Transcript The Constitutional Republic: The Directory, 1795-1799

Constitutional Republic: The Directory, 1795-1799
Section 9.45
Thermidorian Reaction
Robespierre
Executed
(7/28/94)
-Thermidorian
Reaction
Begins
•Coup d’ etat of
Brumaire
(11/9/1799)
•-Consulate
begins
•End of
Revolution?
Constitution
of 1795
Rule of the Directory
1794
White
Terror
attacks
Jacobins
1795
Price
Controls
Abolished
1796
1797
Coup d etat of
Fructidor
(September 4)
1797
1798
1799
1804
Napoleon
crowned
Emperor
-Restoration
Begins
The Weakness of the Directory
•
Constitution of 1795
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Supported manly by Wealthy
Restricted the politically active class
Universal male suffrage selected
electors
Electors were usually wealthy
Electors chose department officials
and members of the Legislative
Assembly
Lower Chamber= Council of the 500
Upper Chamber= Council of
Ancients (250)
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•
Chose the Directory (5 executives)
Council of Ancients
Council of 500
Enemies of the Directory
The
Directory
Gracchus Babeuf & Lower Class
(hurt by Laissez Faire); Declaration of Verona
and Conspiracy of Equals; the Count of Provence;
Jacobins; Herbertists; Royalists
Directory’s Enemies on the Right
•
Louis XVIII
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–
Count of Provence
Directed royalists against Directory
from Verona, Italy
not too politically bright
Declaration of Verona
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announced his intention to restore Old
Regime and punish revolutionaries
since 1789 (duh)
“Bourbons learned nothing and
forgot nothing.”
– French don’t love Con of 1795 but
Restoration to them means
• Return of privileged nobility
• Reimplementation of the
manorial system
Directory’s Enemies on the Left
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Conspiracy of Equals (1796)
group led by Gracchus
Babeuf
Wanted to overthrow the
Directory with a dictatorship
called it democratic
Wanted to abolish private
property, equality decreed
a precursor to communism
Babeuf is guillotined
Yet Directory ignored
hardships of lower classes
Gracchus Babeuf
Fashion:
Convention v Directory Periods
Radical Period
Thermidorian Period
Napoleon
• Educated in a French military school
• Barras, head of state security, selected
Napoleon to defend the Convention against
attacks by royalists
• Married Josephine de
Beauharnais, a leader of society
• In two years he defeated the
Austrians, won control of most of
Italy, and made the Peace of
Campo Formio
The Political Crisis of 1797:
Summary
• French royalists won elections
• Republicans worked a coup d’etat, with
Napoleon's help, the “Coup d’etat de
Fructidor”
• Directory annulled the 3/1797 elections and
made peace with Austria
• France also annexed
Belgium and the
west bank of the
Rhine
Coup d’etat of Fructidor: Details
•
•
•
3/1797- first free election is
held:
Royalists win many seats and are
gaining political control
Republicans, regicides, and
Napoleon can not let royalists get
control
(Napoleon, for one, never would
have risen in “Old Regime”)
Coup d’etat of Fructidor
(September 4, 1797):
The Fructidorian government, or
Directory, annuls the elections of
the spring to keep the royalists out
and Directors violate their own
Constitution of the year III.
Directory first purges 2 Directors:
One, Lazare Carnot, driven into
exile
To save the republic (they said), they
had to violate their own
constitution…
Foreign Policy of Directory
• Expansion continues:
• 10/1797- Treaty of Campo
Formio
• Austria recognizes French
annexation of Belgium
(former Austrian
Netherlands) & Northern
Italy
• Pope deposed and Roman
Republic declared
• Only England is still at war
with France
• Napoleon’s aggression is
directed toward Egypt
Young Napoleon
The Coup d’Etat of 1799 Bonaparte
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After Fructidor coup constitutionalism is
given up
Directory becomes an ineffective
dictatorship
– They repudiate debts
– Guerrilla activity in Vendee flares up
– Religious schism becomes more acute
as Directory persecutes refractory clergy
Napoleon feints toward India with the
invasion of Egypt (indirect strike at British)
British fleet cuts off French army in Egypt
Napoleon abandons his army and returns
to Paris on his own.
Egypt
The Coup d’Etat of 1799: Bonaparte
• Directory is looking for a
general to keep a lid on
France
• Abbe Sieyes says
“confidence from below,
authority from above”
• Coup d’ etat of Brumaire
(11/9/1799)
• Napoleon is chosen as a
member of the Consulate
(3) and becomes first
Consul 11/1799