Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (IPA /maksimiljε̃ fʁα̃swa maʁi izidɔʁ d? ʁɔbεspjεʁ/), (6 May 1758, Arras – 28 July 1794, Paris), known to his contemporaries also as "the Incorruptible", is one of the best known of the leaders of the French Revolution. He was an influential member of the Committee of Public Safety which oversaw the period of the French Revolution in which the revolutionaries consolidated their power, a period which is commonly known as the Reign of Terror. The myth that Robespierre himself became a virtual dictator in his final years is often repeated, but while the Committee of Public Safety was certainly a dictatorial committee, Robespierre was not in his own right a dictator. In Thermidor of the Revolutionary calendar's Year Two he was executed by his conspiring comrades.

References

• {{Book reference | Author=CARLYLE, Thomas | Title=The French Revolution: A History, Volume III: The Gillotine | Publisher=Cambridge, MA: IndyPublish.com | Year=2002 May 1st | ID=ISBN 1404303987}} A Romantic account more useful for historiographical studies than as accurate history.
• {{Book reference | Author=THOMPSON, James M | Title=Robespierre | Publisher=Oxford: Blackwell Pub | Year=1988 Aug 1st | ID=ISBN 063115504X}} Traditional biography with extensive and reliable research.
• {{Book reference | Author=EAGAN, James Michael | Title=Maximilien Robespierre: Nationalist Dictator | Publisher=New York: Octagon Books | Year=1978 | ID=ISBN 0374924406}} Presents Robespierre as the origin of Fascist dictators.
• {{Book reference | Author=PALMER, RR | Title=Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of Terror in the French Revolution | Publisher=Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press | Year=1941 Jun 1st | ID=ISBN 0691051194}} A sympathetic study of the Committee of Public Safety.
• {{Book reference | Author=HAMPSON, Norman | Title=The Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre | Publisher=London, UK: Duckworth | Year=1974 Aug | ID=ISBN 0715607413}} Presents three contrasting views on him.
• {{Book reference | Author=RUDÉ, George | Title=Robespierre, Portrait of a Revolutionary Democrat | Publisher=New York, NY: Viking Press | Year=1976 Apr | ID=ISBN 0670601284}} Very sympathetic Marxist analysis that compares him with Lenin and Mao.
• {{Book reference | Author=JORDAN, David P | Title=The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre | Publisher=Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press | Year=1989 Jul 1st | ID=ISBN 0226410374}} Sympathetic but not un-critical left-wing study.
• {{Book reference | Author=SCHAMA, Simon | Title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution | Publisher=New York, NY: Alfred A Knopf | Year=1989 Mar 1st | ID=ISBN 0394559487}} A revisionist account.
• {{Book reference | Author=DOYLE, William & HAYDON, Colin (eds.) | Title=Robespierre | Publisher=Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press | Year=1999 Jul 29 | ID=ISBN 0521591163}} A collection of essays covering not only Robespierre's thoughts and deeds but also the way he has been portrayed by historians and fictional writers alike.