Thermidorian Reaction And The Directory 1794-9 Flashcards
What were the underlying causes of the germinal and prairial uprisings?
Inflation and harsh winter 1794-5 (causing bad harvests)
When was the germinal uprising?
1 April 1795
When was the prairial uprising?
20 May 1795
What was the key reason the prairial uprising failed?
Regular army was used against the citizens of Paris- shows the new regime’s dependency on the military
Who was Gracchus Babeuf?
Radical pamphleteer and editor of Tribun du Peuple- organised 1796 coup ‘conspiracy of equals’
When was the constitution of year III published?
22 August 1795
When was the Coup d’etat of Fructidor?
4 September 1797
What year was Jourdan’s law and what did it do?
September 1798, reintroduced conscription
When was the law on hostages?
12 July 1799
Why was the directory overthrown?
1) forced loan
2) Law of Hostages
3) Jourdan’s law
4) Law of 22 Floreal
5) collapse in the provinces
6) coup d’etat of Brumaire
When was the peak of war victories?
Spring 1798
How did they stabilise economy?
Bankruptcy of two thirds
Who was in charge of economic reforms?
Ramel
Why was the constitution of year III unstable?
Yearly elections, no means of resolving conflict between the legislature and the executive, the councils could paralyse the Directory by refusing to pass a law, the directors could neither dissolve the councils nor veto laws passed by them
When was the vendemaire uprising?
5 October 1795
When was the law of 22 Floreal?
11 May 1798
When was the coup d’etat of Brumaire?
9-10 November 1799
Economic problems of the Directory
Price controls abolished in December 1794, which led to a fall in the value of the assignat and massive inflation. After the failure of the mandats territoriaux, metal coins became the only legal tender and these were in short supply= deflation. Inflation made the workers unhappy, deflation made businessmen unhappy
The White Terror
Victims of the revolutionary tribunals now turning on those who had done well out of the Revolution. Limited to the actions of the jeunesse doree in Paris- formed gangs to beat up Jacobins and sans-culottes. Guerrilla warfare revived in the Vendee in the Chouan movement
Events of Prairial
housewives, workers and some National Guard units marched on the Convention to demand bread. Murdered a deputy and paraded his head on a pike. The Convention suppressed them with loyal National Guardsmen
Two chambers of the legislature
Council of five-hundred and the council of ancients
what was the two-thirds decree?
two-thirds of the deputies to the new councils must be chosen from the existing deputies of the Convention
Cause of vendemaire
Seen as a royalist uprising against the two-thirds decree
What did the 1797 elections show?
Growing shift towards monarchism- won 180 out of 260 seats.
Events of the coup d’etat of Fructidor
3-4 September 1797- General Augerau and troops arrested two directors, Carnot and Berthelemy, and 53 deputies. Elections cancelled in 49 departments. Afterward, the Directory took action against the emigres and refractory priests, alienating the Catholics
Directory new currency and what happened to it?
mandats territoriaux. Ceased to be legal tender in 1797, only one year after they were introduced
Economic successes of the Directory
1798- Ramel introduced four new taxes i.e. tax on doors and windows. Central control on collecting taxes, indirect taxes reintroduced i.e. octrois. However, very unpopular.
Military victories
Napoleon defeated Piedmont, entered Milan and captured Mantua.
treaty of Campo Formio
18 October 1797 with Austria
War with the Second Coalition
France declared war March 1799. Series of defeats, France nearly invaded but was saved by quarrels among the allies
What was the Law of Hostages?
way to persecute anyone resisting the new laws
The Second Coalition
Showed failure of peace at Campo Formio. Formed 1799 with Britain, Russia, Austria etc.
Events of Germinal
10,000 unarmed people marched on the convention and disrupted debates. When National Guardsmen arrived, they left without resisting
Failure of Babeuf’s coup
failed to gain support, was betrayed and executed
When was the siege of Mantua?
1799
