Life of Maxamillian Robespierre

The French Revolution is arguably the bloodiest period in French history, with men such as Maximilien Robespierre leading the country into a situation of state sponsored terror. Originally being quite a liberal thinker inspired by the works of Rousseau, Robespierre quickly gained a reputation for being a radical throughout the course of the Revolution, especially during the Terror. Early on terror was justified as a means to root out foreign and domestic enemies of the Revolution, however; once the foreign threat had been taken care of it became increasingly difficult for Robespierre to rationalize his use of terror to bring about a supposed Republic of Virtue. In his speech, the “Justification of the use of Terror” which he presented to

From a timeline of the Reign of Terror, in 1789 the French country had an absolute monarchy. Then in 1792, the goal of having a Constitutional Republic was completed (Document B). From 843 AD to 1792 France had a monarchy and the move from a monarchy to a republic was a huge step in the right direction for France. The Reign of Terror was necessary to help the change become smoother because there was a strong revolutionary government and had a humane way of keeping the government alive by killing some of the enemy “citizens”. One of the leaders of this revolutionary government was Maximilien Robespierre, he believed that the most effective way of governing, comes from the people. In 1794, he made a Report of the Principles of Public Morality to the National Convention. His most powerful weapon, wasn’t the guillotine, but his words. He describes how one must finish fighting for liberty against tyranny to complete a revolution and to complete the goal of having a Constitutional Republic. He also reports that the only citizens in a republic, are republicans, so the conspirators are no longer citizens, but enemies (Document G). Some of these enemies are the nobility and the clergy, because they only wanted what was best for them and their social groups, not what was best for the Republic. The fight against tyranny was not over till there were only republicans in the republic. The government leaders and courts made sure of this by using the guillotine. By getting rid of their enemies, France had a Constitutional Republic after the Reign of Terror. This is justified because the Constitutional Republic’s leaders were making sure that they got rid of all the Republic’s enemies and keeping their government safe, just like countries want to do

Maximilien Robespierre has always been known to be controversial and misunderstood. He was the face of the French Revolution. In accordance with the Jacobins, they controlled the time known as the Reign of Terror, due to their influence in the accumulation of murders of those opposed to the revolution. Reign of Terror was a symbolic time period within the French Revolution that involved corruption of power and influence and mass executions. With Robespierre at the forefront, he became one of the most important men in the Revolution. As soon as Maximilien Robespierre decided to react to enemies of the revolutions, mass execution being his choice of force; his implementation of the Reign of Terror was a villainous act striking those who

Robespierre had intended to rid France of any people that were considered a threat to the revolution through the Reign of Terror, but his actions were not necessary for France to progress. His intentions to overthrow the monarchy under Louis XVI and replace it with a new utopian republic were reasonable because, with a reformed republic, he could establish the principle stating, “the ‘rights of man’ should extend to all men – including the poor, and the slaves in the colonies” (Linton). He relentlessly advocated for equality within the working class, also known as the sans culottes, and fought for the abolishment of rigid class systems between the three estates. This allowed for him to gain a positive reputation with civilians who were mistreated within the Third Estate and obtain reverence from the Jacobins. Robespierre’s first order of business to purify France and progress the revolution began with the trial of Louis XVI. Originally, it had been known that Robespierre “was for a long time a vehement opponent of the death penalty” (Linton), so it was unexpected when he began to advocate for the King’s death. His change of opinion occurred after witnessing how Louis had committed treason through attempting to escape an unstable France which branded him as a traitor to the revolution. In his speech arguing against allowing the King to be given a trial, Robespierre claimed “yes the penalty of death generally is a crime...it can be justified only in cases when it is necessary for the safety of individuals or the social body...Louis must die, because the country must live” (“Maximilien”). It was this trial that became the root to which Robespierre’s terror stemmed from. He speculated that “...in order to defend the Revolution against those who would destroy it, the shedding of blood was justified” (Linton). From here on out, his philosophy of the ends

The radical views of Robespierre cost thousands of people’s lives. He ordered the death of 45,000 to 50,000 throughout all of the Reign of Terror. Nothing compared to the levée en masse deaths by people just fighting for their right to worship God. In October 1793, Revolutionaries decided to reenact an example of counterrevolutionaries in Lyons. One day, revolutionaries destroyed 1600 homes and chopped off 12 heads just in 5 minutes. Robespierre is sending his revolutionary followers basically just to torture people and take away their rights. The people the revolutionaries were members of the aristocracy, priests, farmers, and townspeople especially. He killed them because he thought they weren’t in support of the French Revolution, they didn’t support him, or they supported the Catholic Church. By August of 1793, people were fed up of Robespierre and his radical ways so they started revolting against him. 3,000 national guardsman were sent to establish order and peace in Niort, France (Doc D). Even this wasn’t enough as a government official had to ask the National Convention for more troops and assistance in calming

First, Robespierre declared, "Terror the order of the day" (Document B). This declaration was a start to Robespierre's idea of killing all traitors and enlightenment idealists. When one does not commit to listening to the ideas of every person, problems and conflict emerge, thus his ideas did not end in rejoice. Robespierre also didn't recognize people that had other ideals as citizensa citizens in the Republic but the republicans" (Document G). His quote means that conservatives will be the only ones receiving the perks of being a citizen. Robespierre tried to make the country united in thinking, but when civilians didn't agree with his ideas, he simply killed them, which is inhumane and unjustified in almost any case. Killing people doesn't solve any problems as more people will take their place. Robespierre didn't understand the gruesome immorality of killing as "16,000 people were guillotined during the Reign of Terror" (Document F). Executing in large amounts to prove a point isn’t a fantastic deal breaker to anyone. These examples prove the Reign of Terror was unreasonable as he did not listen to the overwhelming majority of the people and ended up massacring them to solve

During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries wanted to make a new government that would give the citizens more freedom, liberty, and equality. The Reign of Terror, led by Robespierre, was a period of the French Revolution during which many people were ruthlessly executed by the new government. This period of murder and blood shed started from the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793 to late July 1794 called the Reign of Terror. During those eighteen months, more than 20,000 French people were put to death by guillotine. The behavior by the revolutionaries in the French government was not justified for these three reasons: internal and external threats were not serious, the manipulation of the Committee of Public Safety and Maximilien Robespierre wasn’t for the benefit of the all the French citizen, and the uses of the death machine, the guillotine, was inhumane.

“The execution of Louis XVI marked the beginning of an 18- month period of the French Revolution that has come to be called “The Reign of Terror” (Background Essay: Was it justified). The French revolution lasted from 1789 until 1794. During this period of time, the most terrifying part was the Reign of Terror. Even though some of the intentions from the Reign of Terror were good, it was a very destructive and unnecessary time.

In the French Revolution, Robespierre had begun ruling in July 1793. Historians call this time period the Reign of Terror. Textual evidence written by historians includes this, “Robespierre justified his use of terror by suggesting that it helped French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution” (Modern World History).

As the Reign of Terror came into effect, triggering the most radical phase of the Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre was determined to reconstruct France as a new republican democracy. According to Robespierre, this system could only be achieved if every and all forms of resistance to the Republic were to be eradicated. He declared that anyone who did not support the revolution as radically as he did was a traitor, a threat to the country, and deserved to be executed.

The French Revolution was based on an assortment of Enlightenment ideals. French philosophers, including Voltaire and Rousseau led the revolution leading up to the revolution, so to speak, coming up with progressive ideals as to government, social structure, and the nature of people. Indeed, the ideals which the revolution was fought in the name of progressed throughout France and, eventually, Europe. Though the revolution took wrong turns along the way, the ideals which it was based on never wavered. Even during the heart of his Reign of Terror, Robespierre spoke of a state where each citizen wants to do good by his country. This shows Robespierre with an unwavering commitment to the state, an ideal which came out of the Enlightenment. Though he may have carried out his beliefs in a gruesome and perhaps wrong way, his ideals were the same as the Enlightenment philosophers: make the state better for all to live in.

One of the most influential figures of the Revolution of 1789 and one of the principal exponents of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien-Marie-Isadore de Robespierre was born in Arras to a bourgeois family and was educated in Paris at the Lycée Louis le Grand, where Camille Desmoulins was his classmate. Through his studies, he became an enthusiastic devotee of the social theories of the philosophes of the 18th century, especially those of Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, whom he visited at Ermenonville and whose theory of the general will, as stated in the Contrat social, became Robespierre's guiding principle. An attorney, Robespierre was elected in 1789 as a deputy for the Third Estate to the Estates General, and subsequently to the National Constituent Assembly, where his oratory brought him to the attention of his

Maximilien Robespierre was the father and the corrupter of our beloved revolution. Whether you admired him or despised him, he got executed exactly 2 years ago. Before the revolution, Robespierre was a strong voice against the death penalty. He followed the philosophy of John Locke. After the revolution set its course and beheaded the king, the Committee of Public Safety was founded by Robespierre. The committee started with the purpose of the protection of the citizens, but it had a discourse. Who can forget the slash of the guillotine over the innocent necks? A simple action of calling an individual “mademoiselle” could’ve gotten you killed. Robespierre used fear to have control over the people, but was there a good reason to fight fear with

Marat was sitting in his bathtub, he received a visitor by the name of Charlotte Corday, who had been refused admittance earlier in the day. She claimed to have vital information on escaped Girondins and proceeded to list off the names of the missing Girondins. After he had finished writing out the list, Corday claimed that he told her, "It will not be long before they are guillotined", a statement she later changed at her trial to, "I will shortly have them all guillotined in Paris". With that statement, Corday retrieved a knife she had brought and plunged it into his chest. Marat cried out in agony saying "Aidez-moi, ma chère amie!" ("Help me, my dear friend!") and died.

Robespierre was the main person to implement the laws he put forth.[Footnote] He believed in solving all his problems through violence. Those who were born to a particular family, having certain opinions, or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, would fall victim to him. Although Robespierre was obsessed with violence, he never actually performed acts himself, unless assured he would succeed, he’d have other people to do his work for him. The most common device used to punish people was the guillotine. Robespierre used other methods at times; he’d burn, hack, stab, shoot, and even cannonade a person. Those he objected, or had been his enemy would soon be imprisoned, and eventually executed. He was relentless and ordered people dead with no trial, killing people without proving or even knowing if they were truly “guilty”. He believed the mass murders he was responsible for were justified.