Jean-Lambert Tallien: flesh and blood of the French Revolution (on the book by D. V. Zaytseva)

In her monograph “Jean-Lambert Tallien: the Unloved Son of the French Revolution” (Moscow, 2023), research fellow at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and senior lecturer at the State Academic University for the Humanities Daria Zaytseva traces the life of Tallien, a member of the Commune of Paris in 1792, Jacobin and Montagnard who became famous for being the first to speak out against M. Robespierre on 9 Thermidor. Analyzing the various stages of his career and debunking Tallien’s “black legend”, D. Zaytseva comes to the conclusion that the hero of her research was in demand while the Revolution was going on, but he found himself out of place and died in complete poverty when “creators” were needed instead of “destroyers”. Without disputing D. Zaytseva’s conclusions, the author of the review suggests that Tallien was essentially a creation of the Revolution. It gave him everything: a position in society, respect, power. Without any profession, but with determination, courage and political views that were appropriate to the moment, he took his place among the political elite of France. Although he remains a very controversial figure in the eyes of posterity, he nevertheless entered history first and foremost as the man who put an end to the policy of Terror.