KEY PEOPLE LF3 / 01 CAMILLE DESMOULINS Lucie Simplice Camille Desmoulins was 29 years old when he uttered the words that brought him to prominence in France’s revolution. On 12 July 1789, hearing that Necker had been dismissed, he bounded up on to a coffee table amidst the milling mob outside the Palais Royal and implored the crowd ‘to arms, to arms!’ His career as a politician, journalist and rabble-rouser to that point had been somewhat underwhelming but on that warm July afternoon, Desmoulins lost the stammer that had impeded his progress and aroused the horde to pilfer weapons and then on to storm the Bastille. Desmoulins’ background and beliefs suit the archetype of a revolutionary and it is important to mention this background when ascertaining his role in inspiring the revolution. He was decidedly bourgeois – his father, a lawyer and his education, liberal. He earned a scholarship to the College Louis-le-Grand in Paris which also educated Robespierre (but it is unlikely they were school friends given the age difference). Desmoulins was a student of the Classics and particularly of the Roman Republic. By 1785, Desmoulins had secured a position as an advocate at the Paris Parlement and presumably witnessed the despotism of King Louis XVI at close quarters. While passionate, he was not a gifted orator, and, due to his stammer, he turned to writing and was sufficiently skilled that the Comte de Mirabeau hired him in the spring of 1789. He ran for election to the Estates-General but failed; nonetheless, he was a witness to the proceedings and was clearly indignant at the turn of events in late June and early July. In the following letter he describes his actions to his father: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/380/ Images of Desmoulins: Outside the Palais Royal on 12 July 1789: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/88/ A painting of Desmoulins with his wife, Lucille, and his son, Horace, by the revolutionary artist (and Jacobin), Jacques-Louis David: http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/data/images/1004805-Camille_ Desmoulins.jpg © History Teachers’ Association of Victoria 2016. This activity sheet is available only to customers who have purchased the textbook Liberating France 2nd edition (ISBN 9781875585182 — print; or 9780980831573— ebook) and have accessed the additional resources via www. historyed. 1 com.au. To purchase the textbook please visit www.htav.asn.au/shop.