Description
Maximilien Robespierre—”The Incorruptible“ to his allies; dictateur
sanguinaire to his opponents—was a French lawyer and statesman:
arguably the most influential, and inarguably the most controversial,
figure of the French Revolution. He supported radical leftist policies
like universal suffrage, the right to petition, the right to bear arms,
and abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. In 1793, he was appointed to
the Committee of Public Safety. From there, he managed to defend
France from invaders from all sides. But he also seized dictatorial
powers and enacted the Reign of Terror, in which tens of thousands
of Frenchmen were put to death by guillotine. He was arrested and
subsequently beheaded in 1794.
Assignat notes like this one, originally bonds backed by seized Church
property, circulated as legal tender from 1789-96. Their value cratered
during a hyperinflationary period brought on by excessive printing,
which led to riots. The economy did not stabilize until Napoleon
introduced the franc in 1803.