861835
The Directory
- Achievements of the Directory
- Financial Reforms
- Problems
- inflation (assignats - the paper currency);
more and more printed to pay for the war;
worthless by 1796
- Assignat discontinued and a new
currency introduced mandat
territoriaux - but this also did not
last
- Metals coins became only legal tender, but too few
in circulation; demand for goods and services
collapses deflation; as prices fall businesses are
hard hit and the economy worsens…
- inflation (assignats - the paper currency);
more and more printed to pay for the war;
worthless by 1796
- How did they avoid bankruptcy?
- Plundering foreign states
- Ramel (Finance Minister) arranged
defaults on 2/3 of National Debt. Those
who had bought bonds (lending money to
the government in the hope of collecting
interest payments) lost their money. This
did mean that France could get on without
having to service the interest on its debt.
- Increase revenue...
- Restored indirect taxation: octrois
(taxes on food entering towns)
- Direct taxation: a land tax’ a tax on
moveable property; as tax on doors and
windows
- Restored indirect taxation: octrois
(taxes on food entering towns)
- Plundering foreign states
- Problems
- Military Success
- By 1795 France had conquered Netherlands
(Belgium) in 1794 and United Provinces (Holland)
in 1795.
- 1796: Bonaparte, General in French Army,
scores series of successes against Austria in
Northern Italy and concludes favourable
peace Treaty with Austria (Campio Formio
1797)
- Napoleon arranged the
treaty without consulting
the Directors in Paris…
- His popularity grew and when
he hatched a plan to attack
Britain through Egypt (1788-89)
the Directors were only too
keen to get him away from
mainland France.
- His popularity grew and when
he hatched a plan to attack
Britain through Egypt (1788-89)
the Directors were only too
keen to get him away from
mainland France.
- Napoleon arranged the
treaty without consulting
the Directors in Paris…
- 1796: Bonaparte, General in French Army,
scores series of successes against Austria in
Northern Italy and concludes favourable
peace Treaty with Austria (Campio Formio
1797)
- By 1795 France had conquered Netherlands
(Belgium) in 1794 and United Provinces (Holland)
in 1795.
- Financial Reforms
- Threats to the Directory
- Babeuf Plot, 1796
- Babeuf plotted coup (Conspiracy of Equals) – favouring
abolition of private property; “communal management of
property and private possession”
- Believed revolution would not come through
popular rising, but by dictatorship to make
fundamental changes to society
- Not supported by Sans Culottes. Arrested
in 1796 and Guillotined in 1797
- Not supported by Sans Culottes. Arrested
in 1796 and Guillotined in 1797
- Believed revolution would not come through
popular rising, but by dictatorship to make
fundamental changes to society
- Babeuf plotted coup (Conspiracy of Equals) – favouring
abolition of private property; “communal management of
property and private possession”
- Coup of Fructidor, 1797
- Context and events..
- Groundswell of royalist support…
- In 1797 monarchists won 180 of
the 260 seats being contested; not
yet a majority on council, but
would be the following year
- only 2 of the 5 Directors
were now devout
republicans.
- In 1797 monarchists won 180 of
the 260 seats being contested; not
yet a majority on council, but
would be the following year
- Those 2 Directors
ordered troops to Paris
to prevent a royalist
restoration in
September (Fructidor)
1797. The army seized
the strong points in city
and surrounded the
councils
- 55 deputies and 2
Directors arrested and
exiled
- Those remaining were so frightened that they
cancelled election results in 49 departments
(removing 177 deputies)
- Groundswell of royalist support…
- Significance...
- End of parliamentary democracy
- Several departments left without
any parliamentary representation
- A sort-of Terror ensued against emigrés (exiled)
and refractory priests (made to swear oath
rejecting support for royalty or be deported to
Guiana)
- This alienated Catholic opinion and
provided more opponents for
Directory
- End of parliamentary democracy
- Context and events..
- Coup of Floreal, 1798
- Context and Events
- May (Floréal) 1798, the Jacobins do well in elections…
- Directors again overturn the results.
- Annul the elections of
127 deputies – 86 of
whom were suspected
Jacobins
- Directors chose
their replacements
- Directors chose
their replacements
- Annul the elections of
127 deputies – 86 of
whom were suspected
Jacobins
- May (Floréal) 1798, the Jacobins do well in elections…
- Significance
- Less drastic than Fructidor, but it had
even less justification; no-one could
pretend the republic was in danger
- Directory loses all legitimacy again
showing contempt for wishes of the
Electors
- Less drastic than Fructidor, but it had
even less justification; no-one could
pretend the republic was in danger
- Context and Events
- Brumaire, 1799
- Context
- 1799 Jourdan’s law: all men between 20-25 conscripted
into army’ widespread reluctance (of a projected draft of
402,000, only 248,000 reached the army
- Forced loan on France’s rich – up to 75% of income
- Law of hostages (12 July): relatives of any French citizen
challenging authority of the Republic would be imprisoned and
property seized: a return to arbitrary arrests?
- Virtual collapse of local government and
no-one willing to accept office or fulfil
government decrees
- Directors (Sieyes) had decided that only way to save
the republic (avoiding a revival of Jacobinism or
royalists filling the political vacuum in provinces) was to
create a strong government by forcing a change in the
electoral system
- He would need the support of the army and a popular General.
- Directors (Sieyes) had decided that only way to save
the republic (avoiding a revival of Jacobinism or
royalists filling the political vacuum in provinces) was to
create a strong government by forcing a change in the
electoral system
- 1799 Jourdan’s law: all men between 20-25 conscripted
into army’ widespread reluctance (of a projected draft of
402,000, only 248,000 reached the army
- The Coup of Brumaire
- Plot
- Deputies in Council of 500 and members of
the Council were bribed: Lucien Bonaparte
was elected as president of the Council of
500 - in a prime position to control events
- Rumours spread of foreign inspired plot and two
council moved obediently ‘for safety’ to the Palace of
St Cloud, where the crowd could not rise up in defence
of the Directory and into the suburbs
- Rumours spread of foreign inspired plot and two
council moved obediently ‘for safety’ to the Palace of
St Cloud, where the crowd could not rise up in defence
of the Directory and into the suburbs
- Deputies in Council of 500 and members of
the Council were bribed: Lucien Bonaparte
was elected as president of the Council of
500 - in a prime position to control events
- Events
- Napoleon addresses each of the Councils and informs
them of the need to set up a new provisional government.
- He is badly received: cries of ‘outlaw
the dictator’
- On Lucien’s orders, soldiers are sent in
to ‘calm’ the 500.
- The Council is then forced to agree to abolition of Directory and
creation of new government
- The Council is then forced to agree to abolition of Directory and
creation of new government
- On Lucien’s orders, soldiers are sent in
to ‘calm’ the 500.
- He is badly received: cries of ‘outlaw
the dictator’
- Napoleon addresses each of the Councils and informs
them of the need to set up a new provisional government.
- Plot
- Context
- Babeuf Plot, 1796
Want to create your own Mind Maps for free with GoConqr? Learn more.