The Fall of Robespierre, Colin Jones
The Fall of Robespierre, Colin Jones
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The Fall of Robespierre
24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris

Author: Colin Jones

Narrator: Sasha Higgins

Unabridged: 18 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/12/2022


Synopsis

The day of 9 Thermidor (July 27, 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 twenty-four hours.

About Colin Jones

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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anthony on October 12, 2023

Shedding the Snake’s Skin. Some people have tried to defend Maximilien Robespierre, where they have stated he embodied the ideas of the French Revolution, that he was an idealist who believed in democracy, individual freedom and social and economic freedom. This is a mistruth, these people are clutch......more

Goodreads review by Liviu on September 23, 2021

Sounded quite interesting and the first part that sets the day action (and how we got there) is quite captivating, but then when it comes to the actual fall of Robespierre in the Convention and the failed attempt by some of his Commune associates to counter that with a "coup", the book loses momentu......more

Goodreads review by Jim on April 12, 2023

The French Revolution has always interested me. Between Louis XVI's reign and the rise of Napoleon, there were so many different governments, many of which have confounded historians. Consider, then, what Colin Jones has done with his The Fall of Robespierre Lib/E: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris by......more

Goodreads review by Karl on October 23, 2021

What a wonder that so many original documents illuminate this event. Jones is right in his concluding chapter that it signifies a moment when power changed from the hands of the population in revolt to the new 'bourgeoisie' emerging. He does a grand job not seeing these events through 20 or 21ct cen......more

Goodreads review by Selena on November 04, 2021

It took me a long time to get through this book. However I did enjoy it. It as fascinating how much information is available on what happened in the last 24 hours of Robespierre’s life. It is quite confusing at times but then the whole episode was just complete chaos and the outcome either way could......more