«The Tail of Robespierre»
Bovykin Dmitry
The author focuses on the political struggle that was well under way in the National Convention during the first months after 9 Thermidor. Although it is difficult to distinguish clearly visible political groups among the deputies at this time, the overthrow of Robespierre was supported by people who had fundamentally different views on the further development of the state. Some of them wanted to abolish the temporary revolutionary order of government as quickly as possible and end the Revolution, some of them were in favor of preserving the ideals of the Montagnard dictatorship, but without Robespierre and his associates, and some of them wanted, first of all, to take revenge on the robespierristes. There were also those who set their main goal to redistribute power. The once all-powerful members of the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security planned to remain in power, agreeing only to cosmetic changes in the political system and abolishing only those terrorist laws that endangered the deputies of the Convention. However, their plans were not fated to come true. They were unable to control the ongoing reforms and find an adequate response to the general desire for renewal. The beginning of the dismantling of the system of Terror led to radical changes in the political system. The study gives an answer to the question what was the mechanism for the loss of power by the members of the Great committees, which seemed firm and was not questioned, how in a few months from the organizers of the coup de Thermidor they turned into the "tail of Robespierre" and lost political influence.
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 18-18-00226.