26 Facts About Camille Desmoulins

Camille Desmoulins is best known for playing an instrumental role in the events that led to the Storming of the Bastille.

Camille Desmoulins was a schoolmate and close friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton, who were the leading figures in the French Revolution.

Camille Desmoulins's agitation sparked widespread unrest in Paris, which culminated in the Storming of the Bastille two days later.

Camille Desmoulins advocated explicitly in favour of republicanism and revolutionary violence, and mounted relentless attacks on not only the Ancien Regime, but once-sympathetic revolutionary figures such as Jacques Pierre Brissot.

Camille Desmoulins was born at Guise, in the province of Picardy, northern France.

Camille Desmoulins's father, Jean Benoit Nicolas Desmoulins, was a lieutenant-general of the bailliage of Guise.

Camille Desmoulins proved an exceptional student even among such notable contemporaries as Maximilien Robespierre and Louis-Marie Stanislas Freron.

Camille Desmoulins excelled in the study of Classical Literature and Politics, and gained a particular affinity for Cicero, Tacitus and Livy.

Camille Desmoulins initially pursued a career in law, and succeeded in gaining acceptance as an advocate in the Parlement of Paris in 1785; however, his stammer and lack of connections to the Parisian legal community proved obstacles to success in this arena.

The Comte de Mirabeau, a powerful political figure within the Estates-General who positioned himself as a bridge between the aristocracy and the emerging reformist movement, briefly enlisted Camille Desmoulins to write for his newspaper at this time, strengthening Camille Desmoulins' reputation as a journalist.

Camille Desmoulins became notorious, and was able to leave behind the poverty that had marked his previous life in Paris.

The savagery with which Camille Desmoulins attacked those with whom he disagreed drew lawsuits, criticism, and reciprocal attacks.

Accounts differ as to whether or not Camille Desmoulins was present at the Champs de Mars; in the subsequent upheaval, warrants for the arrest of himself and Georges Danton were issued.

Early in 1792, following a bitter quarrel with Jean Pierre Brissot over a legal case which Camille Desmoulins had taken up and discussed in several broadsheets, Camille Desmoulins published a pamphlet, Jean Pierre Brissot demasque, which attacked Brissot savagely and personally.

Camille Desmoulins was affiliated with The Mountain, and voted for the establishment of the Republic and the execution of Louis XVI.

Camille Desmoulins assisted in creating the first draft of the Civil Code and pushed for its implementation.

Camille Desmoulins appealed to Robespierre to help steer these institutions in a more moderate direction.

Camille Desmoulins used a variety of arguments to support his proposal, including pragmatic arguments and historical analysis, making especially heavy use of parallels to Ancient Rome:.

Camille Desmoulins made strong use of pragmatic arguments, arguing that the excessive use of terror would cause the people to detest the Revolution and lead to a counter-revolutionary backlash.

Camille Desmoulins backed up his arguments with a variety of sources from history and political theory, including Machiavelli's The Prince, arguing that generosity and the distribution of favors help a sovereign gain and maintain popularity while the indiscriminate use of violence leads to the sovereign becoming detested and overthrown.

Robespierre, initially seeking to protect Camille Desmoulins, suggested as an alternative that the offending issues of the Vieux Cordelier be publicly burnt.

Also in the seventh number, Camille Desmoulins expressed his view that it was freedom of the press and the form of government, rather than virtue, that was the essential basis of a republic.

Camille Desmoulins struggled and tried to plead with the mob, ripping his shirt in the process.

Camille Desmoulins married Zoe Villefranche and they had four children.

Camille Desmoulins was later pensioned by the French government, and died in 1825 in Haiti.

Camille Desmoulins is among the central characters in the following works of fiction:.