The Fall of Robespierre 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris

by Jones, Colin

• ISBN13: 9780198715962
• ISBN10: 019871596X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2023-10-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.

By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day.

The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24 hours.

Author Biography

Colin Jones, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Queen Mary University of London

Colin Jones CBE is Emeritus Professor of Cultural History at Queen Mary University of London. He has published widely on French history, particularly on the eighteenth century, the French Revolution, and the history of medicine. His many books include The Medical World of Early Modern France (with Lawrence Brockliss, 1997), The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002), Paris: Biography of a City (2004), The Smile Revolution: In Eighteenth-Century Paris (2014), and Versailles (2018). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Past President, Royal Historical Society.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE UP CLOSE
PRELUDE: AROUND MIDNIGHT
PART 1: ELEMENTS OF CONSPIRACY (Midnight to 05.00 a.m.)
PART 2: SETTINGS FOR A DRAMA (05.00 a.m. - 12 noon)
PART 3: A PARLIAMENTARY COUP (Midday to 5.00 p.m.)
PART 4: A PARISIAN JOURNÉE (5.00 p.m. to midnight)
PART FIVE: AT MIDNIGHT, AROUND MIDNIGHT
AFTERWORD: 9 THERMIDOR FROM AFAR
NOTES
LIST OF CHARACTERS
NOTE ON SOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRINTED SOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX