|
Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the First French Republic". A moderating influence on the Jacobins, he was guillotined by the advocates of revolutionary terror after accusations of venality and leniency to the enemies of the Revolution. ==Early life and the revolution== Danton was born in Arcis-sur-Aube in northeastern France to Jacques Danton and Mary Camus; a respectable, but not wealthy family. After obtaining a good education he became an Advocate in Paris.〔Hampson, Norman. ''Danton'' (New York: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1988), 19–25.〕 He married Antoinette Charpentier in 1787; they had three sons. She died 10 February 1793, whereupon Danton married Louise Sébastienne Gély, aged 16, daughter of Marc-Antoine Gély, court usher (huissier-audiencier) at the Parlement de Paris and member of the Club des Cordeliers. She looked after his two surviving sons. As a child, he was attacked by several animals, resulting in the disfigurement and scarring of the skin on his face, also contributed to by smallpox. Danton's first appearance in the Revolution was as president of the Cordeliers club, whose name derives from the former convent of the Order of Cordeliers, where it held its meetings. One of many clubs important in the early phases of the Revolution, the Cordeliers was a centre for the "popular principle", that France was to be a country of its people under popular sovereignty; they were the earliest to accuse the royal court of being irreconcilably hostile to freedom; and they most vehemently proclaimed the need for radical action. In June 1791, the King and the Queen made a disastrous attempt to flee from the capital. They were forced to return to the Tuileries Palace, which effectively became their prison. The popular reaction was intense, and those who favored a constitutional monarchy, of whom one of the leaders was Lafayette (Fayette ), became excited. A bloody dispersion of a popular gathering, known as the massacre of the Champ de Mars (July 1791), kindled resentment against the court and the constitutional party. Danton was, in part, behind the crowd that gathered, and fearing counter-revolutionary backlash, he fled to England for the rest of the summer.〔Andress, David. ''The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France'' (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 51.〕 The National Constituent Assembly completed its work in September 1791. Danton was not elected to its successor, the short-lived Legislative Assembly, and his party was only able to procure for him a subordinate post in the Paris Commune. In April 1792, the Girondist government—still functioning as a constitutional monarchy—declared war against Austria. A country in turmoil from the immense civil and political changes of the past two years now faced war with an enemy on its eastern frontier. Parisian distrust for the court turned to open insurrection. On 10 August 1792, the popular forces marched on the Tuileries; the king and queen took refuge with the Legislative Assembly. Danton's role in this uprising is unclear. He may have been one of its leaders; this view is supported because on the morning after the effective fall of the monarchy, Danton became minister of justice. This sudden rise from the subordinate office which he held in the commune is a demonstration of his power within the insurrectionary party. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Georges Danton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|