Georges Danton, the Thunderer, went from unknown lawyer to revolutionary giant
On the eve of 1789 Georges Danton was an obscure lawyer with a face scarred by smallpox. His booming speeches to crowds at the Palais Royal soon earned him the nickname the Thunderer, and many historians rank him as the chief force behind the fall of the French monarchy.
Danton was born on 26 October 1759 in Arcis-sur-Aube, in Champagne, to Jacques Danton, a respectable but modestly off lawyer, and Madeleine Camus. A bull charged him when he was an infant, and a later bout of smallpox left his face scarred. He studied at Sézanne, then at thirteen left home for the seminary at Troyes before moving to a boarding school nearby.
His revolutionary career began in spring 1789 among the speakers at the Palais Royal. His house on the Rue des Cordeliers was open to neighbours, and he, Camille Desmoulins and Jean-Paul Marat, who lived around the corner, met at the Café Procope. Danton shielded Marat from prosecution, and in March 1790 Lafayette ordered Danton detained. On 27 April 1790 he became president of the Cordeliers Club. When Paris elected Bailly its first mayor that August, Danton won 49 votes. In spring 1791 he suddenly began buying property on a large scale around his birthplace.
With Robespierre, Pétion and Brissot he dominated the Jacobin Club. In July 1791 he launched a petition that Robespierre persuaded the Jacobins not to support, and after the Champ de Mars massacre a wave of repression followed. Danton returned to Paris only after an amnesty in September 1791 and then lost a bid for the Legislative Assembly to moderate opposition. He later served as Minister of Justice.
During the insurrection of 31 May to 2 June 1793 he shifted his stance on force and lost his committee seat, hardening his rivalry with Robespierre. He withdrew from politics in October 1793 but was urged back to Paris to press, from the moderate side, for the Terror to stop. His persistent criticism made him a target, and he died on 5 April 1794. His exact role in the Revolution became a subject of dispute during the Third Republic.
Source: Georges Danton
