France: Maximilien Robespierre
from How to Invent a Country Hosted by BBC Radio 4
On July 28 1794 one of the great names of the French Revolution met madame guillotine in front of the Parisian mob. Maximilien Robespierre lived quite nearby his place of execution, in Rue Saint Honore where he lodged with a master carpenter called Maurice Duplay. Robespierre was a pacifist, a man of the people ... yet no other name is more associated with the Terror than this man, and his death is among the most dramatic of all these bloody years. In the second Invention of France, Misha Glenny explores the impact of the Revolution through the life of this man. Robespierre troubles many French people - the plaque on his house has been scratched away in the past. Why has he taken virtually all the blame for the executions and chaos of these years? Perhaps he plays a similar role to Oliver Cromwell, except French history is not the same as ours, not all. "Revolution is the spine of recent French history - 1789, 1830, 1848, 1870, 1936, 1968." With contributions from Marisa Linton, Ruth Scurr, Joel Felix, Jonathan Fenby and Jeremy Black. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.
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