Robespierre, Maximilien François Marie Isidore de (1758–1794)

French politician in the French Revolution. As leader of the Jacobins in the National Convention (1792), he supported the execution of Louis XVI and the overthrow of the right‐wing republican Girondins, and in July 1793 was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. A year later he was guillotined; many believe that he was a scapegoat for the Reign of Terror since he ordered only 72 executions personally.

Robespierre, a lawyer, was elected to the National Assembly from 1789 to 1791. His defence of democratic principles made him popular in Paris, while his disinterestedness won him the nickname of ‘the sea‐green Incorruptible’. His zeal for social reform and his attacks on the excesses of the extremists made him enemies on both right and left; a conspiracy was formed against him, and in July 1794 he was overthrown and executed by those who actually perpetrated the Reign of Terror.

Initial role in the Revolution
On the eve of the Revolution, Robespierre was a deputy of the Third Estate at the States General called in May 1789. His fanaticism, self‐confidence, and oratorical skill brought him rapid popularity and, vigorously defending the liberty of the press, he attached himself to Mirabeau, leader of the National Assembly, which became the Constituent Assembly in July 1789. Soon Robespierre established a secure position among the Jacobins, a left‐wing republican group, becoming president of the Jacobin Club in April 1790. Robespierre made the proposal that members of the Constituent Assembly should be barred from its successor, the Legislative Assembly, which was dominated by the Girondins. Therefore, it was as a Jacobin Club member, not as a deputy, that he continued to exert his influence on the Revolution.

Decline of the Girondins
As a member of the Jacobins, Robespierre allied himself with the group surrounding Marat and Danton, although he later brought about their destruction. His actions, however, seem to have been dictated not by motives of personal ambition or gain, but by his conviction that he alone could carry through the anti‐monarchist revolutionary ideals in which he believed so passionately. A series of military defeats by Austria and Prussia in 1792 led to the mobilization of the lower classes and a wave of popular demands for equality; it also led to the downfall of the monarchy in August 1792. In the same month Robespierre petitioned for a Revolutionary Tribunal and a new National Convention. With the suppression of the Legislative Assembly, the power of the Girondins began to fade. Robespierre was elected first deputy for Paris to the National Convention formed in September 1792, representing an alliance between the extreme left wing Montagnards and the working class sans culottes. After the First French Republic was proclaimed on 21 September 1792, Robespierre urged the execution of Louis XVI, carried out in January 1793. With Danton he helped to create the Committee of Public Safety in April 1793. Backed by the people of Paris, Robespierre also led the movement to force the Girondins from the National Convention in May 1793.

Reign of Terror
In July Robespierre became a member of the Committee of Public Safety, led until September by Danton. Originally established to supervise the actions of the executive, it usurped the powers of the National Convention and in practice became the ruling body of France. Robespierre, as the committee's principal spokesperson, appeared to be largely responsible for the ensuing Reign of Terror, which instituted a mass persecution of the Jacobins' enemies between October 1793 and July 1794. His policy was to restore order in the country by removing opponents to the Revolution and so reduce the danger of invasion from abroad, although a number of personal enemies were also guillotined, such as Cloots, a Jacobin known for his denunciations of religion. After his former friends Danton and Desmoulins had been sent to the guillotine, Robespierre reigned supreme. He nominated his supporters to positions of influence within government committees and the commune of Paris, and took complete control of the Revolutionary Tribunal. In May 1794 he made the cult of the Supreme Being, based on Rousseau's philosophies, an official religion, an act which offended both atheists and Catholics.

Robespierre's downfall
Robespierre was elected president of the National Convention in June, but his increasing power had already caused anxiety among leading members of the National Convention and Jacobin Club, and a conspiracy against him was organized by Fouché. The trend away from extremist measures was also aided by a number of French military victories which made national security less precarious. During his absence from a meeting of the National Convention on 27 July 1974, Robespierre was openly accused of despotism and his close associate Saint‐Just refused a hearing. When a decree of arrest was passed against him, Robespierre fled and the Convention declared him an outlaw. Captured by the National Guard, called in by his opponent Barras, he was guillotined the following day with 21 of his followers, including Saint‐Just and Couthon. A further 80 supporters were executed the following day, although some, such as Barère de Vieuzac, survived. Robespierre's death marked the beginning of the reaction against the revolution.