Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins was a French journalist, politician and a prominent figure of the French Revolution. He is best known for playing an instrumental role in the events that led to the Storming of the Bastille. Desmoulins was also noted for his radical criticism of the Reign of Terror as the editor of the journal Le Vieux Cordelier. He 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.
Portrait of Camille Desmoulins, c. 1790 (Musée Carnavalet)
Image: Camille Desmoulins Signature
Desmoulins making a call to arms to the crowd near the Palais Royal, on 12 July 1789, by Pierre-Gabriel Berthault (1802)
Third issue of Desmoulins' Le Vieux Cordelier
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress and political prison known as the Bastille. After four hours of fighting and 94 deaths the insurgents were able to enter the Bastille. The governor de Launay and several members of the garrison were killed after surrender. The Bastille then represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming and was already scheduled for demolition, but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power. Its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.
Storming of The Bastille, Jean-Pierre Houël
Jacques Necker (1732–1804), French minister of finance
The Bastille of Paris before the Revolution
People in the Castle of Bastille, (Musée de la Révolution française).