The Directory Flashcards
Vacancies on CPS and CGS were filled with moderates
31 July 1794 (3 days after Robespierre’s arrest)
Law of 22 Prairial repealed
1 August 1794
Law on Revolutionary Government
24 August 1794
- one rev committee per department
- 16 different committees under NC became responsible for government
- reps on mission had their authority curbed
Jacobin Club closed
12 November 1794
Reps on mission abolished
April 1795
Rev Tribunal abolished and its chief prosecutor (Fourquier-Tinville) was executed
May 1795
Law of Suspects repealed
October 1795
Number of people executed from July 1794 to May 1795
Only 63
Paris Commune’s power was reduced
31 August 1794 (working class radicals were deprived the right to assemble)
Parisian sectional assemblies were prohibited from meeting
October 1794
General maximum was abolished
24 December 1794
Church and State were officially separated and NC decided to stop paying clerical salaries
18 September 1794
Free exercise of all religions, but no outward show
February 1795
NC reintroduced the oath of loyalty to stop the Catholic Church from regaining power and influence
February 1795
Poor harvest and harsh winter
1794
Value of the assignat (1795)
April 1795, 8% face value
Rising of 12 Germinal
1 April 1795
10,000 invaded NC demanding bread and the constitution of 1793
20,000 troops - Paris placed under martial law under General Pichegru
Rising of 1 Prairial
20 May 1795
20,000 invaded NC demanding bread, realise of Jacobins and the constitution of 1793
40,000 soldiers
6000 arrested and 42 NGs executed
Rising of 13 Vendemiaire
5 October 1795
25,000 surrounded NC
Royalists - believed that vote on new constitution had been rigged
Napoleon led 5/6000 troops, killed 300 ‘with a whiff of grapeshot’
White Terror groups
Muscadins (royalists)
Jeunesse dorée (gilded youth)
Nimes - Companies of the Sun
Lyons - Companies of Jesus
Number killed in SE during White Terror
2000 killed in 1795
Violence continued into 1797
Violent massacre of Jacobin prisoners in Lyons
May 1795
Verona Declaration
June 1795
Louis’ older brother proclaimed his intention to avenge Louis’ death
Republicans concluded a treaty with royalist rebels in the west
Treaty of La Jaunage (February 1795)
Peace concluded with the Chouans
April 1795
General Hoche defeated a rising in southern Brittany
July 1795 - 700 emigres executed
Proclamation of the Batavian republic
January 1795
Peace of Basel with Prussia
April 1795 - ceded west bank of the Rhine to France
Spain were forced to make peace with France
27 July 1795 - pre-war borders were established
New constitution drawn up and approved by NC
22 August 1795
New constitution and 2/3 law ratified by a vote of the primary assemblies
September 1795 (only just passed through - Directory barely have a mandate to rule)
New constitution came into force
November 1795 (the Directory was thus created)
Definition of a citizen
Anyone who is more than 21 years old and pays tax
System of government
Primary assemblies
Electoral assemblies (1 elector per 200 citizens)
Legislative Bodies (Councils of Ancients and 500)
Directory (executive)
Strengths of the Constitution
Reflected the desire for stability and moderation
Avoid power being vested in just one person
Weaknesses of the Constitution
Directors are randomly retired
One third of the Councils are replaced each year
No method of ending disputes between the Directory and the Councils
The Directors must share authority
Disappointing to some revolutionaries
Reaction to 2/3 Law
47/48 Paris Sections opposed this law
1/4 all French departments opposed it
(NC was widely disliked)
Royalist uprising at Dreux
October 1795
Opposition to Constitution
Pantheon Club founded
16 November 1795 (year after Jacobin Club was closed)
Swiftly gained 1000 members
Babeuf began to produce his radical Tribun du Peuple
17 November 1795 - 2000 copies sold within weeks
Babeuf ideas
Radical Jacobinism
Common ownership and equal distribution of property
Wanted 1793 constitution
Support rights of the poor
Directory closed 5 Jacobin clubs
February 1796
Directory purged Jacobin suspects from posts of authority
March 1796
Babeuf formed the ‘Directoire secret des Égaux’
29 March 1796
Conspiracy of Equals
Insurrectionary Committee
Advocacy of the Constitution of 1793 became a crime
16 April 1796
Babeuf and others were arrested
10 May 1796 128 arrests (over the next few days)
Hundreds of Jacobins marched to Grenelle to incite an armed rebellion against the Directory
9 September 1796
Clichy Club formed
1794, royalist club
Philanthropic Institute
Formal royalist group
In around 70 departments
Some funding from the British
Louis XVIII made a declaration from Blankenburg
10 March 1797
Told the French people not to vote for Jacobinism
Not very persuasive/rousing
Officials were told to ensure that the electoral assemblies were comprised of standard republicans
1797
Only emigres whose names had been removed from the official list could vote
25 February 1797
Members of the electoral assemblies had to swear that they would protect the Constitution of the Year III from monarchists and anarchists
March 1797
Poor electoral turn out in the elections of 1797
Only 10% voter turnout in some departments
New compositions of the Councils following March-April 1797 elections
Only 11 ex-Convention members were re-elected
182 royalists
228 with no political experiences
No Jacobins
New addition to the Directory following the March-April 1797 elections
Councils elected Barthélemy as a Director (he was moderate/sympathetic to monarchists)
Carnot had become quite conservative in his views and also considered supporting the monarchists
Triumvirs
Three Directors who were strongly republican - Barras, Reubell and La Revellière
Directory forces led by one of Napoleon’s deputies (Augereau) and royalist forces clashed in the streets
August 1797
Coup of Fructidor
3-4 September 1797
Triumvirs ordered the arrest of Carnot, Barthélemy, Pichegru
177 arrested overall
Closed down 42 newspapers
Annulled the spring elections in 49 departments
Difference between left-wing threat before and after Fructidor
Jacobin revival after Fructidor was far more moderate (supported primarily by property owners)
Constitutional Circles in Poitiers
Spring 1798 - 600 members of Constitutional Circles (Jacobin group meetings)
Directory replaced the Jacobin police minister with a Thermidorian
13 February 1798
Directory closed many Constitutional Circles and suppressed 11 newspapers
March 1798
Elections of March-April 1798
Lots of Jacobins elected in Paris, large cities, SW
162 formed Convention members
Directory supporters were elected to only 43 departments
Coup of Floréal
11 May 1798
30% of those elected were eliminated
8 departments had their results completely overturned
Coup of 30 Prairial
18 June 1799
Sieyès and Barras decided to enforce the Councils request for Réveillèire-Lépeaux and de Douai to step down
Sieyès called on General Joubert (who was in charge of the army in Paris) to move his troops, which prompted them to resign
Law of Hostages
July 1799 - allowed authorities to take action against political radicals
Printing houses
October 1795 - printing 2000 million worth of paper (value of the assignat was essentially worthless)
War rate
25 October 1795
Demanded paper contribution of 20 x value of assessed taxes
Meant to mop up surplus assignats
Not very successful
Mandats introduced
February 1796
Mandats were worthless
Mid-summer 1796
Were rapidly counterfeited
Weights and measures were standardised
1795
Declaration of bankruptcy
30 September 1797
2/3 state debt renounced
160 million livres of debt per year relieved
Finance minister Ramel was able to balance the budget
October 1797 - peace with Austria (Campo Formio) and new taxes
New financial agency created
12 November 1797 - durable financial reconstruction, direct taxes via directorial commissioners
Helped centralise the French fiscal apparatus
More efficient tax collection system introduced
1798 - introduced new property taxes
Annual interest of national debt
Fell from 240 million to 80 million
Napoleon helped drive back the British from Toulon
August - December 1793
Napoleon became brigadier-general
December 1793 (despite only being 24)
Napoleon made commander in chief of the Army of Italy
March 1796
Piedmont-Sardinia withdrew from the First Coalition
April 1796 (due to Napoleon’s success against them in the Montenotte Campaign)
Armistice of Cherasco
Gave Savoy and Nice to France as well as supplies and free passage of French troops through Piedmont
Battle of Lodi
May 1796 - success against Austrians allowed Napoleon to occupy Milan
Napoleon established two client states - Cispadane and Transpadane Republics
Cisalpine Republic
Cispadane and Transpadane Republics were expanded and merged to form the Cisalpine Republic in June 1797
Capital was Milan
Ligurian Republic
Formed around Genoa
June 1797
Napoleon took Mantua
February 1797 (had been besieging it for months) Key to Venice which he later took
Armistice at Leoben
April 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio (date)
18 October 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio (key terms)
Austrians accepted French rule in Austrian Netherlands (Belgium), Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics, French Rhine border, French possession of some Adriatic islands
French recognised Austrian control over Venetian Republic
Napoleon was tasked with the invasion of Britain
October 1797
Directory accepted Napoleon’s Egyptian plan instead
March 1798
Napoleon set off for Egypt
May 1798
With 35,000 soldiers (Army of the Orient)
Napoleon took Malta on his way to Egypt
June 1798
Expulsion of the Knights of St John from Malta angered Tsar Paul of Russia and caused him to join the Second Coalition
Battle of Alexandria and Battle of the Pyramids
July 1798 (soon after Napoleon’s arrival) Destroyed most of the Egyptian army
Battle of Aboukir Bay/Battle of the Nile
1-3 August 1798
French fleet was utterly defeated by the British
3000 Frenchmen died
Encouraged Ottomans and HRE to join coalition against France
Napoleon took Jaffa
March 1799
Shot 2000 prisoners
Napoleon retreated from the siege of Acre and returned to Cairo
May 1799
Napoleon underestimated the enemy and the British, who sent men and guns to aid the Turks
Russians on Austrian soil ready to fight the French
11,000 by end of 1798
Coalition mounted attacks in Italy and Switzerland
Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands began
1799
France declare war on Austria and occupy Italy
March 1799
Jourdan’s Law
5 September 1798 (original law proposed)
Further calls for conscription June 1799
Only 74,000 of the 230,000 drafted actually made it to the front line
Napoleon left his army in Egypt
August 1799
Napoleon arrived back in France
October 1799
Example of forced march during the Italian campaign
General Augereau marched 80km in 36 hours
First day of the Coup de Brumaire
18 Brumaire / 9 November 1799
Councils were persuaded to move to St Cloud under military guard
Second day of the Coup de Brumaire
19 Brumaire / 10 November 1799
Eventually used troops to clear the Council of 500 which forced the Council of Ancients to agree to the formal abolishment of the Directory and a provisional government of 3 Consuls took over
Napoleon did a year at the Ecole Militaire in Paris in…
1784
Napoleon quotation on his ambition
‘My ambition is so intimately allied to my whole being that it cannot be separated from it’
Napoleon quotation on his desire for glory
‘Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever’
Percentage of the Army of Italy fit and ready for service upon Napoleon’s arrival
60%
Battle of Arcola
November 1796
Reported to have rushed onto a bridge in the midst of fire to inspire his men (whereas in reality he actually fell off the bridge)
Changes made to the army by Gribeauval
1760s, France developed lighter, more manoeuvrable cannon
Changes made to the army by Guibert
Proposed flexible arrangements that could be lines or columns
Living off the land as well
Principle of amalgame
From 1793 onwards
Old army merge with new recruits - bring order and team spirit, sharing of experience
Fraction of soldiers at Marengo who had fought in previous revolutionary wars
1/4
French forces in Germany crossed the Rhine
1797 - helped encourage the Austrians to come to peace terms
Death of General Hoche
September 1797 - only other general to rival Napoleon
Napoleon quotation on authority
‘I have tasted authority and I will not give it up’
Hoche had failed to invade Ireland and destabilise England
December 1796
Napoleon’s generals came from humble beginnings
Murat the son of an innkeeper
Ney the son of a barrel maker
Lannes the son of a stable-keeper
Vindictive legislation following the coup of Fructidor
Former members of the second estate were declared foreigners - had to apply for naturalisation papers to regain the rights of citizens
Emigres had two weeks to leave France or be prosecuted by new military tribunals
New military tribunals set up after the coup of Fructidor
Ordered 160 deaths
