Robespierre, Maximilien François Marie Isidore de (1758-94), French lawyer and political leader, who became one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution and the principal exponent of the Reign of Terror.
Born on May 6, 1758, in Arras, and educated in Paris at the College of Louis-le-Grand and at the College of Law, Robespierre became a fanatical devotee of the social theories of the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. He was elected a deputy of the Estates-General that convened in May 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, and subsequently served in the National Constituent Assembly, where his earnest and skillful oratory soon commanded attention. In April 1790 he was elected president of the Jacobin Club and became increasingly popular as an enemy of the monarchy and as an advocate of democratic reforms. He opposed the more moderate Girondists, the dominant faction in the newly formed Legislative Assembly.
After the downfall of the monarchy in August 1792, Robespierre was elected first deputy for Paris to the National Convention, in which he urged the execution of King Louis XVI. In May 1793, Robespierre, supported by the people of Paris, forced the expulsion of the Girondists from the National Convention. In July he was elected a member of the chief executive body, the Committee of Public Safety, and in the absence of any opposition rapidly gained control of the government. France was in turmoil, and with the aim of restoring order and reducing the danger of invasion from abroad, Robespierre, backed by the committee, proceeded to eliminate all whom he considered to be enemies of the Revolution, both extremists and moderates. This policy led to the so-called Reign of Terror and to the execution, in March and April 1794, of the revolutionary leaders Jacques René Hébert. and Georges Jacques Danton. In May, at Robespierre's insistence, the National Convention proclaimed as an official religion the cult of the Supreme Being, which was based on Rousseau's theory of Deism. This decree antagonized both Roman Catholics and atheists, but Robespierre still had the powerful backing of the Commune of Paris, and in June he was elected president of the National Convention.
In the meantime, the Reign of Terror had intensified, and Robespierre's increasingly aggressive speeches caused many influential members of the National Convention and of the Jacobin Club to fear for their own safety. A series of French military victories then made the extreme security measures seem less imperative, and a conspiracy was formed for the overthrow of Robespierre. On July 27, 1794, he was barred from speaking at the National Convention and was placed under arrest. An uprising in his support by soldiers of the Paris Commune was thwarted, and on July 28 Robespierre died on the guillotine with his close associates Louis Saint-Just and Georges Couthon, along with 19 other supporters. Eighty more followers of Robespierre were executed the next day.