July 28, 1794: Maximilien Robespierre is executed.
Robespierre, one of the key figures in the Reign of Terror (which ended with his death) met his end the same way as the French king and queen, as the Girondins, clergymen, and others deemed “enemies of the Revolution”: by guillotine. He even spent his last days in the same chamber that had once held Marie Antoinette.
By the time Robespierre became President of the National Convention, fear of growing violence (which had claimed the lives of fellow revolutionaries like Georges Danton) as well as Robespierre’s growing power manifested in the form of the Thermidorian Reaction, the movement that sought to curb the excesses of the Terror. Some conspirators may have believed that Robespierre was too moderate, in fact, but whatever the case, most of them were probably fearful for their own lives. Robespierre was executed on July 28, 1794 without a trial, along with twenty-one others. This event marked the symbolic end of the Reign of Terror, and steps were taken to reduce the power of the Committee of Public Safety, which was completely abolished by 1795.
Pictured: Death Mask of Maximilien Robespierre, 1901; Source: LIFE Photo Archive, hosted by Google.