First blog entry is being dedicated to a supremely psychotic dictator: Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre was one the driving forces powering the French Revolution and, more importantly, the mastermind behind the bloody Reign of Terror that followed. He had a resume that would make even the most evil of Disney villains jealous.
guess who’s the bad guy here
Highlights include:
- executing tens of thousands of people on absurd charges of treason, including King Louis XVI
- abandoning the democracy France had rebelled for and set up essentially a dictatorship
- outlawed Christianity in favor of his “Cult of the Supreme Being,” which was as bizarre as it sounds
- guillotining former friends and colleagues because they weren’t radical enough
Robespierre could probably make a list of Top Ten Baddest Bad Guys of All Time. Yet he wasn’t a storybook evil-for-evil’s sake villain. He was nicknamed “The Incorruptible” for his unwavering commitment to his ideals and was actually against the death penalty. He was a champion for democracy and equality whose life goal was to see a free France. However, he was also a huge hypocrite who somehow managed to twist ideas of equality and liberty to somehow be compatible with mass executions and an oppressive, dictatorial regime.
picture sources: http://apexamreviewperiod5.wikispaces.com/file/view/robespierre.jpg/222479438/robespierre.jpg
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120411225548/disneyvillains/images/4/42/PDVD_047.PNG
I said this already but – MOLLY I FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I AM SO GLAD YOU DID ROBESPIERRE. Euro memories are flooding back. Great post to sum up his leadership style (without all the pictures of the guillotine that one video seems to love so much).
I think that Robespierre’s leadership style is actually one of the most terrifying, because he truly believes that what he is doing is right. There’s no reasoning with a person who can’t see that what they’re doing is wrong. His reign is much like that of Hitler’s who was able to convince an entire country that his logic was correct, and inflicted so much destruction on so many people.