Le Vieux Cordelier appears in December
The first issue of Le Vieux Cordelier appeared on 5 December. It opened as a polemic against radical Hébertists before developing a broader plea for clemency.
Role range: 1793-1799
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
Camille Desmoulins Biography and Timeline — Page 3
Follow Camille Desmoulins through 106 dated historical records for France.
Camille Desmoulins, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
106Distinct records
3 of 3Page
1793–1794Years on this page
1793
Le Vieux Cordelier targets Hébertist excesses
Desmoulins initially used Le Vieux Cordelier to attack Hébert and the radical Cordeliers circle. The journal amplified disputes over how far the revolutionary government should go.
Role range: 1793-1799
Newspaper attacks Hébert's political methods
Desmoulins criticized the provocations and inflammatory journalism associated with Jacques Hébert. The quarrel revealed deep divisions among members of the once-united radical movement.
Role range: 1793-1799
Prisoner release becomes focus of newspaper campaign
Le Vieux Cordelier criticized the hardship caused by sweeping arrests. Desmoulins argued that protecting the innocent was compatible with loyalty to the Republic.
Role range: 1793-1799
Robespierre initially welcomes anti-Hébertist attacks
Desmoulins's early criticism of the Hébertist circle overlapped with concerns among government leaders about extremist agitation. Their brief convergence ended when his paper challenged wider practices of Terror.
Role range: 1793-1799
Tacitus provides language for anti-Terror argument
Desmoulins used examples from Roman imperial history to criticize political fear and denunciation. Classical allusions allowed him to question contemporary repression indirectly but unmistakably.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins disputes calls for escalating severity
Desmoulins gradually argued that relentless denunciations threatened the Revolution's own supporters. The controversy surrounding cordeliers divide over pace of revolution influenced the changing balance among revolutionary factions.
Role range: 1793-1799
1794
Dantonist Crisis
Desmoulins is imprisoned with the Dantonists after calling for clemency and attacking revolutionary excess
Role range: 1789-1795
Dantonist Crisis
Desmoulins is imprisoned with the Dantonists after calling for clemency and attacking revolutionary excess.
Role range: 1789-1795
Committee of General Security
The Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security ensure that Desmoulins and Danton are arrested
Role range: 1793-1799
Committee of General Security
The Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security ensure that Desmoulins and Danton are arrested.
Role range: 1793-1799
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security ensure that Desmoulins and Danton are arrested
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins Tried for Indulgent Opposition
Camille Desmoulins was prosecuted with Danton's allies after advocating clemency in his journalism. His writing had become evidence of alleged disloyalty to the revolutionary government.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins Tried Over Indulgent Politics
Camille Desmoulins was prosecuted alongside Danton after demanding greater clemency. His journalism was treated as evidence of political unreliability.
Role range: 1793-1799
Newspaper Controversy Divides Jacobin Club
Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier criticized repression and questioned the committees' conduct. His journalism brought open disagreement into the revolutionary political movement.
Role range: 1793-1799
Arrest of Desmoulins during Dantonist roundup
Authorities arrested Desmoulins on 31 March as part of the campaign against the Indulgents. His prominent revolutionary record offered no protection from the committees' decision.
Role range: 1793-1799
Dantonists accused of endangering emergency government
By March, critics presented Desmoulins and Danton as members of a faction seeking to weaken the Republic. The allegations converted disagreement over policy into a supposed security threat.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins condemned with Dantonists
The tribunal pronounced a death sentence against Desmoulins and his associates. His advocacy of clemency had become inseparable from the government's charge of factional conspiracy.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins executed on 5 April
Camille Desmoulins was guillotined alongside Danton and other condemned men on 5 April. His death ended the career of a journalist who had helped mobilize the Revolution in 1789.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins outlives Hébertists only briefly
The executions of Hébertist leaders did not secure the position of Desmoulins and the Indulgents. Within weeks, the government arrested and executed their rival faction as well.
Role range: 1793-1799
Desmoulins resists calls to abandon journal
Pressure mounted for Desmoulins to retract or suppress his controversial arguments. His refusal to retreat contributed to his isolation among government supporters.
Role range: 1793-1799
Jacobin Club debates censorship of Desmoulins
Members of the Jacobin Club disputed whether his newspaper undermined revolutionary government. The debate exposed the narrowing tolerance for dissent within radical politics.
Role range: 1793-1799
Le Vieux Cordelier becomes testament to clemency debate
After Desmoulins's execution, his final newspaper remained associated with criticism of indiscriminate Terror. Its fate revealed how dangerous public opposition to emergency rule had become.
Role range: 1793-1799
Revolutionary Tribunal tries Desmoulins and associates
Desmoulins appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal with Danton and other defendants. Prosecutors treated their political activity as evidence of conspiracy against the Republic.
Role range: 1793-1799
Robespierre criticizes Desmoulins's later issues
Robespierre became alarmed by the clemency arguments of Le Vieux Cordelier. Their disagreement strained a longstanding personal connection between the two revolutionaries.
Role range: 1793-1799
Trial restrictions prevent full political defense
The Dantonist trial proceeded amid restrictions on the accused men's ability to contest witnesses and accusations. The process illustrated how emergency judicial measures could overwhelm political opponents.
Role range: 1793-1799
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.