FTE 7: Thermidor and the creation of the Directory

Question 1

The leaders of the Coup of Thermidor were on the left-wing of the National Convention.

Answer 1

• The crushing of the Paris Commune and the creation of the Cult of the Supreme Being had served to alienate Robespierre from the left-wing of the National Convention and the CPS in 1794.
• Collot d’Herbois and Billaud-Varennes had both been leading supporters of the Terror since 1793.
• Collot feared that Robespierre might hold him to account for his actions in Lyon.

Question 2

Robespierre’s mistakes brought about his downfall in July 1794.

Answer 2

• Robespierre’s prominence in the Festival of the Supreme Being on 8 June 1794 led to accusations that he was seeking to make himself into a semi-divine figure.
• Robespierre also sought to intensify the Terror in June 1794 through the Law of Prairal, even though these measures seemed less necessary as the war was being won.
• Following a long absence from the Convention, Robespierre returned with a speech in which he claimed to have exposed another plot. However, he didn’t name the ‘conspirators’, giving his opponents the motive and opportunity to conspire against him in the Coup of Thermidor.
• The decision to enforce the maximum wage in 1794 alienated the sans-culottes, who failed to answer Robespierre’s call to arms at the Hôtel de Ville on 27 July.

Question 3

There was a backlash against the Terror following the Coup of Thermidor.

Answer 3

• The Paris Commune was abolished and the Revolutionary Tribunal was purged of Jacobins.
• The Jacobins Club was closed in November 1794.
• Leading Terrorists were punished: Carrier executed; Collot and Billaud were exiled to French Guiana.
• The powers of the CPS were reduced, and 25% of its members were rotated every month.

Question 4

The Thermidoreans made an effort to heal some of the political and religious divisions caused by the Terror.

Answer 4

• The Law of Prairal was repealed and imprisoned suspects were released.
• The Cult of Supreme Being was abolished and freedom of worship was established.
• Refractory priests and émigrés were allowed to return to France.

Question 5

The White Terror was more about score-settling and revenge than an organised political movement.

Answer 5

• In Paris, armed gangs of ‘muscadins’ attacked and intimidated Jacobins and sans-culottes.
• Their leader, Fréron, was a former Jacobin and still a committed republican.
• In Lyon and Marseilles, Jacobin prisoners were murdered by armed gangs in revenge for their activities during the Terror.

Question 6

There was a severe economic crisis in 1794-95.

Answer 6

• The abolition of the ‘general maximum’ led to rapid rises in the price of food and fuel.
• It was a very harsh winter; sacks of firewood that had cost 20 livres in 1790 now cost 500 livres.
• Due to inflation, the assignat had lost 96% of its value by March 1795.
• The rate of famine, suicide and banditry increased dramatically.

Question 7

The sans-culottes no longer had the ability to force the National Convention to accept its demands in 1795.

Answer 7

• Following the Rising of Prairal (20 May), the National Convention deployed 20,000 troops to crush the sans-culottes, disarming the militants and making 6,000 arrests.
• The death of key leaders such Marat, Hébert and Roux made the sans-culottes ineffective.

Question 8

The Constitution of Year III was a return to the political principles of 1789.

Answer 8

• The constitution restricted the electorate to those who paid direct taxes on property. Voters chose electors, who had to pay taxation equivalent to 150-200 days’ labour.
• The 1795 Constitution was intended to be a mixed system based on checks and balances.

Question 9

The Constitution of Year III contained inherent flaws.

Answer 9

• In their efforts to prevent any one body from becoming too powerful, the creators of the constitution created a system in which effective leadership was impossible.
• There was no mechanism for resolving disputes between the legislature and the executive.
• Annual elections created a sense of constant instability and political uncertainty.
• The process of changing the constitution took at least nine years.

Question 10

The Law of Two-Thirds highlighted the unpopularity of the Republic’s political leaders in 1795.

Answer 10

• The Law of Two-Thirds stated that two-thirds of the Council deputies in 1795 had to have sat in the National Convention. However, the Convention was increasingly unpopular, because of its role in the Terror and the economic problems of 1795.
• As a result, royalists in Paris rebelled in October 1795 (Rising of Vendémiaire).