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Born in Arras, France
Robespierre was raised by his maternal grandparents following the death of his mother and the departure of his father. He went to school on a scholarship in Paris, France, at the prestigious college of Louis-le-Grand, from which he received his law degree in 1781, and then became a lawyer in Arras. He later became the president of the Arras Academy. He became well known for his altruism and earned a reputation for defending the poor, and he argued against royal absolutism and arbitrary justice. -
Summons of the Estates General and The National Assembly
When the king was forced to summon the Estates General, Robespierre was chosen by the citizens of Arras to be one of their representatives (a representative of the Third Estate). After the dissent of the Third Estate and the establishment of the National Assembly, Robespierre began to gain political power, and participated in the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. He was also appointed a judge of the Versailles Tribunal in October. -
Elected Leader of the Jacobin Party
Robespierre became involved with the Society of Friends of the Constitution, which later became known as the Jacobin Club. The club promoted the revolution and was very radical in its beliefs. Later a branch of the club lead by Robespierre called the Mountain would take control of the Convention. Robespierre himself was greatly influenced by Enlightenment writers such as Rousseau, and the views of the party, which he at times kept singlehandedly alive, also reflected these ideologies. -
The National Convention
Robespierre was elected by the people of Paris to head the delegation to the National Convention, which was composed of different parties with very different beliefs. The more moderate Girondins came into conflict over issues such as the execution of the king with the radical Jacobin branch called the Montagnards led by Robespierre. Poor peasants called the sans-culottes joined with the Montagnards to drive out the Girondin leaders, after Robespierre called on them to "rise in insurrection." -
Execution of King Louis XIV
This turning point in the revolution caused shock all over Europe. Robespierre believed that the king would have to die if the new country was to live. He argued for the execution of the king, and encouraged the French to rise up against the aristocracy. With the king dead, the country became more and more radical as the Girondists were finally pushed out of the National Convention in June of the same year, leaving the government in the control of the Jacobin party headed by Robespierre. -
Elected to the Committee of Public Safety
After eliminating the Girondins from the Convention and consolidating their power, the Jacobins created the Committee of Public Safety, a twelve-man governing body. Robespierre gained near dictatorial power over the government as the president of the Committee. Under the Committee, the power to elect local officials was revoked from the people and factions that opposed the Committee were persecuted. The wars and financial instability of France led the Committee to instate a Reign of Terror. -
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The Terror
With a civil war raging and hostile armies surrounding France, the government instated a Reign of Terror to keep control of the country. Anyone suspected of being a traitor could be arrested and executed after the creation of the Law of Suspects and later the Law of 22 Prairial (which caused the Great Terror). A de-Christianization program was pursued while a new Cult of Reason was promoted. A new French calendar was created. More than 17,000 people were sent to the guillotine during The Terror. -
Executions of Opponents
The Committee clung to their almost total power over the country by ruthlessly eliminating any opponents of the government during The Terror. They got rid of their rivals the Hebertists, led by Jacques-Rene Hebert, by executing them in March. The Dantonists, or Indulgents, led by a former ally of Robespierre's, Georges Danton, wanted to halt the reign of Terror and stop the war. Robespierre led the National Convention against the dissenters and they were taken to the guillotine in April. -
The Presidency and the Cult of the Supreme Being
Robespierre was elected president by the National Convention on June 4 by a vote of 216 to 4. Four days later, he led the Festival of the Supreme Being in the Tuileries Gardens atop a paper-mache mountain, wearing a toga. He was a deist, and he believed in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, disapproving of the de-Christianization programs and the Cult of Reason. He attempted to get the revolutionaries to follow a civic religion and rally around the Cult of the Supreme Being. -
Fall From Power and Execution
Opposition towards Robespierre began to grow after the Law of 22 Prairiel, as the Great Terror developed. Many in the Convention and the Committee resented him, and he began to stay away from both governing bodies. When he attempted to return he was barred from speaking and declared an outlaw. He took refuge in the City Hall, where he shot himself in the jaw in a suicide attempt, but was brought to the guillotine. His death caused the end of the Terror and the start of the Thermidorian Reaction.