Tom Holland

speaker

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.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 92 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 11.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

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

And because he has been arguing this since 1789, at a time where this prescription was unthinkable to most enthusiasts for the revolution, it gives him the moral authority to push this policy and not to seem like he's just kind of dreamt it up as a way of buttressing his own power. matched

So, as late as the trial of Louis XVI, for which Robespierre had voted, he'd expressed his hope that Louis' execution would be the last that the revolution would require, that there would be no need for the state to mandate. matched

the putting to death of any further person. matched

But as you said in the previous episode, the thing that changes everything is the defection of du Maurier, this former Girondin minister who had won great victories for the French Republic, but then had kind of turned coat and gone over to the enemies of France. matched

which had been interpreted by Robespierre, as by Jacobin, Montagnard, and people like that, as a potentially mortal blow to the revolution. matched

Because it's a potentially mortal blow, that means that those who are responsible for it cannot possibly be treated with mercy. matched

So to quote Robespierre, for every attempt made against the security of the state or the liberty, equality, unity and indivisibility of the republic, capital punishment is now the only appropriate punishment. matched

And people understand that this goes against his opposition to capital punishment, but they kind of matched

respect the fact that he's prepared to sacrifice that principle on the much greater principle, which is that the revolution must be saved. matched

And so he's not seen as someone who is shifting his position. matched

He's being seen as someone who is matched

cleaving to the ultimate needs of the revolution, even if that comes as moral cost to himself. matched

Well, virtue, I think they do explicitly say that virtue without teeth is worth nothing. matched

Of course, yes. matched

And that therefore, terror is a manifestation of virtue. matched

I mean, we'll probably come to this when we look at what happens with Danton. matched

But this idea that terror is a manifestation of virtue, this is a principle that is starting to evolve across the summer of 1793. matched

Interestingly, its initial focus is in the field of military affairs, which is absolutely not Robespierre's vibe at all. matched

I mean, he has no experience of military matters whatsoever. matched

But he supports the sending on the 4th of August of twin armies to crush insurrections in the two matched

Showing 561–580 of 53,183 · page 29 of 2660