Talk:Maximilien Robespierre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, now in the public domain.
To-do list for Maximilien Robespierre: edit · history · watch · refresh

Here are some tasks you can do:

    This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Maximilien Robespierre article.
    Article policies
    Archives: 1
    France Portal
    Maximilien Robespierre is within the scope of WikiProject France, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to France on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please join the project and help with our open tasks.
    B This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale.
    (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments, explaining the ratings and/or suggest improvements.)
    This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a group devoted to the the study, and improvement of Wikipedia articles on the subject, of History. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
    ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
    ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
    This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.
    Biography Portal
    B This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
    		This article is supported by the Politics and government work group.
    Archive
    Archives

    Contents



    This has clearly been defaced in some recent edits and needs to be cleaned and restored. --65.183.251.28 19:27, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Abolition of the Death Penalty?

    According to this wiki article [1], Robespierre introduced legislation to abolish the death penalty in 1791, about 2 years before sending the royals to the guillotine, and about 3 years before Robespierre got his own. If it's true, I'm surprised it hasn't been noted in the article due to the drastic dramatic irony. Has the National Constituent Assembly agreed, the Terror possibly wouldn't have been (perhaps it would have eventually sometime later), and Robespierre wouldn't be a historically stereotypical pariah. Is there any validity to the abolition story, and if so what's the details and sources of information so the article could be updated accordingly. Jessikins 23:44, 6 May 2007 (UTC)


    Maxime did indeed advocate the abolition of the death penalty in 1791. I have a copy of the speech, if anyone is interested; I think it's one of his best. However, there's not as much irony as you would think in the eventual coming the Terror - even in his 1791 speech, he specifies that, more or less, if it's a life-or-death situation, one has a right to kill in order to live. It seems clear to me that at the time he was thinking about it in the context of individuals, but the delicate situation of France in 1793-1794 does seem to fit the bill, nevertheless:
    "Outside of civil society, when a relentless enemy comes to attack my life, or when, twenty times repulsed, he returns again to lay waste to the field that I have cultivated with my hands, either I must perish or I must kill him because I can only oppose my own strength against his, and the law of natural defense vindicates and approves me." - Maximilien Robespierre, "On the Abolition of the Death Penalty." Read before the National Assembly on May 30, 1791. Extract taken from the book The French Revolution: A Document Collection, put together by Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo.
    Also, this is merely a quibble, but I'm not quite fond of your saying that HE sent the royals to the guillotine. It was an act of the National Convention as a whole, not of one man. Sorry - I'm just absurdly sensitive when it seems like people get the mindset that Maxime was the be all and end all of the revolution, for better or for worse. As he himself once said, "Obliging persons have been found to attribute to me more good than I have done in order to impute to me mischief in which I had no hand."
    -A young Jacobine--24.208.91.146 17:38, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] What to put in the infobox

    Right now the infobox lists one of Robespierre's offices to have been "Deputy for the Third Estate of the Estates-General." I was wondering if there is a more specific title by which members of that body were called. Also, I have listed his religion as Cult of the Supreme Being due to his prominace in advocating it, but I'm not sure if it should simply be changed to Deism. YankeeDoodle14 05:33, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

    So! Even you may now see why many Wikipedians spurn these as 'disinfoboxes'. Even very primitive lives rarely fit into a suit of categories. Disinfoboxes are mostly for those marginally unprepared to deal with text. Listing Robespierre's religion as Cult of the Supreme Being, simply to fill a box, will raise smiles. --Wetman 08:31, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
    I gather that you dissapprove of infobox from your post. I'm not quite so sure what you mean by, "So! Even you may now see why many Wikipedians spurn these as 'disinfoboxes'," as I don't recall ever having disputed the merit of infoboxes with you before.
    It remains a fact, however unfortunate it may be, that many Wikipedians do not do more than skim any given article for general details. As this is the case it is important to achieve the greatest degree of accuracy that is possible.
    If it is your opinion that Cult of the Supreme Being is not the best choice for this article, then I will differ and let the infobox read (as it now does), "Deism (Cult of the Supreme Being." YankeeDoodle14 04:19, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Dame politique?

    I'm not familiar with the phrase. Is there any other suitable English synonym? Political(as in willing to compromise à la Jean Bodin)lady ?Jatrius 14:51, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Death

    --71.177.236.12 04:22, 14 October 2007 (UTC)On the bottom of the page of the "Reign of Terror" there is a picture that depicts Robespierre's death. If it could be moved to the Robespierre page, it would be better depicted. I would move it myself, but I have no knowledge of how to do so.

    u all smell like poo and always will and i am going to go die now losers —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.64.21.237 (talk) 23:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Inconsistancies in dating

    The article claims that Robespierre opposed the Austrian War in 1797, but he had been put to death by then. The dates in this article need to be reviewed.

    24.72.156.21 06:43, 26 October 2007 (UTC)Szustak 26 October 2007 2:42 AM EDT

    Yes I agree we do need to clear up the dating problems. We do need to delete this and to set up correctly. Thank God, most school don't allow their students to use Wikipedia as a reference source. Also in the hell is Jacques Pierre Bubnarios?. I have studied the French Revolution for years and never came to this name. Did he mean Brissot? If this Bubnarios fellow existed he must have been a very minor Girodin or a member of the unacclaimed plain. Ronsin1976 17:26, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

    I made some on the spot corrections. Jacques Pierre Brissot was the intended fellow not Jacques Pierre Bubnarios. I also changed the years from 1797 to 1792, when it actually happened. I will research the months which I left for the time being, but if they need to be changed please someone with all due haste. I could not stand to have such errors in historial dating exist much longer. Ronsin1976 17:46, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Affectionate wording

    Throughout the whole article, there is a distinct bias in wording in Robespierre's favor. "His supporters called him 'The Incorruptible'" is included as vital information at the very start; he is a "capable articulator"; his motives are carefully defended at every turn. If he gets this much support, other viewpoints should be added as well. --68.100.78.74 (talk) 01:14, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

    • I agree, the article does have a distinct bias. I'll try to get around making in more neutral. 71.242.205.5 (talk) 21:09, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] Typo?

    "His corpse and head both were buried in the common cemetery of Errancis (now the Place de Goubeaux), but were accidentally moved to the Catacombs of Paris." This isn't clear? Was he buried in Palace De Goubeaux then moved, or was he suppose to be buried there but burried in the catacombs? And how can a body be buried or moved accidentally? I would never accidentally move a dead body that is for sure.Mantion (talk) 09:43, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

    [edit] "Robespierre's role as a leader and mouthpiece of the Terror is clear"

    Hi there. I've added a citation tag here. I'm currently going through William Doyle's "Oxford History of the French Revolution" and it seems to me that Robespierre's role in the Terror was not so prominent. As soon as I find a bit of time I'll try to propose some alternative paragraph or sentence. Cheers ;) Dr Benway (talk) 11:30, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

    [edit] Political party

    I'm not sure whether it can be changed or not, but it is inaccurate to say in the infobox that Robespierre's "party" was Jacobin. For a start, it doesn't tell you much at all in the context of the Revolution, but more importantly it's just factually inaccurate. There were no political parties in the French Revolution, and if you tried to organise all of the groups as such, you would fail. Cyril Washbrook (talk) 00:09, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

    [edit] lead

    The lead has some serious problems. The last paragraph is a relatively unimportant anecdote that doesn't belong in the lead. The rest of the lead is mostly minor biographical stuff. The lead should give an overview of Robespierre's importance as a political figure and his role in the revolution.--76.93.42.50 (talk) 04:51, 3 June 2008 (UTC)