French Revolution: Was Robespierre a good/bad person?

I think he was simply an ambitious man who was overcome by his swift rise to near absolute power. He was a very bizarre individual quite apart from his activities with the Comité de salut publicque (Committee for Public Safety). I recommend The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert for a good, short sketch of Robespierre. However, the best book on the Revolution, in my never humble opinion, is The French Revolution, by Thomas Carlisle--which was first published in 1835. It is not an easy read for most modern readers, but you will get just about the best portrait of Maximilien Marie Isidore de Robespierre available in English in a near-contemporary account.

Of course, the easy way, the lazy way, is just to google Maximilien Robespierre. Whether or not he was a good or a bad man is a subjective statement--you'll need to decide for yourself. My suggestion is, that the more you know of him, the better will be the foundation of your judgment.

Thanks - that'll be helpful

Robespierre was a psychotic monster but he had a context. I would recommend Citizens by Simon Schama.

Amazon Link

ok

mandso--

He was fascinating!! Really. I know this is crazy to say to a student, but reading a bit about him online (easy) may be quite interesting to you. He started out with good intentions in an impossible, nutty time in France's history, but he ended up on par with Hitler (to some.)

Google!

Enjoy!!

yeah, um...i'll try to enjoy reading about some nutcase!

Think of it as a horror/slasher movie with disembodied heads, rolling around in the street.


Cause that's what it was.



<winkie>


Think McCarthyism with a guillotine. <sp?>

oh, yippee - i just wanted the SIMPLE facts about him!
sigh - maybe to avoid that, i'll keep to the textbook next time...

Complex is much more fun.

YIPPEEEE!!

aren't you a happy phsyco

Acq's recommendation is good, Schama is one of the best contemporary historians, and i highly recommend reading anything by him . . .

really?
k

I was trying to inculcate an enthusiasm for history.

I'll settle for one in spelling.

yeah, maybe so
although, spelling is terrible and BORING
i'd rather fall off a cliff than to tell a million people, including my mum, how to spell 'journey'
but hey, i already do

im doing notes on him right this instant for AP World...

he was BAD. the Revolutionary chaos peaked during his & the Jacobins' [his 'crew'] control of the Convention. & he got rid of the Roman Catholic church in France...

yeah, he's bad

My opinion is that this answer comes with a thorough study of the French Revolution. France was out of hand during the Revolution but that was not Robespierre's fault. There are other people who called for heads and those were the biggest psycho villains(i.e Marat). Robespierre wanted equality of people, but imagine a country in a state of chaos. I think because of this chaos Robespierre took the rather bad way with "Reign of Terror", which is something like a Martial Law in our days. I don't know if I can categorize him as bad person, he was definitely not a psycho who wanted blood(he was against death penalty in the beginning). I can understand his point of view at the time, France was in war with Austrians Britain and Prussia, chaos within, so an order should have been set. The extreme measures, even though hellish, might have been the only way for France to survive.