Week 4- Financial and political problems and policies Flashcards
What happened to the value of assignats?
By the end of 1795, the remaining assignats in circulation had become worthless.
What economic problems did the Directory inherit?
An unbalanced budget and problems with tax-collection.
This was made worse by the expenses of war.
What issues were there with trade?
Trade was compromised by war and the British Naval blockade.
When did the directory introduce mandats?
In February 1796, 800-million francs worth of mandats were released.
Why did the mandats fail?
They were quickly counterfeited and lost their value.
This alienated the bourgeoisie who the directory relied on for political support.
What did the Directory replace the mandats with?
Metal currency
What issues were there with metal currency?
They halted inflation but there was not enough in circulation which hindered trade.
How did the directory try to regulate trade?
In 1795, weights and measures were standardised.
This brought down the price of grain.
Who was the finance minister at the time?
Vincent Ramel
What did Vincent Ramel do as finance minister?
He reorganised the taxation system in 1798.
This made the assessment and collection of direct taxation more efficient.
Which two groups were a threat to the Directory?
Royalists and Jacobins,
Their only supporters were from the bourgeoisie.
When did the Royalists rise up against the directory?
The rising in the Vendémiaire in October 1975
What was the significance of the rising in the Vendémiaire?
Showed how much royalism had grown since the Terror.
How did the Directory supresses the Royalist rising?
General Hoche and his army were called upon in 1795-96 to deal with the royalists.
How did the Directory view Jacobinism?
They initially tolerated Jacobins such as Gracchus Babeuf.
However, in early 1796, when he began calling for a revival of the Terror, he was guillotined.
What was the impact of suppressing Royalists and Jacobins?
While dealing with them, the directory became engaged in a series of corrupt practices which undermined their aim of democracy.
They revived the methods of the Terror.
When was the Coup of Fructidor?
4th September 1797
When was the Coup of Floréal?
11th May 1798
When was the Coup of Prairial?
18th June 1798
What were the causes of the Coup of Fructidor?
In April 1797 elections, seats of Constitutional monarchists increased to 182.
More than one third of the total deputies had royalist sympathies.
This raised fears that the next elections would produce a royalist majority.
What actions were taken at the coup of Fructidor to supress royalist gains?
The Five Hundred were accused of acting against the constitution. 177 royalist deputies were arrested and their positions were left vacant.
How was the coup of Fructidor significant?
The actions taken undermined the 1795 constitution and added to a lack of confidence in the electoral process.
What caused the coup of Floréal?
The Directory passed a new electoral law in January 1798 to minimise royalist gains in the next election.
However, instead the Jacobins soared ahead.
What actions were taken at the Coup of Floréal to supress Jacobin gains?
The Law of Floréal purged 127 deputies from the Council of Five Hundred.
The results from eight départements were completely quashed.
What was the significance of the Coup of Floréal?
It reinforced the difficulties of operating the constitution of 1795.
It suppressed the aims of democracy that were central to the directory.
What caused the coup of Prarial?
By 1798, both the Council of Five Hundred and the Ancients questioned the conduct of war and complained that the election of Director Treilhard had been illegal.
What happened at the coup of Prairial?
Sieyes demanded that the Directors Lépeaux and Dounai stand down.
Sieyes called for the army in Paris, to organise troops in Paris.
The resignations were received and Sieyes was triumphant.
What was the significance of the coup of Prairial?
For the first time, the Council had forced a purge of the Directors.
The Directory only increased divisions and was growing increasingly dependent on the army to maintain itself.
After this, there was little holding the government together.
