Marcel Gauchet - Robespierre Robespierre the man who divides us the most

ROBESPIERRE

Robespierre

THE MAN WHO DIVIDES US THE MOST

Marcel Gauchet

Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise

With a foreword by David A. Bell and Hugo Drochon

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON &OXFORD

First published in French under the title Robespierre: Lhomme qui nous divise le plusby Marcel Gauchet Editions Gallimard, 2018

English translation and foreword copyright 2022 by Princeton University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gauchet, Marcel, author. | DeBevoise, M. B., translator.

Title: Robespierre : the man who divides us the most / Marcel Gauchet ; translated by Malcolm DeBevoise.

Other titles: Robespierre. French

Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022] | First published in French under the title Robespierre: Lhomme qui nous divise le plus by Marcel Gauchet Editions Gallimard, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021048892 (print) | LCCN 2021048893 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691212944 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691234953 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Robespierre, Maximilien, 17581794Public opinion. | RevolutionariesFranceBiography. | FrancePolitics and government17891799. | BISAC: HISTORY / Europe / France | PHILOSOPHY / Political

Classification: LCC DC146.R6 G3813 2022 (print) | LCC DC146.R6 (ebook) | DDC 944.04/092 [B]dc23/eng/20211012

LC record available at https: / /lccn.loc.gov/2021048892

LC ebook record available at https: / /lccn.loc.gov/2021048893

Version 1.0

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Editorial: Ben Tate and Josh Drake

Production Editorial: Nathan Carr and Natalie Baan

Jacket Design: Pamela L. Schnitter

Production: Danielle Amatucci

Publicity: Carmen Jimenez and Alyssa Sanford

Copyeditor: Natalie Jones

Jacket image: Maximillien de Robespierre (17581794), 1792. Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

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THE ENGRAVING , stark and horrible, shows a forest of guillotines. In the foreground, a man wearing a plumed hat and a tricolor sash, his feet trampling the French constitutions of 1791 and 1793, is dropping the blade on a helpless victim. Behind him stands a funerary monument inscribed with the words Here lies all of France. The caption reads: Robespierre, guillotining the executioner after having had all the French guillotined.

This is still the image that much of the world has of Maximilien Robespierre (17581794): a bloodthirsty monster, the mastermind of the French Revolutionary Reign of Terror.