The French Revolution is considered one of the most important events in the history of civilization. When it ended in the late 1700s, the feudal system, the French Catholic Church as it then existed and the French monarchy had been dismantled. For the French common people that was the upside. The downside: thousands of deaths by fighting and execution, betrayals and destruction. Much of that mayhem has been laid at the feet of small-town lawyer, Maximilien Robespierre, a major figure of the revolution. But was it his fault? Listen as journalist Ernest Granson chats with Peter McPhee, professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne and the author of "Robespierre: a Revolutionary Life".