Discussion UsefulNotes / MaximilienRobespierre

When comparing or contrasting Robespierre with Fascists I don't think Phillipe Petain is the right way to go. An authoritarian who did terrible things to be sure, but not a Fascist. He was not the leader of a group of radical political agitators who worked himself into power from the outside the traditional establishment or a nationalist populist revolutionary but was an existing fixture in the French government who was a Throne & Altar sort of old guard conservative in the tradition of Joseph de Maistre. (In contrast the Doctrine of Fascism by Mussolini and or Giovanni Gentile reads, "History doesn't travel backwards. The fascist doctrine has not taken De Maistre as its prophet. Monarchical absolutism is of the past, and so is ecclesiolatry.") The closest equivalent to the Italian Fascists and German National Socialists in France that held power were the members of the Neosocialist movement whom Hitler wanted represented and therefore pressed for guys like Rene Belin and Marcel Deat to be given high ranking positions in the Vichy government which culminated with the appointment of Pierre Laval as Petain's replacement as the head of state. Petain was allowed to stick around initially because he was already someone duly appointed in the French government before the invasion who surrendered and complied with their demands. Alternatively, Jacques Doriot's French Popular Party was the most popular Fascist party in France before the war. He was considered dangerous for his revolutionary attitude by the initial Vichy government and wound up leaving to fight for Germany. So yeah, I think that part should be tweaked in some way.