Title: The Death of Maximilien de Robespierre, 1794 – Landmark Events
Headings: The Death of Maximilien de Robespierre, 1794
The Death of Maximilien de Robespierre, 1794
The Death of Maximilien de Robespierre,
July 28, 1794

Content: Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794), French lawyer and politician, and leader of the French Revolution
The opening of the Estates General May 5, 1789 in the Salle des Menus Plaisirs in Versailles
Historians have argued for a smorgasbord of factors leading to the revolution, including royal despotism, ideas promulgated by French political philosophers, financial crisis in government and economic crisis among the poor (including the increase in the price of bread, the staple of the masses), and a desire to emulate the success of the Americans to establish an independent republic. In 1789, the Estates General was formed to represent the nobility, clergy and the 95% of the rest of the people (Third Estate). When Louis XVI closed their meeting hall, the Estates met on a tennis court and concluded to write a constitution in non-stop meetings. King Louis XVI of France (1754-1792), the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution
Fearing that the king would send a mercenary army to stop the proceedings, riots, looting, and killing swept through Paris, joined by some of the French guard. The mobs attacked and destroyed the Bastille, a fortress and jail which symbolized royal authority. Only a handful of prisoners were there to be liberated and the small garrison was massacred. Bastille Day, July 14, is still celebrated every year in France. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 and the arrest of the French Governor of the Bastille Bernard René Jourdan Marquis de Launay (1740-1789)
Members of the nobility fled the country and the National Assembly abolished feudalism, taxes, and obedience to royal authority. Mobs and militias developed across France, eventually forming a revolutionary army to repel foreign troops on their borders and enforce the new “republic of virtue.” The Third Estate abolished the other two, executed the king and queen, and continued the restructuring of society using the death penalty for aristocrats, property owners, and anyone connected to royal authority.