Maximilien
Robespierre
“Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible. It is then an emanation of virtue.”
~Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre was a radical Jacobin leader and
one of the key leaders in the French Revolution.
~He was born in Arras, France, on May 6, 1758, and died in Paris on July 28, 1794.
~He began to rule the Committee of Public Safety in the latter months of 1793, which
served as the Revolutionary government's main institution throughout the Reign of
Terror.
~Robespierre first made a name for himself as a lawyer of the people.
~He defended Jews and black slaves and strongly believed in equality for all in the
eyes of the law.
The objectives of Maximilien Robespierre included the establishment of equality
before the law, the abolition of prerogatives, and the defence of the fundamentals of
direct democracy. Maximilien Robespierre, the mastermind behind the Reign of Terror
during the French Revolution, is deposed and taken into custody by the National
Convention. Robespierre promoted the death of more than 17,000 rivals of the
Revolution, primarily by guillotine, as the chair of the Committee of Public Safety
beginning in 1793. The repercussions of Robespierre’s action included gaining
enemies among slave owners.
The Terror, in Robespierre's opinion, was a beneficial thing since it rid society of what
he considered to be evil. He maintained that terror was required to uphold public
decency. Therefore, his quote “Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible. It is
then an emanation of virtue.”
Those familiar with his career remarked that Robespierre fought for the poor
commoner. For the supporter of humanism and secularism, Robespierre is both a hero
and villain, embodying the best and worst of human nature.
Robespierre briefly presided over the influential Jacobin Club; a political club based
in Paris. He also served as president of the National Convention and on the Committee
of Public Safety. In the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, Robespierre and a few of his followers
were arrested on July 27, 1794. The next day, 21 of Robespierre's adherents were
brought to the Place de la Revolution (now the Place de la Concorde), where they were
guillotined in front of a cheering crowd.
