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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.
List 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 (5.00 a.m. to Midday)
- PART 3: A PARLIAMENTARY COUP (Midday to 5.00 p.m.)
- PART 4: A PARISIAN JOURNÉE (5.00 p.m. to Midnight)
- PART 5: AT MIDNIGHT, AROUND MIDNIGHT, AFTER MIDNIGHT
- AFTERWORD: 9 THERMIDOR FROM AFAR
- NOTES
- LIST OF CHARACTERS
- NOTE ON SOURCES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRINTED SOURCES
- INDEX
About the author
Colin Jones CBE is Professor of 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: winner of the Enid MacLeod Prize) and The Smile Revolution: In Eighteenth-Century Paris (2014). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Past President, Royal Historical Society.
Summary
The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.
Additional text
Colin Jones's micro-history can be fundamental reading.
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It's almost as dramatic as the fall of Boris. Iain Martin, Reaction
