Difference between revisions of "Maximilien de Robespierre"

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Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) was the head of the Committee of Public Safety in France at the time of the French Revolution, leader of the Jacobins and sent to the guillotine numerous alleged enemies including Marie Antionette. Then Robespierre met the same fate himself: he was guillotined in 1794 after he gave a speech warning against the what he perceived to be government excesses and human rights violations. Robespierre's death ended the Reign of Terror.

Personal History

Robespierre was born in Arras in 1758. At the age of five his mother died in childbirth and shortly afterwards, his Father ran away leaving the children to be brought up by their Grandparents. He excelled at school and was chosen to recite a latin address to King Louis XVI upon the King's visit to Arras.

As a student training to be a lawyer, he bcame an advocate of Jean Jacques Rousseau. He worked ferociaously hard as a lawyer. He was meticulous in dress, always wearing a cravet and a spare in case the first should become creased. He was tee-total and there is no record of him having a boyfriend or girlfriend. Contemporary accounts suggest he was a driven and single minded man.

Law Career

In 1780 in a supplement to Encyclopedia, written by Benjamin Franklin, studing the nature of electricity prompted a resident of St Omer to install a lightening conductor on his roof. Fearing the consequences, his neighbours took him to court to have the rod taken down. Robespierre was successful and he won renown throughout France.

In 1781, Robespierre was elected to the bar and in 1786 he was elected as President of the Arras Academy, and he befriended peasents in the area, and produced pamphlets detailing the squalor of their lives.

Revolution

Following the revolution of 1789, Robespierre gained high rank in the French legislature and began work on the freedom of the press and the emancipation of Protestants and Jews.

In 1791 the King attempted to flee from Paris and France, in roder to raise a foriegn army to invade France and restore the previous Absolute Monarchy. The King was caught, and his actions led to disbelief amongst many of his supporters.

This led Robespierre, who had never preiously done so, to question the monarchy. He declared "ni monarchiste ni républicain" ("neither monarchist nor republican"). This position of no longer supporting the King, but stopping short of supporting a Republic was not unusual at the time.