Biopic-style book of the French revolutionary
Review of The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life by David Lawday
This is a narrative that situates a boisterous, sensual, influential politician at the center of revolutionary activity, beheaded at the apogee of disorder under Robespierre. As the author admits in the intro, much is unknown about the biographical details of Danton, so he filled in the gaps with a mix of common-sense speculation and high drama. The book reads like the script for a biopic, which I do not intend as a criticism so much as a description of the author’s method. It is lively, fun to read, and beautifully written.
A provincial from Champagne, Danton moved to Paris to apprentice as a lawyer. With a natural eloquence (he hated to write but loved to speak), he rose quickly, securing a beloved wife and purchasing a valuable position within the King's legal service. Because the king Louis XVI had essentially bankrupted the state – by a combination of loans vital to the US revolutionaries and a series of catastrophic harvests – the country was in serious revolutionary ferment. In spite of his royal position, Danton rose to become one of the most popular leaders of the Cordeliers, one of the earliest and most populist revolutionary factions. In a sense, his voice enabled him to embody the revolution for his quarter of Paris, which conferred a loose kind of political power onto him for a time. Opposition came from the more moderate Girondists and the increasingly radical Jacobins.
Lawday portrays Danton as a force for justice and moderation, opposing the murderous tendencies of Marat, Robespierre, and Saint-Just, who were calling for blood to maintain the purity of the revolution. My reading of him is that he was a demagogue with little base in political theory and hence out of his depth, in spite of his ability to make detailed references to the Roman Republic. In effect he passed the legislation that created the "green room" revolutionary courts, which eventually enabled Robespierre to murder at will, leading directly to his own trip to the guillotine.
Unfortunately, the book does not offer enough detail on what the various revolutionary factions stood for. The book is also unclear on how political decisions were made, how exactly it degenerated into anarchic purges, and why it led to dictatorship – I would have liked more simple political science. While this is a failing in my reading, the book is nonetheless so stimulating that I will seek that info elsewhere, with a feeling for Danton, his milieu, and his many colleagues and adversaries. As such, it is a very good introduction to the French revolution.