One of the handsome leaders of the French revolution: who is Louis Antoine de Saint-Just?
He was called the "angel of the revolution" because of his good looks and lack of bribery. He helped the revolution devour his brothers and played a major role in the overthrow of Jacques Rene Hebert, Danton, and their followers.
He was the son of an officer.
He studied at Soissons and Reims.
Influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he joined the French revolutionary movement and supported Robespierre.
He later became Robespierre's assistant and close friend.
He was elected to the Convention in 1792.
Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (25 August 1767 – 9 Thermidor, Year II [28 July 1794]), was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the French National Convention, a Jacobin club leader, and a major figure of the French Revolution. He was a close friend of Maximilien Robespierre and served as his most trusted ally during the period of Jacobin rule (1793–94) in the French First Republic. He contributed to the arrests of some of the most famous figures of the Revolution, many of whom ended up at the guillotine.
In his first speech, he demanded that the imprisoned Louis XVI be considered an enemy, not a citizen.
Like Robespierre, Saint-Just held firm to Rousseau's political views.
He believed that a state founded with people with true virtues would be perfect and would bring happiness to the world.
He was called the "angel of the revolution" because of his good looks and lack of bribery.
During the Terror (1793-1794), Saint-Just, Robespierre, and Georges Couthon formed a rigid triumvirate in the Committee for the Safety of the People.
Saint-Just also played a major role in the destruction of the Girondins and the overthrow of Jacques Rene Hebert, Danton, and their allies.
When the European monarchies attacked France together, Saint-Just was sent to the battlefield to oversee the defensive operation.
He made a successful campaign, pushing the enemy behind the Rhine.
On his return (1793), he was elected president of the Convention, and in 1794 he was asked to leave the military and take up duties again to assist Robespierre in a political fight.
On 27 July he tried to defend Robespierre at the Convention but was unsuccessful and was arrested.
The next day, Robespierre, along with Couthon and nineteen friends, was beheaded by the guillotine.
With their death, the era of Terror came to an end.