6. The Aftermath Of The Terror

Question 1

When was the Repeal of Law of 22 Prairial?

Answer 1

1st August 1795 - many held under its terms were released.

Question 2

When was the separation of Church and State

Answer 2

18th September 1795 -the state stopped paying clerical salaries and this ended the ‘Constitutional Church’ branch of government.

Question 3

When was the closure of the Jacobin club?

Answer 3

12th November 1795 - all its affiliated societies were disbanded.

Question 4

When was the law of Maximum repealed?

Answer 4

24th December 1795 - public workshops, used during the Terror as an attempt to aid the poor, were restored to private ownership

Question 5

When and what was the Law on Revolutionary Government?

Answer 5

This was passed on 24th August and provided for the complete reorganisation of government and administration away from the highly centralised structure of the terror.

Question 6

What was the overall aim of the ‘Thermidorians’?

Answer 6

To ensure stability by breaking down the government during the terror.

Question 7

What was the ‘White Terror’?

Answer 7

A series of purges and campaigns against those involved in the Terror.

Question 8

On what date was Robespierre executed?

Answer 8

28th July 1794

Question 9

Who were the ‘Muscadins’ and what did they do?

Answer 9

Mobs of well off bourgeois young men who were royalists and dressed extravagantly. They supported the White terror and attacked sans culottes and Jacobins.

Question 10

Give three examples of popular reaction against the Jacobins.

Answer 10

Compagnies de Jénu - in Lyons (royalist)
Compagnies du Soleil - in Nîmes (royalist)
A violent massacre in Lyons in May 1795 - spontaneous violence seeking vengeance.

Question 11

When and what was the Verona Declaration?

Answer 11

Passed in June 1795 and was written by the Comte de Provence (Louis XVI’s brother) to encourage French glory and take revenge on all regicides.

Question 12

What role did the government play in the White Terror?

Answer 12

By suppressing royalist uprisings

Question 13

What economic crisis did the Thermidorians face in the spring of 1795?

Answer 13

By April 1795, the real value of the assignat was only a tenth of its value (due to the ending of the maximum and increased printing of assignat) and it continued to fall, forcing factories to close. Farmers refused to sell grain, causing the bread ration for Parisians to fall to 60g a day.

Question 14

What military threat did the Thermidorians face from the Royalists?

Answer 14

Compete d’Artois (younger brother) also made a bid for power, linking up with Chouan rebels and supporting a British led invasion in Brittany. In February 1795, the treaty of La Jaunaye was signed between republicans and royalist rebels.

Question 15

How did the Thermidorian’s try to crush the hopes of those seeking to reinstate the Catholic Church?

Answer 15

By banning religious dress, symbols, processions and bell ringing. It also decreed that all religious gatherings had to be subject to surveillance of authorities. However this was widely ignored by clergymen, so a new oath of loyalty was signed in February 1795.

Question 16

How did the Thermidorian’s try to crush the hopes of those seeking to reinstate the Catholic Church?

Answer 16

By banning religious dress, symbols, processions and bell ringing. It also decreed that all religious gatherings had to be subject to surveillance of authorities. However this was widely ignored by clergymen, so a new oath of loyalty was signed in February 1795.

Question 17

How was the royalist challenge weakened?

Answer 17

By the Thermidorian’s commitment to bring a halt to the external conflict. The victory at Fleurus of June 1794 led to the recapture of the Austrian Netherlands. French success against the United Provinces led to the proclamation of the ‘Batavian Republic’ in January 1795 (followed by a peace treaty in May). The Prussians opted out of the coalition, signing the Peace of Basel in April and ceding the west bank of the Rhine to France. The success of the French army in Spain forced the Spanish to make peace in July, and pre-war borders were re-established. This allowed the French army of the Pyrénées to march east and reinforce the armies of the alps, which faced Austria’s ally, Piedmont-Sardinia. This left only Britain and Austria at war, allowing Thermidorian’s to concentrate on internal matters.

Question 18

Why were there Paris risings in 1795?

Answer 18

The bourgeois Thermidorian’s favoured economic freedom for business and commerce. They ended price controls, deregulated trade and restored paper currency. However, the ending of the maximum and the increased printing of paper assignation proved disastrous, particularly as the poor harvest of 1794 was followed by a freezing winter in 1794-1795. The working class were compounded by extreme inflation. By April 1795 the real value of the assignation was only a tenth of its original value and continued to fall, causing factories to close down. On 10th May the bread ration was 60g a day, hundreds starved, froze or committed suicide.

Question 19

How did the sans culottes try to show their power again after seeing the weakness of the Thermidorian’s?

Answer 19

In the Rising of Germinal (1st April 1795), the government was weakened without resources, so 10,000 invaded the convention demanding ‘Bread and the Constitution of 1793’. Demonstrators were not armed or organised. When contingents of National Guardsmen arrived, they withdrew without resistance and leading agitators arrested. The convention placed Paris under martial law, gave command of the city to General Pichegru and sought out and arrested some thought to be agitators. This sped up the deportations of former Montagnards and ordered the disarming, in Paris and throughout the provinces, of all who played a leading part in the Terror.

Question 20

How did the Sans Culottes attempt a second invasion?

Answer 20

In the Rising of Prairal of 20-21st May 1795. On the 20th May, a large number of s-c women and some armed men invaded the convention. They forced their way into the meeting hall, murdering the deputy Jean-Bertrand Féraud, who tried to stop them. They demanded the release of Jacobin prisoners, the reinstatement of the constitution of 1793 and new controls to ensure a better food supply in the capital. The convention agreed a new food commission. Further trouble occurred the following day when 20,000 sans culottes and national guards loaded canon on the convention. 40,000 solders were called in to dispel the crowds. No shots were fired, the two sides negotiated, petitions presented and the sans culottes withdrew. The convention prevented further trouble by marching troops to Faubourg Saint-Antoine and forced the surrender of weapons. Leaders were rounded up and the murderers of Féraud tracked, any who had defected the rioters sought out and all those bearing arms arrested. In total, 6000 were cross examined and 42 national guards were executed.

Question 21

How did the royalists attempt to threaten the Thermidorian’s?

Answer 21

The Rising of Vendémiaire of 5 October because they believed the plebiscite held in September was rigged. Their anger was exited by reports that the Comte d’Artois had landed at the Il d’Yeu. This produced pro-royalist demonstrations led by muscadins, factory and property owners who dispaired of a republican government who failed to protect their interests. The convention assembled three battalions by calling on unemployed Jacobin army officers dismissed after the terror. Général baron de Menou (served in the revolutionary army) was originally put in charge of these, but dismissed after he negotiated with royalist rebels. 25,000 armed Parisians were faced by Bonaparte and his command of 5000-6000 republican troops. On 5th October, armed royalist groups outnumbered the convention by six to one. Bonaparte found 40 canon so around 300 royalists were killed.