Robespierre, Virtue and the Great Terror

Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer from Arras, was known as 'the Incorruptible' for his austere personal life. In February 1794 he argued that a popular government in revolution needed both virtue and terror: virtue without terror was powerless, and terror without virtue was fatal. In spring 1794 the Committee turned on rival factions. The radical Hébertists were executed in March, and the 'Indulgents', including Danton and Desmoulins, who called for an end to the Terror, were executed in April.

The Law of 22 Prairial, passed on 10 June 1794, removed many remaining protections for the accused, and executions in Paris surged even as French armies won victories. Historians remain divided: some portray Robespierre as an idealist trapped by circumstances, others as an ideologue whose logic justified mass repression. Many emphasise that the Terror was a collective policy, not one man's work.