French Revolution
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The period of the French Revolution is very important in the history of France and the world. It covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. While France would oscillate between republic, empire, and monarchy for 75 years after the First Republic fell to a coup by Napoleon Bonaparte, the revolution nonetheless spelled a definitive end to the ancien r駩me, and eclipses both subsequent revolutions in France in the popular imagination. It downplays the previous trend of absolutism and people as subjects and amplifies the power of the people, boosting them to the status of citizens.
Causes
See main article Causes of the French Revolution.
Many factors led to the revolution; to some extent the old order succumbed to its own rigidity in the face of a changing world; to some extent, it fell to the ambitions of a rising bourgeoisie, allied with aggrieved peasants, wage-earners, and individuals of all classes who had come under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. As the revolution proceeded and as power devolved from the monarchy to legislative bodies, the conflicting interests of these initially allied groups would become the source of conflict and bloodshed.
Certainly, causes of the revolution must include all of the following:
- Resentment of royal absolutism.
- Resentment of the seigneurial system by peasants, wage-earners, and, to a lesser extent, the bourgeoisie
- The rise of enlightenment ideals.
- An unmanageable national debt, both caused by and exacerbating the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation.
- Food scarcity in the months immediately before the revolution.
- Resentment at noble privilege and dominance in public life by the ambitious professional classes.
- Influence of the American Revolution.
Taking_of_the_Bastille.jpg
Proto-revolutionary activity started when the French king Louis XVI (reigned 1774–1792) faced a crisis in the royal finances. The French crown, which fiscally exactly equated to the French state, owed considerable debt. During the r駩mes of Louis XV (ruled 1715–1774) and Louis XVI several different ministers, including Turgot (Controller-General of Finances 1774–1776) and Jacques Necker (Director-General of Finance 1777–1781), unsuccessfully proposed to revise the French tax system to a more uniform system. Such measures encountered consistent resistance from the parlements (law courts), dominated by the "Robe Nobility," which saw themselves as the nation's guardians against despotism, as well as from court factions, and both ministers were ultimately dismissed. Charles Alexandre de Calonne, who became Controller-General of the Finances in 1783, pursued a strategy of conspicuous spending as a means of convincing potential creditors of the confidence and stability of France's finances.
However, Calonne, having conducted a lengthy review of France's financial situation, determined that it was not sustainable, and proposed a uniform land tax as a means of setting France's finances in order in the long term. In the short-term, he hoped that a show of support from a hand-picked Assembly of Notables would restore confidence in French finances, and allow further borrowing until the land tax began to make up the difference and allow the beginning of repayment of the debt.
Although Calonne convinced the king of the necessity of his reforms, the Assembly of Notables refused to endorse his measures, insisting that only a truly representative body — preferably the Estates-General of the Kingdom, could approve new taxes. The King, seeing that Calonne himself was now a liability, dismissed him and replaced him with É´ienne Charles de Lom鮩e de Brienne, the Archbishop of Toulouse, who had been a leader of the opposition in the Assembly. Brienne now adopted a thorough-going reform position, granting various civil rights (including freedom of worship to Protestants), and promising the convocation of the Estates-General within five years, but also attempted in the meanwhile to go ahead with Calonne's plans. When the measures were opposed in the Parlement of Paris (in part, at least, thanks to the King's tactlessness), Brienne went on the attack, attempting to disband the parlements entirely and collect the new taxes in spite of them. This led to massive resistance across many parts of France, including the famous "Day of the Tiles" in Grenoble. Even more importantly, the chaos across France convinced the short-term creditors on whom the French treasury depended to maintain its day to day operations to withdraw their loans, leading to a near-default, which forced Louis and Brienne to surrender.
The king agreed on August 8, 1788 to convene the Estates-General in May 1789 — for the first time since 1614. Brienne resigned on August 25, 1788, and Necker again took charge of the nation's finances. He used his position not to propose new reforms, but only to prepare for the meeting of the nation's representatives.
History
The Estates-General of 1789
For a more detailed description of the events of August 8, 1788 – June 17, 1789, see Estates-General of 1789.
The calling of the Estates-General led to growing concern on the part of the opposition that the government would attempt to gerrymander an assembly to its liking. In order to avoid this, the Parlement of Paris, having returned in triumph to the city, proclaimed that the Estates-General would have to meet according to the forms observed at its last meeting. Although it would appear that the magistrates were not specifically aware of the "forms of 1614" when they made this decision, this provoked an uproar. The 1614 Estates had consisted of equal numbers of representatives of each estate, and voting had been by order, with the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobility), and the Third Estate (everybody else) each receiving one vote.
Almost immediately the "Committee of Thirty", a body of liberal Parisians, mostly noblemen, began to agitate against this, arguing for a doubling of the Third Estate and voting by head (as had already been done in various provincial assemblies). The parlement soon backed down, claiming that only the election procedures — deputies to be elected by s鮩chauss饳 and bailliages rather than by provinces — need be determined by the precedent of 1614. Necker, speaking for the government, conceded further that the third estate should be doubled, but the question of voting by head was left for the meeting of the Estates themselves. But the resentments brought forward by the dispute remained powerful, and pamphlets, like the [[Abbé “ieyè³]'s What is the Third Estate, which argued that the privileged orders were parasites, and that the Third Estate itself was the nation, kept these resentments alive.
When the Estates-General convened in Versailles on May 5 1789, lengthy speeches by Necker and Lamoignon, the keeper of the seals, did little to give guidance to the deputies, who were remanded to separate meeting places to credential their members. The question of whether voting was ultimately to be by head or by order was again put aside for the moment, but the Third Estate now demanded that credentialling itself should take place as a group. Negotiations with the other estates to achieve this, however, were unsuccessful, as a bare majority of the clergy and a large majority of the nobility continued to support voting by order.
The National Assembly
For a more detailed description of the events of June 17, 1789 – July 9, 1789, see National Assembly.
On May 28, 1789, the Abbé ›[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyè³¼Sieyè³] moved that the Third Estate, now meeting as the Communes (English: "Commons"), proceed with verification of its own powers and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them. They proceeded to do so, completing the process on June 17. Then they voted a measure far more radical, declaring themselves the National Assembly, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People". The National Assembly's first act was to pass the Declaration of the Rights of Man. They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear that they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.
Louis XVI shut the Salle des É´ats where the Assembly met. The Assembly moved their deliberations to the king's tennis court, where they proceeded to swear the Tennis Court Oath (June 20, 1789), under which they agreed not to separate until they had given France a constitution. A majority of the representatives of the clergy soon joined them, as did forty-seven members of the nobility. By June 27 the royal party had overtly given in, although the military began to arrive in large numbers around Paris and Versailles. Messages of support for the Assembly poured in from Paris and other French cities. On July 9, the Assembly reconstituted itself as the National Constituent Assembly.
In Paris, the Palais Royal and its grounds became the site of a continuous meeting. Some of the military leaned toward the popular cause.
The National Constituent Assembly
The storming of the Bastille
For a more detailed discussion, see Storming of the Bastille.
On July 11, 1789, King Louis, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, as well as his wife, Marie Antoinette, and brother, the Comte d'Artois, banished the reformist minister Necker and completely reconstructed the ministry. Much of Paris, presuming this to be the start of a royal coup, moved into open rebellion. Some of the military joined the mob; others remained neutral.
On July 14, 1789, after four hours of combat, the insurgents seized the Bastille prison, killing the governor, Marquis Bernard de Launay and several of his guard. Although the Parisians released only seven prisoners — four forgers, two lunatics, and a dangerous sexual offender — the Bastille served as a potent symbol of everything hated under the ancien r駩me. Returning to the H? de Ville (city hall), the mob accused the pr鶴t des marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery; his assassination took place en route to an ostensible trial at the Palais Royal.
The king and his military supporters backed down, at least for the time being. Lafayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris; Jean-Sylvain Bailly — president of the National Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath — became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the commune. The king visited Paris, where, on July 27, he accepted a tricolore cockade, as cries of "Long live the Nation" changed to "Long live the King".
Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles — little assured by the apparent and, as it proved, temporary reconciliation of king and people — started to flee the country as [[é©grés, some of whom began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.
Necker, recalled to power, experienced but a short-lived triumph. An astute financier but a less astute politician, he overplayed his hand by demanding and obtaining a general amnesty, losing much of the people's favour in his moment of apparent triumph.
Insurrection and the spirit of popular sovereignty spread throughout France. In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of châ´¥aux, as part of a general agrarian insurrection known as "la Grande Peur" (the Great Fear).
The abolition of feudalism
For a more detailed discussion, see The abolition of feudalism.
On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly abolished feudalism, sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate and the tithes gathered by the First Estate. In the course of a few hours, nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies, and cities lost their special privileges.
While there would follow retreats, regrets, and much argument over the racbat au denier 30 ("redemption at a thirty-years' purchase") specified in the legislation of August 4, the course now remained set, although the full process would take another four years.
Dechristianisation
For a more detailed discussion, see Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution.
The revolution brought about a massive shifting of powers from the Roman Catholic Church to the State. Legislation enacted in 1790 included the abolition of the Church's authority to levy a tax on crops known as the "dî¥," the cancellation of special privileges for the clergy, and the confiscation of Church property, the then largest landowner in the country. With it came a violent backlash against the clergy that saw the imprisonment and massacre of priests throughout France. The Concordat of 1801 between the National Assembly and the Church ended the dechristianisation period and established the rules for a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French State that lasted until it was abrogated by the Third Republic on the separation of church and state on December 11, 1905.
The appearance of factions
For a more detailed discussion, please see National Constituent Assembly.
Factions within the Assembly began to become clearer. The aristocrat [[Jacques Antoine Marie Cazalè³] and the abbé ›[Jean-Sifrein Maury]] led what would become known as the right wing, the opposition to revolution. The "Royalist democrats" or monarchiens, allied with Necker, inclined toward organising France along lines similar to the British constitutional model: they included Jean Joseph Mounier, the Comte de Lally-Tollendal, the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, and Pierre Victor Malouet, Comte de Virieu.
The "National Party", representing the centre or centre-left of the assembly, included Honoré irabeau, Lafayette, and Bailly; while Adrien Duport, Barnave and Alexander Lameth represented somewhat more extreme views. Almost alone in his radicalism on the left was the Arras lawyer Maximilien Robespierre.
The abbé ›[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyè³¼Sieyè³] led in proposing legislation in this period and successfully forged consensus for some time between the political centre and the left.
In Paris, various committees, the mayor, the assembly of representatives, and the individual districts each claimed authority independent of the others. The increasingly middle-class National Guard under Lafayette also slowly emerged as a power in its own right, as did other self-generated assemblies.
Looking to the United States Declaration of Independence for a model, on August 26, 1789 the Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Like the U.S. Declaration, it comprised a statement of principles rather than a constitution with legal effect.
Towards a constitution
For a more detailed discussion, see Towards a constitution.
The National Constituent Assembly functioned not only as a legislature, but also as a body to draft a new constitution.
Necker, Mounier, Lally-Tollendal and others argued unsuccessfully for a senate, with members appointed by the crown on the nomination of the people. The bulk of the nobles argued for an aristocratic upper house elected by the nobles. The popular party carried the day: France would have a single, unicameral assembly. The king retained only a "suspensive veto": he could delay the implementation of a law, but not block it absolutely.
The people of Paris thwarted Royalist efforts to block this new order: they marched on Versailles on October 5, 1789. After various scuffles and incidents, the king and the royal family allowed themselves to be brought back from Versailles to Paris.
The Assembly replaced the historic provinces with eighty-three dé°¡rtements, uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in extent and population.
Originally summoned to deal with a financial crisis, to date the Assembly had focused on other matters and only worsened the deficit. Mirabeau now led the move to address this matter, with the Assembly giving Necker complete financial dictatorship.
Toward the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
For a more detailed discussion, see Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
To no small extent, the Assembly addressed the financial crisis by having the nation take over the property of the Church (while taking on the Church's expenses), through the law of December 2, 1789. In order to rapidly monetize such an enormous amount of property, the government introduced a new paper currency, assignats, backed by the confiscated church lands.
Further legislation on February 13, 1790 abolished monastic vows. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed on July 12, 1790 (although not signed by the king until December 26, 1790), turned the remaining clergy into employees of the State and required that they take an oath of loyalty to the constitution. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy also made the Catholic church an arm of the secular state.
In response to this legislation, the archbishop of Aix and the bishop of Clermont led a walkout of clergy from the National Constituent Assembly. The pope never accepted the new arrangement, and it led to a schism between those clergy who swore the required oath and accepted the new arrangement ("jurors" or "constitutional clergy") and the "non-jurors" or "refractory priests" who refused to do so.
From the anniversary of the Bastille to the death of Mirabeau
For a more detailed discussion of the events of July 14, 1790 – September 30, 1791, see From the anniversary of the Bastille to the death of Mirabeau.
The Assembly abolished the symbolic paraphernalia of the ancien r駩me — armorial bearings, liveries, etc. — which further alienated the more conservative nobles, and added to the ranks of the [[é©grés.
On July 14 1790 and for several days following, crowds in the Champ-de-Mars celebrated the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille; Talleyrand performed a mass; participants swore an oath of "fidelity to the nation, the law, and the king"; the king and the royal family actively participated.
The electors had originally chosen the members of the States-General to serve for a single year, but by the Tennis Court Oath, the communes had bound themselves to meet continuously until France had a constitution. Right-wing elements now argued for a new election, but Mirabeau carried the day, asserting that the status of the assembly had fundamentally changed, and that no new election should take place before completing the constitution.
In late 1790, several small counter-revolutionary uprisings broke out and efforts took place to turn all or part of the army against the revolution. These uniformly failed. The royal court, in Fran篩s Mignet's words, "encouraged every anti-revolutionary enterprise and avowed none." [1] (http://www.outfo.org/literature/pg/etext06/8hfrr10.txt)
The army faced considerable internal turmoil: General [[Fran篩s Claude Amour, marquis de Bouill鼂ouillé successfully put down a small rebellion, which added to his (accurate) reputation for counter-revolutionary sympathies.
The new military code, under which promotion depended on seniority and proven competence (rather than on nobility) alienated some of the existing officer corps, who joined the ranks of the é©gré³ or became counter-revolutionaries from within.
This period saw the rise of the political "clubs" in French politics, foremost among these the Jacobin Club: according to the 1911 Encyclop椩a Britannica, one hundred and fifty-two clubs had affiliated with the Jacobins by August 10, 1790. As the Jacobins became more of a broad popular organization, some of its founders abandoned it to form the Club of '89. Royalists established first the short-lived Club des Impartiaux and later the Club Monarchique. They attempted unsuccessfully to curry public favour by distributing bread; nonetheless, they became the frequent target of protests and even riots, and the Paris municipal authorities finally closed down the Club Monarchique in January 1791.
Amidst these intrigues, the Assembly continued to work on developing a constitution. A new judicial organization made all magistracies temporary and independent of the throne. The legislators abolished hereditary offices, except for the monarchy itself. Jury trials started for criminal cases. The king would have the unique power to propose war, with the legislature then deciding whether to declare war. The Assembly abolished all internal trade barriers and suppressed guilds, masterships, and workers' organisations: any individual gained the right to practise a trade through the purchase of a license; strikes became illegal.
In the winter of 1791 the Assembly considered, for the first time, legislation against the é©gr鳧'. The debate pitted the safety of the State against the liberty of individuals to leave. Mirabeau carried the day against the measure, which he referred to as "worthy of being placed in the code of Draco." [2] (http://www.outfo.org/literature/pg/etext06/8hfrr10.txt)
However, Mirabeau died on March 2, 1791. In Mignet's words, "No one succeeded him in power and popularity," and before the end of the year, the new Legislative Assembly would adopt this "draconian" measure.
The Flight to Varennes
For a more detailed discussion, see Flight to Varennes.
Louis XVI, opposed to the course of the revolution, but rejecting the potentially treacherous aid of the other monarchs of Europe, cast his lot with General Bouillé¬ who condemned both the emigration and the assembly, and promised him refuge and support in his camp at Montmedy.
On the night of June 20, 1791 the royal family fled the Tuileries. However, the next day the overconfident king had the imprudence to show himself. Recognised and arrested at Varennes (in the Meuse dé°¡rtement) late on 21 June, he returned to Paris under guard.
Pé´©on, Latour-Maubourg, and Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave, representing the Assembly, met the royal family at É°ernay and returned with them. From this time, Barnave became a counsellor and supporter of the royal family.
When they reached Paris, the crowd remained silent. The Assembly provisionally suspended the king. He and Queen Marie Antoinette remained held under guard.
The last days of the National Constituent Assembly
For a more detailed discussion, please see The last days of the National Constituent Assembly.
With most of the Assembly still favouring a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic, the various groupings reached a compromise which left Louis XVI little more than a figurehead: he had perforce to swear an oath to the constitution, and a decree declared that retracting the oath, heading an army for the purpose of making war upon the nation, or permitting anyone to do so in his name would amount to de facto abdication.
Jacques Pierre Brissot drafted a petition, insisting that in the eyes of the nation Louis XVI was deposed since his flight. An immense crowd gathered in the Champ-de-Mars to sign the petition. Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins gave fiery speeches. The Assembly called for the municipal authorities to "preserve public order". The National Guard under Lafayette's command confronted the crowd. The soldiers first responded to a barrage of stones by firing in the air; the crowd did not back down, and Lafayette ordered his men to fire into the crowd, resulting in the killing of as many as fifty people.
In the wake of this massacre the authorities closed many of the patriotic clubs, as well as radical newspapers such as Jean-Paul Marat's L'Ami du Peuple. Danton fled to England; Desmoulins and Marat went into hiding.
Meanwhile, a renewed threat from abroad arose: Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick William II of Prussia, and the king's brother Charles-Phillipe, comte d'Artois issued the Declaration of Pilnitz which considered the cause of Louis XVI as their own, demanded his total liberty and the dissolution of the Assembly, and promised an invasion of France on his behalf if the revolutionary authorities refused its conditions.
If anything, the declaration further imperilled Louis. The French people expressed no respect for the dictates of foreign monarchs, and the threat of force merely resulted in the militarization of the frontiers.
Even before the "Flight to Varennes" the Assembly members had determined to debar themselves from the legislature that would succeed them, the Legislative Assembly. They now gathered the various constitutional laws they had passed into a single constitution, showed remarkable fortitude in choosing not to use this as an occasion for major revisions, and submitted it to the recently restored Louis XVI, who accepted it, writing "I engage to maintain it at home, to defend it from all attacks from abroad; and to cause its execution by all the means it places at my disposal". The king addressed the Assembly and received enthusiastic applause from members and spectators. The Assembly set the end of its term for September 29 1791.
Mignet has written, "The constitution of 1791... was the work of the middle class, then the strongest; for, as is well known, the predominant force ever takes possession of institutions... In this constitution the people was the source of all powers, but it exercised none." [3] (http://www.outfo.org/literature/pg/etext06/8hfrr10.txt)
The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the Monarchy
For a more detailed description of the events of October 1, 1791 – September 19, 1792, see main article The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchy.
The Legislative Assembly
Under the Constitution of 1791, France would function as a constitutional monarchy. The king had to share power with the elected Legislative Assembly, but he still retained his royal veto and the ability to select ministers.
The Legislative Assembly first met on October 1, 1791 and degenerated into chaos less than a year later. In the words of the 1911 Encyclop椩a Britannica: "In the attempt to govern, the Assembly failed altogether. It left behind an empty treasury, an undisciplined army and navy, and a people debauched by safe and successful riot."
The Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (constitutional monarchists) on the right, about 330 Girondins (liberal republicans) and Jacobins (radical revolutionaries) on the left, and about 250 deputies unaffiliated with either faction.
Early on, the king vetoed legislation that threatened the é©gr鳧' with death and that decreed that every non-juring clergyman must take within eight days the civic oath mandated by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Over the course of a year, disagreements like this would lead to a constitutional crisis.
War
The politics of the period inevitably drove France towards war with Austria and its allies. The King, the Feuillants and the Girondins specifically wanted to wage war. The King (and many Feuillants with him) expected war would increase his personal popularity; he also foresaw an opportunity to exploit any defeat: either result would make him stronger. The Girondins wanted to export the Revolution throughout Europe. Only some of the radical Jacobins opposed war, preferring to consolidate and expand the revolution at home. The Austrian emperor Leopold II, brother of Marie Antoinette, may have wished to avoid war, but he died on March 1, 1792.
France declared war on Austria (April 20, 1792) and Prussia joined on the Austrian side a few weeks later. The French Revolutionary Wars had begun.
After early skirmishes went badly for France, the first significant military engagement of the war occurred with the Franco-Prussian Battle of Valmy (September 20, 1792). Although heavy rain prevented a conclusive resolution, the French artillery proved its superiority. However, by this time, France stood in turmoil and the monarchy had effectively become a thing of the past.
Constitutional Crisis
French_Revolution-1792-8-10.jpg
- Main articles: 10th of August (French Revolution), September Massacres
On the night of August 10, 1792, insurgents, supported by a new revolutionary Paris Commune, assailed the Tuileries. The king and queen ended up prisoners and a rump session of the Legislative Assembly suspended the monarchy: little more than a third of the deputies were present, almost all of them Jacobins.
What remained of a national government depended on the support of the insurrectionary Commune. When the Commune sent gangs of assassins into the prisons to butcher 1400 victims, and addressed a circular letter to the other cities of France inviting them to follow this example, the Assembly could offer only feeble resistance. This situation persisted until the Convention, charged with writing a new constitution, met on September 20, 1792 and became the new de facto government of France. The next day it abolished the monarchy and declared a republic. This date was later retroactively adopted as the beginning of Year One of the French Revolutionary Calendar.
The Convention
For a more detailed description of the events of September 20, 1792 – September 26, 1795, see National Convention.
The legislative power in the new republic fell to a National Convention, while the executive power came to rest in the Committee of Public Safety. The Girondins became the most influential party in the Convention and on the Committee.
In the Brunswick Manifesto, the Imperial and Prussian armies threatened retaliation on the French population should it resist their advance or the reinstatement of the monarchy. As a consequence, King Louis was seen as conspiring with the enemies of France. January 17, 1793 saw King Louis condemned to death for "conspiracy against the public liberty and the general safety" by a weak majority in Convention. The January 21 execution led to more wars with other European countries. Louis' Austrian-born queen, Marie Antoinette, would follow him to the guillotine on 16 October.
When war went badly, prices rose and the sans-culottes (poor laborers and radical Jacobins) rioted; counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions. This encouraged the Jacobins to seize power through a parliamentary coup, backed up by force effected by mobilising public support against the Girondist faction, and by utilising the mob power of the Parisian sans-culottes. An alliance of Jacobin and sans-culottes elements thus became the effective centre of the new government. Policy became considerably more radical.
The Committee of Public Safety came under the control of Maximilien Robespierre, and the Jacobins unleashed the Reign of Terror (1793–1794). At least 1200 people met their deaths under the guillotine — or otherwise — after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. The slightest hint of counter-revolutionary thoughts or activities (or, as in the case of Jacques H颥rt, revolutionary zeal exceeding that of those in power) could place one under suspicion, and the trials did not proceed over-scrupulously.
In 1794 Robespierre had ultra-radicals and moderate Jacobins executed; in consequence, however, his own popular support eroded markedly. On July 27, 1794, the French people revolted against the excesses of the Reign of Terror in what became known as the Thermidorian Reaction. It resulted in moderate Convention members deposing and executing Robespierre and several other leading members of the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention approved the new "Constitution of the Year III" on 17 August 1795; a plebiscite ratified it in September; and it took effect on September 26, 1795.
The Directory
For more information on the events of September 26, 1795 – November 9, 1799, see French Directory.
The new constitution installed the Directoire (English: Directory) and created the first bicameral legislature in French history. The parliament consisted of 500 representatives (the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of the Five Hundred)) and 250 senators (the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Seniors)). Executive power went to five "directors," named annually by the Conseil des Anciens from a list submitted by the Conseil des Cinq-Cents.
The new r駩me met with opposition from remaining Jacobins and royalists. The army suppressed riots and counter-revolutionary activities. In this way the army and its successful general, Napoleon Bonaparte gained much power.
On November 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire of the Year VIII) Napoleon staged the coup which installed the Consulate; this effectively led to his dictatorship and eventually (in 1804) to his proclamation as emperor, which brought to a close the specifically republican phase of the French Revolution.
See also
- French Revolutionary Calendar
- French Revolutionary Wars
- Glossary of the French Revolution
- History of democracy
- List of people associated with the French Revolution
- List of people granted honorary French citizenship during the French Revolution
- Reactionary
- Timeline of the French Revolution
Other revolutions in French history
- July Revolution
- The Revolutions of 1848 in France
- Paris Commune of 1871
- May 1968 — a noteworthy rebellion, though not quite a revolution