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27-28 July 1794Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Fall of Robespierre and Thermidor

Conspirators in the Convention turn on Robespierre before he can turn on them

On the timeline · around 27-28 July 1794 · Thermidor to BrumaireRepublic and TerrorThermidor to BrumaireThe Fall of Robespierre and Thermidor17941795

Quick facts

Location
Paris
Date
27 July 1794 (arrest); 28 July (executed)
Executed with him
Saint-Just, Couthon, Francois Hanriot, Augustin Robespierre
Terror death toll
Estimated 20,000-40,000

What happened

By July 1794, the Terror had claimed somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 lives, and Robespierre's vague accusations against unnamed "traitors" within the Convention left many deputies fearing they were next. On 9 Thermidor Year II, 27 July 1794 by the Gregorian calendar, the Convention turned on Robespierre and had him arrested; in the confusion that followed, his jaw was shattered by a bullet, possibly self-inflicted or fired by a gendarme. He was guillotined the next day, 28 July, alongside 21 supporters including Saint-Just, Couthon, and Francois Hanriot; his younger brother Augustin was executed with him. Scores of others followed in the months after.

Why it matters

Robespierre's fall ended the Terror's central authority almost overnight and began the Thermidorian Reaction, which dismantled the machinery of the Committee's dictatorship and violently suppressed the Jacobins who had run it. It marked the first time the Convention itself, rather than the crowd or the guillotine, decided a revolutionary leader's fate.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's account of the fall draws on Convention records of Robespierre's arrest and execution, and cites a death toll estimate of 20,000 to 40,000 for the Terror as a whole.

Sources

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