Question about Robespierre and The Terror

[fromrequired.livejournal.com]

 I don't have much knowledge about the French Revolution (as you can tell by looking at my userpic, I'm more of a WWII fangirl) but I'm greatly interested in it. 

So in my AP Euro History class, we had to watch this documentary about the French Revolution. I'll post a part of it below:

I'm sort of lost because I thought Robespierre originally was for the rights of the poor and the ordinary people? It doesn't seem plausible to me that he can just turn into a sanguinary dictator overnight. Even in my textbook it says that Robespierre killed everyone whom he deemed unfit for his "Republic of Virtue," but history is never that simple. I know, I study WWII ;)

Anyways, can y'all people enlighten me about the cause of The Terror and Robespierre's role in it? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions.


EDIT: Here's the part that succeeds it. It basically describes the fall of Robespierre and says he inspired later dictatorships and revolutions. 

Comments

[zanyofsorrow.livejournal.com]

I don't like that documentary very much. It leaves out too many important things/events/people and is generally more like a (very brief) summary of the Revolution. If you want to learn more about Robespierre or the French Revolution in general, you should perhaps read something about it. There are many books available in English that deal with the Terror... Palmer's "Twelve who Ruled" is probably the best.


I agree with what has already been said: Robespierre was not a "sanguinary dictator". He was an idealist who supported the rights of the poor and oppressed. The Terror was a reaction to the double threat of war external war (with half of Europe) and civil war organized by the aristocracy/clergy (for example in the Vendée). It is impossible to understand why the Terror happened without keeping this circumstances in mind. Robespierre (and others too, it's not like he was the only person to support the Terror!) advocated the use of "terreur" (not "reign of terror", that phrase was invented by historians) to deal with the counterrevolutionary threat. I'm not saying that everyone who was guillotined in year II actually was a counterrevolutionary or that they all deserved to die. But you should keep in mind why it happened and that it would be too easy to just blame Robespierre for everything when the situation at that time was very difficult and complex.