List of people associated with the French Revolution

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a

partial list of people associated with the French Revolution, including supporters and opponents. Note that not all people listed here were French
.

A

Reine Audu Participant in
10 August (French Revolution)
.
Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione
Officer throughout the Revolutionary era and Empire; later a general and Marshal of France.
Jean-Pierre-André Amar Deputy to the National Convention from Isère; member of the Committee of General Security.

B

François-Noël Babeuf Proto-
coup d'etat
.
Jean Sylvain Bailly President of the Third Estate who administered the Tennis Court Oath; made Mayor of Paris after the storming of the Bastille; guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
Antoine Barnave Constitutional monarchist and Feuillant; guillotined.
Paul Nicolas, vicomte de Barras
A
Thermidorian; ultimately the Directory
régime's executive leader.
Madame du Barry Mistress of King Louis XV and famous victim of the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.
François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Briefly a Director; exiled to French Guiana; returned to France during the Empire.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
General, Ambassador to Vienna and Minister of War; later King of Sweden and Norway.
Joséphine de Beauharnais Empress; wife of
Napoleon Bonaparte
.
Louis Alexandre Berthier
General; effectively Napoleon Bonaparte's chief of staff.
Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
9 Thermidor; later deported to French Guiana
.
Joseph Bonaparte Eldest Bonaparte brother; supported his brother Napoleon; later made King of Naples and then Spain.
Lucien Bonaparte Younger brother of Napoleon; President of the Assembly during the Directory; later fell out with Napoleon.
Napoleon Bonaparte
General; seized power as
18 Brumaire coup. Made virtual dictator as Consul for Life in 1802. Declared Emperor of the French in 1804. Founded the First French Empire
.
Louis Antoine de Bourbon, duc d'Enghien
Prince of the Blood; son of the Duc de Bourbon; kidnapped and executed by Napoleon
.
Louis François de Bourbon
Prince of the Blood; briefly emigrated from 1789 to 1790, but returned to France; expelled by Directory
; died in exile.
Louis Henri, duc de Bourbon
Prince of the Blood
, son of the Prince de Condé and father of the Duc d'Enghien; emigrated.
Louis Joseph de Bourbon
Prince of the Blood; composed the Brunswick Manifesto
.
Charles de Bouvens Orator who had to flee the French Revolution due to his conservative views.
Louis de Breteuil
Royalist; briefly supplanted Necker in the royal cabinet.
Cardinal Étienne Charles de Brienne Royalist; President of the Royal Council of Finances shortly before the Revolution.
Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville
Girondist
(Brissotin); guillotined.
Guillaume Marie Anne Brune
Political journalist; Jacobin; friend of Georges Danton; appointed a general, then Marshal of France; murdered by royalists during the White Terror.
Edmund Burke English philosopher and politician; author of famous 1790 polemic against the Revolution.

C

Charles Alexandre de Calonne French Controller-General of Finances from 1783 to 1787, whose discovery of the perilous state of French finances in 1786 precipitated the crisis leading to the Revolution.
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Moderate;
Bonaparte; chief contributor to the Napoleonic Code
.
Pierre Joseph Cambon
Legislative and the Convention member; directed French financial policy and aided in the Thermidor coup.
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot
Mathematician; physicist;
9 Thermidor; a Director; ousted in 18 Fructidor
coup.
Louis Philippe, duc de Chartres
Eldest son of the Duke of Orleans; defected to
Dumouriez
in 1793; later King of France.
Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Cult of Reason devotee; guillotined, as was fellow devotee Jacques Hébert.
André Chénier Poet; guillotined.
Jean Chouan Royalist counter-revolutionary.
Étienne Clavière
Girondist
; finance minister 1792; died in prison by suicide 1793.
Anacharsis Cloots Philosopher and writer; guillotined.
Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois
Actor;
9 Thermidor
revolt, where he died.
Marquis de Condorcet Philosopher; mathematician;
Girondist
associate; died in prison.
Charlotte Corday Assassinated Marat; guillotined.
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb Scientist; metric system pioneer.
Georges Couthon
9 Thermidor
.

D

Georges Danton Writer; member; guillotined.
Pierre Claude François Daunou Historian; loosely associated with the
Girondists faction; served both Directory and Empire
.
Jacques-Louis David Painter;
9 Thermidor
.
Louis Charles Antoine Desaix
General; killed while leading the French to victory during the
Battle of Marengo (1800)
.
Camille Desmoulins Journalist; Montagnard; Danton associate; guillotined.
Denis Diderot
atheist
philosopher; influenced Revolutionary theory.
Jacques François Dugommier General; National Convention deputy. Killed in 1794 at the Battle of the Black Mountain
Charles François Dumouriez General; sometime
Girondist and Foreign Minister in the Girondist cabinet; eventually defected to Austria
.
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours Constitutional monarchist; National Constituent Assembly president; eventually exiled.
Roger Ducos Deputy from Landes; member of the Council of Five Hundred; vice-president of the Consulate Senate.

E

Grace Elliott
Louis Philippe II, duc d'Orléans
; resident in Paris throughout the Revolution.
Antoine Joseph Marie d'Espinassy Politician, Knight, General and Deputy; Royal of Signes and Revolutionary.

F

Fabre d'Églantine Author of the
French Revolutionary Calendar
; guillotined.
Joseph Fesch
Napoleon Bonaparte
.
Joseph Fouché Jacobin deputy;
Minister of Police
under Napoleon.
Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville Public Prosecutor during the Reign of Terror; subsequently guillotined (1795).

G

Olympe de Gouges Writer; advocate of gender equality; guillotined.
Henri Grégoire Revolutionary priest; supported Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

H

Jacques Hébert
Polemicist; editor of Le Père Duchesne
; guillotined.
Marie Jean Hérault
Constitution of 1793; Danton
associate; guillotined.
Lazare Hoche
Soldier rapidly promoted to General during early years of Revolution.
Pierre-Augustin Hulin Ex-royal soldier and one of the first revolutionaries to enter the Bastille; later general under
Bonaparte
.

I

J

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan General; victor at the battles of
Wattignies and Fleurus
.

K

François Christophe Kellermann
Promoted to General early in the Revolution; Battle of Valmy hero; Marshal of France; army administrator during Empire years.
Jean-Baptiste Kléber Revolutionary general; assassinated in 1800.

L

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Bonapartist general; author of Les Liaisons dangereuses
.
Marie Thérèse, princesse de Lamballe
Friend of Marie Antoinette; victim of the September Massacres.
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette
General; constitutional monarchist, co-wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
Claire Lacombe Feminist revolutionary, founder of the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women.
Alexandre-Théodore, comte de Lameth Leading Feuillant; formed "Triumvirate" with Barnave and Duport; eventually emigrated.
Charles Malo François Lameth Brother of Alexandre de Lameth; Feuillant; emigrated.
Jean Lannes Soldier rising through ranks to become general; Marshal of France; close to Bonaparte. Killed at Aspern-Essling in 1809.
Arnaud de Laporte
High royal government official, headed up antirevolutionary activities; second political victim of the guillotine.
Marquis de Launay
Royalist governor of the Bastille; killed after its storming.
Antoine Lavoisier Scientist; metric pioneer; tax collector; guillotined.
Charles Leclerc General; close to Bonaparte; served in Haiti.
Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas Deputy to the National Convention from Pas-de-Calais; Robespierrist and close ally of Saint-Just; committed suicide at Robespierre's downfall.
Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
Former noble; voted to execute
Louis XVI
; assassinated one day before the execution of Louis XVI.
Louis Legendre Deputy for the Seine, present at various events. Eventual President of the Convention, member of the Council of Ancients and Council of Five Hundred.
Jacques-Donatien Le Ray
Promoted French support for the American Revolution.
Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet
Girondist
faction.
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Commander of Haitian rebels fighting against French occupying forces; captured and imprisoned by Napoleon's government.
Louis XVI of France
French king at outbreak of Revolution; deposed; guillotined.
Louis XVII of France
The "Lost Dauphin"
Nicolas, Comte Luckner German-born Marshal of France; commanded troops for the First Republic; guillotined during the Reign of Terror.

M

Stanislas-Marie Maillard National Guardsman; the first revolutionary to enter the fortress in the Storming of the Bastille
Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes
Louis XVI
's defense counsel at his trial, although not known as a royalist; guillotined.
Jean-Paul Marat Radical journalist; Montagnard; assassinated by Charlotte Corday.
François-Séverin Marceau
Soldier who participated in the storming of the Bastille; later a general.
Marie Antoinette Queen consort of France; deposed, guillotined.
André Masséna General; victor at the Battle of Zürich. Became Marshal of the Empire in 1804.
Jean-Sifrein Maury French cardinal; Archbishop of Paris; royalist.
Théroigne de Méricourt
Radical agitator, organizer.
Philippe-Antoine Merlin

("Merlin de Douai")
Bonapartist
.
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau  
("Mirabeau")
Represented the
Estates-General of 1789
, despite being a noble; remained a major political figure throughout the rest of his life.
Antoine-François Momoro Printer, publisher, and
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
; guillotined.
Charles, baron de Montesquieu

("Montesquieu")
Enlightenment
political philosopher; influenced Revolutionary thinking
Jean Victor Marie Moreau General; victor at the Battle of Hohenlinden.
Gouverneur Morris American minister to France; witness and diarist of the early Revolution, 1792–94.
Jean-François-Auguste Moulin General; member of the Directory.
Jean Joseph Mounier Monarchist deputy; president of the National Constituent Assembly, 1789.
Joachim Murat Prominent cavalry general; became Napoleon's brother-in-law; later made King of Naples. Executed by firing squad in 1815.

N

Jacques Necker Liberal royalist; Director-General of Finance whose dismissal precipitated the storming of the Bastille.

O

Louis Philippe II, duc d'Orléans
First
Prince of the Blood
; supported the Revolution, taking the name Philippe Egalité; voted to execute his cousin the King; later guillotined on suspicion of plotting to become King.
Louis Philippe d'Orléans
King of the French
.

P

Thomas Paine American revolutionary writer; moved to France during French Revolution but subsequently fell out of favor; arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death during Reign of Terror, but survived.
Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
Girondists; committed suicide during Reign of Terror
.
Pierre Philippeaux Montagnard; Danton associate; guillotined.
Philippe Egalité See
Orléans, Louis Philippe II, duc d'
above.
Charles Pichegru
General; member of the Council of Five Hundred; conspirator in the Coup of 18 Fructidor.
Claude Antoine, comte Prieur-Duvernois
("Prieur de la Côte-d'Or")
Engineer;
9 Thermidor; Council of Five Hundred member during Directory
.
Pierre Louis Prieur
("Crieur de la Marne")
National Constituent Assembly secretary; Committee of Public Safety member; exiled following Bourbon Restoration.
Louis, comte de Provence
Louis XVI
's younger brother; emigrated 1791; declared himself Louis XVIII, King of France in 1795, but did not actually assume the throne until 1814.

Q

R

Jean-François Rewbell Deputy; Feuillant; member of the Directory.
Maximilien Robespierre
9 Thermidor
.
Comte de Rochambeau Senior general and former commander of French troops during the
Armee du Nord for the Republic
; imprisoned during the Reign of Terror but not executed.
Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière
Girondist
; interior minister in 1792; committed suicide in 1793 following his wife's condemnation.
Madame Roland
(Manon-Jeanne Roland, née Philpon)
Jean-Marie Roland's wife; author of influential Revolutionary writings under Roland's name; salonière
; guillotined.
Gilbert Romme Initially a
French Republican Calendar
; condemned after Girondists' return to power; committed suicide before execution.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Enlightenment
political philosopher; influenced Revolutionary thinking.
Jacques Roux Hébertist leader of the Enragés faction; member of Paris Commune; arrested during Reign of Terror; committed suicide before trial.

S

Marquis de Sade Author of erotica and philosophy; imprisoned on charges of sodomy and poisoning at the outbreak of the Revolution; released 1790; elected to the National Convention; escaped execution during the Reign of Terror.
Jean Bon Saint-André
Montagnard; Committee of Public Safety member; later became a naval officer and administrator.
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
9 Thermidor
.
Joseph Servan General; Minister of War.
Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Although a
Bonaparte
.
Madame de Staël
Daughter of Jacques Necker; salonière and writer; adopted moderate Revolutionary position; opposed Napoleon.

T

Jean Lambert Tallien
Thermidorian
.
Madame Tallien
(Thérésa Tallien, née Teresa Cabarrús)
Her moderating influence on her husband
9 Thermidor
, earning her the moniker Notre-Dame de Thermidor ("Our Lady of Thermidor").
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
("Talleyrand")
Clergyman and diplomat; initially a royalist, then revolutionary; co-wrote the
Bonaparte and the Bourbon Restoration
.
Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target Lawyer and politician; deputy of the
Estates-General of 1789; survived Reign of Terror to become Directory
politician.
Jean Baptiste Treilhard Deputy from Paris; held multiple high-ranking offices including Director.

U

V

Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Girondist
leader; guillotined.
Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac
Robespierre; later a Bonapartist
.
Voltaire
(François-Marie Arouet)
Enlightenment
author and philosopher whose writings influenced Revolutionary thinking.

See also

Further reading

  • Ballard, Richard. A New Dictionary of the French Revolution (2011) excerpt and text search
  • Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, ed. The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History (3 vol. 2006)
  • Furet, Francois, et al. eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989) long articles by scholars excerpt and text search
  • Hanson, Paul R. Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution (2004)
  • Ross, Steven T.
    Historical Dictionary of the Wars of the French Revolution (1998)
  • Scott, Samuel F. and Barry Rothaus, eds. Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution (2 vol. 1985) full text online