Desmoulins, Camille [key], 1760–94, French revolutionary and journalist. His oratory of July 12, 1789, contributed to the storming of the Bastille two days later. His pamphlets and journals, such as Révolutions de France et de Brabant (1789), were received with immense enthusiasm. Elected to the Convention (1792), he attacked the Girondists in the Histoire des Brissotins; but late in 1793, after the execution of Girondist leaders, Desmoulins, along with Georges Danton, counseled moderation, publishing the journal Le Vieux Cordelier. He was arrested with Danton and others and was executed. His beautiful wife, Lucile Duplessis, was guillotined shortly after.
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