A good biography of Ropespierre

[Ostrinski]

Are there any?

[Deicide]

Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life by Peter Mcphee.

[Ostrinski]

You've read it?

[Prometeo liberado]

Maybe a bit off topic but do you fell he got the shaft or was it a case of you reap what you sow?

[Ostrinski]

I think it was a case of this fucker's insane let's get rid of him. Still badass as hell though

[Book O'Dead]

Are there any?

Yes. this is the most recent biography of Robespierre that I read. I borrowed it athe library:

http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Purity-Robespierre-French-Revolution/dp/0805082611

[Art Vandelay]

I do not know much about the french revolution, but whenever it pops up you hear about Robespierre, can someone (maybe if you have read either of the biographies) give me some more info on him? Why was he so "crazy" as brospierre said, why was he executed?

[Alfonso Cano]

I do not know much about the french revolution, but whenever it pops up you hear about Robespierre, can someone (maybe if you have read either of the biographies) give me some more info on him? Why was he so "crazy" as brospierre said, why was he executed?


He was the Stalin of the French Revolution (and this paralel is by far the best and closest, as opposed to those idiotic morons that compare Stalin with Hitler :rolleyes:), leader of the Jacobins which tried to implement a form of radical bourgeous democracy relying on the petit-bourgeous stratum as opposed to the Girondins which represented the interests of the big capitalists and were more moderate, struggling to keep the revolution from going to far and jeopardizing the property of the richest. Thought not a socialist, Robespierre considered that excessive wealth is bad for society, and though he never questioned the private property, he did try to limit enrichment of various speculators that was rampant in chaotic years of the revolution. As revolution was increasingly threatened by the outside reaction and as contradictions between Jacobins and Girondins grew, Robespierre (similar to Stalin much later) opted to resolve them by utilizing la terreur, which combined repression from the up led by Robespierre and repression from the below by radicalized sans-culottes (similar to Stalin purges which were started from the top, but were combined with repression from below which produced a bloody anti-bureucratic purge as greatly described by J. Arch Getty) which led to tens of thousands of headless people (Stalin's purges killed hundreds of thousands, but France had some 20 million back then, Soviet Union in 1937 had 170 million, so the difference is not that big). "Why was he killed?" Well, the answer is probably obvious. :D Btw; similar to Stalin, during the whole XIX century he was cursed by the the French ruling circles and presented as a greatest monster ever to exist.


Great guy anyway. :thumbup1:

[ComradeOm]

Robspierre was never "crazy" per se; that mix of puritanism, paranoia and a ruthless belief in the vindicating nature of violence was not unique to him at the time. Nor was he the last revolutionary to suffer from such fanaticism

As for his demise, its prime cause was the fact that he was simply not indispensable. By July 1794 the foreign armies had been driven from France, the Vendee and other regions had largely been 'pacified', while the major power blocs in the Assembly (particularly the factions around Danton and Hébert) had been liquidated. In short, the Republic was for the first time secure and about to go on the offensive. Prolonging the Terror in these circumstances, never mind expanding its scope (22 Prairial), was obviously unnecessary and counter-productive

So Robsepierre had to go. That he was ousted so easily is evidence of the absence of machine politics at the time and his lack of institutional powerbase (there was no Party or OGPU that he could use to sustain himself). Having destroyed the Left of the Assembly, there was nothing stopping his removal by the Centre. There's an irony there

And yes, Fatal Purity is a good introduction to the man himself, if not perhaps the Terror as a whole

[Rooster]

The Incorruptible by Friedrich Sieburg
Robespierre by G.J. Renier
Robespierre by John Lawrence Carr
and
Robespierre by George Rudé

[Khalid]

Робеспьер, Максимилиан (or just simply Robespierre) by Soviet historian Albert Manfred. Not sure if it's available in English though.