Biography of Maximilien de Robespierre
Revolutions and tyrannies
6 may 175828 July 1794
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, better known only as Maximilien Robespierre, was born in Arras, on 6 may of 1758. Said the incorruptible, was one of the most important and prominent protagonists of the French Revolution, historical moment that, for better or for worse, has forever marked the history of Western political and ideological. His name is also linked the so-called period of terror, or the reign of terror, which has divided and continues to divide the interpretations of historians, always undecided whether to entrust the utopian or Palm lawyer and revolutionary assassin and dictator. A fact is that, at a time of greater intransigence, the senior leaders of the revolution, including the same Robespierre, ended up losing his own hands, making unnecessary and sometimes gory crimes unquestionably. The family of Robespierre's descendants, notary public, well known in the North of France, where he was born and grew up the future revolutionary.
Is noble, that nobility of toga also said at that time illuminated by new ideas, of which absorbs the same young scholar who, from the outset, he prefers legal studies. His parents, however, die prematurely. After having given the world many Brothers of Maximilien: Charlotte, born in 1760, Henriette-Eulalie-Françoise, who comes to light a year later, and Augustin, 1763, that will he also lawyer, Congressman, revolutionary and executed the same day. In 1764, shortly after the death of the youngest son, the mother dies too, Jacqueline Marguerite Carraut, postpartum complications. The husband then, Francois de Robespierre, disappears after some time, say Charlotte due to severe depression, only to die probably after 1772, last year when received by the family some of his tracks. According to many sources, the father of Robespierre dies instead in Munich, in 1777.
However, Maximilien is raised by a grandmother and two aunts. He studied at the College of Arras, a private institution, and after he moved to Paris, thanks to a scholarship, to follow the teachings of the famous College Louis Le Grand. Perfects his law studies and became a lawyer after a career nothing short of brilliant, obtaining certificates of esteem for his remarkable eloquence, much to receive from one of his teachers the nickname of "Il Romano", for their admirable ars oratoria. Gets the baccalaureate in law on 31 July of 1780 and the next diploma on 15 May of the following year, with lots of praise and 600 francs to scholarship, donated then to brother Augustin, to further his studies.
The first exercises of his new profession however, performs them again at Arras, his birthplace, to which he returns, soon. Here, however, are beginning to make inroads into him political and ideological ideas, with the discovery of the work of the enlightenment and, especially, the great thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau, of which it says direct disciple. According to a document found posthumously in addition, Rousseau would receive a visit from the future revolutionary around 1778, as proof of esteem for his beliefs and for his moral and ethical rectitude. In 1782, as Bishop of Arras, court judge must impose a death penalty but, contrary to ideology, you decide to abandon this career soon after, by resigning. Parallel to his work as a lawyer on his own, leading him on shields on more than one occasion, even from Arras Robespierre makes itself heard for their extra legal successes, linked to the world of culture and the arts. On 4 February 1786 is appointed Director of the Académie royale des Belles Lettres of Arras, which he attended with success for some years. As Director supports gender equality and shall facilitate the entry on letterate Academy of two Marie Le Masson The Golft and Louise de Kéralio.
The political breakthrough that drags in Paris, as you know, is the crisis of the Ancien Regime, which arrives on time around 1788. A year later, Robespierre, from Arras, he was elected Deputy General states that, in May of 1789, they gather in the capital. We are at the gates of the French Revolution, close to bursting. Meanwhile, the future head of terror you gain the sympathies of the Jacobins, whose club are now everywhere in France. As a representative of the third estate, on 25 March 1789 Robespierre's writes the "cahier de doléances" on behalf of the Guild of shoemakers, the poorest and most populous province. In addition, you gain the support of the peasants of Arras, enough to be chosen from among the twelve members of Artois, on 26 April 1789. There is the tennis court oath, in June 1789, after being cited by the tribune of Parliament with some 60 interventions. Within a year, becomes head of the Jacobin club, then still said Club Breton.
On 14 July 1789, witnessing the storming of the Bastille. During the constituent Assembly opposes every privilege that the nobles and even the mean and petty bourgeoisie wants to grant. Becomes, for all, in that period, the more important the incorruptible Robespierre and illuminated his political career and perhaps European policy, at least since the collapse of the Roman Empire. The incorruptible is fighting for legal and social equality, for press freedom, universal suffrage and many other civil rights today achieved, but certainly not in 1789. Anyway, became President in 1790 Jacobin movement, begins to fear a military coalition of other European countries against the same France, in order to prevent the deflagri Revolution even across borders. As opposed to the interventionist propaganda of the Girondins, favorable to declare war on Austria. In August 1792, a popular uprising in Paris, Robespierre is instructed to suppress the rebellion and restore order. He was appointed, on this occasion, a member of the Paris Commune, in fact guiding it, and is concerned to find a resolution to the rise in prices and supply.
On 27 July 1793, Robespierre enters the Committee of public safety, the revolutionary Government in all respects. Becomes the protector of sans culotte Jacobins and generally, rationalize food, establishes a price controlled but at the same time, worried by the movements of the surrounding States, and also strengthens the counter-revolutionary army and provides for a policy of State control of the economy. Are the harbingers of terror, now very close. Meanwhile, Robespierre is among the voters in favor of the execution of King Louis XVI, after the fall of the monarchy, dated August, 1792. By 1793, forcing the moderate Girondists, that is, to abandon the so-called National Convention.
Become, de facto, the head of the French Revolution. By this time, a cancellation of any opposition to Robespierre methodical Revolution, physics, ideological, feared or proven, justified or not. Die between 30 000 and 70 000 people, historians disagree, with summary executions without trial, often specious. The lawyer shall provide for the incarceration of over 100,000 people, only on suspicion. During this period, also die the so-called children of the revolution, many former classmates of Robespierre, as Jacques-René Hébert and Georges Danton, the Duke of Orléans Philippe Égalité, and many others said, as the champion of women's rights, Olympe de Gouges, who founded the Centre Socìal. On 4 February 1794 Robespierre gets the abolition of slavery in the colonies under French rule. At the same time proclaims a State religion, the cult of the Supreme being, according to the suggestions of Rousseau, attracting the antipathies of Catholics and atheists simultaneously. Is the period in the new calendar, the ten days of work and one of rest.
In the Committee of public safety, Robespierre is now considered only a dictator and violent contrasts. On 27 July 1794, the Convention the vote but vote even an indictment against him, formal and very heavy. With him, there is also the younger brother Augustin and a few other loyalists. On 10 Thermidor, in accordance with the timetable of the terror, that is, the next day, on the morning of 28 July 1794, the national guards penetrate to the Hotel de Ville, the place in which it shelters the incorruptible together with his followers. With him there are Couthon, Saint-just, Le Bas and his brother Augustin. Leave some accidental gunshots, according to some historians, while others targeted. However, a few hours later, prisoners are taken to the Conciergerie and recognised, sent to the guillotine. In the afternoon, the crowd cheers for the death of the tyrant, Maximilien Robespierre.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.