Georges Danton

Georges Danton
Georges-Jacques Danton. Musée Carnavalet, Paris
Member of the Committee of Public Safety
In office 6 April 1793 – 10 July 1793
Preceded by	Office created
Minister of Justice
In office 10 August 1792 – 9 October 1792
Preceded by	Étienne Dejoly
Succeeded by	Dominique Joseph Garat
23rd President of the National Convention
In office 25 July 1793 – 8 August 1793
Preceded by	Jean Bon Saint-André
Succeeded by	Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles
Deputy in the National Convention
In office 20 September 1792 – 5 April 1794
Constituency	Seine
Personal details
Born	(1759-10-26)26 October 1759 Arcis-sur-Aube, Kingdom of France
Died	5 April 1794 (aged 34) Paris, First French Republic
Cause of death	Execution by guillotine
Political party	The Mountain (1792–1794)
Other political affiliations	Jacobin Club[1] (1789–1794) Cordeliers Club (1790–1794) Indulgents (1793–1794)
Spouses	Antoinette Gabrielle Charpentier ​ ​ (m. 1787; died 1793)​ Louise Sébastienne Gély ​ ​ (m. 1793)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Jacques Danton Mary Camus
Occupation	Lawyer, politician
Signature

Georges Jacques Danton (French: [ʒɔʁʒ dɑ̃tɔ̃]; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a leading figure in the French Revolution. A modest and unknown lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Danton became a famous orator of the Cordeliers Club and was raised to governmental responsibilities as the French Minister of Justice following the fall of the monarchy on the tenth of August 1792, and was allegedly responsible for inciting the September Massacres. He was tasked by the National Convention to intervene in the military conquest of Belgium led by French General Dumouriez.^[2] And in the Spring of 1793, he supported the foundation of a Revolutionary Tribunal and became the first president of the Committee of Public Safety.

During the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 he changed his mind on the use of force and lost his seat in the committee afterwards, which solidified the rivalry between Danton and Robespierre. In early October 1793, he left politics but was urged to return to Paris to plead, as a moderate, for an end to the Terror. Danton's continual criticism of the Committee of Public Safety provoked further counter-attacks. Robespierre replied to Danton's plea for an end to the Terror on 25 December (5 Nivôse, year II). At the end of March 1794, Danton made another speech announcing the end of the Terror.^[3] Within a week, Danton faced accusations of purported royalist inclinations, leading to his trial and subsequent guillotine execution on charges of conspiracy and venality.

Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed, especially during the French Third Republic; many historians describe him as "the chief force in the overthrow of the French monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic".^[1]