Robespierre
Maximilien Fran?ois Marie Isidore de Robespierre , May 6, 1758 - July 28, 1794) was a French revolutionary, an important leader during the French Revolution, and one of the actual leaders of the Jacobin government.
Early life
Robespierre was born in Arras, Pas-de-Calais, northern France. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all local lawyers. It is said that he was a descendant of Irish immigrants. He is the eldest of four children, born four months after his parents' wedding. When Robespierre was 6 years old, his mother died in childbirth. His father then ran away from home and traveled around. He died in Mannheim, Germany in 1777. Their children were raised by their grandmother and aunt respectively.
In 1770, Robespierre was given a scholarship by a local priest in Arras to study at the College of King Louis in Paris. Among his friends at school was Camille Desmoulins, one of the later figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre studied hard and excelled in Latin and Greek, earning him the nickname "Roman". In 1775, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette passed the college after the coronation ceremony. Robespierre, on behalf of the entire school, recited Latin diction written by the teacher to the king. He graduated from law school in 1780 and received his bachelor's degree in law in 1781.
In the summer of the same year, Robespierre returned to his hometown. At the end of the year, he was admitted to the Arras Court and began to work as a lawyer. In early 1782 he was appointed one of the five judges of the Episcopal Court of Arras. He was deeply influenced by Rousseau. He often defended people who were obviously treated unfairly and had a high winning rate. In 1783, de Vissery, who lived near Arras, caused protests from his neighbors when he installed the lightning rod invented by Franklin. Robespierre helped him with the help of his friend and patron A-J. Buissart. The case was successfully defended and attracted national attention.
Robespierre's life in Arras was relatively peaceful. From time to time he interacted with some local lawyers and scholars, and participated in local literary and artistic activities. He was admitted as an academician of the Arrasco Academy and was later elected president of the Arrasco Academy. During this period he met Joseph Fouché, who would play an important role in the French Revolution, and his future colleague on the Committee of Public Safety, Lazare Carnot.
From the Estates-General to the Constitutional Convention
In 1788, France faced an economic and political crisis, and there were constant calls for the convening of the Estates-General. Robespierre published "A Letter to the People of Artois—On the Necessity of Reforming the Estates-General of Artois" (Arras belonged to the County of Artois according to the division at that time), describing the history of the local Estates-General since the Middle Ages. , strongly criticized the Artois nobles for usurping the power that should belong to the people, exploiting and oppressing ordinary people, and called for system reform. The article mentioned that Louis XVI still used the language of respect.
After the royal family announced the convening of the Third Estate Conference, he actively participated in the campaign and was successfully elected as a representative of the Third Estate. He left Arras in May 1789. While in Versailles, he made a speech proposing that churchmen unite with the Third Estate. When a bishop persuaded the Third Estate to cooperate with the First and Second Estates on the grounds of famine relief, he spoke against the extravagant life of the church. Although his speeches were not as charismatic as representatives such as Mirabeau, he quickly improved his speech level and spoke 276 times during the Third Estate and the Constitutional Convention, ranking 20th among representatives. In his speeches, he supported universal male suffrage, opposed the king's veto, supported civil rights for Jews, called for the abolition of slavery and the death penalty, and opposed press censorship, but did not speak against a bill prohibiting workers from organizing unions and going on strike. His proposals were rarely adopted, but they quickly won him great popularity across the country, earning him the title "The Incorruptible."
His other main venue at the time was the Jacobin Club. His influence was even more obvious here. He was elected president of the club on March 31, 1791, causing Lafayette to leave in anger. In June 1791, Louis XVI and members of the royal family were discovered trying to abscond. Robespierre asked at the Constituent Assembly to depose the king, but expressed that he did not support the establishment of the French Republic. After the Constituent Assembly decided to acquit Louis XVI, he initially supported the Cordeliers Club in holding a protest petition at the training ground, but later persuaded the Jacobin Club to withdraw its support. After the massacre at the training ground on July 17, the Constitutional Monarchist faction headed by Lafayette completely broke with the Jacobin Club, and Robespierre became one of the leaders of the Jacobin faction.
The War and the Trial of the King
On September 3, 1791, the Constitutional Convention adopted the constitution, and the meeting was dissolved on the 30th. Due to Robespierre's proposal, members of the original Constituent Assembly, including himself, could not participate in the elections to the newly established Legislative Assembly. He returned to his hometown of Arras after the Constituent Assembly and did not return to Paris until November. During this period, Austria and Prussia formed the first anti-French alliance, and the clouds of war enveloped France.
Brissot, one of the leaders of the Girondins in the Legislative Assembly, called for the punishment of the fugitive nobles and an active attack directly on the great powers. The king and queen hoped to rely on foreign powers to restore their former royal power, and they also actively supported France's tough attitude.
After Robespierre returned to Paris, he initially supported the militant stance of the Girondins, but later changed his view and launched a months-long heated debate with Brissot starting in early December. In addition to delivering speeches at the Jacobin Club, he also founded the newspaper "Defender of the Constitution" to express his views. He stated that he was not opposed to all wars, but pointed out that France was not ready for war, the people lacked weapons, the army was in the hands of the nobles, and the palace conspired to overthrow the revolution. The real enemy was actually within France. He refuted the notion that Brissot and others were exporting revolution to Europe, pointing out that foreign people would not warmly welcome invaders. He emphasized that war would greatly restrict liberal democracy and could easily lead to military dictatorship.
Although Robespierre continued to receive the support of the Jacobin Club, his anti-war remarks were not welcomed in Paris at the time, and his popularity declined for a time, and France finally surrendered on April 20, 1792. Japan declares war on Austria. At the beginning of the war, the French troops suffered successive defeats, and the royal family also had fierce conflicts with the Girondins. At first, Robespierre still advocated maintaining the constitutional monarchy, opposed achieving peace through uprisings, and hoped to fight for democracy through the Legislative Assembly. However, in July, he gradually began to move closer to the Cordelier Club, which was preparing for an uprising. On August 8, he finally Propose again to depose the king.
On August 10, 1792, the people of Paris rebelled, stormed the palace and overthrew the royal government. Robespierre took no direct part in the uprising and subsequently refused the post of president of the tribunal to try the conspirators. but exercised influence over the Legislative Assembly in the name of representatives of the Paris Commune. On September 2, after the news of the siege of Verdun reached Paris, the Parisian people were worried about the revenge of the royalists in the prison and the priests who refused to take the oath. They broke into the prison and lynched more than a thousand prisoners, which was known as the September Mass in history. massacre. Robespierre does not appear to have instigated or tried to prevent the massacre, but during this period he had accused Brissot of conspiring with the royal family. Brissot was protected by Danton and Pétion.
On September 21 of the same year, France established a new National Convention and announced the establishment of the French Republic the next day. Robespierre entered the Convention as the candidate with the most votes among the Paris delegates. In December, during the interrogation of the king, he spoke 11 times and strongly demanded the execution of King Louis XVI.
The Jacobin Dictatorship
In May 1793, at the suggestion of Robespierre, the National Convention passed the "Food Ceiling Price Act", but the National Convention began to persecute Revolutionary Commune, arrest of Marat. On May 26, he called on the people to revolt and eliminate the Girondins in the National Convention. On June 4, he was elected as the chairman of the new National Convention and presided over the adoption of the new constitution, which guaranteed citizens the freedom of person, belief, publication, petition, and association, as well as the rights to education and social relief. It stipulated that if the government violated people's rights , the people have the right to revolt.
On July 13, Marat was assassinated by the royalists. On the 26th, the Citizens' Association authorized the Public Security Committee to arrest suspicious elements. On the 27th, Robespierre joined the Public Security Committee, reorganized the Revolutionary Court, and simplified the trial procedures. The Jacobin dictatorship was implemented, and criminals and revolutionary traitors were punished with a revolutionary policy of terror. This was known in history as the "Reign of Terror". Many innocent people were falsely accused and killed, and thousands of people were guillotined. These included the king's relatives and most of the nobles. Some people criticized this policy as "killing the nine tribes" and being inhumane.
The Public Security Committee formed a new revolutionary army, which on the one hand suppressed the civil strife and on the other hand defeated the foreign intervention forces, successively repelling the Prussian, Austrian, British and Dutch coalition forces. In February 1794, the "Feng Yue Decree" was promulgated to confiscate the property of "enemies of the people" and distribute it to patriots. The Committee of Public Security maintained a balance between the Hébert faction, which advocated radical policies and demanded the expansion of terror, and the Danton faction, which advocated tolerance and relaxed repression, and sent the leaders of both factions to the guillotine.
While criticizing the Catholic Church, Robespierre also opposed de-Christianization movements and doubted the motives of atheists. On May 7, 1794, he submitted the "Draft Decree on the Worship of the Supreme Lord and National Festivals" to the National Convention, which reflected the influence of Rousseau. The celebration of the Supreme Lord's Day was held on June 8 and was designed and arranged by the painter David. Robespierre, who was president of the National Convention at the time, gave a speech in which he burned idols symbolizing atheism and nothingness.
Thermidor
In early July 1794, he began to stop participating in the work of the Public Security Committee. On July 26, he went to the National Convention and delivered a four-hour speech, implying that he would liquidate the conspirators and liars in the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. On July 27 (Thermidor 9), Saint-Just was preparing to deliver a speech at the National Convention. Although he criticized the National Convention, he did not ask for arrest and had a spirit of compromise. But his speech was rudely interrupted at the beginning, and the National Convention immediately passed a decree to arrest Robespierre and his supporters, but Robespierre and others were immediately rescued by the Commune. The revolutionary commune mobilized armed forces, but failed to receive clear instructions and began to disband late at night. That night, the National Convention deprived him of his civil rights, and the Convention Guards went to arrest him. He was hit by a bullet in the jaw, and the next afternoon he was guillotined together with Saint-Just, Coudon and other followers. It was for the Thermidor coup.
Evaluation and influence
Robespierre is one of the most controversial figures in the French Revolution. Since not all of his manuscripts and notes have been preserved, it has brought great difficulties to research work. comes with great difficulty, and his assessment often reflects the ideology of the commentator himself.
Some people think that he is too idealistic or rigid in thinking and lacks the ability to take practical actions, but others think that he is good at assessing the situation and can seize the appropriate opportunity to take action. Critics called him self-centered, overly suspicious, and unreasonable, while supporters praised him for his integrity, sharp vision, and his focus on the country and the revolution. Some people criticize him for adapting to the changing circumstances and constantly changing his stance, but others believe that the principles and goals he adheres to have never changed, and he only chooses different means to achieve his goals according to the situation. It is generally believed that he behaved abnormally during Thermidor, causing panic in the National Convention and causing his own failure. Some people speculated that he had lost confidence in the revolution and therefore resorted to self-destructive behavior, while others criticized him for being stupid and incompetent and bringing his own consequences.
Robespierre's role during the Reign of Terror is the most controversial issue. Critics believe that he was a theoretician of the Reign of Terror, extremely cruel, with his hands stained with blood, and that he was responsible for the killing of a large number of innocent people during the Terror. Some supporters pointed out that Fouche, Billot-Warren and others were murderous, far more than Robespierre, and believed that he actually played a role in controlling the radicals in the Public Security Committee. Some contemporaries, including Napoleon, believed that he intended to control the terror during Thermidor and punish Fouche and others for killing innocent people, which led to the latter's alliance with the right, but some scholars have questioned this. Some supporters believed that France was suffering from internal and external troubles at the time and that it was inevitable to implement a dictatorship of terror, but critics believed that terror set a dangerous precedent and the gains outweighed the losses.
Robespierre had a profound influence on French and world history, and many European revolutionaries in the 19th century respected him. Some critics believe that the Jacobin dictatorship was the predecessor of authoritarian regimes ranging from fascism to communists. Whether there is a direct relationship between Robespierre and fascism has not yet been determined, but given that a monument to Robespierre was erected shortly after the Russian October Revolution, it seems likely that the Bolshevik leader created a people's democratic dictatorship based on the experience of the French Revolution. Not out of nowhere. Since the influence of the French Revolution has not yet been eliminated, an objective evaluation of Robespierre is still far away.
Robespierre:
"Revolutionary government is the dictatorship of freedom over despotism"
"Terror without virtue is evil, virtue without terror is weak.
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"Louis deserves to die, because the motherland must survive! ”
“Either we fall back into slavery as before, or we take up arms again! ”