Chapter 13 - The Aftermath Of The Terror Flashcards
What was the Thermidorian reaction?
The period of time between the fall of R and the setting up of the Directory
What happened 31Jul (13 Thermidor)?
Vacancies in CPS + CGS filled by Dantonists + people from the ‘plain’
What happened 1 Aug (14 Thermidor)?
Law of 22 Prairial repealed, people released from gaols
A feared public prosecutor guillotined
What happened 10 Aug?
The Rev Tribunal reorganised and guillotining decreased, exiling to Guiana = alternative
What happened 24 Aug?
Law of Rev Govt reorganisation away from centralisation
What were the decentralising methods?
- Rev committees = 1/Departement
(Broke down power of sc) - Central govt = 16 comittees
25% of members changed each month
(Reduced powers of CPS + CGS) - New representants-en-missions to oversee changes + make sure Jacobins removed from authority
What happened 31Aug?
Powers of Paris Commune reduced
What happened 18 Sept?
Church + State separated
State stopped paying clerical salaries
Ended ‘Constitutional Church’
What happened 12 Nov?
Jacobin club closed down
What happened 24 Dec?
The Law of the Maximum was repealed
Public workshops (used to provide for poor) now privatised
What measures then happened in 1795?
- Toleration for all religions (some Catholic practices remained restricted)
- Representants-en-mission abandoned
- Rev Tribunal abolished
- Law of Suspects repealed
By the end of 1794, who were in charge of central and local govt?
The moderates
(represented the propertied bourgeosie)
How many deputies who signed a resolution to support expelling Girodins, were readmitted to the conv?
73
What were the Jacobins/Montagnards happy to do?
Forget their past
What did all the leading Thermidorians share a desire to do?
Restore stability without resorting to extreme Jacobinism or monarchy
What was a slight challenge?
They had little in common and their political views ranged across a political spectrum
Who were the prominent Thermidorians?
Tallien, Fouche, Barras, Freron
Who was Tallien?
Was Montagnard in NC
Member of CGS
Supported military action - Thermidorian reaction, coup of thermidor, rev tribunals, member of cof500, went to Egypt with N
Who was Fouche?
served in every govt, NC deputy, representant-en-mission, minister of police, count of empire, made duc d’Otrante
Who was Barras?
Nobleman, in legislative assembly + NC, representant-en-mission, overthrew R, affair with N future wife, helped create directory, fell from power in coup of brumaire, spent time in exile after
Who was Freron?
Radical journalist, NC, representant-en-mission, ruthless to enforce Terror, wrote anti-jacobin ideas inciting Muscadins to attack sc
What was the name the ‘White Terror’ given to?
The series of purges and campaigns where the Thermidorians took action against people of the Terror
Who supported this?
Muscadins + jeunesse doree
Who were the jeunesse doree?
‘Guilded youth’, wore fashionable clothes, armed + attacked sc and jacobins in the street, felled trees of liberty , trampled tricolour, shut jacobin newspapers
What did the Muscadins do?
Helped destroy jacobin club, campaigned to ‘demartyrise’ Marat, defend Conv
What did the victims of the Terror do?
Formed gangs + militas to drive out or murder jacobins
How did the conv try to mediate?
Offering amnesties to people handing in arms at the vendee
What was an example of the extreme behaviour?
Violent massacre in Lyons in May 1795, where jacobin prisoners hauled from cells and slaughtered
What was worse, the White Terror, or the Great Terror?
The Great Terror
Why did the rev tribunal continue until may 1795?
To permit legal actions against jacobins
What happened to the jacobins?
Some executed
Some given lesser sentences = deported
Where did threats to stability also come from?
Returning emigres, wanted to regain property and restore monarchy
Royalists who wanted to restore Catholic Church
What declaration did the comte de Provence encourage to restore French glory?
‘Verona Declaration’
Who did his younger brother the comte d’Artois support?
The royalists Choan rebels in Brittany
Supported a British-led invasion there
Where did the Republicans and Choans agree peace in Apr?
La Jaunaye
What rising did general Hoche defeat in Jul?
At Quiberon Bay
Executed 700 emigres
What did the Thermidorians do to stop the reinstation of Catholic Church?
Maintained bans on religious dress, symbols, processions, bell ringing, gatherings monitored
There was a broad policy of toleration
How did the Catholic Clergymen respond to this?
Ignored the restrictions
This forced conv to reintroduce oath of loyalty in feb 95
What were the French army victories?
Fleurus - recapture of Austrian Netherlands, vic against United Provinces = ‘Batavian Republique’, Prussians gave back bank of Rhine, pre-war borders of Spain given back
What did all these victories let the Thermidorians focus on?
Internal matters
What did the ‘bourgeois’ Thermidorians favour?
Economic freedom for business and commerce
What actions did they take to encourage this?
Ended price controls
Deregulated trade
Restored paper currency
What made life hard for working people in Paris?
Ending of the maximum
More printing of assignat = inflation
Poor harvest of 1794
Freezing winter in 1794-5
What was the value of the assignat compared to its origional value?
10th
What happened in response to this?
Factories closed
Farmners refused to sell their grain to supply money for the capital
What did the bread ration fall to for Parisians on 10 May?
60g/day
What happened to the population?
100s starved, froze to death, or committed suicide
What was the Rising of Germinal on 1 Apr 1795?
10,000 sc invaded conv unarmed or organised
What did they demand?
‘Bread and the constitution of 1773’
What happened when National Guardsmen came?
They withdrew without resistance
Leading agitators arrested
What did the conc place Paris under?
Martial law - arrested people, deported former Montagnards, ordered disarming of people who played a part in the Terror
When was the Rising of Prairial?
20/21 May 1795
What happened in the RofP?
More sc women + men invaded conv, killed deputy that tried to stop them and put his head on a pike
What did they demand?
Release of jacobin prisioners
Instatement of constitution of 1793
New controls to ensure better supply of food in the capital
What did the conv do to get the rebels out?
Agreed to established a food commission
Called troops to drive them out + Muscadins helped
What happened the next day? (2 Prairial)
20,000 sc + NG loaded canon onto conv
40,000 regular soldiers called to dispel crowds
How was peace made?
No shots fired, 2 sides negotiated, petitions presented, sc withdrew
What did the conv do to prevent further trouble?
Marched troops to Saint-Antoine and forced surrender of weapons, leaders or presumed leaders captured
How many people were dealt with?
Cross-examined = 6,000
Executed = 12 deputies
When was the Rising of Vendemaire?
5 Oct 1795
Why was it different to the other protests?
It was a royalist rising
What caused them to protest?
They believed the plebisite was rigged to have a new non-monarchial constitution
Compte d’Artois landed near Vendee
Who were in the protests?
Muscadins, factory + property owners who felt their interests weren’t protected
What did the conv do when they heard there was an army coming?
Assembled 3 battalions, called on unemployed jacobin army officers to help, General baron de Menou dismissed when he tried to negotiate with royalists
What did they do after this?
Barras + Napoleontook command, on 15 oct fired 40 cannons onto armed royalist groups around conv
What did a historian call the firing?
‘Whiff of grapeshot’
