Robespierre, Maximilien Marie Isidore de 1758-94
French Revolutionary politician

Robespierre was born at Arras, of Irish parentage. He became a successful advocate, and entered the Estates General (National Assembly) in 1789. By aligning himself with the extreme left and speaking virtually every sitting day, he soon became immensely popular with the Paris commune and the extreme republican members of the Jacobin Club. His impartiality and support of democratic principles won him the nickname 'Incorruptible'. In 1792 he resigned his office as public accuser and petitioned for a revolutionary tribunal and a new convention. Elected for Paris to the National Convention, he emerged as leader of the Mountain, strenuously opposed to the Girondins, whom, with the support of Georges Danton and Jean Paul Marat, he helped to destroy. The murder of Marat the following year resulted in the proscription of the Girondins and Robespierre's election to the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre and the Jacobins supported Louis XVI's execution, which took place on 21 January 1793.

With real power at his disposal for the first time, he purged the National Assembly of ultra-revolutionaries, introduced strict economic control, and embarked on the establishment of a form of welfare state. However, Robespierre's growing autocracy coincided with a new era of ascendancy for the French army, resulting from successes such as the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, that served to question the purpose of the Reign of Terror, and the prospect of Robespierre heading a dictatorship finally spurred his enemies into action.

On 27 July 1794, he was denounced in the convention, and a deputy called for his arrest. He was apprehended by the National Guard after being shot in the jaw, and the next day he and 21 of his supporters were guillotined without trial.

Bibliography: David Jordan, The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre (1985); Gerard Walter, Robespierre (2 vols, 1961); J M Thompson, Robespierre (2 vols, 1935).