The French Revolution was a very dangerous time for people across the nation,
as the subsequent Reign of Terror that came with it resulted in the deaths of thousands.
Each day in many French cities, people who were considered enemies of the revolution or
in opposition to it were being brought to the scaffold where a guillotine stood and
they were then swiftly executed. Following the execution of the French King and Queen,
the heads continued to roll across France, and one of the most senior figures in the Revolution also
too lost his head. Georges Danton was referred to as ‘The Chief Force in the overthrow of the
French monarchy,’ but he also lost his life on the guillotine. Join us today as we look
at his execution, and remember to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Georges Danton was the son of an attorney, and he was born on the 26th October 1759.
He attended school in Champagne, and from 1773 he was educated by to Oratorians at Troyes.
He then studied for a law degree, and he went to the French capital of Paris to practice,
and he then married Antoinette Charpentier. The couple lived in a spacious apartment and
had three sons, the first would die in infancy being around 11 months old when he sadly died.
Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, the promising lawyer then enrolled in the civic
guard of the Cordeliers district, and he was then months later elected the president of this area.
In spring 1790, he founded the popular group which was known as the Codeliers Club.
But he was at this time just a local celebrity, however it would not be long before he became
a national figure. Danton was elected a member of the provisional Paris commune,
or the city council in January 1790 but was excluded for a number of months.
He had no influence really at this time, but the Cordeliers club was a group that championed
universal male suffrage, and it was on the lookout for men who were abusing power. It
would be involved in the arrest of the leadership, and was later involved in challenging Robespierre.
He was a key figure of the Cordeliers Club, and he also was part of the Jacobin club, and
he made speeches in front of their members. But as Louis XVI tried to flee France in June 1791,
Georges Danton became a leading figure in the revolution. He did not sign the petition
demanding that Louis XVI abdicated, and during the repression of some revolutionaries by the
national guard, he hid in London. But it wouldn’t be long before Danton returned to Paris, and he
was then in December 1791 elected the second assistant to the public prosecutor of Paris.
In Spring 1792, Danton resumed his role representing the revolution and he began to attack
other people in power, including the Marquis de Lafayette who was an advisor to the King.
He remained in the background as people demonstrated at the royal palace,
and it’s believed that he did not have too much involvement in the overthrow of the monarchy.
However he spoke before the Revolutionary Tribunal and he claimed that he had been responsible for
many events, but it was more the collective efforts of the people than Danton’s work.
He did play a small part in removing the King, and he was elected the ministry of justice.
He dominated other lawyers in this group, and he was able to with his revolutionary ideas make
quick decisions. He did encounter some problems with other revolutionaries as he would object to
moving the government from Paris to Blois, but then Verdun was besieged and the people raided
prisons looking for traitors. Danton then spoke in the legislative assembly saying,
‘To conquer the enemies of the fatherland, we need daring, more daring, daring now and always,
and France is saved.’ At the time Danton was speaking, the prison massacres began and Danton
was charged with the responsibility of these. It’s not know whether massacre were organised by him,
but Georges Danton did not stop the massacres of people suspected of being traitors.
He then was then elected deputy for Paris to the National Convention,
and he made every effort to end all the disputes between Revolutionary parties.
He took no part in the start of Louis XVI’s trial as he was sent to Belgium on a mission,
but he was present and voted for the King’s death and execution.
But it was later claimed that he wanted to spare the King. He had plotted to see if the English
government would intervene, but after the failing of this he voted for the death of the King.
Danton then remained a figure of the Revolution, and he then became a member of the First Committee
of Public Safety. For around 3 months he was serving as the head of the government, and
he dealt with foreign affairs and army matters. But Danton’s political work was not always clear,
and he reappeared from time to time, claiming to be the voice of the masses. But he became a leader
of the Indulgents, a moderate faction. He did not intervene to criticise the new government’s
policies, but he did disapprove of the Reign of Terror and the repression across France. He then
allegedly withdrew from political life became of his health or for his family as he was worried for
them. However he later returned within weeks and he resumed his political work. He was determined
to save his friends who were arrested or who were in danger of being arrested. However his moderate
line remained, and some of his friends along with him as time went on began to become more critical
of the system of Terror used by Robespierre and the policies of the revolutionary government.
Because of this George Danton began to attract suspicion, and other groups sought to dig their
claws in. The government did not want moderates to overwhelm it, and Danton knew that one day he
would be brought to trial. In the evening of the 30th March 1794, he was arrested.
On the 2nd April his trial began and he was charged with conspiracy, and also theft
corruption and a financial scandal. Those who followed Danton were considered false patriots
by Robespierre, and Danton was on his own. At trial Danton made a severe amount of commotion,
and he was sent to the guillotine. The jury had only seven members, and during the trial he made
violent attacks on Robespierre, and the courts president struggled to control the proceedings.
The defendents however were then taken from the courtroom before the guilty verdict and the death
sentence was passed, and they were they then had their head shaved to prepare for the guillotine.
Georges Danton was executed on the 5th April 1794. He was one of 15 people to be beheaded in the
same group as him, and this included many others found guilty of being an enemy of the revolution.
His execution took place in Paris, and it was said, ‘Danton was the first to climb into the
first of three carts which were to take the group to the Place de la Revolution.
He had to wait until all three carts were loaded so that they could go to execution together.
The loading took over an hour because Camille Desmoulins struggled a long time with the
executioner, and knocked him down twice. He refused to have his hands tied or his hair cut,
and they say the gendarmes had to help the executioner overcome Camille’s resistance.
During this time Danton was laughing in the cart and nodding to the other condemned men,
who were by now bound and placed in their carts, to show that he was
being kept waiting too long. He chatted to Lacroix and Herault, who were next to him,
saying within the hearing of the people beside the carriages near the palace courtyard rails:
‘What annoys me most is that I am going to die six weeks before Robespierre’. Eventually, Camille
appeared in the cart. His shirt was in ribbons, he was out of breath, frenzied, loudly cursing
Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety and the infamous Tribunal which served these monsters.
The condemned went to their deaths in the midst of a huge crowd of republicans, who were there to
watch the original founders of their Republic lose their heads. Seeing the procession pass,
a woman in the Rue St-Honore looked at Danton and exclaimed: ‘How ugly he is!’ He smiled at her and
said: ‘There’s no point in telling me that now, I shan’t be ugly much longer’. His face did in fact
look like the head of a lion, while Robespierre’s is like that of a cat or a tiger. When they
reached the place of execution, they were made to get out of the carts at the foot of the scaffold.
They climbed up one by one to be executed and watched as the others died under the blade.
Danton was the last. When he saw the executioner coming for him at the foot of the scaffold,
he cried out in a strong voice, ‘My turn now!’ and quickly climbed the fatal ladder. As they
were tying him to the block, he looked calmly at the blade dripping with his friends’ blood,
and bent his head saying: ‘It’s only a sabre cut’. Danton is dead, Robespierre triumphant.
The tiger has beaten the lion. But the triumph will not last, if we can believe
Danton’s prediction on his way to the scaffold – and he was a man who understood revolutions.”
Georges Danton was a leading figure in the French Revolution,
but like many of those who went against the terror and the severe
ideas of Robespierre, he made his way to the guillotine and lost his head.
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