He was born in the little town of Arras. His father, Francois Robespierre, seduced Jacqueline-Marguerite Carraut, the daughter of a brewer. Maximillen Robespierre was the result of the seduction. His childhood was not happy, especially after the death of his mother. He was shy but never modest. Although he was always a hesitant nervous speaker and disliked crowds and preferred working alone, he was the great speaker during the period. His favorite was Rousseau.
Like Episode 10--"A Beautiful Fiend, Jeanne", he was chosen to address Louis XVI on the occasion of the later’s return from his coronation at Reims. When Robespierre finished his Latin Oration, Louis XVI was said to have smiled at him.
On July 31, 1780, he became a Bachelor of Law, in 1781, he received his license and was admitted to practice in Paris. He built his legal practice in Arras. However, he was not a very good lawyer, and did not win many cases. During that time, he began to consider more seriously ways in which society might be reformed through the laws.
He began to preached about patriotism. At first, he had no particular desire to overthrow the King, or set up a revolutionary government, just like the episodes in RoV.
He was the "incorruptible" leader. He set up a political patriot party called The Jacobin club. He was the leader in the Paris Commune, the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. He declared that dictatorship was necessary after the outbreak of the revolution because of internal dissension and foreign wars. The Committee of Public Safety was responsible to put the nobles, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to trial.
Besides nobles, Robespierre treated people who critized his ideas as "enemies of the nation". He sensed that conspiracy was everywhere. As the leader of Committee of Public Safety, he sent those "enemies" to be executed. People were terrified by his motives. That was the period of The Reign of Terror.
Robespierre never have the complete control of France. Actually, his dictatorship was brief and imperfect.
Many of Robespierre’s enemies were gullotined. But the group opposed him was in fear and they understood the terror must stopped. The only way was to undermined Robespierre’s power.
In 1794, the Committee of Safety impeached Robespierre. Most of the members in the Jacobin club betrayed him except a few like St. Just. He was tried and gullotined in 1794. The place of gullotine was the exact same place as Louis XVI’s.
