15. Georges Couthon
Georges Couthon was a leading revolutionary who worked side-by-side with Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. He was a member of the radical Jacobin faction and, as a member of the National Convention, voted in favor of the execution of the king. He was also a member of the committee that, with Louis de Saint-Just, wrote a new constitution that legitimated the Reign of Terror. He advocated fiercely for all “enemies of the revolution” to be executed and helped spearhead the moves that led to the deaths of members of more moderate groups, such as the Girondins. He also pushed forward legislation that helped secure the Reign of Terror by ensuring that anyone who resisted the revolution could be swiftly executed.
In July 1794, the Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt against the Reign of Terror. Weary of the excessive executions (as many as 2% of the French people were arrested for supposedly being enemies of the revolution, and 17,000 were guillotined), the reaction led to the arrest of Robespierre, de Saint-Just, and Couthon, amongst other leaders of the Terror. Couthon was executed at the guillotine with the leader that he had so ardently supported. He was one of the last people to die at France’s national razor.