Originally published on November 15, 2021 (Episode 234)
Introduction
“We seek an order of things in which all the base and cruel passions are enchained, all the beneficent and generous passions are awakened by the laws; where ambition becomes the desire to merit glory and to serve our country; where distinctions are born only of equality itself; where the citizen is subject to the magistrate, the magistrate to the people, and the people to justice…”
These words were spoken by Maximilien Robespierre on 5 February 1794. They sound noble—unless, of course, you were a monarchist. But later in that same speech, “On Political Virtue,” Robespierre made his clearest call for terror as the tool to preserve the republic against enemies both without and within. Before long, he would be identified as one of those very enemies, condemned, and executed.
This paradox and its bloody resolution are the subject of Colin Jones’ new book, The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris. Told hour by hour—sometimes minute by minute—it captures Robespierre’s last day and, more broadly, a day in the life of the Revolution. Journalists, laborers, magistrates, shopkeepers, and even the executioner appear on stage, showing us the Revolution in all its contradictions.
About the Guest
Colin Jones is Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy, past President of the Royal Historical Society, and visiting professor at the University of Chicago. His previous works include The Smile Revolution in Eighteenth Century Paris, a history that demonstrates even smiles have a past.
For Further Investigation
Colin Jones, The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Colin Jones, The Smile Revolution in Eighteenth Century Paris (Oxford University Press, 2014)
Ruth Scurr, Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution (Henry Holt, 2007)
William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution (3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 2018)
💬 Listen & Discuss
What does Robespierre’s sudden fall tell us about revolutions in general—their instability, their momentum, and their capacity to devour their own leaders? Share your reflections in the comments below—and consider forwarding this episode to a friend who thinks history only moves slowly.
