The French Revolution & Maximillian Robespierre

The French Revolution, it was born in blood and spilled more after its birth. The
government at that time was a monarchy controlled by the king, King Louis XVI, and the Queen,
Marie-Antoinette. Also, the French revolution began in 1789. Before it started, France has some
serious financial issues after investing in the American Revolution. Before the French revolution
started, France was divided up into three different groups and the largest was the poor people of
France who lived on poverty. They were called Estates and the Third Estate made up 98% of
France and still could be out voted by the other two. During the revolution those same people
fought against the monarchy for their own government without a dictator. Their revolution lasted
for ten years and thousands of their own nobles executed along with innocent citizens. (3.) (4.)
The people of France were very divided and lived very different life styles. Most people
in France were peasants who lived in poverty. While the rest of the people of France were either
rich citizens or nobles including royals such as the king. The rich nobles displayed their wealth in
front of the poor instead of helping those people. Also, the king had no regard in helping his
people because he only sought pleasure for himself. He spent most of his money into food but
not for his people. He had grand feasts for himself and that is big portion of the spending he did.
Meanwhile his people were starving because of the failing farms that werent producing which
left the people one source of food, bread. Another thing that the rich did to waste money was on
decoration. Queen Marie-Antoinette spent large amounts of money on dresses and hair styles.
She cared more about fashion and invested large amounts of money in it when their people lived
in poverty. For both the King and Queens excessive spending to continue they had to raise taxes.
When they raised taxes, the French peoples only food source, bread, rose dramatically, it helped

spark the revolution. The people wanted a voice and someone to represent them and not a
monarchy with a king and queen who can do as he pleases. (3.) (4.) (5.)
The first ever event in the French Revolution was when the people, on July 14, attacked
the Bastille Fortress to get weapons and ammunition. After that the poor peasants all over France
started to riot and burn nobles houses down. During this the people formed the National
Constituent Assembly to destroy all power that nobles and kings have, to end the monarchy. The
Assembly created a new declaration. The declaration promised everyone was equal, free to
speak, and a government with representatives with no other nongovernmental person could say
anything. This was difficult to enforce and even harder to start finding fair respectable
representatives. The Kings monarchy suggested to make themselves a constitutional monarchy
but the people rejected that. A leader named Maximillian Robespierre who started leading riots
for a pro-republic government started to rise. Over the years violence started to rise and the
people gained more power. The king tried to flee from the revolutionaries, who have taken most
of France, but he didnt succeed. On August 10, 1792, the Kings palace was stormed and he was
arrested because he was hiding. Many other nobles joined him as he was thrown into jail. The
Assemblys members soon became the National Conventions members who swore to bring forth
a republic by ending the kings monarchy. (3.) (4.)
The new National Convention said that if the republic is to be made then the King cant
be in the country. There was little resistance for the kings removal but it was decided, King
Louis XVI would be put on trial. He was tried for treason and said to be guilty. Before the kings
trial the Guillotine became well-known. It was a machine that could take off peoples heads.
There were hundreds of nobles who suffered this fate for what they did during the monarchy. The
kings sentence was to be killed by this contraption and was done on January 21, 1793. His wife

Marie-Antoinette was also tried for treason and many other charges and was said guilty; she
suffered the same fate as her husband, the king, on Oct 16, 1793. (3.) (4.)
The republic was born in the kings blood off the guillotine. The people who took the
wanted the kings death then took control of the National Convention. They created a new
calendar which helped them abolish Christianity because they saw it as a threat. Then for almost
the next year they killed thousands of people by the guillotine for the smallest possible antirevolutionary actions. Those people were mostly ordered to be killed by the new leader of the
revolution, Maximillian Robespierre. After his rule the remaining royalists did their best to
finally start up a new republican government, called the Directory. They lasted for a while but
the military finally took over and controlled the government. The new leader of France was a
rising general named Napoleon Bonaparte and with him now ruling, the revolution ended in
1799. (3.) (4.)
Maximillian Robespierre, he did more than just lead the revolution, his main contribution
to the world. His life started on May 6, 1758 and he became a lawyer through his rough life. His
father left when his mother died when he was young. He attended Louis le Grand and specialized
in philosophy and law which helped him get a degree to become a lawyer in 1781. He became a
judge later in the Episcopal Room. Afterwards he made his own private practice. When he was
thirty, he was chosen to be put on the Estates General along with becoming representative for the
Third Estate. (1.) (2.)
Robespierre was invited and did speak at the National Assemble as a representative of the
Third Estate. He later became the secretary of the National Assembly. Robespierre became the
president of the Jacobins in 1789, who had radical beliefs against the government. Robespierre
dedicated his time to speak at the National Assembly, he acquired mindset of Enlightenment; it

values knowledge, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. When he found enlightenment, he had
strong roots against any form of death penalty or slavery. When he thought like this he helped
make the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the constitution of the French Revolution
in 1791. This constitution that he made only had the interests of the people and for equality. (1.)
(2.)
Robespierre had become a strong and trusted public figure in France. At this point, he
started to using his power to help turn the people toward the revolution, when he joined the
Jacobins. Robespierre led riots and spoke to the people all throughout France with this rising
revolution. It took off from there with increasingly people joining the cause. There was violence
against nobles and the king fled from Paris because of the rising army of revolutionary soldier
marching through Paris, the king was captured. Robespierre almost immediately wanted his trial,
but many people opposed him and became more violent against him. So, Robespierre made the
date to vote for the constitution even sooner. That made more people, who wanted it, come out to
vote more willingly. The constitution was finally official and all the revolutionaries became one
and created the National Guard. The newly formed National Guard attacked a crowd of people
wanting the king to be let go just to show the people they existed. Many people of the Jacobin
club had left because of this and this hurt it but it still struggled on. (1.) (2.)
The National Assembly also started to disappear but as it did the Legislative Assembly
was born. Robespierre supported all this and he mainly focused his time in the Jacobins and
promoting their beliefs. He started losing his momentum of support so he had a newspaper
created to attack all his enemies. This was all happening when the world was at war and
Robespierre was the only one to control and defend France. He gained more support through
what he did to defend France from Invading Prussia and Austria. His support grew so much that

the people started acting without him. For example, on September 2, 1792 the people of France
started breaking into jails and slaughtering nobles without trial. This became known as the
September Massacres because it went on for four days. Robespierre gain so much trust that in the
same year, 1792, he was elected leader of the National Convention. The National Convention
became the new government of all of France starting on September 20, 1792 all the way to
October of 1795. (1.) (2.)
The National Convention was made up of the Jacobins and the Girondins, who mostly
were in the Legislative Assembly. The Girondins doubted many things that Robespierre said. The
first thing Robespierre in the National Convention was put the King on trial, and his plan was to
put him to death in the same way he did to countless others. Robespierre was successful in his
plan and had the king beheaded even with the Girondins wanting to spare his life. Robespierre
had many other Girondins executed the same way because he suspected treason and doubt in his
leadership. Now only Jacobins controlled the French government who were all lead be one man,
Maximillian Robespierre. (1.) (2.)
Since he had this power he created the Committee of Public Safety on July 27, 1793. The
name of the committee did not match their actions because the only safety they kept was the
safety of the revolutions success. Robespierre saw the many other small groups who broke off of
the revolution with different beliefs and used the committee to eradicate them. He started to have
mass executions for any slight actions that seemed against the revolution. He continued these
executions for almost a year and they became known as the great terror. It is said there were over
300,000 people accused of being counter-revolutionists and over 17,000 people executed for it
by the guillotine. Robespierre started to think that Christianity was a threat to the revolution. So,
he and many other introduced a new calendar to France which mainly served so people would

forget which day was actually Sunday. Robespierre still believed in God and even tried to use
him to promote and help lead the revolution. After this the executions continued and anyone who
opposed Robespierre was eventually killed by his guillotine. (1.) (2.) (5.)
In march of 1973 the Revolutionary Tribunal was reinstalled which allowed Robespierre
to execute any politicians who opposed the revolution or Robespierre. After he passed that many
people started to doubt him and started to think of the accusations against that he was a dictator.
The people started to lose interest and trust in him because no issues were solved even after all
the executions. He wanted to regain support so he turned to the National Convention. He made a
speech claiming that he a knew list of people that needed to be guillotined. The speech was good
until he didnt list the names. That made people fear their lives and question his methods out of
their fear. (1.) (2.) (5.)
The next day after the speech the Jacobins of the National Convention had him detained
and brought to be put in jail at the Luxembourg Prison. Robespierre wasnt accepted and he left
so the National Convention said he was a criminal. Robespierre went to the City Hall where
loyal soldiers protected him. He was kept in his office until suddenly found almost dead after he
attempted suicide with a gunshot to the head which paralyzed him. The people of the National
Convention sent soldiers to take the City Hall and many people along with Robespierre were
arrested. Everyone who was arrested in the City Hall that night was put on trial and executed.
Robespierre and the others were guillotined on Jul 28, 1794 and the people agreed with its
finished deed. (1.) (2.) (5.)
Afterwards he was called a dictator or a madman who spilled innocent blood. His name
was spread about the man he truly was. His name grew of less importance over the years when
the remaining people created the Directory; a quickly established government that lasted for four

years after Robespierres death. Robespierre beliefs and values carried to be known and he was
remembered for his devotion to Enlightenment. His name was relevant for a while but he became
less known throughout the years and that ended his legacy. His legacy did live on throughout
many other revolutions that have taken place afterwards. (1.) (2.) (5.)
(1.) (2.) (5.)
Works Cited Page
(1.) Biography.com Editors. "Maximillian De Robespierre." Biography.com. A&E Networks
Television, 09 Nov. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.
http://www.biography.com/people/maximilien-de-robespierre-37422
(2.) Bouloiseau, Marc. "Maximillian Robespierre." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Oct. 2016. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilien-Robespierre
(3.) Wilde, Robert. "Pre-Revolutionary France." About Education. About.com, 27 May 2016.
Web. 07 Dec. 2016. http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/hfr1.htm
(4.) History.com Staff. "French Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009.
Web. 07 Dec. 2016. http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution
(5.) French Documentary Notes