Maximilien de Robespierre
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Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer, politician and member of the Templar Order. He was notable for starting the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution,[1] and abolishing slavery in France.[2]
Throughout his childhood and much of his adult life, Robespierre was closely attached with Camille Desmoulins, the son of an army officer who was responsable for initiating the Parisian revolt which caused the fall of the Bastille on the 14th of July, 1789. Robespierre and Camille attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand together as boys.
In March of 1789, Robespierre volunteered to represent the poverty-stricken residents of French society during the gathering of the Third Estate. One of his major requests was to grant every citizen the right to vote. He greatly admired the ideas of freedom and equality brought on by the enlightenment, a movement of French philosophers that included Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, figures who desired radical change from within. Robespierre's virtues earned him the nickname the Incorruptible and he became an intense opposer of the death penalty, although he eventually grew to support it during the frightful last stages of the revolution.
During the Reign of Terror, Robespierre was instrumental in the trials and executions of several leading figures, including Louis XVI of France, his wife, Marie Antoinette, Georges Danton, a fellow lawyer, the chemistry pioneer Antoine Lavoisier, among countless other nobles, royals, and fellow politicians that the revolutionaries considered to be traitors. [citation needed]
Gallery
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Concept art of Robespierre
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