Maximilien de Robespierre
Politician
1758 – 1794
Who was Maximilien de Robespierre?
Maximilien François Marie Isidore Robespierre was a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution.
As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, he advocated against the death penalty and for the abolition of slavery, while supporting equality of rights, universal suffrage and the establishment of a republic. He opposed war with Austria and the possibility of a coup by the Marquis de Lafayette. As a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was an important figure during the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended a few months after his arrest and execution in July 1794.
Influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, he was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. His steadfast adherence and defense of the views he expressed earned him the nickname «l'Incorruptible». His reputation has gone through cycles. It peaked in the 1920s when the influential French historian Albert Mathiez rejected the common view of Robespierre as demagogic, dictatorial, and fanatical. Mathiez argued he was an eloquent spokesman for the poor and oppressed, an enemy of royalist intrigues, a vigilant adversary of dishonest and corrupt politicians, a guardian of the French Republic, an intrepid leader of the French Revolutionary government, and a prophet of a socially responsible state. In recent decades, his reputation has suffered from his association with radical purification of politics by the killing of his enemies.
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- Born
- May 6, 1758
Arras - Parents
- Siblings
- Religion
- Deism
- Nationality
- France
- Profession
- Education
- Law degree, Lycée Louis-le-Grand
Law
(1769 - 1781)
- Law degree, Lycée Louis-le-Grand
- Died
- Jul 28, 1794
Paris
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Maximilien de Robespierre." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/maximilien_robespierre>.
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