Marat was a doctor and a scientist. Above all, however, he was a political hothead whose radical views filled most people with revulsion. Yet the sans-culottes loved him. He was the Friend of the People and the perfect agitator whom the Parisian mob needed in September 1792 to have the murder of defenseless prisoners justified to them with revolutionary rhetoric. Marat ceaselessly called for heads – before and after the September Massacres. At the height of his popularity, he was stabbed to death in his bathtub by a young woman. In this way, Marat became a martyr of the Revolution.
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1743 - 1793
May 24, 1743 · Born in Baudry (now part of Switzerland).
1759 · At sixteen, he moves to Bordeaux to study medicine.
1765 · He emigrates to London and works there as a physician.
1774 · He publishes his first work: The Chains of Slavery.
1777 · He returns to Paris.
September 12, 1789 · First issue of the newspaper Publiciste Parisien (later L’Ami du Peuple). He is pursued by the police, flees twice to England, then returns permanently to Paris.
September 1792 · Deputy for the city of Paris in the National Convention.
October 14, 1793 · David presents his painting The Death of Marat to the Convention.
September 21, 1794 · Transfer of Marat’s body to the Panthéon.
February 8, 1795 · The Convention orders Marat’s de-pantheonization. His body is moved to the cemetery of the parish church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.
Quotes
The wisest and best way is to drag out the traitors and strike them down. What nonsense to put them on trial! Marat, August 9, 1792
The people have obeyed my voice. They saved France by granting themselves dictatorial powers to kill traitors. Marat in the National Convention, 1792, shortly after the September Massacres
Liberty must be established through violence, and the time has come to temporarily institute the despotism of liberty to destroy the despotism of kings. Marat on the Committee of Public Safety, April 6, 1793
Marat was a doctor and a scientist. Above all, however, he was a political hothead whose radical views filled most people with revulsion. Yet the sans-culottes loved him. He was the Friend of the People and the perfect agitator whom the Parisian mob needed in September 1792 to have the murder of defenseless prisoners justified to them with revolutionary rhetoric. Marat ceaselessly called for heads – before and after the September Massacres. At the height of his popularity, he was stabbed to death in his bathtub by a young woman. In this way, Marat became a martyr of the Revolution.
