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Chapter 21 Part 5

Chapter 21 Part 5. The French Revolution. The Thermidorian Reaction 1794. Ended the Reign of Terror Resulted in a big swing to the right (conservatism) Respectable Bourgeoisie middle class lawyers and professionals WHO HAD LED THE REVOLUTION IN 1789 reasserted their authority

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Chapter 21 Part 5

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  1. Chapter 21Part 5 The French Revolution

  2. The Thermidorian Reaction 1794 • Ended the Reign of Terror • Resulted in a big swing to the right (conservatism) • Respectable Bourgeoisie middle class lawyers and professionals WHO HAD LED THE REVOLUTION IN 1789 reasserted their authority • Allowed the Girondins to return

  3. Thermidorean Reaction, cont. Revolutionary Tribunals disbanded Public Safety Committee: Powers taken away Priests baptize and celebrate mass (pushed for by women—esp. in countryside) Press/theatre recover freedom of expression Jacobin Club closed Price/wage controls, etc. removed Use of army against Parisians signal end of Rev.

  4. The Directory 1795-99 • 1795 A new Republican Constitution was written • A new Assembly chose a 5-member executive to govern: The Directory • Almost all adult males could vote…but they could only vote for “electors” • Office-holding was reserved for property owners

  5. Middle Class Controlled the Government • They only represented a small segment of French society • Was the Directory’s major weakness • All economic controls were ended • So…the influence of the Sans-culottes

  6. The Economy under the Directory • More paper money was printed • Caused rising prices • Middle class wanted peace and stability • Wanted a society where money and property determined prestige and power

  7. The Directory • Encouraged women to leave the workplace and tend to their homes

  8. Threats to the Directory • October 1795…A Royalist Uprising! • Was a reaction to a provision in the new Constitution: 2/3 of those elected to the assembly (legislature) had to have been ex-members of the original National Convention of 1789-91

  9. The Royalist Uprising • Was snuffed out with help from Napoleon Bonaparte who was in Paris with his troops at the time (his famous: “whiff of grapeshot”) • SO…The new government: (the constitutional republic) was made dependent on military protection from the start

  10. The Sans-culottes • Continual criticism of the constitutional republic but posed no real threat

  11. The Conspiracy of Equals • Led by “Gracchus” Babeuf • Wanted to overthrow the Directory and replace it with a dictatorial “democratic” government which would abolish private property and enforce equality • (communism?) • The Directory crushed this conspiracy without the aid of the military and Babeuf was guillotined

  12. Trouble for the Government • Growing inflation, corruption • People unhappy: were impoverished • Inflation was killing the peasants and the government was unwilling to institute controls

  13. Legislative Elections April of 1797 • Increase in Royalist victories • But results were annulled by the Directory • The Directory gave up on establishing a republic was abandoned • Directory became a dictatorship

  14. The Directory • Remained in power to 1799 • Due to military success of the French Army • By 1797 First Coalition was defeated • England had removed its army from the Continent • 1798 The French defeated the English army at the Battle of the Pyramids • BUT the English navy destroyed Napoleon’s navy at the Battle of the Nile…also 1798

  15. The Last of the Directory • Another conspiracy: Coup d’EtatBrumaire (November 1799) • To save the revolution and prevent Royalist return to power • Abbe Sieyes (What is the 3rd Estate?)led the conspiracy offered Napoleon an opportunity (he had raced back to France after the naval defeat to do damage control) • “Confidence from below, authority from above”

  16. Coup d’Etat Brumaire • Napoleon was invited to overthrow the Directory • He did and also drove the legislators from the Legislative Assembly • A new constitution established the start of the Consulate Era

  17. A Plebiscite (general referendum) • Overwhelmingly approved Napoleon’s actions: • 3,011,007 to 1,562

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