Jean Nicolas Billaud-Varenne

Born Apr. 23, 1756, in La Rochelle; died June 13, 1819, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Figure in the Great French Revolution; Jacobin.

Billaud-Varenne was a lawyer. He was a member of the Commune of Paris created during the uprising of Aug. 10, 1792. Beginning in September 1792 he was a deputy to the Convention. He came out in favor of the limitation of social inequality. A supporter of revolutionary terror, Billaud-Varenne became a member of the Committee of Public Safety in September 1793. During the period of the split in the Jacobin bloc, he fought against the supporters of G. J. Danton and Hébert. During the counterrevolution of 9 Thermidor (July 27–28, 1794) he was an opponent of M. Robespierre. Billaud-Varenne was arrested during the Thermidorean reaction and in 1795 was exiled to Cayenne (French Guiana). Billaud-Varenne refused to accept the amnesty offered by Napoleon Bonaparte and remained in exile.