The Fall of Robespierre, July 27-28, 1794.

The fall of Maximilien Robespierre, known as the Coup of 9 Thermidor, involved a series of events leading to the arrest and execution of Robespierre and his allies on July 27-28, 1794. This marked the end of the Reign of Terror, the conclusion of Jacobin dominance in the French Revolution, and the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction.

The Fall of Robespierre’s Influence

On July 27, 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, where he would remain a member until his death. Between September 1793 and July 1794, the Committee’s power surged due to measures such as the Law of Suspects and the Law of 14th Frimaire, effectively making it the executive branch of the Revolutionary Government.

During this period, two opposing factions emerged against the Revolutionary Government: the left-wing ultra-revolutionaries and the moderate right-wing citra-revolutionaries. The Ultras, also known as Hébertists or Exagérés, were led by Jacques Hébert and advocated for harsher repression. The Citras, also known as Dantonists or Indulgents, were centred around Georges Danton and included members of the Cordeliers Club like Camille Desmoulins, who opposed the Committee of Public Safety’s policies. Both factions were charged with conspiracy and executed.

The executions of Danton and Desmoulins, former friends of Robespierre, deeply affected him. This, coupled with the increasing demands from the Committee on Public Safety and the National Convention, eroded his mental and physical health, forcing him to reduce his presence in the Jacobin Club and the National Convention. He did not return to the National Convention until May 7, when he planned to deliver a speech and establish the Cult of the Supreme Being as a replacement for the Cult of Reason. On June 8, he led the processions during the Festival in Honour of the Supreme Being, but his prominent role raised suspicions of his fanaticism and desire for power.

Two days later, Robespierre urged the National Convention to pass the Law of 22 Prairial, which accelerated the trial process and expanded the death penalty to a new category of “enemies of the people”. This law enabled the increase in the rate of executions per day, inaugurating the period of “The Great Terror”.

On June 28, Robespierre’s close friend Saint-Just returned from the northern front with news of the Revolutionary Army’s victory over the Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus, securing the road to Paris. This signalled the end of the war against the Austrians and, with it, the end of the Terror government. Still, Robespierre opposed the disbandment of the war government. The next day, in a joint meeting of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security, Lazare Carnot allegedly called Saint-Just and him dictators. Following this incident, Robespierre ceased participating directly in the deliberations of the Committee of Public Safety, widening the rift between him and other members of the revolutionary government.

Arrest and Execution

During his absence, Robespierre prepared a speech to be delivered on July 26, which he presented first to the National Convention and later that same day at the Jacobin Club. In it, he aimed to defend himself against the rumours and to expose an anti-revolutionary conspiracy he believed extended into the Convention and the governing committees. However, his failure to specifically identify all those he condemned caused widespread fear among the Convention deputies, who suspected he was planning another purge like those of the Dantonists and Hébertists.

On Sunday, July 27, Parisian workers organised a demonstration against wage controls. At noon, Saint-Just began addressing the Convention without prior consultation with the Committees. He was interrupted by Tallien, who complained that Robespierre and Saint-Just had broken with the Committees and now spoke for themselves. Billaud-Varenne then accused Robespierre of conspiracy against the Convention. When Robespierre attempted to defend himself, he was silenced by the uproar and condemnation from the deputies, who labelled him a tyrant and conspirator.

The Convention voted to arrest Robespierre, his brother, Couthon, Saint-Just, and Le Bas, along with François Hanriot and other Robespierrist officials. They were brought before the Committee of General Security and sent to various prisons. However, none of the city prisons wanted to detain them, and when a delegation from the Paris Commune, which supported Robespierre, arrived and demanded their release, the prison officials complied. Shortly after midnight, Robespierre and his allies gathered at the Hôtel de Ville.

When the National Convention learned that they had not been imprisoned, it declared them outlaws and ordered armed forces to storm the hotel and arrest them. The next day, Robespierre was brought to the Revolutionary Tribunal along with twenty-one allies and condemned to death.  In the early evening, the convicts were taken in three carts to the Place de la Révolution, the same place where King Louis XVI, Danton, and Desmoulins had been executed. Robespierre’s death caused uproarious applause from the crowd that apparently lasted for 15 minutes.

Aftermath

The immediate consequence of Robespierre’s death was the collapse of the Committee of Public Safety’s authority. The prisons, filled with those accused of counter-revolutionary activities, were emptied, signalling a reduction in the radical policies that had characterised the previous months. This shift in power heralded the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a period of political retraction and stabilisation. The radical zeal that had driven the revolutionaries gave way to a more conservative and bourgeois orientation, marked by the establishment of the Directory in 1795. However, this new government was plagued by corruption and inefficiency, facing both internal dissent and external military challenges.

The Directory’s inability to govern effectively set the stage for the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, in 1799, led a coup d'état that overthrew the Directory. Seizing power as first consul, Napoleon consolidated his control over France. By 1804, he declared himself Emperor, establishing a dictatorship that contrasted sharply with the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality that had initially fuelled the French Revolution.