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Summary Political Issues within the Directory
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Notes on political issues within the Directory of the French Revolution
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Political IssuesWhat political issues did the Directory face?
Royalists
- 1795-6 royalist risings in the Vendée and the west- needed to be dealt with by General
Hoche and the army
- January 1797 royalist Brotier arrested and deported for planning an uprising
Jacobins
- Early 1796 Babeuf called for revival of Terror, guillotined May 1797
The coups
The coup of Fructidor- 4th September 1797:
April 1797- constitutional monarchists did well in the elections
- Increased no. of seats to 182 so 1/3 of deputies had royalist sympathies
- Gave fears among Directors that next year’s election would bring more royalists
September (18 Fructidor)- Barras, Rewbell + Révellière-Lépeaux hatched a plot
- Produced evidence that Pichegru, President of Council of 500, had contacted monarchist
émigrés in 1795 so had him arrested + accused the 500 of ‘acting against the revolution’
Military forces of General Hoche + General Augereau (sent by Napoleon from Italy) used to
seize strongpoints in Paris
- 177 royalist deputies arrested
- 53 of these inc. Pichegru exiled to French Guiana
- 42 opposition newspapers shut down
2 new Directors were co-opted to serve (replacing Carnot + Barthélemy) but council
positions left vacant
This undermined the 1795 constitution + added to lack of confidence in electoral process
- It was followed by some legislation
- Former members of the 2nd estate declared foreigners + had to reapply for naturalisation
papers to regain rights as ‘citizens’
- Returned émigrés given 2 weeks to leave France + those who didn’t + relatives were
prosecuted by military tribunals which awarded 160 death penalties
- Refractory priests persecuted again + 100s deported/imprisoned
The coup of Floréal- 11th May 1798:
Directory passed a new electoral law in January 1798 before next elections in March to
minimise royalist gains
- Results were just as alarming as the Jacobins soared ahead
Results altered by a scrutinising process + Law of 22 Floréal (11 th May) purged 127 deputies
from the Council of 500 before they could take their seats
- The results from 8 départements were quashed
This reinforced the difficulties of operating the constitution of 1795
The coup of Prairial- 18th June 1798:
By 1799 confidence in Directory was low
Both the Council of 500 + Ancients questioned the conduct of the war (particularly the recall
of a Jacobin general) + complained that election of Director Jean-Baptiste Treilhard had been
illegal
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