François Hanriot
François Hanriot (1761–1794) was a French revolutionary militant and commandant général of the Parisian National Guard, instrumental in advancing the radical Jacobin agenda during the French Revolution's most violent phase.[1][2] Born to indigent parents in Nanterre near Paris, Hanriot emerged as a sans-culotte agitator, participating in key insurrections including the 1792 storming of the Tuileries Palace and the September Massacres, before ascending to command the armed forces of the capital in May 1793.[1][2] Allied with figures like Jean-Paul Marat and Maximilien Robespierre, he orchestrated the encirclement of the National Convention on 2 June 1793, compelling the arrest of twenty-two Girondin deputies and purging moderate elements from power.[2][1] As enforcer of the Reign of Terror, Hanriot maintained public order, supervised mass detentions, and facilitated executions under the revolutionary tribunal, contributing to nearly 800 deaths in Paris alone during June 1794.[2] His fortunes reversed during the Thermidorian Reaction; on 27 July 1794, he mobilized the Guard to resist the Convention's move against Robespierre but was overpowered, attempted suicide by jumping from a window into excrement, and was guillotined the following day without trial.[1][2]