Robespierre

What were Robespierre's beliefs and ideas which led him to contributing to the French Revolution?

=**Maximilien Robespierre**=

Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre was one of the most important people in the French Revolutionary government from 1791 to 1794. His major objective which he hoped to achieve was to change France to a country which functioned according to the Enlightenment ways.

(Maximilian Robespierre,1758-1794)

Maximilian Robespierre was born in May 6, 1758 in Arras, France. In 1781, the young man was made advocate and was elected a Third Estate representative of the meeting of the Estate General. At the age of only 30, he went to Paris as a Third Estate representative who strongly supported of the rights of his people. The Third Estate announced themselves to be the French National Assembly after the first meeting of the Estates-General, and declared the right of speaking on behalf of the nation. Thus, began the French Revolution with the challenge toward the monarch authorities. Robespierre strongly supported the Assembly and soon became it’s important leader, as well as the leader of the Jacobin Club, which was an extreme organization devoted to the creation of a constitution which would support the natural rights of the people of France. He was one of the key figures who helped draft the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen(Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen).

Robespierre was a strong supporter, a fan of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss Philosopher who proposed an argument that the supreme power of the community had to assist the basic desires of it’s people, not just the individual desires of the monarch. Rousseau was a deist, and so was Robespierre. The idea of a distant Supreme Being interested him more than that of a Christian God, which led him to attacking the practices and privileges of the Catholic Church.

The strong, powerful, profound attacks launched by Robespierre to the government and the king made him lot’s of enemies in the Assembly, which resulted him having to hide himself from many people for a period in 1791.

However, eventually in 1792, Robespierre and his supporters finally managed to terminate the monarchy, and create a republic. Robespierre even managed to convince many delegates during the French National Convention to execute Louis XVI, their former king. The king is not the only one who was executed however, and many of Robespierre’s rivals such as the Girondists, also met their fate with the guillotine.

(Many people were executed by the guillotine during the French Revolution)

Unfortunately, Robespierre had made countless enemies during his reign, and people began attacking him in the Convention and in the press for using terror to rule, but also more importantly his failure for solving the economic and social problems harming France. Robespierre was arrested for his past actions, and on July 28, 1794, met the guillotine which put an end to his life. The lives of over 100 of his supporters also came to an end by the giant blade, and it was only after all of their deaths that the Terror in France disappeared and a more moderate government was able to take control.


 * Resources:**

"Maximilien Robespierre." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

Kreis, Steven. "Maximilien Robespierre, 1758-1794." The History Guide -- Main. Web. 30 Nov. 2011..

"Maximilien Robespierre Biography - Reign of Terror." Faith vs Reason Debate Spiritual Insights Quotations Quotes Aldous Huxley Perennial Philosophy. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

"Maximilien De Robespierre Biography." Bastille Day. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .

"History ; French Kings ; French Revolutions." The Franco-American WebSite ; Intercultural ; Tips for Americans about France and Paris; France and the French. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .