, a juror on the Revolutionary Tribunal, and his host's youngest daughter (who would later marry Philippe Le Bas of the Committee of General Security), he became engaged to the eldest daughter of his host, Eleonore Duplay.
On 30 September, on the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the people of Paris crowned Petion and Robespierre as the two incorruptible patriots in an attempt to honor their purity of principles, their modest ways of living, and their refusal of bribes.
With the dissolution of the Assembly he returned to Arras for a short visit, where he met with a triumphant reception. In November he returned to Paris to take the position of Public Prosecutor of Paris. Opposition to war with Austria Terracotta bust of Robespierre by Louis-Pierre Deseine, 1792 (Musee de la Revolution francaise)
On February 1792, Jacques Pierre Brissot, one of the leaders of the Girondist party in the Legislative Assembly, urged that France should declare war against Austria. Marat and Robespierre opposed him, because they feared the possibility of militarism, which might then be turned to the advantage of the reactionary forces. Robespierre was also convinced the stability of the internal country was more important; he was suspicious of traitors and counter-revolutionaries hidden among the people. This opposition from expected allies irritated the Girondists and political rivalry arose between them.
In April 1792, Robespierre resigned the post of public prosecutor of Versailles, which he had officially held, but never practiced, since February, and started a journal, Le Defenseur de la Constitution, in his own defence against the accusations of the Girondist leaders.
Because of his popularity, his reputation for virtue and his influence over the Jacobin Club, the strongmen of the Commune of Paris were glad to have Robespierre's aid in the face of food riots and factionalism. On 16 August, Robespierre presented the petition of the Commune to the Legislative Assembly, demanding the establishment of a revolutionary tribunal and the summoning of a Convention.
Robespierre has often been reproached with failing to stop the September Massacres.
In September, he was elected first deputy for Paris to the National Convention. Robespierre and his allies took the benches high at the back of the hall, giving them the label 'the Montagnards'; below them were the 'Manege' of the Girondists and then 'the Plain' of the independents.
At the Convention, the Girondists immediately attacked Robespierre. On 26 September, the Girondist Marc-David Lasource accused Robespierre of wanting to form a dictatorship. Rumours spread that Robespierre, Marat and Danton were plotting to establish a triumvirate. On 29 October, Louvet de Couvrai attacked Robespierre in a speech, possibly written by Madame Roland. On 5 November, Robespierre defended himself and denounced the federalist plans of the Girondists. Robespierre was one of the most popular orators in the Convention and his carefully prepared speeches often made a deep impression. The execution of Louis XVI
In December 1792, personal disputes were overshadowed by the question of the King's trial. In this instance, Robespierre held the position that the King must be executed, whereas previously he had opposed the death penalty. The position of Robespierre was that if one man’s life had to be sacrificed to save the Revolution, there was no alternative: it had to be that of King Louis. In his speech on December 3 1792, he said:
This is no trial; Louis is not a prisoner at the bar; you are not judges; you are—you cannot but be—statesmen, and the representatives of the nation. You have not to pass sentence for or against a single man, but you have to take a resolution on a question of the public safety, and to decide a question of national foresight. It is with regret that I pronounce, the fatal truth: Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtuous citizens; Louis must die, so that the country may live.
Robespierre argued that the King, having betrayed the people when he tried to flee the country, and by being a king in the first place, posed a danger to the State as a unifying entity to enemies of the Republic. Destruction of the Girondists
After the King's execution, the influence of Robespierre, Danton, and the pragmatic politicians increased at the expense of the Girondists. The Girondists refused to have anything more to do with Danton and because of this the government became more divided. In May 1793, Desmoulins, at the behest of Robespierre and Danton, published his Histoire des Brissotins, an elaboration on the earlier article Jean-Pierre Brissot, demasque, a scathing attack on Brissot and the Girondists. Maximin Isnard declared that Paris must be destroyed if it came out against the provincial deputies. Robespierre preached a moral "insurrection against the corrupt deputies" at the Jacobin Club. On 2 June, a large crowd of armed men from the Commune of Paris came to the Convention and arrested thirty-two deputies on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. The Reign of Terror “ To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is barbarity. ”
— Maximilien Robespierre, 1794
After the fall of the monarchy, France faced more food riots, large popular insurrections and accusations of treasonous acts by those previously considered patriots. A stable government was needed to quell the chaos. On 11 March, a Revolutionary Tribunal was established in Paris. On 6 April, the nine-member Committee of Public Safety replaced the larger Committee of General Defense. On 27 July 1793, the Convention elected Robespierre to the Committee, although he had not sought the position. The Committee of General Security began to manage the country's internal police.
Though nominally all members of the committee were equal, Robespierre has often been regarded as the dominant force and, as such, the de facto dictator of the country. He is also seen as the driving force behind the Reign of Terror—Louis-Sebastien Mercier called him a "Sanguinocrat"—although, after 1794, other participants may have exaggerated his role to downplay their own contribution.
As an orator, he praised revolutionary government and argued that the Terror was necessary, laudable and inevitable. It was Robespierre's belief that the Republic and virtue were of necessity inseparable. He reasoned that the Republic could only be saved by the virtue of its citizens, and that the Terror was virtuous because it attempted to maintain the Revolution and the Republic. For example, in his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, given on 5 February, 1794, Robespierre stated:
If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country. ... The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.
Robespierre’s popularity and appeal to the community came out mostly in the way that he spoke. His speeches were exceptional, and he had the power to change the views of almost any audience. (This is one of the reasons why he became such a strong force in the Terror.) His speaking techniques included talk of virtue and morals, and also quite often he had a few rhetorical questions in his speeches in order to identify with the audience. He would also gesticulate and use ideas and personal experiences in life to keep the listeners’ attention. And his final method was to state that he was always prepared to die in order to save the Revolution. (Ironically, his death would be an end to the Revolution.)
Robespierre believed that the Terror was a time of discovering and revealing the enemy within Paris, within France, the enemy that hid in the safety of apparent patriotism. Because he believed that the Revolution was still in progress, and in danger of being sabotaged, he made every attempt to instill in the populace and Convention the urgency of carrying out the Terror. In his Report and others, he brought tales and fears of traitors, monarchists, and saboteurs throughout the Republic and also the Convention itself[citation needed].
Robespierre expanded the traditional list of the Revolution's enemies to include moderates and "false revolutionaries". In Robespierre's understanding, these were not only ignorant of the dangers facing the Republic, but also in many cases disguised themselves as active contributors to the Revolution, who simply repeated the work of others, or even impeded the progress of the patriots. Anyone not in step with the decrees of Robespierre's committee is said to have been eventually purged from the Convention, and thoroughly hunted in the general population. While it is debated whether Robespierre targeted moderates to accelerate his own agenda, or out of legitimate concern for France, it is known that his policy led to the execution of many of the Revolution's original and staunchest advocates.
Robespierre saw no room for mercy in his Terror, stating that "slowness of judgments is equal to impunity" and "uncertainty of punishment encourages all the guilty". Throughout his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, Robespierre assailed any stalling of action in defence of the Republic. In his thinking, there was not enough that could be done fast enough in defence against enemies at home and abroad. A staunch believer in the teachings of Rousseau, Robespierre believed that it was his duty as a public servant to push the Revolution forward, and that the only rational way to do that was to defend it on all fronts. The Report did not merely call for blood but also expounded many of the original ideas of the 1789 Revolution, such as political equality, suffrage, and abolition of privileges. Despite executing a good number of his fellow revolutionaries, Robespierre was still one of them in his theory, even if his practice was questionable.
In the winter of 1793–1794, a majority of the Committee decided that the Hebertist party would have to perish or its 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 Hebertists for their "atheism" and "bloodthirstiness", which he associated with the old aristocracy.
On the 4th of February 1794 under the leadership of Maxmilien Robespierre, the French Convention voted for the abolition of slavery. The Jacobins had established the idea of liberty, but it was a conception which favoured the emergent bourgeoisie, and it was this idea of liberty signifying the freedom to trade which took precedence over the ideas of equality and fraternity. It was this corruption of the French revolution by a rapacious cabal of the French bourgeoisie that Robespierre fought so fanatically against. In fact, during the Reign of Terror, Robespierre had huge support among the poor of Paris and he is still revered by the poor of Haiti today. Centre for Research on Globalization
In early 1794, he broke with Danton who had more moderate views on the Terror and had Camille Desmoulins protest against it in the third issue of Le Vieux Cordelier. Robespierre considered an end of the Terror as meaning the loss of political power he hoped to use to create the Republic of Virtue. Subsequently, he joined in attacks on the Dantonists and the Hebertists. Robespierre charged his opponents with complicity with foreign powers.
Vova
