Fall of Maximilien Robespierre
On the 27th of July 1793, Maximilien Robespierre took his seat on the Committee of Public Safety. He would remain there until his death in 1794. Between that date and July 1794, the committee gained immense power through laws like the Law of Suspects and the Law of 14th Frimaire. This body became the de facto executive branch under the National Convention.
Two factions rose against this restructured government. The left wing, known as Hébertists or exagérés, gathered around Jacques Hébert. They included leaders from the Paris Commune and the Cordeliers Club. These men pushed for stronger repression measures than those already in place during the Terror. They also campaigned for dechristianization.
The right wing formed around Georges Danton and was called Dantonists or Indulgents. Members included Camille Desmoulins and other indulgents from the Cordeliers Club. They strongly opposed the machinery of the Terror and the policies of the Committee of Public Safety. Both groups were charged with conspiracy against the revolutionary government. The Hébertists faced execution on the 24th of March (4 Germinal). The Dantonists died on the 5th of April (16 Germinal).
These purges reaffirmed the power of the Committee. The deaths of Danton and Desmoulins took a deep toll on Robespierre. He had been friends with both men. Combined with increasing demands from the Committee and the National Convention, his mental and physical health deteriorated. He was forced to reduce his presence at the Jacobin Club and the National Convention.
Robespierre did not reappear in the National Convention until the 7th of May (18 Floréal). For that day he planned a speech about religion, morality, and republican principles. He intended to establish the Cult of the Supreme Being to replace the Cult of Reason promoted by de-Christianizers like the Hébertists.
On the 21st of May 1794, the revolutionary government decided that terror would be centralized. Almost all tribunals in the provinces closed. All trials moved to Paris. This decision concentrated judicial power within the capital city.
Robespierre led processions during the Festival in Honor of the Supreme Being celebrated on the 8th of June (20 Prairial). Although crowds accepted the festival well, some deputies viewed his prominent position with suspicion. Muttering began about Robespierre's fanaticism and desire for power.
Two days after the festival, Robespierre pushed the National Convention to pass the Law of 22 Prairial. Georges Couthon had drafted this law alongside him. It accelerated trial processes and extended the death penalty to include new categories of enemies. These included those seeking to reestablish monarchy, interfering with food provisions, discrediting the Convention, or communicating with foreigners.
Fear drove Robespierre to take this measure. Two assassination attempts against Robespierre and Collot d'Herbois occurred on 23 and the 24th of May (4, 5 Prairial). The memory of Lepeletier's and Jean-Paul Marat's murders still roused feelings in the Convention. Critics of Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just used this law against them later.
More opposition came from the Committee of General Security. This committee had not been consulted over the contents of the new law. They already felt threatened by the Committee of Public Safety's ability to issue arrest warrants. The Police Bureau created by Saint-Just also overlapped with their functions.
As payment, they presented a report on ties between the English enemy and Catherine Théot. She was self-proclaimed as the Mother of God who prophesied that Robespierre was a new Messiah. This move aimed to diminish Robespierre and mock his religious positions regarding the Cult of the Supreme Being.
On the 28th of June (10 Messidor), Saint-Just returned from the northern front. He brought news that the Revolutionary Army had defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus. This victory secured the road to Paris and signaled the end of the war against Austria.
With the war ending, the Terror government should have ended too. Robespierre objected to disbanding the war government because he wished to eliminate both internal and external enemies. During a joint meeting of the Committees, Lazare Carnot allegedly shouted at Saint-Just that both he and Robespierre were ridiculous dictators.
Following this event, Robespierre stopped participating directly in deliberations of the Committee of Public Safety. Having abandoned both the Committee and the National Convention after his presidency ended on the 18th of June (30 Prairial), the breach widened.
During his absence through June and July, Robespierre prepared a speech for delivery on the 26th of July (8 Thermidor). He delivered it first to the National Convention and later that same day at the Jacobin Club. In it, he attempted to defend himself from rumors spreading since the start of the Reign of Terror. He also tried to expose an anti-revolutionary conspiracy reaching into the Convention and Governing Committees.
Although he accused three deputies by name, Pierre-Joseph Cambon, François René Mallarmé, and Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret, his speech seemed to incriminate several others. It was precisely because he failed to name the condemned that terror spread through the Convention. Deputies began thinking Robespierre planned yet another purge like those against the Dantonists and Hébertists.
Later that day he presented the speech at the Jacobin Club. There it received overwhelming support despite some initial opposition. Both Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne and Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois opposed printing the speech. They were driven out of the Jacobin Club after their resistance.
On the 27th of July, the weather turned stormy. Workers in Paris organized a demonstration against wage restrictions imposed by the Law of the General Maximum. At noon Saint-Just started addressing the Convention without showing his speech to either Committee first.
He was interrupted by Jean-Lambert Tallien who complained that both Robespierre and Saint-Just had broken with the Committees. They spoke only for themselves. Then Billaud-Varenne related how he and Collot had been driven from the Jacobin Club the previous day. He accused Robespierre of conspiracy against the Convention.
Robespierre attempted to defend himself but was silenced by commotion within the Convention. Screaming deputies condemned him as a tyrant and conspirator. The Convention then voted to arrest five deputies: Robespierre, his brother, Couthon, Saint-Just, and Le Bas. François Hanriot and other Robespierrist officials were also targeted.
They were taken before the Committee of General Security and sent to different prisons. No city prison wanted to arrest these men. Once a deputation from the Paris Commune arrived demanding they refuse entry, prison officials complied. A little after midnight, about fifty people including the five rebellious deputies, Hanriot, and René-François Dumas consulted on the first floor of the Hôtel de Ville.
Upon receiving news that Robespierre and allies had not been imprisoned, the National Convention declared them outlaws. It commanded armed forces to enter the Hôtel de Ville. By 2:30 a.m., they entered and made arrests.
Two conflicting accounts exist regarding how Robespierre was wounded. One suggests he tried to kill himself with a pistol. Another claims Charles-André Meda shot him while occupying the building. Robespierre left the Hôtel de Ville with a broken jaw. He spent the remainder of the night in the antechamber of the Committee of General Security.
The next day, according to the French Revolutionary calendar, was a day of rest and festivities. Around 2 p.m. he appeared at the Revolutionary Tribunal alongside twenty-one other Robespierrists including Hanriot. All were condemned to death. In early evening convicts traveled in three carts to the Place de la Révolution.
A mob screamed curses during the procession. His face still swollen, Robespierre kept his eyes closed. He was the tenth called to the platform and ascended unassisted. When clearing his neck, executioner Charles-Henri Sanson tore off the bandage holding his shattered jaw. This caused an agonized scream until death. He died at the same place where King Louis XVI, Danton, and Desmoulins had been executed.
Robespierre remains one of few revolutionaries without a street named for him in central Paris. At Liberation of Paris, the municipal council elected on the 29th of April 1945 decided on the 13th of April 1946 to rename Place du Marché-Saint-Honoré as Place Robespierre. Prefectorial approval came on the 8th of June. However, political changes in 1947 reversed this decision on the 6th of November 1950.
Streets in the Red belt bear his name, such as those in Montreuil. A Metro station exists on Line 9 named Robespierre between Mairie de Montreuil and Pont de Sèvres. It was named during the Popular Front era. Numerous other streets, roads, and squares honor him elsewhere in France.
During the Soviet era Russians built two statues of him. One stood in Leningrad and another in Moscow called the Robespierre Monument. Vladimir Lenin commissioned it referring to Robespierre as a Bolshevik before his time. Poor construction caused the monument to crumble within three days of unveiling. It was never replaced.
The Robespierre Embankment in Saint-Petersburg returned to its original name Voskresenskaya Embankment in 2014. In Arras, a plaque placed on the 14th of October 1923 marks the house at 9 Rue Maximilien Robespierre where siblings lived from 1787, 1789.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did Maximilien Robespierre take his seat on the Committee of Public Safety?
Maximilien Robespierre took his seat on the Committee of Public Safety on the 27th of July 1793. He remained a member until his death in 1794.
What laws did the Committee of Public Safety use to gain power during the French Revolution?
The Committee of Public Safety gained immense power through laws like the Law of Suspects and the Law of 14th Frimaire. These measures allowed the body to function as the de facto executive branch under the National Convention.
Who were the Hébertists and Dantonists opposing Maximilien Robespierre?
The Hébertists gathered around Jacques Hébert and pushed for stronger repression measures while the Dantonists formed around Georges Danton and opposed the machinery of the Terror. Both groups faced execution with the Hébertists dying on the 24th of March and the Dantonists on the 5th of April.
Why did Maximilien Robespierre push the National Convention to pass the Law of 22 Prairial?
Fear drove Maximilien Robespierre to take this measure after two assassination attempts against him and Collot d'Herbois occurred on the 23rd and the 24th of May. The law accelerated trial processes and extended the death penalty to include new categories of enemies such as those seeking to reestablish monarchy or communicating with foreigners.
How did Maximilien Robespierre die during the events of July 1794?
Maximilien Robespierre died at the Place de la Révolution after his jaw was shattered by a gunshot wound sustained during the stormy night of the 27th of July. Executioner Charles-Henri Sanson tore off the bandage holding his broken jaw which caused an agonized scream until death.