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Unlock This CourseBy 1795 the Thermidorians wanted a Republic that was safe from three dangers: a king, a dictator like Robespierre, and the Paris crowd. In August 1795 the Convention agreed a new constitution to do this. The new government, the Directory, took office on 2 November 1795.
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Power was split so carefully that nobody could lead. The Directors could not propose laws, block them or dismiss the councils. The councils could not easily remove the Directors. If the two sides quarrelled, there was no legal way to settle it. Yearly elections kept politics unstable, and changing the constitution legally would take about nine years.
The Law of Two-Thirds showed that the new rulers did not trust the voters. Royalists hated the Republic. Jacobins and the poor hated a government of the rich: in 1796 Babeuf plotted a rising to make everyone equal, and he was executed in 1797. Caught between the two, the Directory leaned more and more on the army.
Money was another weakness. The government was short of cash throughout, and prices rose out of control in its first year.
Royalism was growing even before the Directory began, because many people were tired of war, hunger and the attack on the Church.
Three Directors, led by Barras, decided to strike before the royalists could vote the Republic away. Bonaparte sent them General Augereau. On 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) troops surrounded the councils. Barthélemy and Pichegru were arrested, and the Director Carnot fled. Elections in 49 departments were cancelled, 177 deputies lost their seats and about 65 opponents were deported to Guiana in South America. Opposition newspapers were closed, and harsh laws against émigrés and refractory priests came back.
The coup ended the royalists' hopes of winning power legally. But the Directory had broken its own constitution and now depended on the generals. In May 1798 it cheated again, cancelling the election of more than 100 deputies, most of them Jacobins.
The worthless assignat was scrapped in February 1796. After a second paper currency failed, France went back to metal coins in 1797, and prices steadied. In September 1797 the finance minister, Ramel, wrote off two thirds of the national debt. This cut the government's interest bill but ruined many lenders. In 1798 he brought in new taxes on land, trade and even doors and windows. They were collected properly and lasted for more than a century.
In 1796-97 Bonaparte defeated the Austrians in northern Italy. By the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797) Austria made peace and accepted French rule in Belgium, leaving only Britain at war with France. Money and treasures taken from Italy helped pay the bills. The Directory also lasted four years, longer than any earlier revolutionary government, and without a return to the Terror.
What Sieyès and Bonaparte did next is in the lesson Napoleon as First Consul and What the Revolution Achieved.
Extract A (a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history book)
The Directory limped through four miserable years. Its five Directors, among them the notoriously corrupt Barras, had only one answer when the voters turned against them: to cheat. In 1797 they called in the army to throw out elected deputies. In 1798 they simply cancelled the results they disliked. They even robbed the state's own lenders of two thirds of what they were owed. By 1799 hardly anyone in France could be found to defend so despised a government.
What impression does the author give about the Directory? You must use Extract A to explain your answer. [6 marks]
The author gives the impression that the Directory was a dishonest and failed government that deserved to fall. This is shown by the loaded language. It 'limped' through 'miserable' years, which suggests it was weak and achieved nothing, and the Directors are said to 'cheat' and to have 'robbed' lenders, words that make them sound like criminals and not rulers. The author also chooses to stress only its worst actions, such as using the army to 'throw out elected deputies' and the 'notoriously corrupt' Barras. Nothing is said about its successes, such as steadier money, new taxes or victories in Italy. By selecting only failures and ending with 'so despised a government', the author creates a wholly negative impression.
What lifts it to the top level: it names one clear impression, then explains how the author's word choices, emphasis and omissions create it.
Do not just retell what Extract A says about the Directory. Pick out single words like 'limped' and 'robbed', say what each one suggests, then add one sentence on what the author has left out. You do not need to bring in facts of your own to prove the extract right or wrong.