Augustin Robespierre

Napoleon Bonaparte publishes a pro-republican pamphlet, Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire), in July 1793.

This gains him the admiration and support of Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of the Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre, and with the help of fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti, Bonaparte is appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon.

The city, having risen against the republican government, is occupied by British troops.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s actions at Toulon had brought him to the attention of the Committee of Public Safety, and he has been put in charge of the artillery of France's Army of Italy.

While waiting for confirmation of this post, Napoleon has spent time as inspector of coastal fortifications on the Mediterranean coast near Marseille, devising plans for attacking the Kingdom of Sardinia as part of France's campaign against the First Coalition.

The commander of the Army of Italy, Pierre Jadart Dumerbion, has seen too many generals executed for failing or for having the wrong political views.

He therefore defers to the powerful représentants en mission, Augustin Robespierre and Saliceti, who in turn are ready to listen to the freshly promoted artillery general.

The French army, carrying out Bonaparte's plan in the Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, advances northeast along the Italian Riviera, then turns north to seize Ormea in the mountains.

From Ormea, they thrust west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around Saorge.

As a result, the coastal towns of Oneglia and Loano as well as the strategic Col de Tende (Tenda Pass) fall into French hands.

Later, Augustin Robespierre sends Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to understand that country's intentions towards France.

Saint-Just begins to give a speech in support of Robespierre the next day.

However, those who had seen him working on his speech the night before expect accusations to arise from it.

He has time to give only a small part of his speech before Jean-Lambert Tallien interrupts him.

While the accusations begin to pile up, Saint-Just remains uncharacteristically silent.

Robespierre then attempts to secure the tribunal to speak but his voice is shouted down.

Robespierre soon finds himself at a loss for words after one deputy calls for his arrest and another, Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier, gives a mocking impression of him.

When one deputy realizes Robespierre's inability to respond, the man shouts, "The blood of Danton chokes him!"

A faction within the National Convention including Jacobin revolutionary Paul Francois Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras and military commissioner Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, topples Robespierre.

The Convention orders the arrest of Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, François Hanriot and Le Bas.

Troops from the Commune, under General Coffinhal, arrive to free the prisoners and then march against the Convention itself.

The Convention responds by ordering troops of its own under Barras to be called out.

When the Commune's troops hear the news of this, order begins to break down, and Hanriot orders his remaining troops to withdraw to the Hôtel de Ville, where Robespierre and his supporters also gather.

The Convention declares them to be outlaws, meaning that upon verification the fugitives can be executed within twenty-four hours without a trial.

As the night goes on, the forces of the Commune desert the Hôtel de Ville and, at around two in the morning, those of the Convention under the command of Barras arrive there.

In order to avoid capture, Augustin Robespierre throws himself out of a window, only to break both of his legs; Couthon is found lying at the bottom of a staircase; Le Bas commits suicide; another radical shoots himself in the head.

Robespierre tries to kill himself with a pistol but manages only to shatter his lower jaw, although some eyewitnesses claim that Robespierre had been shot by Charles-André Merda.

Robespierre is moved to a table in the room of the Committee of Public Safety, where he awaits execution for the remainder of the night.

He lies on the table bleeding abundantly until a doctor is brought in to attempt to stop the bleeding from his jaw.

Robespierre's last recorded words may have been "Merci, monsieur," to a man that had given him a handkerchief for the blood on his face and clothing.

Later, Robespierre is held in the same containment chamber where Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI, had been held.

The next day, July 28, 1794, Robespierre is guillotined without trial in the Place de la Révolution.

His brother Augustin, Couthon, Saint-Just, Hanriot and twelve other followers, among them the cobbler Simon, are also executed.

When clearing Robespierre's neck the executioner tears off the bandage that is holding his shattered jaw in place, producing an agonized scream until the fall of the blade silences him.

Together with those executed with him, he is buried in a common grave at the newly opened Errancis Cemetery (cimetière des Errancis) (March 1794 – April 1797) (near what is now the Place Prosper-Goubaux).

A plaque indicating the former site of the cimetière des Errancis is located at 97 rue de Monceau, Paris 75008.

Between 1844 and 1859 (probably in 1848), the remains of all those buried there will be moved to the Catacombs of Paris.

Bonaparte is put under house arrest at Nice for his association with the Robespierres following the fall of the brothers in the July 1794 Thermidorian Reaction.

He is released within two weeks and due to his technical skills, is asked to draw-up plans to attack Italian positions in the context of France's war with Austria.

He also takes part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French are repulsed by the Royal Navy.