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Person1759 – 1794

Georges Danton

Also called: Danton

Revolutionary orator who led France as Minister of Justice in the crisis of 1792 and was guillotined in 1794 after calling for an end to the Terror

Born at Arcis-sur-Aube in Champagne in 1759, he became a lawyer in Paris. A huge man with a booming voice, he led the Cordeliers Club. After the fall of the monarchy on 10 August 1792 he became Minister of Justice and rallied the nation in the war crisis with the cry “Audacity, more audacity, always audacity”, though he is criticised for not stopping the September Massacres. In the Convention he helped create the Revolutionary Tribunal and the Committee of Public Safety, but later broke with Robespierre by calling for an easing of the Terror and for peace. He was guillotined with his associates on 5 April 1794.

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4 related events

  1. 1
    1791Champ de Mars Massacrerelated figure

    The National Guard fired on a crowd gathered to sign a petition for the king’s removal, splitting the revolutionaries into constitutional monarchists and republicans.

  2. 2
    1792Insurrection of 10 August 1792key figure

    The Paris crowd and provincial volunteers stormed the Tuileries Palace and defeated the Swiss Guards; the king was suspended and the monarchy fell.

  3. 3
    1792National Convention and the Proclamation of the Republicparticipant

    Elected by universal male suffrage, the National Convention abolished the monarchy at its first sitting and began counting days from “Year I of the Republic”.

  4. 4
    1793 – 1794Committee of Public Safety and the Reign of Terrorrelated figure

    Amid crises at home and abroad, the Committee of Public Safety made “terror the order of the day” and rounded up suspects; some 17,000 were officially executed.

People who appear alongside

  • Maximilien Robespierre1758 – 1794

    Jacobin leader who dominated the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and was guillotined after the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794

  • Marquis de Lafayette1757 – 1834

    Nobleman and veteran of the American War of Independence who commanded the Paris National Guard and drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and fled abroad in 1792, only to be held captive by the Austrians

  • Louis XVI1754 – 1793

    King of France, executed during the Revolution

  • Jean-Paul Marat1743 – 1793

    Physician turned journalist and Convention deputy whose paper L’Ami du peuple urged radical revolution; assassinated by Charlotte Corday in 1793

Themes this person appears in

  • The French Revolution1787 – 1799

    From the Assembly of Notables and the Estates-General to the coup of 18 Brumaire — twelve years that toppled the absolute monarchy, founded a republic, passed through Terror and reaction, and ended with Napoleon