Georges Danton (26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was the President of the Committee of Public Safety from 1792 to 1794 after having briefly served as Minister of Justice in 1792. Leading the opposition against dictator Maximilien Robespierre in the later parts of his reign, Danton was one of the victims of the "Great Terror" (Spring-Summer 1794), in which Robespierre started the last stage of the Reign of Terror: killing a list of political enemies.
Biography[]
Maximilien de Robespierre shaking hands with Danton
Georges Danton on 2 September 1792 at the Quartier de Marais, Paris.
Danton was born into a respected bourgeoisie family from Arcis-sur-Aube. He studied law and eventually joined the opposition against the French monarchy of King Louis XVI, and was one of the participants in the Storming of Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792. Danton was made the Minister of Justice, and oversaw that Royalist supporters (journalists, priest, and ordinary men and women) were hoarded into prisons. Unlike Maximilien Robespierre, the dictator of the French Republic, Danton was a man full of life and bombast who was a hard drinker and debaucherer who could physically identify with the working class. In 1792 Danton was responsible for calling on the people of Paris to form a new army that would defeat the Prussians and Austrians at the Battle of Valmy. Because Danton was able to rally the people of Paris against the Austrian threat, he became a target for the Austrian spies of the Comte de Gambais, but he was saved from the Templar spy Daniel Marchand by members of the Assassin Order. The Assassins proceeded to kill the comte and the Vicomte de Gambais in the Hotel de Ambassadeurs. Afterwards, Danton was influential in the fall of the pro-Louis XVI Girondist party in 1793.
However, Danton later became an outspoken opponent of Robespierre, who was his former friend. Danton was a key rival, as he was also popular among the people and Robespierre argued that Danton was an enemy of the revolution; Danton was believed to be corrupt and lenient to counter-revolutionaries. He had Danton and many others arrested, put on his list of victims of the era called the "Reign of Terror", after he found a caricature of himself as "the New Tiberius" among Danton's personal letters.
Death[]
Danton and his friends on the execution cart
Danton and many other opponents of Robespierre were rounded up and put in carts, and sent to the guillotine for execution. Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and a few other Dantonists were sent on a cart to the guillotine, but Arno Dorian of the Assassin Order and some recruits saved him from the guards. Danton told Arno that he had to die, as he would die with Robespierre's reputation. However, he had him save his friends in the crowd and retrieve his personal letters. With his hair cut, his arms bound to a pad, and his head under the guillotine, Danton said that "My only regret is that I am going before that rat Robespierre" as his last words, and the iron plate was set loose. He was beheaded at the age of 34.
Gallery[]
