Life of Maxamillian Robespierre

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Maximilien Robespierre declared at the trial of King Louis XVI. “The King must die so that the nation can live.” Robespierre advocated the kings demise and with it the ways of the Ancien Régime. However, in an ironic twist of fate his words also foreshadowed his own rise and fall as the leader of the French Revolution. Known as “The Incorruptible”, or alternately “Dictateur Sanguinaire” Robespierre is a monumental figure of the French Revolution, but which was he? Was he the incorruptible revolutionist fighting to overthrow the Ancien Regime or a raging radical that implemented his own absolute tendencies under the cover of the revolution? When dissecting the dichotomy of Robespierre’s life and actions during the French Revolution and comparing it to the seven main characteristics of Absolutism it can be seen that Robespierre held many absolutist tendencies.
The early life of Maximilien François Marie Isidore Robespierre gives insight into the man at the center of the French revolution. Robespierre’s birth was just as controversial as his death due to the fact he was born out of wedlock on Born on 6 May 1758. The eldest of four children his mother died when he was six years of age and his father, an established lawyer, subsequently left. Robespierre continued to reside in Arras under the care of his maternal grandfather. He taught himself to read, and do to his astounding intellect was recommended by the local bishop for a full scholarship to Lycée Louis-le-Grande. His academic conduct was so exemplary that the seventeen year old Robespierre was chosen to give a welcoming speech to King Louis XVI. This is a curious fact as Robespierre would later in life speak in favor of executing the same King. His education was completed ...

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Bibliography

Carr, John Laurence. Robespierre: The Force of Circumstance. St. Martin’s Press, n.d.
Doyle, William, and Colin Haydon, eds. Robespierre. Cambridge ; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Gough, Hugh. The Terror in the French Revolution. St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Jordan, David P. Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
McPhee, Peter. Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life. Yale University Press, 2012.
Robespierre, Maximilien, and A. (Auguste) Vermorel. Œuvres de Robespierre. Paris, F. Cournol, 1866. http://archive.org/details/uvresderobespie00robegoog.
Scott, Otto J. Robespierre: The Voice of Virtue. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2011.
Scurr, Ruth. Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution. Macmillan, 2007.
“The National Archive of the UK HO 42/31/16,” June 6, 1794. The National Archives, Kew.

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