Western History 137: Finally the Directory Period at the end of the French Revolution. What happened here?

After the horrors of the Reign of Terror the Directory Period was a necessary respite. Starting in early 1795 Jacobin leaders were prosecuted and  Amnesty was  granted to the Vendéen rebels. Reign of Terror prosecutor Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville was sentenced to death after his trial while Jacobin uprisings were put down in May. After the death of the young Louis XVII, his uncle Count of Provence took the title Louis XVIII.

Food riots continued to be a problem in Paris with unrest continuing in the Vendée. Royalist forces assisted by Britain established a beachhead in Brittany but they are forced to surrender on July 21st. France did enjoy military success against Spain and actually secured control of territory on the Island of Saint-Dominigue that is today known as the Dominican Republic.

By September a  New Constuition was adopted that  established a Bicameral legislature for France.  A Five member Directory would serve as the government executive.

The Five Man Directory: Source French Revolution Timeline project

In October the up-and-coming  Napoleon Bonaparte would put down Royalist uprising with a 'whiff of grapeshot'. At the same time the First Directory was chosen. It would  consist of Jean-François Reubell, Étienne-François Letourneur, Paul Barras (a friend of Napoleon), Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès  and Lazare Carnot. As expected there was infighting occurs from the get-go. On the military front an armistice with Prussia and Austria was reached in December.

Lazare Carnot source: Britanica.com

Early Directory initiatives included the creation of  the post of  Minister of Police, termination of the . inflation plagued assignat currency and the final suppression of the Vendéen rebellion. Napoleon was named commander of the Army of Italy. A coup d’etat from the far left led by François-Noël Babeuf was put down. Babeuf and his revolutionaries would later be sentenced to death and executed

François-Noël Babeuf source: Alpha history

Much of the events in 1796 political event events were dominated by Napoleon's successful Italian Campaign .

However by 1797 relations between France and the US worsened  as a consequence of the Directory’s  orders to seize American warships. The French military continued its victorious run in Italy consolidating territory. Napoleon Bonaparte set up the pro-French Ligurian Republic in Genoa and the Cisalpine Republic in Northern Italy.  

Italy in 1799 source: etc.usf.edu

On the home front Royalist power increased in the Councils. Barras and the military General Hoche (the victor in Brittany) did however swing the balance in favour of the Republican with the Coup of 18 Fructidor.  Soon afterward  political clubs were banned. France was becoming a military dictatorship.



General Lazare Hoche source; frenchempire.net

In October 1797 the Treaty of Campo Formio ended the War of the First Coalition. France now had control of the Austrian Netherlands, the Left Bank of the Rhine and the allegiance of several ‘sister’ republics in Italy.

By 1798 the  Directory though was at odds with the Pope. France reacted by invading Rome and setting up a pro-French Roman Republic. The Helvetian Republic was also established in Switzerland as another adjunct of France's expansion. Napoleon would begin his Egyptian Campaign.

1799 saw conflict between the  Legislature and Directory. Both Royalist and Jacobin uprisings were put down. Bonaparte's coup d'etat  in November of the year forced the adoption of the Constitution of the Year VIII. A Consulate was established bringing the Directory to an end.