Thermidorian reaction and the Directory Flashcards
What were the problems in France in 1794?
- The Thermidorians, who are mostly bourgeoisie so believe in a free market, remove price controls = increase in prices and inflation
- They return weapons manufacturing to private ownership = price of weapons go up
- To pay for the weapons they print more assignats = more inflation
- Bad harvest in1794 led to a grain shortage = food prices go up
- The winter of 1794-5 was extremely severe. Suicide rates and death from malnutrition went up. Some areas of France were experiencing famine
What were the 2 uprisings in 1795 called?
Germinal and Prairial
What was the cause of Germinal?
The hungry turned their fury against the Convention
What were the events of Germinal?
- Large crowd of about 10,000 unarmed people marched on the Convention
- Many gained access to the main hall and disrupted debates with demands for bread, the constitution of 1793 and the release of former members of the CPS
- The demonstrators expected support from the Montagnards in the Assembly but received none
- When loyal national guards appeared, the insurgents withdrew without resisting
What were the consequences of Germinal?
- Convention sentenced Barere, Collot and Billaud, other known activists during the Terror were disarmed
- Conventions inability to resolve the famine led to sporadic outbreaks of violence in the provinces, some of which were organised by royalists
What was the White Terror?
- An act of revenge by those who had suffered under the Terror against former terrorists
Why was it called the White Terror?
White was the colour of the Bourbons, so ‘White Terror’ implies that it was a royalist reaction
- This was only partly true as returning emigres and non-juring priests did take advantage of the anti-Jacobin revulsion at the persecution of the Year2
Who took part in the White Terror?
- Most of those who took part in the White Terror were not royalists and had no intention of restoring the Bourbons and the seigneurs of the ancien regime
- Their main concern was vengeance on all those who had been members of the popular societies and watch committees
What was the White Terror in Paris?
- In Paris the White Terror was perpetrated by Jeunesse doree (Gilded Youth) who attacked former terrorists and formed gangs to beat up and intimidate Jacobins and sans-culottes
- Whilst there was some violence, it was not on the same scale as the Terror and there were some deaths but very few
What was the White Terror in the Vendee?
- In the Vendee the White Terror was more violent, Chouan movement opposed to conscription
- They attacked grain convoys and destabilising local government outside the towns by murder officials
What was the White Terror in the south?
In the South of France the White Terror was perpetrated by gangs of youth, who were allowed to become established and killed as many as 2000
What were the aims of the 1795 Constitution?
- Guarantee the main features of the 1789 Revolution
- Ensure that a dictatorship, like that of the CPS would be impossible
- No return to monarchy
- No return to popular sovereignty as seen with the dominance of the sans-culottes
What were the main features of the 1795 constitution?
- All men over 21 who paid direct taxation were allowed to vote in the primary assemblies to choose electors
- Real power in the hands of the electors who chose the deputies, to qualify for this you had to pay taxes equivalent to between 150-200 days of labour. This was so high that it limited voting to the very rich, around 30,000 people
What were the 2 chambers of the legislature?
- The council of 500
- The council of Ancients
What was the legislative for the council of 500?
- All members aged over 30
- Initiate legislation
- Pass it on to the council of ancients
What was the legislative for the council of ancients?
- 250 members
- All over the age of 40
- Would approve or object to legislation but could not introduce or change them
What was the executive?
The Directory:
- Made up of 5 people
- Chosen by the ancients from a list written by the Five Hundred
- Stayed in office for 5 years, except one who was, chosen by lot, had to retire each year
- Limited powers, they could not initiate or veto laws or declare war and did not control the treasury
- In charge of diplomacy, military affairs and law enforcement
- Government ministers answered to the Directory as did government commissioners who implemented policy in the provinces
When were elections to be held in the constitution of year 3?
Elections were to be held for both councils every year, when a third of the members retired
What were the weaknesses of the new constitution?
- The yearly elections promoted instability, as majorities in the councils could be quickly overturned
- There were no means of resolving conflicts between the legislature and the executive
- The councils could paralyse the directory by refusing to pass laws that the government required
- The directors could neither dissolve the councils nor veto laws passed by them
- The legislature was not in a strong position either, if it clashed with the executive. It could alter the composition of the Directory only by replacing the one director who retired each year with its own candidate
What was the Verona Declaration?
- Constitutional monarchists felt like they were gaining in public support
- They had hoped to influence the new constitution
- They aimed to place Louis XVI’s son, a prisoner in a Paris jail, on the throne - he died in 1795
- Louis XVI’s brother, who was in Italy, declared himself Louis XVIII and announced the Verona Declaration
What did the Verona Declaration state?
- The three estates and the parlements would be returned
- All land ‘stolen’ from the Church and emigres would be returned
What were the causes of the Vendemiaire Uprising?
- Two/thirds law came a s a shock to Parisians who hoped the convention would be replaced
- Its inability to deal with food shortages and inflation turned ordinary people against the Convention
How was the Vendemiaire Uprising defeated?
- 5th October 1795, a large royalist crowd of 25,000 gathered to march on the convention and seize power
- This greatly outnumbered the 7800 government troops but did not have cannon, like government did
- This crushed the rebellion
- Devastating artillery fire - Bonaparte’s famous ‘Whiff of grapeshot’
What are the key dates of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life?
1769 - Born into a minor noble family
1785 - Commissioned as an artillery officer
1793 - Commanded artillery at the siege of Toulon
1795 - Put down the Vendemiaire uprising
1799 - Coup of Brumaire, appointed First Consul
1804 - Proclaimed Emperor of the French
1815 - Defeated at Waterloo and exiled to St Helena
1821 - Death and burial at St Helena
What were the problems facing the directory?
- The war had no end in sight, and had to be paid for
- The treasury was empty, taxes weren’t being paid and the value of the assignat had plummeted
- Most of the new third of members elected to the Councils were Royalists
Who were the coventionnels?
People who had been in the Convention and then re-elected to the councils
What did the conventionnels do?
The conventionnels used their majority to choose Directors who were also regicides therefore guaranteeing against a return of the monarchy
Why did the Directory survive so long?
- The army supported the Directory. They knew that if the monarchy returned then the war would be ended
- Their opponents were discredited. Very few people wanted a return to Jacobin terror or absolute monarchy
- The royalists were deeply divided by those who supported the Verona declaration and those who favoured constitutional monarchy
- After 6 years of revolution and three years of war the appetite for even more revolutionary behaviour was very low
- The Directory was committed to restoring law and order
