A brief biography of Maximilian Robespierre clearly illustrates the fate of one of the most prominent participants and activists of the Great French Revolution. He was an influential and famous politician of that period.
Revolutionary Biography
Maximilian Robespierre, a brief biography of which is given in this article, was born in 1758. He was born in the small town of Arras, in the department of Pas de Calais. It was an administrative center.
His father was a hereditary lawyer, was a member of the High Council of the province of Artois. The mother, whose name was Jacqueline Margarita Carrol, gave birth to four more children, while Maximilian was the eldest. Together with him grew brother Augustin and sisters Charlotte and Henrietta-Ulali-Francoise. In 1764, another child died very soon after birth, and soon the mother of the hero of our article passed away. At that moment he was only six years old.
Even in a brief biography of Maximilian Robespierre, it is necessary to note the fact that, after a short time, his father left him. Francois left France, leaving all his children to be brought up by close relatives. Augustin and Maximilian were raised by their maternal grandfather, and sisters grew up in the families of their father's sisters.
At the beginning of the journey
Speaking briefly about Maximilian Robespierre, it is necessary to mention what kind of education he received. In 1765, he became a college student at Arras. After that, until 1781 he studied law at the College of Louis the Great, which was located in Paris. Thus, he chose the path of a lawyer for himself, following in the footsteps of his father.
After graduating, Maximilian Robespierre (this fact is reflected in a brief biography) returns to Arras to start working as a lawyer. In 1789, elections to the General States are held in France, they vote for him, nominating deputies from the third estate. In the General States, and then in the National Assembly, Robespierre is in extreme left positions.
Views
Maximilian Robespierre, whose biography you are reading now, was a supporter of Rousseau's ideas. Most of the members of the Assembly who held liberal views, he criticized the insufficient radicalism of the reforms that they carried out.
With similar ideas, he spoke at the Jacobin club, very soon becoming one of its main leaders. Many speeches of Maximilian de Robespierre were saturated with democratic rhetoric, but, as eyewitnesses note, frank demagogy was enough in them. All this brought him great fame in society, and even the original nickname is Incorruptible.
When the National Assembly was dissolved, Robespierre appeared in the Paris criminal court as a public prosecutor. This happened in October 1791. Thus, he continued his active political activities in the French capital. From December of that year to April 1792, Robespierre participated in a heated discussion in the Jacobin club with supporters of the "export" of the revolution. He strongly encourages them to fight and confront the "enemies of freedom" that operate within the country. He sincerely believed that a further deepening of the revolution was necessary, about which he wrote in a weekly entitled "Defender of the Constitution" until the summer of 1792.
Opposition to the Girondins
During the years of the French Revolution, Maximilian Robespierre was one of its most prominent participants. As a result of the rebellion on August 10, 1792, he becomes a member of the self-proclaimed Commune of Paris.
In September, he was elected to the Convention, together with Danton and Maratomi, they become the head of the left wing, starting to wage a fierce battle against the Girondins who seized power. This confrontation actually continues until May 1793.
Robespierre and his supporters seriously suspect the Girondins of trying to restore the monarchy. To avoid this, Robespierre on December 3, 1792 came out with a proposal to execute King Louis XVI without trial . The court is nevertheless organized, on it the hero of our article votes for the death of the king. On January 21, the king ascended the scaffold.
Total terror
May 31-June 2, 1793 a rebellion was organized in the Convention, as a result of which the Girondins were expelled. Robespierre is a member of the so-called Committee of Public Safety. With the help of his comrades-in-arms, primarily Coutonomon and Saint-Justomy, he defines the general political line of the revolution. The topic of betrayal becomes important.
At the end of the year, he is pushing for an end to the "de-Christianization" that the ultra-left carried out, condemning the atheism they planted. At the same time, he strongly rejects the demands put forward by the supporters of Danton. The latter are convinced that revolutionary terror can already be stopped.
Robespierre himself does not think so. In February 1794, he delivered his keynote address, in which he proclaimed the construction of a new society as the ultimate goal of the revolution. It should be based on Russoist principles, on “republican morality”, based on a religion projected by the state itself. This, in his opinion, should be some kind of cult. For example, the Supreme Being, whom everyone will worship. After the official victory of the “republican virtue,” Robespierre assumed that social turmoil would recede. At the same time, he called terror the key tool for achieving his ideas, which he carried out.
Robespierre's death
In the spring of 1794, Robespierre advocated the execution of the Dantonists and Eberists. Soon after, he initiated a large-scale action to promote the very cult of the Supreme Being.
On June 10, a law was introduced establishing capital punishment for opposing republican morality. The suspects were actually deprived of adequate lawyers. So began the "Great Terror", which touched all social groups without exception, undermining the popularity of Robespierre.
His utopian ideals did not find support in society, and dictatorial habits turned against him deputies of the Convention. July 27 Robespierre with his supporters was put on trial. An attempt to initiate resistance in the Paris City Hall failed. At the trial, rebels are identified and outlawed.
The very next day they are brought to the place of execution. Robespierre was executed on the guillotine along with several loyal supporters. The people greeted their severed heads with applause.