Tom Holland

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53,183 appearances 201 recordings 9 series first heard Sep 2024 last heard 4d ago

Tom Holland’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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The Rest Is History · 708. The Terror: The Reign of Robespierre (Part 2) · 23 Sep 2026 podcast

They completely back him. matched

And since he essentially is the author of this constitution, of course he wants to see it put into action. matched

The problem is that he feels that France is not yet ready for it, not with the revolution being menaced by a conspiracy that threatens to destroy it altogether. matched

And so he says, what we must do is first defeat the conspiracy and then introduce the constitution. matched

And sure enough, in the event, so on the 10th of September 1793, the constitution will end up being officially suspended. matched

Yeah. matched

And Robespierre completely backs this. matched

And it's due reflection of the fact that the revolution is facing massive crisis and challenges everywhere. matched

And Robespierre feels that the focus should be not in introducing the constitution, but rather on defeating this kind of Hydra-headed conspiracy that is threatening to destroy it completely. matched

Well, if you were going to defeat a conspiracy that is menacing the people, you need the people in their entirety to defeat it. matched

So let me read what he wrote in the catechism that he was drawing up on the evening before he joined the Committee of Public Safety. matched

And this is a very brutal prescription for ending the crisis. matched

So he wrote, how can we end the civil war by punishing traitors and conspirators, especially those deputies and administrators who are to blame? matched

by sending patriot troops under patriot leaders to reduce the aristocrats of Lyon, Marseille, Toulon, the Vendée and all other districts where the banner of royalism and rebellion has been raised, and by making a terrible example of all the criminals who have outraged liberty and spilt the blood of patriots. matched

And that is a potentially exterminatory policy. matched

And it is very obviously one that contradicts Robespierre's deeply held and often expressed opposition to capital punishment. matched

So listeners may be wondering, well, what impact does this have on his reputation for unyielding principle? matched

The answer is it has no impact whatsoever. matched

The reason for this is that even as Robespierre has been saying he's opposed to the death penalty, he has also, right from the very beginning of the revolution back in 1789, been arguing that to live through a revolution matched

changes everything, that there might come a time when civilized norms would need to be suspended and that the end must justify the means. matched

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