Danton biography. Georges-Jacques Danton: Father of French Democracy. Danton's practicality and sound mind

Arriving in Paris, Danton served as an assistant prosecutor, then bought the position of lawyer (1787). Speaking in the judicial chambers of the Paris Parliament, Danton quickly gained a clientele and fame thanks to his rare oratorical talent. A man of enormous height and physical strength, with an ugly flat nose, pitted with smallpox and a scarred face, he had a powerful and beautiful voice, charm and the art of persuasion. In 1787-93, Danton was married to Gabrielle Charpentier, they had three sons (the eldest died in infancy). After Gabrielie's death, Danton married Louise Gely (1793).

Already on the eve of the storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789), Danton’s voice called the Parisians to arms. Possessing all the qualities of a people's tribune, he quickly became one of the revolutionary leaders and was elected chairman of the radical club of the Cordeliers, while also being a member of the Jacobin Club.

Danton played an important role in the march of the poor to Versailles (October 5-6, 1789). Forced to flee to England in 1791, upon his return he was elected deputy prosecutor of the Paris Commune. Danton called on the people to overthrow the king (July 17, 1792), holding posts in the Executive Committee and the Rebel Commune, and participated in the preparation of the uprising on August 10, 1792. After the overthrow of the monarchy, he was appointed Minister of Justice revolutionary government. He was one of the few who managed to maintain composure during the offensive of the interventionists in August-September 1792. He prevented the government from leaving Paris, sent commissioners to the provinces to inspire the masses and recruit volunteers, and arrested about three thousand suspects in Paris. On September 2, 1792, Danton spoke from the rostrum of the Legislative Assembly: “The sound of the alarm bell is not an alarm, but a call to fight the enemies of the fatherland. To defeat them, you need courage, courage and courage again, and then France will be saved !". At the same time, as Minister of Justice, Danton was guilty of conniving at the mass extrajudicial killings of royalists in the prisons of Paris (September 1792). As a deputy of the Convention, he voted for the execution of Louis XVI and actively fought against the Girondins. During this period he also worked foreign policy, the organization of the revolutionary army. In 1793, on the initiative of Danton, a revolutionary tribunal was created, which took the path of terror. However, after the defeat of the Girondins, he believed that the achievements of the revolution had already been sufficiently consolidated, Danton began to speak out for the need to end the terror. “I suggest,” he said, “not to believe those who would like to lead the people beyond the boundaries of the revolution and would begin to propose ultra-revolutionary measures.” From that time on, Danton openly and decisively opposed supporters of terror, representatives of the most radical strata, Chaumette and Hebert, and helped Robespierre deal with them.

But he himself arouses the suspicions of Robespierre, who finds the Dantonist line not revolutionary enough. Under pressure from Robespierre, Danton and his supporters were arrested on March 31, 1794 and accused of having relations with the Girondins, embezzling government money, etc. The trial of the revolutionary tribunal ended with a death sentence, and on April 5, 1794, Danton and his closest associates were guillotined. “Show my head to the people,” he said to the executioner, “it’s worth it.”

Danton's personality and activities are extremely contradictory. Danton's merits in establishing the principles are undeniable French Revolution. At the same time, Danton belonged to those figures who expected quick personal benefits from the revolution. During the Revolution, Danton accumulated enormous land wealth through the purchase of national properties. For the purpose of personal enrichment, he used requisitions for the needs of the army. Danton tossed between his glory as a leader and the desire to stop the revolutionary wheel in order to calmly enjoy life and property, but tragic fate brought him to the scaffold

Georges Jacques Danton (Danton) - French revolutionary, born October 26, 1759 in the city of Arcy-sur-Aube (in Champagne), executed April 5, 1794 in Paris.

In 1787, Danton, the son of a minor official, married the daughter of a wealthy café owner, with the dowry he received he bought a position as a lawyer at a Parisian court and soon took a prominent position in the Parisian bar. As soon as it started Great French Revolution, he became one of its most courageous and gifted speakers at public meetings, in cafes and clubs. Danton was, as it were, born for the revolution: his enormous stature, the sharp features of an ugly face, furrowed with smallpox, but remarkably expressive, a strong voice, impetuous gestures, stormy and commanding eloquence, the ability to master popular speech, passionate calls for freedom and against “despotism” predisposed him to the role of people's tribune.

On July 14, 1789, he inspired the crowd to attack the Bastille: he played the same role during the march on Versailles on October 5-6, 1789. Together with Camille Desmoulins, Fabre d'Eglantine and Marat, he founded the club in 1790 Cordeliers, which, in its influence on the course of revolutionary events, competed with the Jacobin club; Danton also visited and spoke in the latter, and at one time (1793) was even its chairman. In 1790, Danton received the position of assistant prosecutor of the Paris commune (city council) and retained it until August 10, 1792.

On July 17, 1791, he collected signatures on the Champ de Mars petition for the deposition of the king. The popular uprising and attack on the Tuileries on August 10, 1792, which led to the fall of royal power, was prepared to a large extent by him. On the same day, the Legislative Assembly appointed him Minister of Justice (222 votes out of 284). Danton's attitude towards those who soon followed September murders remains not entirely clear; most contemporaries considered him one of the main culprits of these murders; he was credited with words that he allegedly said after the murders to a detachment of national guards involved in this case: “I thank you, not as the Minister of Justice, but as the Minister of the Revolution.” However, it is absolutely certain that Danton, who had a broad nature and was alien to base anger, gave the opportunity to escape from prison to several people, some even his personal opponents. In any case, he knew about the murders that were being prepared and made no attempt to prevent them, because he was no longer able to curb the divergent revolutionary elements. But the accusation of this falls on him in the same way and, in the same way, on his more moderate comrades in the ministry, for example, on the Girondin Rolana.

Georges Jacques Danton: between justice and revolution. Historian Natalia Basovskaya

In September 1792, Danton was elected to the Convention in Paris and, due to the incompatibility of the position of minister with the title of deputy, he sacrificed the former to retain the latter. On November 30, 1792, he was sent by the Convention to Belgium to organize the administration of this newly conquered country. His administration there was distinguished by the usual character of that time: state and church property was subject to confiscation, “enemies of the revolution” were arrested and executed. And here Danton, as during the September murders, often bowed to personal requests and saved the people whom he system doomed to death. Generally ruthless and decisive, backing down to nothing when it came to taking political action, he always showed kindness and the ability to feel compassion when it came to individuals. Subsequently, he was accused of using confiscations for personal enrichment and dishonestly handling public funds.

In January 1793, Danton returned to Paris for several days, just during the trial of King Louis XVI, and at the convention voted for his execution. In March he finally left Belgium, and the first months after that were his time greatest influence in the Convention. On his initiative, the main conductor was created terror- bloody revolutionary tribunal.

Danton. Feature film. Starring Gérard Depardieu

Nevertheless, Danton, finding that the republic was already secured, and not sympathizing with the extreme measures for which the Hébertists and Robespierre stood, wanting to strengthen the position of France with a number of economic measures and expedient foreign policy, began to strive for rapprochement with the Girondins, but did not meet with sympathy from their sides. They, on the contrary, brought charges against him in the Convention as one of the perpetrators of the September murders, but to no avail. The union became impossible, but Danton still did not support the executions of the Girondins; in general, at this time he became the head of the most moderate faction of the Jacobin Mountains. He pointed out the need to conquer Holland and support in England elements sympathetic to the French Revolution. He was one of the main defenders of the bread tax law.

In the summer of 1793, Danton went to his homeland in Arcy and there, a few months after the death of his first wife, he remarried the daughter of a royalist, Louise Gely. At the insistence of the bride's parents, the marriage was celebrated in a church in compliance with all Catholic rituals; Subsequently, Danton's enemies reproached him for this fact and attributed his moderation to the influence of his wife. From about this time, Danton's influence, thanks to the dominance of extreme elements, began to rapidly decline. From Committee of Public Safety he was expelled. In March 1794, he helped Robespierre deal with the Hébertists. Meanwhile, it was no secret to anyone that Robespierre, following the opponents on the left, had in mind to exterminate the opponents on the right, the “moderantists.” Danton was warned about the danger, but he refused to run, saying that “the homeland cannot be carried away on the soles of boots.” In addition, Danton in recent months showed some apathy and fatigue, which made it easier for his enemies to fight against him.

On the night of April 1, 1794, Danton, along with his friends Desmoulins, Westermann and others, was arrested by order of the Committee of Public Safety. On April 3, the prisoners were put on trial by the revolutionary tribunal founded by Danton himself. Danton was accused of accepting money from the court and of having criminal relations with a traitor Dumouriez and conspired to overthrow the republic and enthrone Duke of Orleans. Trial was carried out without observing formalities, without any guarantees of justice; no serious evidence was provided to support the accusation.

Danton behaved courageously at the trial, treating the judges with complete contempt and complete indifference to his fate. When asked about his name, age and place of residence, Danton replied: “My name is Danton; it is quite famous in the revolution; I am 35 years old; My home will soon be Nothing, but my name will live in the Pantheon of history.” After the death sentence was announced, Danton said: “Robespierre will follow me.” On April 5, Danton, along with 13 Dantonists, was guillotined. Before execution, he told the executioner: “One belt is enough for me, save the other for Robespierre.”

Danton's revolutionary mood was often explained by the embitterment of a man who was in debt all around, and who saw in the revolution a means of improving his affairs. But it has now been established that before the revolution he earned good money as a lawyer.

) - French revolutionary, one of the founding fathers of the First French Republic, co-chairman of the Cordeliers Club, Minister of Justice during the French Revolution, first chairman of the Committee of Public Safety.

Youth. Advocate

Danton's foreign policy

After the victory at Jemapes, Danton was sent by the Convention to Belgium to organize the conquered region. Later, in view of the irritation that the policy of intervention caused in neighboring states, Danton insisted at the convention on the decision not to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations (April 13) and not to undertake either offensive wars or conquests (June 15). The goal of further diplomatic relations and military armaments was peace and recognition of the republic by other powers. Danton helped replace the parliamentary government of the Gironde with a temporary revolutionary dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety and began to fight opponents of the revolution inside and outside France through revolutionary tribunals and colossal recruitments. The period of time from April 1793 to September 1793 is the era of Danton's greatest influence. In foreign relations, he outlined a whole system of policies for his successors: in England, support all opposition elements against Pitt, achieve the neutrality of small powers - Denmark, Sweden, etc., try to separate Prussia and Bavaria from the coalition, tame Sardinia and Spain by force, fight irreconcilably against Austria, creating difficulties for it in the East with agitation in Poland and Turkey.

Conviction and execution

Since the establishment of the second Committee of Public Safety, the transfer of power begins, on the one hand, to the Hébertists, on the other, to Robespierre. Danton weakly resisted this and was often absent from Paris, relying too much on his popularity. He did not approve of the continuation of executions, for which he began to receive accusations of excessive leniency. Shortly before his arrest, Danton allegedly answered friends who suggested he flee France: “Is it possible to carry away your homeland on the soles of your boots?”

After the fall of the Hébertists, when Robespierre's influence reached its apogee, on March 31, 1794, Danton and his friends were arrested by order of the joint committees of public safety and general safety; this measure was approved by the convention based on the report of Saint-Just, compiled according to Robespierre's sketches. From the very beginning, the process was conducted in violation of all formalities; By a new resolution of the convention, at the suggestion of Saint-Just, the accused were directly outlawed. The Dantonists (Camille Desmoulins, Hérault de Sechelles, Fabre d'Eglantine, etc.) were accused of plotting to overthrow the national representation and the republic, were convicted and died on the guillotine. On the way to the scaffold, Danton encouraged himself with the words: “Go ahead, Danton, you must not know weakness! And driving past the house where Robespierre lived, Danton shouted out prophetic words: “Maximilian, I’m waiting for you, you will follow me!”

Testimony of the executioner Charles Henri Sanson: “First, Hérault de Sechelles ascended the scaffold, and Danton with him, not waiting to be called. The assistants had already grabbed Hérault and put a bag over his head when Danton came up to hug him, since Hérault could no longer say goodbye to him. Then Danton exclaimed: “Fools!” Will you stop the heads from kissing in the sack?..” The guillotine knife had not yet been cleared when Danton was already approaching; I held him back, inviting him to turn away while the corpse was removed, but he just shrugged his shoulders contemptuously: “A little more or less blood on your car, what’s the importance?” just don’t forget to show my head to the people; It’s not every day that you see such heads.” These were his last words."

In culture

To the cinema

Andrzej Wajda shot the film Danton in France in 1982, in which Gérard Depardieu played the main role.

Romain Rolland dedicated a play of the same name to Danton.
"The French Revolution" (film, 1989). As Danton, Klaus Maria Brandauer

Memory

In 1891, the Paris city council decided to erect a monument to Danton.
Drama by Georg Büchner "The Death of Danton".
The name "Danton" was given to a French naval battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Notes

Literature

Danton J.-J.. - Kharkov, 1924.
Levandovsky A. Danton. - M.: Young Guard, 1964. - (Life of wonderful people).
Fridlyand G. S.. - M., 1965.
Molchanov N. Montagnards. - M.: Young Guard, 1989. - (Life of wonderful people).
Valovaya D., Valovaya M., Lapshina G. Boldness. - M.: Young Guard, 1989. - 320 p.
Tolstoy A. N.

Source

Shchepkin E. N.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Excerpt characterizing Danton, Georges Jacques

Military science, seeing in history countless examples of the fact that the mass of troops does not coincide with strength, that small detachments defeat large ones, vaguely recognizes the existence of this unknown multiplier and tries to find it either in geometric construction, or in weapons, or—the most common thing—in the genius of commanders. But substituting all these multiplier values does not produce results consistent with historical facts.
Meanwhile, one only has to abandon the false view that has been established, for the sake of the heroes, about the reality of the orders of the highest authorities during the war in order to find this unknown x.
X this is the spirit of the army, that is, a greater or lesser desire to fight and expose oneself to the dangers of all the people who make up the army, completely independent of whether people fight under the command of geniuses or non-geniuses, in three or two lines, with clubs or guns firing thirty once a minute. People who have the greatest desire to fight will always put themselves in the most advantageous conditions for a fight.
The spirit of the army is a multiplier for mass, giving the product of force. To determine and express the value of the spirit of the army, this unknown factor, is the task of science.
This task is possible only when we stop arbitrarily substituting instead of the value of the entire unknown X those conditions under which force is manifested, such as: orders of the commander, weapons, etc., taking them as the value of the multiplier, and recognize this unknown in all its integrity, that is, as a greater or lesser desire to fight and expose oneself to danger. Then only, expressing the known equations historical facts, from a comparison of the relative value of this unknown one can hope to determine the unknown itself.
Ten people, battalions or divisions, fighting with fifteen people, battalions or divisions, defeated fifteen, that is, they killed and captured everyone without a trace and themselves lost four; therefore, four were destroyed on one side and fifteen on the other. Therefore four was equal to fifteen, and therefore 4a:=15y. Therefore, w: g/==15:4. This equation does not give the value of the unknown, but it does give the relationship between two unknowns. And by subsuming various historical units (battles, campaigns, periods of war) under such equations, we obtain series of numbers in which laws must exist and can be discovered.
The tactical rule that one must act in masses when advancing and separately when retreating unconsciously confirms only the truth that the strength of an army depends on its spirit. In order to lead people under the cannonballs, more discipline is needed, which can only be achieved by moving in masses, than in order to fight off attackers. But this rule, which loses sight of the spirit of the army, constantly turns out to be incorrect and is especially strikingly contrary to reality where there is a strong rise or decline in the spirit of the army - in all people's wars.
The French, retreating in 1812, although they should have defended themselves separately, according to tactics, huddled together, because the morale of the army had fallen so low that only the mass held the army together. The Russians, on the contrary, according to tactics, should have attacked en masse, but in reality they are fragmented, because the spirit is so high that individuals strike without the orders of the French and do not need coercion in order to expose themselves to labor and danger.

The so-called partisan war began with the enemy’s entry into Smolensk.
Before guerrilla warfare was officially accepted by our government, thousands of people of the enemy army - backward marauders, foragers - were exterminated by the Cossacks and peasants, who beat these people as unconsciously as dogs unconsciously kill a runaway rabid dog. Denis Davydov, with his Russian instinct, was the first to understand the meaning of that terrible club, which, without asking the rules of military art, destroyed the French, and the glory of the first step to legitimize this method of war belongs to him.
On August 24, Davydov’s first partisan detachment was established, and after his detachment others began to be established. The further the campaign progressed, the more the number of these detachments increased.
The partisans destroyed Great Army in parts. They picked up those fallen leaves that fell of their own accord from the withered tree - the French army, and sometimes shook this tree. In October, while the French were fleeing to Smolensk, there were hundreds of these parties of various sizes and characters. There were parties that adopted all the techniques of the army, with infantry, artillery, headquarters, and the comforts of life; there were only Cossacks and cavalry; there were small ones, prefabricated ones, on foot and on horseback, there were peasant and landowner ones, unknown to anyone. There was a sexton as the head of the party, who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was the elder Vasilisa, who killed hundreds of French.
The last days of October were the height of the partisan war. That first period of this war, during which the partisans, surprised at their own audacity, were afraid at every moment of being caught and surrounded by the French and, without unsaddled and almost without dismounting from their horses, hid in the forests, expecting a pursuit at every moment, has already passed. Now this war had already been defined, it became clear to everyone what could be done with the French and what could not be done. Now only those detachment commanders who, with their headquarters, according to the rules, walked away from the French, considered many things impossible. The small partisans, who had long since begun their work and were closely looking out for the French, considered it possible what the leaders of large detachments did not dare to think about. The Cossacks and men who climbed among the French believed that now everything was possible.
On October 22, Denisov, who was one of the partisans, was with his party in the midst of partisan passion. In the morning he and his party were on the move. All day long, through the forests adjacent to the high road, he followed a large French transport of cavalry equipment and Russian prisoners, separated from other troops and under strong cover, as was known from spies and prisoners, heading towards Smolensk. This transport was known not only to Denisov and Dolokhov (also a partisan with a small party), who walked close to Denisov, but also to the commanders of large detachments with headquarters: everyone knew about this transport and, as Denisov said, sharpened their teeth on it. Two of these large detachment leaders - one Pole, the other German - almost at the same time sent Denisov an invitation to each join his own detachment in order to attack the transport.
“No, bg”at, I’m with a mustache myself,” said Denisov, having read these papers, and wrote to the German that, despite the spiritual desire that he had to serve under the command of such a valiant and famous general, he must deprive himself of this happiness, because he had already entered under the command of a Pole general. He wrote the same thing to the Pole general, notifying him that he had already entered under the command of a German.
Having ordered this, Denisov intended, without reporting this to the highest commanders, together with Dolokhov, to attack and take this transport with his own small forces. The transport went on October 22 from the village of Mikulina to the village of Shamsheva. On the left side of the road from Mikulin to Shamshev there were large forests, in some places approaching the road itself, in others a mile or more away from the road. Through these forests all day long, now going deeper into the middle of them, now going to the edge, he rode with Denisov’s party, not letting the moving French out of sight. In the morning, not far from Mikulin, where the forest came close to the road, Cossacks from Denisov’s party captured two French wagons with cavalry saddles that had become dirty in the mud and took them into the forest. From then until the evening, the party, without attacking, followed the movement of the French. It was necessary, without frightening them, to let them calmly reach Shamshev and then, uniting with Dolokhov, who was supposed to come to a meeting in the evening at the guardhouse in the forest (a mile from Shamshev), at dawn, fall from both sides out of the blue and beat and take everyone at once.
Behind, two miles from Mikulin, where the forest approached the road itself, six Cossacks were left, who were supposed to report as soon as new French columns appeared.
Ahead of Shamsheva, Dolokhov had to explore the road in the same way in order to know at what distance there were still other French troops. One thousand five hundred people were expected to be transported. Denisov had two hundred people, Dolokhov could have had the same number. But superior numbers did not stop Denisov. The only thing he still needed to know was what exactly these troops were; and for this purpose Denisov needed to take a tongue (that is, a man from the enemy column). In the morning attack on the wagons, the matter was done with such haste that the French who were with the wagons were killed and captured alive only by the drummer boy, who was retarded and could not say anything positive about the kind of troops in the column.
Denisov considered it dangerous to attack another time, so as not to alarm the entire column, and therefore he sent forward to Shamshevo the peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who was with his party, to capture, if possible, at least one of the French advanced quarterers who were there.

It was an autumn, warm, rainy day. The sky and horizon were the same color muddy water. It seemed like fog fell, then suddenly it began to rain heavily.
Denisov rode on a thoroughbred, thin horse with toned sides, wearing a cloak and a hat with water flowing from it. He, just like his horse, who was squinting his head and pinching his ears, winced from the slanting rain and looked anxiously ahead. His face, emaciated and overgrown with a thick, short, black beard, seemed angry.
Next to Denisov, also in a burka and papakha, on a well-fed, large bottom, rode a Cossack esaul - an employee of Denisov.
Esaul Lovaisky - the third, also in a burka and papakha, was a long, flat, board-like, white-faced, blond man, with narrow light eyes and a calmly smug expression both in his face and in his stance. Although it was impossible to say what was special about the horse and the rider, at the first glance at the esaul and Denisov it was clear that Denisov was both wet and awkward - that Denisov was the man who sat on the horse; whereas, looking at the esaul, it was clear that he was as comfortable and calm as always, and that he was not a man who sat on a horse, but man and horse together were one creature, increased by double strength.

Danton before the revolution

(Georges Danton; 1759 - April 5, 1794) - famous figure French Revolution. As the son of the Balyage prosecutor Arsi, he spent his childhood in a rural environment and, through reading books, was imbued with worship ancient world. While preparing for the bar in Paris, Danton became acquainted with free-thinking and educational literature and took an ardent part in Freemasonry. In 1787, he bought a position as a lawyer on the king’s council, considering at that time a coup from above was still possible; but in 1791, during the liquidation of old judicial positions, Danton did not accept any new ones in exchange in order to devote himself to revolutionary activities.

The beginning of Danton's participation in revolutionary events

Already from 1789, Danton actively pursued extreme revolutionary and republican ideas in meetings and clubs, played a prominent role in the events of July 14 and October 5-6, 1789 and in the founding of the Cordeliers Club. Everywhere and always Danton was against the court, the ministry, the national assembly; On July 17, 1791, he called on the people on the Champ de Mars to sign a petition for the deposition of the king. After the suppression of this movement, Danton fled to England for six weeks and returned only for the elections to the Legislative Assembly. He was not elected as a deputy, but began in Paris to prepare the deposition of the king, either as a department administrator, or as a comrade prosecutor of the Paris Commune, or in clubs, or among the detachments of the people's army - the federates of Marseille and Brittany or the Entants-Rouges from the Faubourg Seine -Antoine.

Danton at the head of the Jacobins and the Terror

On the night of 9–10 August 1792, Danton gave impetus to the formation of a new, more republican general council of the commune, arrested Mand, Lafayette's successor in command of the national guard, and replaced him with Santerre. After 10 August Danton was appointed Minister of Justice. Relying on the Paris Commune, he became a leader in the fight against the royalists within the country and in the defense of the borders against Austria and Prussia. Danton's enemies accused him of bribery, embezzlement, and organizing the September murders. These accusations were far from unfounded. Danton can indeed be called the main instigator of the September murders, although he himself insisted that he was simply unable to stop them. Danton reacted with complete indifference to the beating of sans-culotte terrorists in September 1792 thousand innocent citizens. He could never clearly explain the sources of his unheard-of enrichment during the revolutionary years.

Georges Jacques Danton: between justice and revolution. Historian Natalia Basovskaya

Danton was elected as a deputy to the Convention from Paris and was attacked by the Girondins here. He stood in the Convention for harsh laws against emigrants who fled from France from the murders and violence of the mob, and for the execution of the king. Danton was at one time the head of the Jacobin Club and the first chairman of the first Committee of Public Safety. The period from April 1793 to September 1793 was the era of Danton's greatest influence. After the fall of the Girondins (July 28, 1793), he developed extraordinary activities. Danton played a prominent role in creating a powerful central revolutionary government and suppressing the anarchic ferment in Paris. It was he who proposed giving the Committee of Public Safety dictatorial powers and placing large funds at its disposal. Danton was not a member of the Committee of Public Safety. To avoid accusations of striving for personal aggrandizement, he announced that he would not join the body that, thanks to him, became the first authority in the state. In the fall of 1793, Danton was not a member of the government of terror that was formally created by his hands. To divert attention, he occupied the position of a powerful patron and inspirer of this government from outside. Danton gave the main impetus to replacing the parliamentary rule of the Girondins with the revolutionary dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety and led the fight against the enemies of the Jacobins inside and outside France through revolutionary tribunals and colossal recruitments.

Danton at the head of the "indulgent"

After the victory at Jemappes, Danton was sent by the Convention to conquered Belgium to establish French rule there. occupation regime. In view of the irritation that the policy of intervention caused in neighboring states, Danton, a sober political practitioner, insisted at the Convention on the decision not to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations (April 13, 1793), and not to undertake either offensive wars or conquests (June 15, 1793). In his opinion, the French Republic should have stopped fighting Europe and sought recognition by other powers. Danton outlined a system of foreign policy, which was then followed by his successors: in England, support any opposition against Pitt, achieve the neutrality of small powers - Denmark, Sweden, etc., try to separate Prussia and Bavaria from the coalition, force Sardinia and Spain to peace, fight stubbornly against Austria, involving it in difficulties in the East by agitation in Poland and Turkey.

In the fall of 1793, the Convention began to enslave France even more. The bloodiest period of the revolution began. In view of this, a group of so-called “lenient” stood out from among the Montagnards of the Convention. Its most influential and eloquent leader was Danton, who believed that revolutionary power had already been sufficiently strengthened, and further strengthening of revolutionary terror would only undermine it. Fearing that the dissatisfied people would overthrow the Jacobin elite, the former ardent terrorist Danton now proposed to the Committee of Public Safety to repeal the acts that had put terror on the “order of the day.” As stated above, Danton also advocated a more peaceful foreign policy. But many obsessed Jacobin terrorists wanted to inflate the revolutionary war even more: it provided a reason to justify more and more robberies and violence of the “sans-culottes” within the country.

Danton. Feature film. Starring Gérard Depardieu

Danton's fight with Robespierre

The reason for the struggle that ensued in the Convention was largely personal rivalry. During Danton's frequent absences from Paris, his competitors, Robespierre and Hébert, became stronger in the Committee of Public Safety. Danton did not resist their rise for a long time, for he was often away from the capital and counted too much on his popularity. Now Danton had to strike energetically at both Committees from the rostrum of the Convention, but at the decisive moment this master of political maneuver showed inexplicable frivolity and seemed to be expecting his own defeat. He was overcome by discouragement, perhaps caused by family misfortunes. Danton's wife died while he was on one of his trips to the army, and upon returning, he ordered his wife's body to be dug out of the ground to say goodbye to her. However, despite the visible grief, Danton soon married again. There were rumors that pleasures with his new lover were preventing him from being sufficiently involved in politics.

However, Danton and his closest ally Camille Desmoulins began to call in the newspaper “Old Cordelier” to soften revolutionary terror, abandon measures against Christianity and make peace proposals to the external enemies of France. Then the new leaders of the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre and Couthon, began to look for reasons to accuse Danton of counter-revolution. Robespierre had just dealt with Hébert's group and brought his influence in the government to its apogee.

Danton's trial and execution

The Committee of Public Safety arrested Dantonists Fabre d'Eglantine, accused of agitation, and Bazire. On the 25th of Ventose II (March 15, 1794), Herault de Sechelles, a member of the Committee of Public Safety, who carried out Danton's diplomatic ideas in it, was arrested, falsely accused of treason Robespierre firmly decided to put an end to Danton, his main rival in the struggle for power. The bloody terrorist Billot-Varenne began to tirelessly pursue Danton with violent attacks.

Robespierre avoided personally speaking out against the protagonist of the events of August 10, 1792, the long-time leader of the national defense. He began to act against Danton through the hands of Saint-Just, to whom he gave materials for a report full of lies. On the 10th of Germinal, the Committees of Public Safety and General Security at a joint meeting decided to arrest Danton, Camille Desmoulins and several other people. The arrest order was signed by all members of both committees present, excluding two or three. Willingly or unwillingly, they had to become instruments of Robespierre's ambition.

When the next day the Convention learned of Danton's arrest, a riot almost broke out against Robespierre. Screams were heard: Down with the dictator! But Robespierre, with an arrogant and threatening speech, struck fear into the opposition. The deputies of the “swamp” supported him, and the Convention decided to bring the accused to the Revolutionary Tribunal.

The Dantonist trial took four sessions of the tribunal (April 2–5, 1794). The sixteen accused were divided into two categories: 1) Delacroix, Danton, Desmoulins, Philippot, Hérault de Sechelles and Westerman were accused of “conspiring to restore the monarchy, overthrow the national assembly and the republican government”; 2) ten more Dantonists were tried for bribery (it was alleged that they “conspired to undermine the prestige of the republic through extortion”). The Tribunal, according to the Jacobin principle of “amalgam,” deliberately lumped together figures accused of political crimes and their associates accused of theft - in order to tarnish the former with the proximity of the latter.

The process was conducted in violation of all formalities. The accused could not obtain exculpatory documents to be submitted to the court. Danton, however, managed to deliver a thunderous speech, and his eloquence made a stunning impression on the audience. Danton demanded that defense witnesses be heard. The Tribunal could find no reason to refuse. Then Saint-Just convinced the Convention that the accused Dantonists were rebelling. According to Saint-Just’s report, the deputies gave the tribunal the right to immediately deprive the speech and right of defense of any “conspirator” who dares to resist or insult national justice. The chief prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, said that Danton wanted to “move at the head of an armed army to Paris, destroy the republic and restore the monarchy.” Unsure of the outcome of the new struggle for power, the judges hesitated for a long time to pronounce a verdict. It is said that some members of the Committee of Public Safety entered the deliberation room and persuaded the judges to convict the accused for the “good of the Republic” (“Robespierre is more useful for the Republic than Danton - which means Danton must be guillotined.”).

Finally, the court decided on a guilty verdict. Danton and his friends protested vehemently, but were speechless; the death sentence pronounced in their absence (April 5, 1794) was carried out on the same day. Driving on a suicide cart past the house where Robespierre lived, Danton shouted: “Maximilian, you will follow me!” (And Robespierre was actually executed three months later.) Before his execution, Danton swore obscenely, and Camille Desmoulins cried. At the foot of the scaffold Danton was heard saying to himself: “Danton, take heart!” To Hérault de Sechelles, who came up to embrace him, he said: “Our heads will meet there" - in the executioner's basket. Danton’s last words were addressed to the executioner Samson: “You will show my head to the people; she's worth it."

In 1891, the Paris city council erected a statue of Danton.

Hippolyte Taine on Danton

The best artistic and historical portrait of Danton was given by the famous 19th century French historian Hippolyte Taine. The description published below is based on materials from Ten.

Danton's practicality and sound mind

Danton. Portrait by Charpentier

In Danton, unlike Marat, there is nothing crazy; on the contrary, he not only has the most sound mind, but he also has political talent to such a significant extent that in this regard none of his collaborators or opponents can be compared with him and that among the leaders of the Revolution only Mirabeau was his equal or superior. Danton is an original, original mind, and not, like most of his contemporaries, a resonant theorist and scribbler, that is, a pedantic fanatic, a creature created by books, a horse turning a millstone with eyecups and always circling along the same path. Danton's view is not influenced by abstract prejudices; he does not bring with him either a social contract like Rousseau, or social art like Sieyès, or principles or cabinet combinations. Danton moved away from them instinctively, perhaps even out of contempt: he did not need them, he would not know what to do with them. Systems are crutches for the powerless, but Danton is efficient. Formulas are glasses for the nearsighted, but he has good eyes.

Danton read little, thought little, says one educated contemporary philosopher; he knew almost nothing, and he did not have the audacity to predict anything, but he looked and saw. To imagine the divergent or similar, superficial or deep, present or possible in the future, aspirations of various parties and twenty-six million souls, to correctly assess the strength of probable resistance and the power of free forces, to notice and grasp the decisive moment, to combine means of implementation, to find active people, measure the action taken, foresee future reactions, do not repent and do not persist, use crimes for political purposes, maneuver in front of too significant obstacles, stop and act in a roundabout way, even contrary to the principles set forth, look at things and people only with the eyes of a mechanic, a machine builder - Danton steadily strived for all this on August 10, September 2, 1792, during the actual dictatorship that he assumed for himself between August 10 and September 21, then in the Convention, in the first Committee of Public Safety, May 31 and June 2, 1793. Until the very end , contrary to the views of his adherents, Danton tried to reduce, or at least not increase, the resistance that the government was supposed to defeat.

The disproportion of Danton's position and instincts

Amid the abuse and cries of the clubs demanding the expulsion of the Prussians, the capture of the Prussian king, the overthrow of all thrones and the king, Danton negotiated an almost peaceful retreat of the Duke of Brunswick, he tried to separate Prussia from the coalitions, he sought to turn the war of propaganda into a war of interests. Danton forced the Convention to decree that “France will in no way interfere in the administration of other powers,” he achieved an alliance with Sweden, he laid the foundations of the Basel Treaty in advance, he thought about saving the king. Thus, Count de Lamet, colonel, member of the legislative assembly, said that he knew Danton very well. After the September beatings, he fled to Switzerland and was added to the list of emigrants. About a month before the king's death, he decided on one last attempt and arrived in Paris. “I went straight to Danton and, without giving my name, urgently asked to be accepted. Finally I was led to Danton and found him sitting in the bath. -Are you here? - he exclaimed, “do you know that I just have to say one word and you will die on the guillotine?” “Danton,” I told him, “you are a big criminal, but there are abominations that you are incapable of, and by the way, you are not capable of informing on me.” - “Have you come to save the king?” - “Yes.” After this we had a very friendly conversation. “I agree,” said Danton, “to try to save the king, but I need to have a million to bribe the necessary people, and I need this amount in a week. I warn you that if I cannot save his life, I will vote for his death. I want to save his head, but I don’t have the slightest desire to lose mine.” The required amount could not be obtained, Danton, as he warned, cast his vote for the execution of the king, and then he contributed to the return of de Lamet to Switzerland.

Despite the mistrust and attacks of the Girondins, who seek to dishonor him and destroy him, Danton stubbornly extends his hand to them for reconciliation. He declares war on them only because they do not want to make peace, and he tries to ease their fate when they are thrown to the ground. Among so many talkers and scribblers, who have logic only in words and whose rage is blind, who repeat phrases from someone else's voice and are mechanisms for murder, Danton's mind, always wide and flexible, goes straight to the facts, not in order to distort them, but in order to obey them, get along with them and understand them. With such a mind you can go far and achieve a lot, all that remains is to choose the path you will follow. The famous bandit Mandren, under the old regime, was also an extraordinary person, only he chose the high road.

Danton is a barbarian

There are great similarities between a demagogue and a robber. Both are leaders of gangs, and each of them needs an opportunity to form their gang. Danton needed the Revolution to form his gang. Having no patronage or funds, having received the title of lawyer after great effort, Danton wandered idle for a long time and wandered through the streets and cafes. In the School's cafe, the owner, a man in a wig, in a gray dress and with a napkin under his arm, served the guests with a smile on his face, and his daughter sat at the desk as a cashier. Danton met her and offered her his hand. To do this, he had to buy a position as a lawyer in the Royal Council, find people in his small town who would agree to vouch for him, and borrow the necessary funds. Danton married and settled in the small passage of Trade. He had more debts than business. He was doomed to a profession requiring accuracy, moderation of tone, decent style and impeccable manners, to vegetate in a limited family life, and without the help of his father-in-law, who gave twenty francs weekly, it was impossible to make ends meet. In such a situation, Danton’s whole being was indignant, feeling the need for pleasure and power, all his powerful instincts of initiative and activity were indignant. Danton was not suited to the peaceful routine of our civil fields; he was suited not to the regular discipline of an old society that continues to exist, but to the brutal harshness of a society that is being destroyed or created again.

By temperament and character, Danton is a barbarian and, moreover, a barbarian born to command other people, like some vassal in the sixth century or a baron in the tenth. He is a colossus with the face of a Mongol, disfigured by smallpox. Its ugliness is tragic and terrible. Danton has the cramped face of a “grumbling bulldog”, small eyes under drooping eyebrows, a menacingly wrinkled forehead, a thunderous voice, the gestures of a soldier, his blood and energy are boiling in him. Forces that seem unlimited, like the forces of nature, are looking for a way out. Danton's powerful declamatory speech, like the roar of a bull, carries, despite the closed windows, fifty steps into the distance. He has sincere pathos, cries of indignation, revenge and patriotism break out from him, capable of arousing the most cruel instincts in the most peaceful soul and generous instincts in the most callous soul, he utters curses and curses, Danton’s cynicism is not monotonous and feigned like Ebert’s, but living, natural, worthy of Rabelais. He has a certain amount of cheerful sensuality and mocking good nature, he has a cordial and familiar manner, an open, comradely tone, in a word, Danton has external and internal qualities most capable of capturing the trust and sympathy of the Parisian plebs. Everything contributes to Danton’s innate popularity and makes him one of the leaders of sansculottism. With such data, favorable for the stage, you feel the temptation to play a certain role as soon as the theater opens, whatever the theater, whatever the actors - bums or street girls, whatever the role, vile, deadly, and at least it ultimately led to the death of the one playing her. To resist temptation, one must have aversion in the feelings and soul, developed by subtle or deep culture, but Danton does not have this. Neither physically nor morally, Danton feels disgust for anything: he can kiss Marat, fraternize with drunkards, congratulate the Septembrists, respond with the expressions of dray drivers to the curses of street women, live together with mazuriki, thieves, with Corras, Westermann, Huguenin and Rossignol, notorious villains, whom he sent to the departments after September 2.

In order to work in the mud, you need to be dirty, you don’t need to hold your nose when people like this they come for their earnings, you need to pay them well, contact them with words of approval. Danton agrees to this and applies himself to vices; he is not at all embarrassed. He does not rebel against the fact that bribes are taken. Danton himself took money from the court in order to be able to play his role, spent it against the court itself and, probably, laughed internally, just as a peasant in a blouse laughs mentally when he manages to deceive his landowner, just like how the Frank laughed, as ancient historians describe, when he received money from the Romans and then used it to wage war with them. Danton has no respect for himself or for others; the precise and delicate restrictions surrounding the human personality seem to him the inventions of lawyers and salon decorum. Like Clovis, he tramples them, and like Clovis, in the same way, with the worst gang, Danton rushes at the wavering society with the goal of destroying it and recreating it for his own benefit.

The clarity of Danton's view of the essence of the revolution

From the very beginning, Danton understood the character and normal means of making a revolution, that is, the use of popular force. In 1788 he already took part in the revolts. From the very beginning, Danton understood the final object and final result of the revolution, that is, the dictatorship of a violent minority: the day after July 14, 1789, he founded in his quarter a small republic, independent, aggressive, the center of the party, a refuge for children without parents, a meeting place fanatics, a den of all people with fevered brains and all murderers, swindlers, ghost-seers and rapists, newspaper or street talkers, and in this more than Jacobin state, which he will subsequently establish, Danton reigns, as he will reign later, as the eternal chairman of the district, battalion commander, club speaker, instigator of all kinds of attacks. There usurpation is the rule, no legitimate authority is recognized; they flaunt the king, ministers, judges, the assembly, the municipality, the mayor, and the chief of the national guard. By nature and principle they have placed themselves above the laws: the district takes Marat under its protection, places two sentries at his door to protect him from persecution, and resists with arms in hand against the armed force entrusted with executing the order of arrest. Better yet, in the name of Paris, the “first sentinel of the nation,” they claim to govern France. So Danton announces in the National Assembly that the citizens of Paris are the natural representatives of eighty-three departments and invites him, on their orders, to cancel the decree already issued.

This is the whole idea of Jacobinism. With his penetrating mind, Danton penetrated into it to the depths and announced it in proper terms; Now, in order to apply it widely in practice, Danton can only move from a small theater to a large one, from the Cordeliers to the Commune, to the Ministry, to the Committee of Public Safety, and in all these theaters he plays the same role with the same result. Despotism, established by force and supported by fear, is its goal and its means; it is Danton, adjusting the means to the end and the end to the means, who leads the great days and calls forth the decisive measures of the Revolution - August 10, September 2, May 31, June 2, a decree raising in every large city an army of sans-culottes who are paid a salary to threaten their spades to the aristocrats, a decree that in every commune where bread is dear, taxes the rich to enable the poor to buy grain, a decree that provides the workers forty sous for each meeting in sections, the establishment of a Revolutionary Tribunal, a proposal to transform the Committee of Public Safety into a provisional government , the proclamation of terror, the use of seven thousand delegates of the primary meetings as agents of general armament. Thanks to Danton, incendiary words are uttered that excite all the youth and drive them to the borders; thanks to him, reasonable decisions are made that limit the general militia to a set of citizens from eighteen to twenty-five years of age and put an end to the outrages of the mob singing and dancing Carmagnola in the very hall of the Convention.

Danton created a machine of terror, but is unable to control it

But why, since Danton created the car, does he not dare to drive it? The fact is that although Danton built it, he is unable to control it. IN critical days he is able to captivate a meeting or a crowd and control a Committee for several weeks. But the work is correct, persistent, disgusts him, Danton is not created for writing, for papers and the routine of administrative work. He will never be a policeman and an official, like Robespierre and Billot, he will never read daily rapports most carefully, he will not be a teacher of decorative abstractions, a cold liar, a diligent and convinced inquisitor, and especially he will never be a methodical executioner. On the one hand, Danton’s eyes are not covered with a gray veil of theory: he does not see people through the prism social contract, as the sum of arithmetic units, but sees them as they really are, sees that they live, suffer, especially those whom he knows, sees that everyone has their own physiognomy and their own gestures. At this sight, the whole inner being shudders, if a person has it, and Danton has it; Danton even has a heart, a broad and lively sensitivity, the sensitivity of a person in whom all the primitive instincts exist, good along with bad, which culture could not dry up, a sensitivity that allowed the September massacres, but in which a person does not dare to act with his own hand and personally accept every day participating in systematic and unrestricted killings. Already in September, “covering his compassion with sobs,” Danton snatched several glorious lives from the murderers. When the guillotine threatens the Girondins, Danton is “sick with grief” and despair. “I can’t save them,” he exclaims, “and large tears roll down his cheeks.” On the other hand, there is no thick veil of inability and hindsight before his eyes. Danton understood the internal flaw of the system - the inevitable and imminent suicide of the Revolution. “The Girondins,” says Danton, “forced us to throw ourselves into a sans-culottism that swallowed them, which swallowed us all, which swallowed itself.” “I established a revolutionary tribunal, I ask forgiveness from God and people for this.” “In revolutions, power falls into the hands of big villains. It’s better to be a simple fisherman than to manage people.” But Danton had a claim to manage them, he built a new government machine and, not paying attention to his cries, his machine works according to its structure and the impulse he gave. She stands before Danton, this gloomy machine, with its huge wheel, which crushes all of France, with its iron chain, whose countless teeth tear apart every part of every life, with its steel knife, which continually rises and falls again; its course, which is accelerating, requires every day more and more human lives, and its suppliers must be as insensitive, as stupid as it is. Danton doesn't want to, can't be like that. - He eliminates himself, he has fun, tries to forget himself, Danton believes that the main thugs may be willing to forget him, of course, they will not attack him. “They won’t dare... You can’t touch me, I’m an ark.” Danton prefers to be guillotined than to guillotine others.

Once he said or thought this, he was quite ripe for the scaffold.

Literature about Danton

Robinel. Danton, memoirs of his private life

Robinel. Danton, statesman

Danton. Selected Speeches. – Kharkov, 1924

Danton. M., 1964. (Life of wonderful people)

Fridland G. S. Danton. – M., 1965

Tolstoy A. N. Death of Danton

In France, director Andrzej Wajda shot the film “Danton” (1982), with Gerard Depardieu in the title role.

DANTON, GEORGE JACQUES(Danton, Georges Jacques) (1759–1794), leader of the Great French Revolution. Born on October 26, 1759 in Arcy-sur-Aube (Champagne) into the poor but respected family of local prosecutor Jacques Danton. As a child, he suffered a severe facial injury. In 1773–1780 he studied at the college at the Oratorian monastery in Troyes. In 1784 he passed the jurisprudence exam at the University of Reims. In 1785 he went to Paris and in 1787 bought a position as a lawyer in the Royal Council.

With the beginning of the Revolution, he became involved in political activities. He took part in the capture of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. On October 5, 1789, he convinced residents of the Cordillera district to join the Parisians’ campaign against Versailles. Together with other democratically oriented figures (C. Desmoulins, F. Fabre d'Eglantine), he created the Cordillera Club in April 1790. He advocated universal suffrage. In August 1790, he joined the General Council of the Commune. In the fall of 1790, he was elected commander of the battalion of the National Guard of the Cordillera district. In January 1791, he took the post of administrator of the Paris Department. In April, he stopped practicing law and devoted himself entirely to politics. After the unsuccessful attempt of Louis XVI to escape from France on June 20–22, 1791, he organized a collection of signatures on the Champ de Mars on July 17 demanding the abdication of the king, which provoked serious events. unrest. In connection with the Constituent Assembly's investigation of the July events, he went first to Arcy-sur-Aube and then to England. Returning to Paris at the end of August, he ran for election to the Legislative Assembly, but suffered a crushing defeat. He also failed in the elections. mayor of Paris in November. On December 6, 1791, he was elected second deputy prosecutor of the Commune (took office on January 20, 1792).

During the period of political crisis caused by the defeats of France in the war with Austria and Prussia in the spring-summer of 1792, he campaigned for the deposition of Louis XVI and intensification of the fight against external enemies. After the overthrow of the monarchy on August 10, 1792, he headed the Ministry of Justice. He played a huge role in organizing resistance to the Austro-Prussian invasion. In the context of the panic that gripped the political elite in connection with the capitulation of Longwy on August 23, he resolutely opposed the proposal of the Minister of the Interior, Girondin J.-M. Roland, to evacuate the government and the Assembly from Paris; demanded to hold the capital by any means. On August 26, he initiated the adoption of a decree on death penalty for anyone “who, being in a besieged city, talks about surrender.” On August 28, he issued a call for people's war with the interventionists: he proposed to arm all combat-ready citizens and make arrests of “suspicious” ones.

During the September Murders (the extermination of prisoners in the capital's prisons on September 2–5), provoked by the news of the fall of Verdun, he did not take any measures to restore order; considered the rage of the people an inevitable accompaniment of the revolution; The Girondins called him the main culprit of the massacre. In September he was elected to the Convention; Due to the ban on combining deputy duties with ministerial duties, he left the post of minister on October 5. Together with M. Robespierre and J.-P. Marat, he headed the faction of the Jacobins (Montagnards). Thanks to his charismatic appearance (tall stature, sharp facial features), gift of oratory and knowledge of the popular language, he gained extraordinary popularity. On November 30, he was sent to French-occupied Belgium to organize its management system. In January 1793, having returned to Paris for a few days, he voted in the Convention for the execution of the king; made a proposal for the annexation of Belgium, based on the idea of the natural borders of France along the Rhine. At the beginning of March 1793, after the defeat of the French in Belgium, he left its borders.

During the period of intensification of the struggle between the Jacobins and Girondins in the spring of 1793, he tried to reconcile the warring parties. In a situation of increasing external and internal threats (the royalist uprising in the Vendée), on March 10 he achieved the creation of a Revolutionary Tribunal with emergency powers - the first step towards unleashing terror. On April 1, he was accused by the Girondins of having connections with General C.-F. Dumouriez, commander of the troops in Belgium, who had betrayed his fatherland, and entered into a sharp conflict with them. On April 5, to alleviate the plight of the population, he proposed establishing fixed prices for bread (the law on a grain maximum was adopted on May 4). On April 7, he was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, the highest supervisory and administrative body created on April 6 to fight counter-revolution.

For three months he actually led the French government. In international affairs, he abandoned the policy of “revolutionary war” and unconditional assistance to all peoples who rebelled against “tyranny”, and proclaimed a policy of non-intervention (decree of April 13, 1793). He unsuccessfully sought to reach a peace agreement with England, Prussia and Austria. In mid-May, he became convinced of the need for the political elimination of the Girondin, but there is no evidence of his participation in the overthrow of the Girondins on May 31 - June 2, 1793. In the face of federalist uprisings that broke out throughout the country in June, he made efforts to reconcile with the Girondin party, but in conditions of extreme polarization political forces left the Committee on July 10. However, wanting to avoid a split in the camp of the Jacobins, he supported the course of M. Robespierre, who actually headed the Committee of Public Safety, to intensify terror. On August 12, he stated at the Convention about the need to arrest “suspicious” people and imprison them without trial (the corresponding law was adopted on September 17). On September 13, on his initiative, the Committee of Public Safety, which was in charge of the police, was completely subordinated to the Committee of Public Safety. In the socio-economic sphere, he stood in solidarity with the Commune, which demanded the use of severe measures against speculators.

The expansion of the scale of terror in the fall of 1793 forced him to change his attitude towards the policies of M. Robespierre. In early October, he left for his homeland under the pretext of treatment. He was dissatisfied with the conduct of the trials of Queen Marie Antoinette (October 14–16) and the leaders of the Gironde (October 24–31). At the end of November, outraged by the arrest of his friends, deputies F. Chabot and K. Basir, he returned to Paris and began a campaign for mercy. He led a group of “lenient” (“moderationists”) who advocated the cessation or weakening of terror and a gradual transition to a constitutional republican order. In the context of a deepening conflict with the Jacobin elite, he decided to withdraw from political activities and at the beginning of 1794 he again left for Arcy-sur-Aube. In March 1794 he approved government repressions against the “ultra-revolutionaries” (Ebertists). At the end of March, at the request of his supporters, who were in danger of reprisals, he came to the capital, but his meeting with M. Robespierre, whom he called on to stop the terror, led to an open break. On the night of March 30-31, he was arrested by decision of the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of Public Safety. On March 31, the Convention voted an indictment against J. Danton and his associates C. Desmoulins, J. F. Delacroix and P. Philippo. Their trial (September 2–5) took place in violation of all judicial formalities and ended with the imposition of a death sentence. On April 5, they were guillotined on the Place de la Revolution (present-day Place de la Concorde) in Paris.

Ivan Krivushin