Convention deputy who bridged the Plain and Committee of Public Safety
As the Committee of Public Safety's voice, he presented its reports on war, mass mobilization and revolutionary government to the Convention. Nicknamed 'the Anacreon of the Guillotine', he joined Robespierre's fall in 1794, then was impeached for the Terror.
A deputy to the Estates-General and National Convention, Barère sat with the Plain in 1792. From 1793 he served on the Committee of Public Safety and acted as a principal spokesman, presenting reports on war, mass mobilization, and revolutionary government. He joined the move against Robespierre in 1794 but was later impeached for his role in the Terror.
Also known as: Barere · Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac
Activities and affiliations
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1793–1795
French First Republic state institutionsMember of the Committee of Public SafetyHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1789Elected deputy to the Estates-General by the estates of Bigorre.
- 1791–1792Served as a judge of the newly instituted Court of Cassation (October 1791 – September 1792).
- 1792Elected to the National Convention for Hautes-Pyrénées, presided over the Convention, and chaired the trial of Louis XVI.
- 1793.04.06–1794.09.01Elected to the Committee of Public Safety and served throughout its existence, presenting its reports on war, mass mobilization, and revolutionary government to the Convention.
- 1794Joined the Thermidorian coup that brought down Robespierre.
- 1795Decreed arrested and deported for the Terror; after Oléron and Saintes he escaped on 26 October and hid in Bordeaux.
- 1799Amnestied by Napoleon; under the First Empire he worked as a writer.
- 1815Sat in the Chamber of Deputies during the Hundred Days, then was banished for life as a regicide after the Bourbon Restoration.
- 1830–1841Returned to France, served Louis Philippe under the July Monarchy, and died on 13 January 1841.
Related historical events
- 1789–1799French RevolutionConvention deputy and Committee memberAs a Committee member, he presented reports on war and mass mobilization to the Convention.
- 1793–1796The War in the VendéeThe Committee of Public Safety’s rapporteur on the VendéeCarried the decrees for the destruction of the Vendée with his reports of 1 August and 1 October 1793 (“Destroy the Vendée”), and on 12 February 1794 denounced Turreau’s “barbarous and exaggerated execution”.
Revolutionary choices and political context
Barère shows that the Plain between Mountain and Girondins was not merely a passive middle. On the Committee of Public Safety he presented reports on war, mass mobilisation, and revolutionary government to the Convention, translating Committee decisions into parliamentary language. Emergency government operated not only as secret rule by a few leaders but also through Convention votes, reports, and renewals.
His participation in the fall of Robespierre at Thermidor, followed by impeachment for responsibility for the Terror, shows that responsibility was not confined to one person. Yet the participation of several institutions does not erase each actor’s responsibility. Barère’s career offers a way to read the links between Committee and Assembly, war mobilisation, and political purge.