The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a
major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00
midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the
Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the
Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots
that the Revolution had faced.
By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of
uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned
upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for
conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his
Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He
shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him
off in grisly fashion the next day.
The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24
hours.