Birth:
May 6, 1758, Arras, France
Death:
July 28, 1794, Paris, France - Attempted suicide but was guillotined
Early Influences:
- Mother died when very young
- Abandoned by his father
- Raised by maternal grandparents
Education:
- Educated first by the Oratarians in Arras, France
- Received a scholarship to the College Louis-le-Grande in Paris (1769)
- Received law degree in 1781
Major Accomplishments:
- Main prosecutor of King Louis XVI
- Called for the execution of the King as a traitor to the people
- Main leader of the Jacobin dictatorship
- Elected to the Committee of Public Safety in 1793
- Elected President of the Convention in 1794
- Eliminated factions opposed to the Jacobins as endangering the community
Significance:
- Principal founder of democracy in France
- Key leader in the French Revolution
- Ushered in the Reign of Terror
- Considered by many to be a tyrant, he believed that he was acting with moral virtue
Contemporaries:
- Marie Antoinette - Queen of France
- George Washington - First President of the United States
- Benjamin Franklin - American Statesman and Inventor
