Chapter 14 - The Establishment Of The Directory

Question 1

How was the new constitution of 1795 formed?

Answer 1

Drawn up by Thermidorians
Made valid by plebiscite

Question 2

What was the order of the new structure?

Answer 2

1. Directory of Five
2. Council of 500 + Council of Ancients
3. Elections
4. Electors
5. Voters

Question 3

Who were the voters?

Answer 3

Male taxpayers over 21
5.5/8 million males could vote

Question 4

Who were the electors?

Answer 4

Those paying a certain sum in taxes could sit in the assemblies

Question 5

What were the elections?

Answer 5

Took place annually
1/3 deputies stood down every year

Question 6

What was the Council of Five Hundred?

Answer 6

Deputies over the age of 30
Wrote new laws but didn’t vote on it

Question 7

What was the Council of Ancients?

Answer 7

250 married or widowed men over 40
Approved or rejected laws

Question 8

What was the Directory of Five?

Answer 8

5 directors chosen by Ancients
They formed the executive and appointed ministers
1 member would retire each year

Question 9

What percentage were deputies from the old convention?

Answer 9

2/3rds

Question 10

How many men served as directors?

Answer 10

13

Question 11

Who were the most memorable?

Answer 11

Carnot, Sieyès, Ducos, Barras

Question 12

What was the problem with the aim of limiting power?

Answer 12

No prominent leader or directior
Directors had differing views and found it hard to work together

Question 13

What was the schism between?

Answer 13

Moderate conservatives
(Carnot + Letourneur)
Republicans
(Barras + Rewbell)

Question 14

What was another problem with the directors?

Answer 14

No mechanism to resolve disputes
Led to underhand practices

Question 15

Why was there acute inflation?

Answer 15

There was a switch from a system of economic control to a more liberal environment

Question 16

How much were the assignats in 1795 worth?

Answer 16

Worthless

Question 17

What economic problems did the directory come into?

Answer 17

Badly unbalanced budget
Costs of war
Problems with tax collection

Question 18

What stopped food supply?

Answer 18

Grain speculators
Poor harvest 1795

Question 19

Why was the trading situation bad?

Answer 19

British naval efforts restricted French colonial trade + blockaded French ports

Question 20

What effort was made to stabilise currency?

Answer 20

Switch from paper to metal currency

Question 21

What did they make to replace the assignats?

Answer 21

Mandats
800 million francs worth issued

Question 22

Why did they not work?

Answer 22

Rapidly counterfeited
Value depreciated - within a year worth nothing

Question 23

What did lack of metal coinage cause?

Answer 23

Deflation
This hindered trade

Question 24

When we’re weights and measures standardised?

Answer 24

1795

Question 25

Why was the price of grain brought down?

Answer 25

Better harvests in 1796 + 1798

Question 26

What taxes did the finance minister make/ restore?

Answer 26

New property taxes Octois (goods entering towns)

Question 27

What was the benefit of Mandats?

Answer 27

Write off 2/3rds of govt debt

Question 28

What was a negative of this?

Answer 28

Creditors didn’t trust govt (Held a lot of political influence)

Question 29

When did the directory reach a balance of payments?

Answer 29

1797+1798

Question 30

What were the threats from royalist for the directory?

Answer 30

The rising of Vendémaire Sentiment in the Vendée + the west Royalist André-Charles Brotier was arrested and deported for planning military rising in Paris to overthrow govt

Question 31

How had the directory only been able to establish itself?

Answer 31

Through the army crushing Vendémaire Shows how vulnerable it was

Question 32

Who was a leading figure for the Jacobins?

Answer 32

Gracchus Babeuf Campaigned for rights of the poor But called for revival of the Terror

Question 33

What was the event Babeuf planned?

Answer 33

‘Conspiracy of equals’ - armed uprising of the masses

Question 34

What happened to those involved?

Answer 34

Babeuf + co-conspirator = guillotined Other supporters = transported

Question 35

What did directors sometimes resort to when dealing with these oppositions?

Answer 35

Corrupt practices These undermined what they stood for

Question 36

Who started to do well in elections 1797?

Answer 36

Constitutional monarchists 3rd deputies had royalist sympathies

Question 37

What deputies planned the coup of Fructidor?

Answer 37

Barras, Rewbell + Lépeux

Question 38

What was their plan?

Answer 38

Produced evidence that president of 500 (Pichegru) made contact with monarchist emigres 1795 Had him arrested ‘Acting against revolution’

Question 39

What were military forces of Hoche + Augereau used to do?

Answer 39

Seize strong points of Paris Arrested 177 royalist deputies 53 were exiled to French Guana 42 opposition newspapers forcibly shut

Question 40

Who opted to serve?

Answer 40

2 new directors But council positions vacant

Question 41

What did this event do?

Answer 41

Undermined 1795 constitution Added lack of confidence in electoral process

Question 42

What legislation was created after Fructidor?

Answer 42

Former members of 2nd estate declared foreigners + had to apply for papers to regain rights as citizens Returned emigres had 2 weeks to leave otherwise death sentence (160 awarded) Refractory priests persecuted again

Question 43

Why did the Directory pass a new electoral law in January 1798?

Answer 43

To minimise royalist gains before the next round of elections

Question 44

What happened instead?

Answer 44

Jacobin support went ahead

Question 45

What did the Law of 22 Floreal do?

Answer 45

Purged 127 deputies from the Cof500 before they took their seats

Question 46

What was this whole coup called?

Answer 46

The coup of Floreal

Question 47

What was the Coup of Prairial?

Answer 47

Cof500 + CofA questioned conduct of war and the directors positions Replaced director Sieyes took advantage of this and with support from Barras and asked 2 other directors to stand down They refused He asked General Joubert to have a troop to Paris They resigned

Question 48

What was this the first experience of?

Answer 48

The councils forced a purge of the directors

Question 49

What did the directory do instead of healing divisions?

Answer 49

Increased them Overturned electoral results Grew increasingly reliant on army to defend itself

Question 50

What did Sieyes introduce due to growing Jacobins in councils?

Answer 50

Law of Hostages Allowed local authorities to take action against potential 'radicals'

Question 51

What was an explanation for the struggles of the Directory?

Answer 51

'what is seen as corruption could be interpreted as the desperate attempt of the middle ground to forestall extremism at a time when political processes were under-developed and mobs were poorly educated and easily influenced' - Waller