Fall of Robespierre

The falls of Robespierre , Thermidor 9 year II, is the result of a series of political acts, which began in March 1794.

Reinforcement of Terror

With spring 1794, whereas a decisive campaign for the Republic is announced, the revolutionary government, whose figurehead is Robespierre, is confronted with the double opposition of the Hébertistes on its left and of the Indulgents on its line.

In March 1794, in front of the threat of a new insurrection and a new massacre of prisoners, the committees of public hello and general security decide to get rid of the Hébertistes (directed by Hébert), which are the most radical members of the Commune of Paris. In the night of the 23 to the 24 ventôse (13 - March 14th 1794), the main leaders of the Club of Cordeliers are stopped. They will be condemned to died by the revolutionary Tribunal and will be carried out.

At the end of March 1794, the committees order the arrest of principal Lenient, Danton and Desmoulins, which wants to stop the Terreur, to sign peace with united monarchies and to make a pact with the aristocracy. Following a long lawsuit, Danton and Desmoulins will be guillotines with their friends the April 5th 1794.

After the elimination of the factions, the Committee of public hello takes again its policy to sit the Republic, while making successively vote the decrees of Ventôse (by which the goods of the enemies of the Republic must be confiscated and distributed to poor), the decrees of Germinal which centralize in Paris the judgment of the suspects and the 22 meadow year law II (June 10th 1794), presented by Couthon, which establishes that the suspects, whose file (according to the preceding decrees) was to be studied by popular commissions (of which a part only had been born, Thermidor 9), are judged without lawyer by the revolutionary Tribunal, which has the choice between the payment, the Déportation or the Capital punishment.

The creation of the office of police force and the popular commissions creates jealousies in the committee of general security, which does not support the encroachments of the committee of public hello. In that one even, arguments burst, in particular between Saint-Just and Lazare Carnot on the battles of Fleurus, between Robespierre and Collot d' Herbois or Billaud-Game preserve. In the same way, within the Convention, an opposition develops among the envoys on mission corrupted or criminal recalled in May (Barras, Tallien, Bourdon of Oise, Fouché, Carrier or Bernard the Holy ones) and the friends of Danton. In addition, the provision of the law of Meadow which makes it possible to send in front of the revolutionary Tribunal a deputy without requiring the approval of anxious Convention. More and more of deputies of the Marais are hostile with the maintenance of the revolutionary government and ask the return to the economic liberalism, especially after the victory of Fleurus, which releases the territory of the obsession of the invasion. Moreover, the execution of the Hébertistes created dissensions between the members of the common of Paris.

Conflicts within the revolutionary government

The opposition between the Committee of public hello and the Committee of general security concretizes in May, when Vadier inflates the business Catherine Théot - it reads a report/ratio in front of convention on June 14th, 1794 - to reach, by rebound, Robespierre and to ridicule the Culte of the supreme Reason and Être. The Incorruptible one recovers the file, thus allowing the old woman and to the other accused to escape the guillotine. But its intervention exacerbates resentments, the more so as its popularity makes jealous his/her colleagues, and, at a meeting of the committee of public hello, it is made deal with “dictator”. It leaves the meeting then and practically ceases appearing with the meetings of the Committee of public hello (during the last weeks, it signs only some decrees), thus supporting its adversaires.
After the failure of the attempts at reconciliation between the 2 committees (Thermidor 4 and 5), Robespierre decides to carry the conflict in front of the Convention.

Thermidor 8

Thermidor 8, Robespierre makes in front of convention a speech showing certain members of the Committee of general security of excesses of Terror in particular in province. It does not quote a name, but clearly aims the organizers of Terror in province, mainly Paul Barras, Jean-Lambert Tallien, Fouché and Jean-Baptiste Carrier, organizers of massacres in particular in Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes.
The evening even, the members of the Committee of general security, fearing their elimination, are combined to the deputies Marais, promising to them the end of Terreur.
a conspiracy aiming at the fall of Robespierre organizes themselves.

Thermidor 9

Thermidor 9, Saint-Just speaks with the Convention, but it is stopped by Tallien, then by Billaud-Game preserve which prevents it from continuing its speech. Robespierre then tries to speak in order to convince the Marais to join with him, but it is stopped by certain deputies who stress: " Not! With bottom the tyrant! ". The president of convention, Collot d' Herbois, far from restoring the order, refuses the word to him. With the proposal of Tallien, the deputies issue the arrest of Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon. Bottom and Augustin Robespierre require to be joined in the decree. At this point in time the Incorruptible one would have pronounced the famous sentence: “The Republic died; the brigands triumph. ” Saint-Just, contrary to Robespierre, remains walled in a scorning silence. Certain historians think that this silence was due to a lassitude and a kind of renunciation, others speak about political inexperience, others still in a way of marking its contempt for its enemies. Put in a state of arrest, the five deputies are led to five hours of the evening in the buildings of the Committee of General security, with the Tuileries.

Per same hour, the news of the meeting comes from to the common House (the Town hall). The mayor, Fleuriot-Lescot calls with the insurrection. One closes the barriers, one beats the general one, the alarm bell sounds, the sections are convened at the common House, the companies of gunners and manpower of the gendarmerie and the National guard are called, the powders of the Arsenal are requisitioned. Without awaiting reinforcement, the commander of the National guard, Hanriot, runs to Tileries to release the five prisoners, but it is stopped itself by the gendarmes who keep them. It is approximately five hours and half. One then makes become the prisoners in the close room, where one is useful to them with supper, then, at seven hours, one directs them towards different prisons (Robespierre the elder one with the Prison of Luxembourg).

During this time, the first reinforcements mass on the Place of Strike. Learning the failure from Hanriot, the insurrectionary Commune gives the responsability Coffinhal to release it, and orders to the caretakers prisons to refuse to receive very new prisoner. Thus, on its arrival in Luxembourg, Robespierre is led to the town hall of the district, then quay of the Goldsmiths, where it is released. The other deputies, however, were écroués. Robespierre initially refuses to go to the common House, not to put itself out the law, but indicates the battle plan which must follow the insurrectionary Commune.

Between eight hours and half and nine hours, Coffinhal arrives at Tileries, where it removes the guardrooms, rejoins the stakes of service, penetrates in the committee of general security and delivers Hanriot. The members of the committees, thrown into a panic, go in the room of the meetings, where they announce that all is lost. But, instead of invading the room, Coffinhal and Hanriot withdraw and join the common House. Convention then entrusts to Barras the responsibility of rejoin the sections with the military command. With both Bumblebee, Tallien, Rovère and Fréron, he manages to obtain troops of the middle-class sections of the west. While waiting for the gathering of the troops, Barère makes issue the setting out the law of the insurrectionists. Consequently, the appearance before the revolutionary Tribunal is useless.

The commune is prevented by it between ten hours and ten hours and half. In front of the news, the rows are emptied gradually among the insurrectionists. To prevent the reversal of the sections, the released deputies, finally arrived at the common House (Robespierre the young person, its elder, Bottom and Saint-Just, Couthon the last, around one hour of the morning), the messages multiply to restore confidence in the victory and to require the support of the Jacobins of the camp of Fine sands.

The insurrection tramples, the men massed on the place of Strike are impatientent. Around two hours of the morning, a column led by Léonard Bumblebee and composed gendarmes and craftsmen of the section of Gravilliers (that of Bumblebee and Red-headed Jacques) leads to the place. Thanks to a treason, Bourdon obtained the password and threads inside.

Bottom draws a blow from gun and dies on the blow. Augustin Robespierre throws itself by the window and only succeeds in breaking a thigh. Saint-Just lets itself stop without resistance. Couthon, seized and brutally thorough in the staircase, falls and is wounded seriously with the head. As for Maximilien Robespierre, either that it tried to commit suicide, or that it was reached by the ball of the Merda gendarme, it is wounded with the jaw. One brings then the prisoners to Tileries, where the casualties are summarily bandaged, then one leads them to the caretaker's lodge, and, from there, with the guillotine.

Thermidor 10

The afternoon of Thermidor 10, Robespierre and twenties and one of his/her companions are guillotines on the place of the Revolution (current place of the Harmony). The following day, seventy others will follow them in death. On the whole, 117 insurgent will be carried out, essentially members of the insurrectionary Commune.

Principal the thermidoriens

Here a nonexhaustive list of the main actors of the fall of the Mountain dwellers:

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