Camille Desmoulins
The fiery orator whose impassioned speech in the Palais-Royal gardens lit the fuse for the storming of the Bastille, making him the revolution's first journalist.
1760–1794 (age 34)·18th-century French journalist, politician, and revolutionary·Birthday: March 2
Biography
Camille Desmoulins was the revolution in human form: impulsive, eloquent, and fatally romantic. A struggling lawyer and childhood friend of Robespierre, he found his true calling as a pamphleteer in 1789. On July 12, with Paris simmering, he leaped onto a table outside the Café de Foy and, with a pistol in one hand and a green leaf in his hat, shouted the crowd into a frenzy. His words were the immediate spark for the insurrection that captured the Bastille two days later. He founded radical newspapers like 'Révolutions de France et de Brabant' and later 'Le Vieux Cordelier', where his wit eviscerated the Republic's enemies. Initially aligned with the radical Jacobins, he grew horrified by the Terror's excesses. His calls for clemency, alongside his friend Danton, marked him as an enemy of the new order. At 34, he followed Danton to the guillotine, a victim of the very revolutionary fervor he had helped unleash.
#1 When Camille Was Born
The biggest hits of 1760
Camille's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1760Born
1765Started school
1773Became a teenager
1776Could drive
1778Could vote
1781Turned 21
1790Turned 30
1794Died at 34
Key Achievements
- His incendiary public oration on July 12, 1789, is widely credited as the direct catalyst for the Storming of the Bastille.
- Founded and edited the influential revolutionary newspaper 'Révolutions de France et de Brabant'.
- Authored the radical journal 'Le Vieux Cordelier', which bravely criticized the excesses of the Reign of Terror.
- Served as a deputy for Paris to the National Convention.
Did You Know?
He had a pronounced stutter, which disappeared when he spoke in the heat of public passion.
He married Lucile Duplessis, whose salon was a political hub; she was executed just days after him.
The green leaf or cockade he wore on July 12 became an early symbol of the revolution.
He and Danton were executed on the same day, April 5, 1794.
“The people have broken the yoke of tyranny; it will never be repaired.”
