People of the Revolution and the USSR

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1748–1825 ○ Died in Brussels

Neoclassical painter of the French Revolution

His Death of Marat, depicting his friend Jean-Paul Marat after Charlotte Corday assassinated him on 13 July 1793, became a leading image of the Revolution. After Napoleon's fall the painting long disappeared from public view before its rediscovery.

French painter born in Paris in 1748 and died in Brussels in 1825. He was the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his era, winning fame in the 1780s with The Oath of the Horatii, and an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Robespierre as a member of the Jacobin Club. As a deputy to the National Convention he voted for the execution of Louis XVI, and as a member of the Committee of General Security he took part in the Reign of Terror. After Robespierre's fall he was imprisoned twice in 1794 and 1795, then released. After the Empire was proclaimed in 1804 he became Napoleon's court painter and painted The Coronation of Napoleon. After Napoleon's fall in 1815 he lived in exile in Brussels, where he died. His pupils included Girodet, Gérard, Gros and Ingres.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1751–1794 ✕ Executed

Hébertist general who commanded the Parisian Revolutionary Army

Appointed commander of the Parisian Revolutionary Army in September 1793, he was arrested with Hébert, Vincent, Momoro and others in March 1794 and executed on 24 March.

Born in Soissons, Ronsin served in the army as a young man and after leaving it lived as a playwright and tutor. During the Revolution he became an orator of the Cordeliers Club; in 1793 he took charge of a department of Bouchotte’s War Ministry, was sent to the Vendée and was rapidly promoted to general. In September that year he became commander of the Parisian Revolutionary Army and in November led a detachment to the repression at Lyon. In the course he appears among the Hébertists arrested in March 1794 with Hébert, Vincent, Momoro and others and executed on 24 March. The charge of a military plot built on the Revolutionary Army was the prosecution’s case and should be read as such. The Revolutionary Army was disbanded days after his execution.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1753–1823 → Exiled after the Restoration

The mathematician who organized the army of the Revolution

As the Committee of Public Safety member in charge of personnel and troop movements from 1793, he created fourteen armies and contributed to Jourdan's victory at Wattignies in autumn 1793. Mass conscription raised the army from roughly 645,000 in mid-1793 to about 1.5 million by September 1794.

French mathematician, military officer and politician, born at Nolay in Burgundy in 1753 and dead at Magdeburg in 1823. Elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and to the National Convention in September 1792, from 1793 he handled personnel and troop movements on the Committee of Public Safety, directing conscription and organization and steering France's military successes of 1793–94, for which he was called the 'Organizer of Victory'. Known as an honest administrator and a convinced republican, he broke with Robespierre and helped bring about his overthrow on 9 Thermidor in 1794, and was one of the five initial directors of the Directory. Ousted in the Coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797, he went into exile; Napoleon made him Minister of War in 1800, but he opposed the imperial coronation and withdrew from public life. Exiled by the Second Bourbon Restoration, he died in exile.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1755–1794 ✕ Executed

Committee of Public Safety member allied with Robespierre

A lawyer elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and the National Convention in 1792, he joined the Committee of Public Safety in 1793. Working with Robespierre and Saint-Just, he drafted the Law of 22 Prairial, which stripped defendants of counsel and sharply increased executions.

A lawyer and deputy in the Legislative Assembly and National Convention, Couthon joined the Mountain. On the Committee of Public Safety he worked closely with Robespierre and Saint-Just and played a central role in the Law of 22 Prairial, which sharply restricted defendants’ rights. Arrested on 9 Thermidor, he was executed with Robespierre.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1755–1816 ○ Died in Paris

Committee of General Security member who reported the ban on women’s clubs

On 30 October 1793, reporting for the Committee of General Security, he argued that women were unsuited to political association, and the Convention banned women’s clubs and popular societies.

A Grenoble lawyer elected to the Convention for Isère in 1792, he sat with the Mountain and voted for Louis XVI’s execution. Joining the Committee of General Security in 1793, he became, with Vadier, one of its most influential members. In October he delivered the report indicting the Brissotin deputies, and on 30 October he presented the report that banned women’s clubs and popular societies, a measure historians see as checking women’s political gains in the Revolution. He later investigated the India Company affair. Imprisoned after Thermidor and then amnestied, he was implicated in Babeuf’s Conspiracy of the Equals but acquitted.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1755–1841

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.

Jacobin Club Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1758–1794

Jacobin politician who argued for subsistence rights and revolutionary government

On 9 Thermidor, 27 July 1794, Convention deputies arrested him with about 90 others; he was executed without trial.

A lawyer and National Convention deputy during the French Revolution, Robespierre served on the Committee of Public Safety. His 1792 speech on subsistence placed access to necessities first while recognizing legitimate property and trade. His February 1794 report defended virtue and terror as principles of revolutionary government. This was a participant’s justification of repression; decisions made by the Convention and its committees cannot all be treated as his personal orders. He was executed after his defeat at Thermidor.

French First Republic state institutions Jacobins and French revolutionary radicals 1767–1794 ✕ Executed

Cordelier and Hébertist who served as secretary-general of the War Ministry

As secretary-general of the War Ministry he filled its offices with radical patriots; arrested with the Hébertists in March 1794, he was executed on 24 March.

The son of a Paris prison concierge, Vincent worked as a lawyer’s clerk. An early member of the Cordeliers Club, where he served as secretary, he entered the General Council of the Paris Commune after the rising of 10 August 1792. In April 1793 he became secretary-general of the War Ministry under Bouchotte and filled its offices with radical patriots. Arrested in December 1793 and freed the following February, he joined the Hébertist campaign against the Indulgents and the revolutionary government. In the course he appears among those arrested in March 1794 with Hébert, Ronsin, Momoro and others and executed on 24 March. No material evidence was produced for the conspiracy charges against them.