Did the directory face insurmountable problems in 1795? Flashcards
What is the White Terror?
Name given to the anti-Jacobin backlash that followed the collapse of Jacobin power in July 1794.
The white terror was not only a …. reaction. Whule some ….. and …. priests did return to france to take advantage of the fall if the jacobins, many of the prrepetrators of yt terror were not intent on …. the monarch
royalist
emigre
refractory
restoring
Where did the White Terror mostly occur? Paris: who were going around; name and what did they do?
What did their name mean and their makeup: class and jobs associated with them? Who encouraged them to continually harass Jacobins: name and work?v
Where Jacobin Terror had been at its worst. Jeunesse dorée went (vigilante youth gangs) went around attacking and scaring the sans and Jacobins involved in Terror.
Gilded youth: many were bourgeoisies: law officials, clerks and financiers. Louis Fréron: journalist: L’Orateur du Peuple (The Spokesman of the people).
A bit about the radical journalist: why was he a hypocrite in one sense (NC)? Instruments of Terror? Political affiliation ish?
He was a key member of Montagnard and was close to Robespierre. He was a Rep on Mission in Toulon and Lyon, he was in charge of a lot of executions; he turned against Robespierre when he was called back to account for his actions. Started working with Fouché etc. Republican.
Three other cities experiencing the White Terror? What happened there? 1795: in the second city what happened within prisons? What happened in the Rhône Valley?
Toulon, Lyon and Marseilles (suspects imprisoned; prisons attacked (100 dead). Gov troops and gangs would go around destroying Jacobin property. Hundreds were killed. Victims would be ambushed by gangs and then have their bodies disposed in the river.
Why were the numbers not really known about deaths aside from some specific towns? What is often the est?
They were ‘unlicensed killings’ so the gov didn’t keep records as such. 2000.
Political divisions 1795Policial divisions 1795
- sans culottes = had no power - politicians distanced themselves from them cause they were associated w atrocities and persecution of the terror.
- commune = closed down (had previously organised and mobilised SC)
- jacobins = dead/persecuted/ exiled
- royalists = allowed to re-entered politics (although later threatened french pol. stability)
- moderates = BUT MODERATES WERE MAJORITY- eg Abbé Sieyes
- girodins = most had been execute
When had the Thermidoreans abolished price controls such as general maximum?
Economic and financial pressures
December 1794
Why was the removal of price controls such bad timing?
Economic and financial pressures
crop failures and famine. cost of essential goods , fuel and food increased mssively. winter 1795 temp low rivers froze = not enough fuel = sack of firewood 20 livres 1790 –> 500 livres 1795
Why was the removal of price controls bad for the government?
Economic and financial pressures
They also now had to pay market price for arms and resources.
How did the government try to pay for its arms and resources, and what did this cause?
Economic and financial pressures
printed more assignats (rookie mistake lool) lost their value = farmers wouldnt accept the paper currency in exchange for corn. HUnger. 20% parisians so poor had to rely on bread rations.
Statistics of the death rate in Rouen.
Economic and financial pressures
IN 1794 the death rate was double what it would be in a normal year, and 3x higher in 1795.
how many parisians so poor had to rely on bread rations
Economic and financial pressures
20%
how much value had assigned lost by 1795
Economic and financial pressures
96%
Popular unrest- caused by depreciation of assignat
Economic and financial pressures
Rising Germinal
Rising Prairial
When and what was the first uprising as a result of this poverty?
Economic and financial pressures
The Rising of Germinal and 1 April 1795 - this was a peaceful protest as 10,000 people marched on the Convention demanding bread, and the arrival of the National Guard dispersed the crowd.
When and what was the second uprising as a result of this poverty?
Economic and financial pressures
The Rising of Prairial on 20 March 1795 - the more violent uprising as a large crowd of sans-culottes supported by the National Guard surrounded the assembly and demanded action to be taken against food shortages. - serious threat- Convention deployed 20K troops to crush- 6K arrests. = convention NO LONGER WILLING TO BE FORCED INTO RADICAL CHNAGE BY POPULAR UNREST.
What was the significance of the risings?
Economic and financial pressures
1) They show the extent of dissatisfaction and desperation
2) They reveal how the power of the sans-culottes had been broken
3) They show that unlike the Convention during the radical phase of the Terror the government would not be dictated by popular protest and insurrection
CONCLUSION- Directory disadvantaged by :when directory came- unstable- white terror, vendee risings, royalist wave, neo-jacobinism. Economy and famine.
Directory advantaged by: sans culottes x power. Most people wanted moderation.
