Robespierre is, by far, my favorite person to analyze from the French Revolution. His reign over France, from 1793 (after the execution of Louis XVI in January) to July of 1794, is known as the Reign of Terror, and with reason. Robespierre was brutal in his treatment of those who didn’t believe in the three ideals of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. His extreme views about the spirit of Revolution and what it meant for him and his own rise to power were what made him such a memorable ruler (not in a good way though).
Robespierre was not one to back down from what he believed in. He held a deep-rooted hatred for members of the aristocracy at the time, which encompasses French sentiment pretty well, but he was extreme. France was in extreme chaos after the execution of Louis XVI and the fall of the monarchy, and Robespierre saw this as his opportunity to create stability by creating a new government. He climbed his way up from the Committee of Public Safety to the Committee of General Security, and eventually became reigning dictator of what he thought was post-revolutionary France.
A lot of information about how Robespierre treated his people and how much he truly condemned the aristocracy and noble-people of France can be found in a biography written about Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, called the Rose of Martinique. But I will get more into her story in a later post.
Robespierre was also obsessed with the American Revolution. He is known to have executed almost anyone who didn’t support the revolution in the United States. During his reign, he and his followers arrested around 300,000 people for opposing the Revolution, 10,000 of whom died in prison and 17,000 of whom were officially guillotined. In 1794, laws passed under Robespierre took away the people’s right to trial and legal assistance, which only increased their likelihood of being executed.
What is interesting, though, is that Robespierre’s main political strategy in his attempt to gain power was to play on the fact that France needed stability to fight international wars and deter international conflict, not the revolution. Of course, once he did gain power, he fully supported the revolution, probably a little too much, but that’s not how he gained it. Also, some of his ideals were not so bad. He was vehemently against slavery and truly wanted the best for the bourgeoisie, but in this case, I don’t think that his “good morals” can make up for the amount of destruction he invigorated. All in all, I think we should just all be glad that Robespierre’s attempts to create a calendar and religion based on himself and his ideals failed.
