Thermidorian Reaction And The Directory 1794-9

Question 1

What were the underlying causes of the germinal and prairial uprisings?

Answer 1

Inflation and harsh winter 1794-5 (causing bad harvests)

Question 2

When was the germinal uprising?

Answer 2

1 April 1795

Question 3

When was the prairial uprising?

Answer 3

20 May 1795

Question 4

What was the key reason the prairial uprising failed?

Answer 4

Regular army was used against the citizens of Paris- shows the new regime’s dependency on the military

Question 5

Who was Gracchus Babeuf?

Answer 5

Radical pamphleteer and editor of Tribun du Peuple- organised 1796 coup ‘conspiracy of equals’

Question 6

When was the constitution of year III published?

Answer 6

22 August 1795

Question 7

When was the Coup d’etat of Fructidor?

Answer 7

4 September 1797

Question 8

What year was Jourdan’s law and what did it do?

Answer 8

September 1798, reintroduced conscription

Question 9

When was the law on hostages?

Answer 9

12 July 1799

Question 10

Why was the directory overthrown?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

When was the peak of war victories?

Answer 11

Spring 1798

Question 11

How did they stabilise economy?

Answer 11

Bankruptcy of two thirds

Question 12

Who was in charge of economic reforms?

Answer 12

Ramel

Question 13

Why was the constitution of year III unstable?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

When was the vendemaire uprising?

Answer 14

5 October 1795

Question 15

When was the law of 22 Floreal?

Answer 15

11 May 1798

Question 16

When was the coup d’etat of Brumaire?

Answer 16

9-10 November 1799

Question 17

Economic problems of the Directory

Answer 17

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

Question 18

The White Terror

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Events of Prairial

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Two chambers of the legislature

Answer 20

Council of five-hundred and the council of ancients

Question 21

what was the two-thirds decree?

Answer 21

two-thirds of the deputies to the new councils must be chosen from the existing deputies of the Convention

Question 22

Cause of vendemaire

Answer 22

Seen as a royalist uprising against the two-thirds decree

Question 23

What did the 1797 elections show?

Answer 23

Growing shift towards monarchism- won 180 out of 260 seats.

Question 24

Events of the coup d’etat of Fructidor

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Directory new currency and what happened to it?

Answer 25

mandats territoriaux. Ceased to be legal tender in 1797, only one year after they were introduced

Question 26

Economic successes of the Directory

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Military victories

Answer 27

Napoleon defeated Piedmont, entered Milan and captured Mantua.

Question 28

treaty of Campo Formio

Answer 28

18 October 1797 with Austria

Question 29

War with the Second Coalition

Answer 29

France declared war March 1799. Series of defeats, France nearly invaded but was saved by quarrels among the allies

Question 30

What was the Law of Hostages?

Answer 30

way to persecute anyone resisting the new laws

Question 31

The Second Coalition

Answer 31

Showed failure of peace at Campo Formio. Formed 1799 with Britain, Russia, Austria etc.

Question 32

Events of Germinal

Answer 32

10,000 unarmed people marched on the convention and disrupted debates. When National Guardsmen arrived, they left without resisting

Question 33

Failure of Babeuf’s coup

Answer 33

failed to gain support, was betrayed and executed

Question 34

When was the siege of Mantua?

Answer 34

1799