Robespierre was the leader of the radical Jacobins in the National Assembly and, as such, backed the execution of Louis XVI and implemented a successful purge of the moderate Girondists (both 1793). Later the same year he consolidated his power with his election to the Committee of Public Safety (the revolutionary governing body 1793–94) and his appointment as President of the National Assembly. Robespierre was guillotined for his role in the Terror, although he had objected to the scale of the executions.