Robespierre, Marat or Danton Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marat

Marat was born in 1743, in Switzerland, and was a scientist and doctor. He established his reputation as a doctor in London in the 1770s before returning to France, where he published papers on his scientific experiments, notably in the areas of fire and electricity.

He was in favour of emancipation of the lower class French people, known as the 'sans-culottes', and began publishing articles in newspapers and pamphlets to promote their cause. These views brought him into line with the revolutionary ideas which were beginning to take root in the latter part of the eighteenth century in France.

Answer: Marat

The revolution in France began in earnest in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, and Marat began publishing his newspaper - 'L'Ami du peuple', meaning 'Friend of the People' in English.

In his journal, Marat severely criticized the people in power. A (written) attack on Jacques Necker, finance minister to the King, in 1790 meant he had to escape to England to avoid retribution. Marat soon returned and continued his tirades against the aristocracy and the more moderate revolutionaries.

Answer: Marat

Although Marat wasn't as actively involved in the revolution as Danton and Robespierre, his writings inflamed those who read him. He is considered to have provoked two major incidents, the storming of the Tuileries Palace and the September Massacres, in which over 1,000 people died at the hands of a mob.

Although a republican herself, Charlotte Corday was horrified by the violent course the revolution was taking and held Marat responsible. In July 1793 she travelled from Caen, her home town, to Paris and bought a knife. At her second attempt, on the pretext of having uncovered a plot, Corday managed to meet Marat, soaking in his bath to ease a skin condition. She found an opportunity and stabbed him to death. She herself died on the guillotine only a few days later for the crime.

Answer: Marat

David was a leading artist of the time and a personal friend of Marat. He created the painting in 1793 soon after the assassination by Charlotte Corday. It depicts Marat still in his bath, holding a paper in his left hand and quill in his right. The stab wound is clearly visible.

Marat's death created a martyr for the cause and, for a while, he was revered in France. Corday's murder had the opposite effect to her intentions, giving the Jacobins even more ammunition for their Reign of Terror.

Answer: Danton

A lawyer by trade, Georges Danton was an early and prominent leader in the overthrow of the French monarchy and the setting up of the First French Republic. His rhetoric and urging were behind the Storming of the Bastille in July 1789.

Danton was a member of the Jacobin Club, a meeting place for the revolutionaries and it was there that he first became acquainted with Robespierre.

Answer: Danton

The club was founded in 1790, in a convent in the region of Cordelliers from which the club took its name. Unlike the Jacobin Club, which catered more for the bourgeoisie, membership fees for the club were low and it meant the working class could be, and were, included.

Danton was a regular attendee and was elected as the first President of the Cordeliers Club in April 1790. In June 1791, the attempted flight of Louis XVI and his family gave the Cordeliers the chance to take the lead in demanding the abdication of the monarchy. Danton had to escape to England to avoid arrest for his part.

Answer: Danton

Following the storming of the Tuileries Palace, which effectively ended the monarchy, Danton found himself in a position of power. He authorised the arrest of numerous opponents, with the guillotine being set up on La Place de la Revolution to dispose of them. He also stood by and made no effort to prevent the September Massacre.

In March 1793 Danton was a prime mover in the setting up of both the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Committee of Public Safety, both of which would soon be used to bring about his own downfall.

Answer: Danton

By July 1793 Danton had lost his position by opposing the radical members of the Committee, led by Robespierre. In April 1794 he was put on trial accused of corruption, with the trial taking place in front of the Revolutionary Tribunal he had himself created.

The trial was an excuse to eliminate the moderate forces within the government, and Danton was duly convicted. He, along with fifteen other moderates, went to their deaths by guillotine in April 1794, meaning that Robespierre was now the main leader of the revolutionaries. Danton's name was blackened by Robespierre although his reputation was somewhat restored a hundred years later.

Answer: Robespierre

Born in Arras, Maximilien Robespierre became a lawyer as an adult. He became a member of the Jacobin Club and was the most radical and bloodthirsty of the revolutionaries. While Marat and Danton were willing to see the French royals exiled, Robespierre was adamant that only death would prevent counter risings. His view was that 'Louis must die because the nation must live'.

Robespierre, of course, prevailed with Louis XVI being executed in January 1793 and his Queen, Marie Antoinette, following him to the guillotine in October the same year.

Answer: Robespierre

Robespierre's political career was relatively brief, but cost numerous lives. During his dreaded Reign of Terror, thousands of people were sent to the guillotine, many simply because they were related to the king or the members of the royal court.

Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety in July 1793 and quickly became a virtual dictator. He viewed himself as the champion of the people and any opponent was disposed of as being an enemy of the people, not just his personal foes. Anyone who threatened his grip on power, such as Danton, was summarily executed after a show trial. Many thousands died during his Reign of Terror either directly by the guillotine or while in overcrowded and insanitary prisons.

Answer: Robespierre

France was primarily a Roman Catholic country, but the Church was closely associated with the monarchy. This led, initially, to the Cult of Reason, an atheist approach which rejected God completely and was widely believed (rightly or wrongly) to involves orgies.

Robespierre was a moral man as far as personal behaviour went and the leaders of the Cult of Reason were arrested and executed in March 1794. In its place, Robespierre came up with the idea of a Supreme Being, a god like figure but one who did not intervene in human life. The pinnacle was a Festival in June 1794 in which Robespierre himself played a leading role. This caused alarm among his peers and became the catalyst for his imminent downfall. The cult itself did not survive Robespierre's death.

Answer: Robespierre

Robespierre had overreached himself by setting up a cult, leading his enemies to accuse him of seeing himself as a godlike figure and being a dictator. On 27 July 1794 he was arrested and guillotined, as so many before him had been, the day after. On the same day twenty or so of his followers met the same fate with another eighty dying the next day. The Reign of Terror was mostly at an end and Robespierre's brief time in power was over.

The radicalism was petering out, but the revolution had lost its way. By the end of the century, Napoleon Bonaparte was on the scene to take France in a new direction. Robespierre is largely ignored in modern day France, with no public statues to him despite being the person most of us associate with the French Revolution.