Thermidorian Reaction Flashcards
1
Q
Who were the Thermidorian and the plain?
A
- thermidorians: those who had helped to overthrow Robespierre, made up of members form the CPS and CGS, ex-terrorists (supporters of the terror) and deputies of the plain
- the plain took control. the plain was made up of men who had gained from the revolution by buying biens nationaux or by obtaining government contracts.
- they were regicides (involved in the execution of louis) and were fairly attached to the republic - did not want to see the return of the monarchy
- however, they disliked the jacobins for giving the sans-culottes too much power (by extension disliked popular democracy) and interfering with the free market with the maximums.
2
Q
How did the Thermidorians end the terror?
A
- convention dismantled the terror. (july 1794-31 May 1795)
- abolished the revolutionary tribunal, following execution of 63 terrorists
- released all suspects from prison
- repealed law of prarial and closed the jacobin club
- removed centralisation by the CPS
- 25% of the members of CPS and CGS had to be changed each month
- in august, 16 committees of the convention replaced the CPS and CGS which now dealt with war and diplomacy
- commune in paris was abolished
- power of local government passed to moderates and property owners like before june 1793
- tackling religious issues
- constitutional church renounced
- no longer paid clerical salaries therefore establishing a clear separation of church and state
- 21st feb 1795 government restored freedom f worship for all, ending de-christianising campaign of the terror
- state recognition of the cult of the supreme being ended
- for the first time a major European nation was declaring itself to be neutral in matters of religious faith. the consequence of this was that refractory priests and constitutional priests, protestants and jews would be free to compete for popular support
3
Q
What were the causes of the uprisings of germinal and prarial?
A
causes: Thermidorians wanted to remove Maximums (abolished in December 1794) which led to a fall in the value of the assignat and massive inflation. Then poor harvest in 1794 and grain shortages led to increase in the price of bread. Then, winter 1794-5 there was an economic collapse which was especially difficult due to the season and resulted in famine.
4
Q
What happened in the uprising of germinal it’s April 1795?
A
- 10000 unarmed protestors marched to the convention
- demanded a return to the jacobin policies and the release of former jacobin leaders
- national guard steps in on the side of the convention
- consequences
- light repression
- Jacobin leaders in question (Billaud, Collot) deported to french colony Guina, Devil’s Island
- for security reasons other known activists were disarmed
5
Q
What happened in the uprising of prarial 20 may 1795?
A
- Spring 1795, Convention’s inability to resolve famine led to violence in the provinces
- prairial (20 May 1795)
- a large crowd of housewives, workers and some National Guard members marched to the Convention to demand bread.
- among this, a deputy was killed thus causing more hostility.
- forces to defend the convention then arrived and posed a threat to the rebels as they had cannons.
- in the end, the convention agreed to agreed to accept a petition from the insurgents and set up a food commission.
- then on 3 prarial (22 May) the convention attacked the rebels getting 20,000 troops from the army to surround the rebel suburbs
- consequences
- marked the end of the sans culottes as a political military force
- defeat of the popular movement marked the end of the radical/leftist phase of the revolution
- regular army used against the french citizens, setting a precedent for future uprisings.
6
Q
What was the white terror?
A
- attack on ex-terrorists
- in Nimes, companies of the sun formed by royalists to attack former terrorists
- kind of a royalist reaction as white was the colour of the bourbons, the returning emigres an dnin-juring priests took advantage of the anti-jacobin revulsion and the persecution of Year II
- not really a royalist reaction because as those who took part were not royalists and had no intention of restoring the bourbons. main concern was vengeance on all those who had been members of popular societies
- the whites were people who had been victims of revolutionary tribunals and turned on those who had done well in the revolution such as purchasers os state land
- the white terror in pairs
- the jeunesse doree: men dressed extravagantly in the way they would have been to be guillotined
- they formed gangs to beat up and intimidate jacobins and some sans culottes
- limited violence, not the same level as the terror
- the white terror in vendee
- guerilla warfare revived in 1794 after the brutal repression of Year II
- Chouan movement (guerilla warfare groups opposed to conscription) were groups of between 50-100 men who posed a serious threat to law and order, attacked convoys and destabilised local government outside the towns by murdering officials
- strength of the Chouan movement: from summer of 1794-spring 1796 chouans controlled most of Brittany and sought British support. in june 1795 emigeres forces and chouans were joined at Quiberon Bay and forces were approximately 22000
- general houche compelled them to surrender. he also took 6000 prisoners and shot 700 chouans and emigeres
- government wanted chouans to be eradicated and sent houche with a huge army of 140k to wipe out chouan and vendee rebels
- columns of soldiers swept across north and south of the loire and by summer 1796 had restored government authority
- the white terror in the south
- the gangs were not considered to be a serious threat so little effort was made to repress them
- allowed them to become well established and spread rapidly
- killings continued well into the white terror
7
Q
What was the aims of the constitution of the year III 1795?
A
- aims of the new constitution: retain the main aims of the revolution of 1789
- abolition of privilege
- freedom of the individual
- control of local and national affairs by an elected assembly and elected officials
- wanted to make sure that another dictatorship like the one established by the CPS would be impossible, and wanted t
8
Q
What was the legislature in the constitution of the year III?
A
two chambers:
- the council of five hundred (had to be over 30 to be a part of) this council initiates legislation and pass it on to the council of ancients
- council of ancients was made up of 250 men over the age of 40 who could improve or object to bills but did not have the authority to introduce or change them.
to property requirements
elections to be held every year and a third of the members would retire
9
Q
What was the executive in the constitution of the year III?
A
a directory of five, chosen by the ancients from a list drawn up by the five hundred
- the directors would hold office for five years though one, chosen by the other directors would retire each year
- directors could not be members pf either council, their powers were also limited as they could not initiate or veto laws and had no control over the treasury
- ## however they were in charge of diplomacy, military affairs and law enforcement
10
Q
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the constitution of the year III?
A
- checks and balances designed to prevent a dictatorship by separating the powers given to the executive and power given to the legislature
- weaknesses
- yearly elections were unstable as the majorities in councils could be quicky overturned
- no means of resolving conflicts between the legislature and the executive
- councils could paralyse the directory by refusing to pass laws that the government required
- directors could neither dissolve the councils nor veto laws passed them
- the new constitution enforced the separation of powers and if a hostile majority dominated the legislature then the constitution allowed it to paralyse the directory
- directory couldn’t veto laws or dissolve the legislation and therefore had to rely on unconstitutional methods such as cancelling election returns and calling the army to resolve disputes
- the convention abandons democracy
- the convention was aware of its unpopularity and feared that free elections may result in a royalist majority
- in order to prevent this it decreed that two thirds of the deputies to the new councils must be chosen from the existing pool of deputies
- new constitution was agreed on 22nd august 1795
- the convention was aware of its unpopularity and feared that free elections may result in a royalist majority
11
Q
What was the impact of the Verona declaration
A
- reactionary statement (which then made it difficult to restore the monarchy) made by the heir to reverse many of the changes brought about by the revolution
- promised to restore the ancient constitution (the three orders and the parlements
- and retsore stolen properties from the church and emigres
- issued on 24th june
- by Louis XVI’s brother who proclaimed himself as Louis XVIII
12
Q
What was the vendemaire uprising?
A
- 5th october 1795 (13 Vendemaire)
- frustration at the convention due to the inability to deal with food shortages and news of the two-thirds law shocked parisians and the royalists didn’t feel like the return of the constitutional monarchy was an option due to the hostility of the convention
- large royalist crowd of 25,000 gathered to march on to the convention
- outnumbered the convention but they had cannons. over 300 were killed or wounded
- THE PEOPLE OF PARIS WOULD NOT AGAIN ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE AN ELECTED ASSEMBLY UNTIL 1830
- repression: only two people were executed. sectional assemblies were abolished and the national guard was put under the control of the new general of the army of interior, Napolean and the army saved the thermidorian republic again.
13
Q
What was the babeuf plot 1796?
A
- babeuf disliked the constitution of the year III, wanted a revolution and a constitution tat would secure equality for all
- wanted a conspiracy of equals: a revolution led by small group of committed revolutions
- however, babeuf received no support form the sans culottes and little from former jacobins
- babeuf was executed when he was exposed to the authorities by a co-conspirator
- babeuf had minimal impact on the revolution
14
Q
What was the coup d’etat of fructidor?
A
- elections of 1797 showed a popular shift towards the monarchists
- of the 216 ex-members of the convention that sought re-election only 11 were returned and monarchists won 180 of the 260 seats
- the wealthy northern departments returned the largest number of monarchists showing that the directory was losing the support of the richer bourgeoisie and this was worrisome because if the monarchists were to gain a majority in the next election they would be in a position to restore the monarchy legally
- a few royalist supporters gained positions of power: one was elected president of the five hundred, another president of the ancients and barthelemy the new director was seen as sympathetic to the monarchists therefore shown as becoming more conservative
- two remaining directors were committed republicans and were committed to prevent the restoration of the monarchy
- bonaparte had already gent general Augereau with troops in support of of the republican directors
- 3rd September 1797, troops ordered to seize all strong points in paris and surround council chambers
- arrested carnot, barthelemy and 53 deputies
- repression that followed
- emigres that had returned to France were given two weeks to leave France otherwise they would be executed and were hunted down and executed
- clergy were required to take an oath rejecting any support for royalty and those who refused were deported to guinea, 1400 non-juring priests were sentenced to deportation
- this alienated catholic opinion and provided more opponents to the directory
- the directory issued two decrees in response:
- 1st decree: cancelled elections is 49 departments and removing 177 deputies without providing replacements
- 2nd decree: provided for deportation to the penal settlements in guina of carnot. directors also cancelled local government elections and made appointments themselves.
15
Q
What was the financial reform that took place under the thermidorians?
A
- mandates terriotoriaux: by February 1796 the assignat was basically worthless, new currency called mandates territoriaux was issued which soon lost value and in july were worth less that 5% of their nominal value, in February they ceased to be legal tenure
- metal coins were in short supply, resulting in deflation in order to stimulate demand. this making the directory unpopular with businesses as they received lower profits.
- bankruptcy of the two thirds
- sept 1797 2/3 national debt renounced with a one-off payment to debt holders. their loans were converted into non-interest bearing bonds to buy national property
- immediate benefit to the govt: reduced annual interest on national debt from 240m francs to 80m francs
- however bondholders denied income
- within a year value of the bonds fell by 60% and became worthless so the government began to reduce accepting them for the purchase of biens
- this was partial declaration of state bankruptcy
- did help stabilise french finances for a time
- this was partial declaration of state bankruptcy
- sept 1797 2/3 national debt renounced with a one-off payment to debt holders. their loans were converted into non-interest bearing bonds to buy national property
- increasing revenue
- finance minister ramel introduced four new taxes, the taxes on doors and windows hit the rich the hardest
- also reintroduced indirect taxes such as the octrois which was on goods entering towns
- made tax collection centralised
- plunder from foreign states which had been occupied by french armies
- RAMEL BALANCED THE BUDGET DEFICIT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE REVOLUTION BEGAN
