Maximilien Robespierre used violence as a tool to achieve dignity, to heal the body politic of corruptions. Without virtue, the French Revolution would be a failure, and would only produce new systems of oppression.

To properly understand him, we’ll need some context.


France, 1789. A kingdom on the brink. The people are starving—bread prices skyrocket after years of failed harvests. The monarchy is bankrupt. And across Europe, kings watch nervously as revolution stirs.

In Paris, the Bastille falls. The king is dethroned, then executed. War breaks out on all borders. Civil war ignites at home. Amid the chaos, one man rises: Maximilien Robespierre. A lawyer from Arrahhs, incorruptible, driven by a vision of a virtuous Republic.

But as fear spreads and enemies multiply, Robespierre turns virtue into law—and law into terror. Thousands are executed in the name of liberty. Friends become traitors overnight. The guillotine becomes a tool of purification.

Then, in the summer of 1794, the Revolution devours its own. Robespierre is arrested, silenced, and executed—jaw shattered, words unspoken. He dies at the age of 36.

0:00 Intro

3:49 Robespierre’s life

5:34 From Defending the Poor to Becoming a Mass Murderer

7:02 How Virtue Ties it all Together

8:38 Did You Go Too Far?

9:49 Can Coercion be Reconciled with Liberty?

11:01 Was the Terror Indiscriminate?

11:43 Standing Alone and The Last Execution

12:43 Was it Worth it?

13:40 Robespierre’s Posthumous Verdict on The Terror

15:04 The Virtue Paradox