The eleventh month of the French Republican calendar (1793–1806) is called the Thermidor. Therefore, the Thermidorian coup is also often called this short term, meaning the destruction of the Jacobin dictatorship and the beginning of a conservative turn.
The cessation of revolutionary activity
It is believed that the Great French Revolution ended as a result of the Brumaire Coup of 1799, when the Directory was overthrown, and Napoleon Bonaparte came to power.
In this regard, the question of whether the revolution ended or continued after the Thermidorian coup, we can answer that the activity that began after the capture of the Bastille and whose slogan was "Freedom, equality, fraternity", of course, ended in July 1794. The conservatives came to power, with whom Maximilian Robespierre, executed by them, fought.
The destruction of even the memory of the revolution
The Jacobin revolutionaries were guillotined without trial, within two days about 100 people were executed - the chief functionaries of the Commune. For all the bloody history of the French Revolution, it was the most massive execution. The Thermidorian coup marked the beginning of the reaction, in 1795 the Commune was abolished, as were the other revolutionary committees, including the Revolutionary Tribunal. The word "revolutionary" was generally prohibited as a symbol of the Jacobin period. A moderate grouping of the Convention came to power, reflecting the interests of the bourgeoisie.
New constitution
They were no longer revolutionaries, but were deputies of the Convention and belonged to the "regicide", as they participated in the trial of the king. By virtue of their beliefs, they were ardent opponents of the monarchy, but irreconcilable enemies of the revolutionaries. And although at first the system of state bodies created by the Jacobins was used by them, it was gradually being destroyed, some of its institutions, like the Committee of National Salvation, were abolished as unnecessary.
The Thermidorian coup meant a rejection of the revolution, and in order to destroy the still existing associations with these traditions, the Thermidorians decide to return to the constitutional order. But the Jacobin constitution, which never entered into force, did not suit them even as amended. Seeing in it "organized anarchy", the Thermidorians begin to write their main document, which is known in history as the Constitution of the III year of the republic.
The end of the era of terror
The Thermidorian coup is not only an important stage of the French Revolution, but also its most interesting moment, because it was supported by the people, although it was directed against democracy. How did the Jacobins manage to make a revolution in the minds of the French during the period from September 1793 to July 1794? This time is designated in history as the “era of terror", which, in fact, is the answer to the question.
Based on the foregoing, the Thermidorian coup can be briefly described as an attempt to first stop the bloodshed. The first step was the transfer of power from the National Salvation Committee to the National Convention - the repressive body was eliminated.
Achievements of the Jacobin dictatorship
Initially, the Jacobin dictatorship was based on very broad sections of the population, in particular on wage workers and the petty bourgeoisie. In addition, the revolutionaries created effective bodies of power - the legislative body of the Convention, the government in the form of the Committee for Public Safety. The judiciary, the Revolutionary Tribunal, was subordinate to the Convention ; an army was created, led by the commissioners of the Convention. And none of the above, which was quite effective, could not protect the dictatorship, despite its certain merits. The Jacobins introduced a maximum on prices for the general population in parallel with the successful struggle against counter-revolutionary elements within the country. The dictatorship managed to defend France, successfully fighting almost all of Europe.
Disastrous miscalculations
And literally in two days, everything was subordinated to the new group, which on July 27-28 committed, in essence, a counter-revolutionary shift of power. What happened? What are the causes and consequences of the Thermidorian coup?
The Jacobins made irreparable mistakes, the first of which was the seizure of bread from the peasants. Caring only for the revolutionary-minded inhabitants of the cities led to the discontent of the peasants, which resulted in the Vendée (southern France) uprising, brutally crushed by the Dictatorship. They aroused the discontent of employees in cities by setting the maximum wage. When Robespierre and his supporters were driven to the place of execution, a crowd of Parisians chanted: “Down with the maximum!”
Deadly mistake
But the most important mistake of the Jacobins was the bloody terror arranged by them. 44 thousand committees throughout France daily captured and executed dozens of "suspicious". The Jacobins had their executioners who went down in history because of terrible atrocities. One of the most brutal commissioners of the Convention, Jean-Baptiste Carrier, who defeated the uprising in the Vendee, was known for his “drowning”, the first of which was the killing of 90 priests in this way.
No less terrible were the executions of this fanatic. As a result of the Thermidorian coup, an era of terror was put to an end, during which more than 16 thousand Frenchmen, mainly representatives of the third estate, were destroyed. Only during the suppression of the Lyon uprising, and strong unrest occurred in Marseille and Bordeaux, destroyed about 2,000 residents of the city, and the Convention decided to wipe Lyon from the face of the earth.
They were friends against Robespierre
The terror took place against the backdrop of mass impoverishment of the French. There were dissatisfied with the policies of Robespierre and the Convention. The threat of their own arrest and annihilation allowed all factions in the Convention to reconcile within one night and act as a united front against Robespierre, which interfered with the extreme “left” and extreme “right” in the legislature. So, among the leaders of the Thermidorians, the "right" belonged to: Jean-Lambert Talien, Paul Barras. The conspiracy was led by mentahans, supporters of the executed Danton, who longed for revenge and were justly afraid for their lives.
Among them stood out Joseph Boucher, known for his massacres of rebellious Lyons. On the left side, the counter-revolutionary coup was led by: Collot d'Herbois, J. Billot-Varenne and Marc Vadier. And against them with an accusatory speech, although without giving specific names, Robespierre spoke on the 27th, declaring them to be counter-revolutionaries and corrupt. Everyone understood everything perfectly. So not only political considerations, but also personal security are significant reasons for the Thermidorian coup.
The root causes of the coup
In the history of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian coup is called the counter-revolutionary project, which led to the fall of the Jacobin dictatorship and the establishment of the Directory. Of course, there were deeper reasons for the defeat of democracy. Thus, the method of production based on private property was not affected. The Jacobins carried out only the strictest regulation of the sphere of distribution. Always, at the time of any state upheaval, a certain class profits from speculation.
During the French Revolution, it was the big bourgeoisie and the prosperous peasantry. For some time they were forced to endure the dictatorship by the fear of the return of feudalism and the restoration of the monarchy. In addition, the people's army managed to maintain the integrity of France and repel external enemies. When the Jacobins eliminated all the threats, their dictatorship became incompatible with the goals of the bourgeoisie, which had gained strength, and sought power.
The people defended the leader
The question which event meant the Thermidorian coup can be answered - Robespierre’s speech delivered by him in the Convention on July 26, 1793 and repeated at the Jacobin Club several hours later. In it, he spoke of the existence of a conspiracy, which prompted those convicted of concrete actions.
The arrest of Robespierre and his supporters did not go smoothly. The poorest sections of the population of Paris rose to his defense . More than 3,000 people, supported by the police, gathered quite quickly on Grevskaya Square ; the head of the prison refused to accept the arrested. The national army also joined the defenders of the leaders of the revolution. The sankulots (revolutionary representatives of the third estate) repulsed the arrested and escorted them to the town hall.
A crowd without a leader is nothing
And all this unexpectedly turned against the Jacobins, because the crowd, police and army lost their leaders. The Jacobins who remained at large, who sat in their club, only signed another appeal to the people. And the conspirators quickly orientated themselves and moved on to action. As soon as Robespierre and his supporters were outlawed, the crowd dispersed, and most of the deputies of the Convention went over to the side of the victors. Together with Robespierre, Saint-Just was also beheaded, who, in the eyes of most Frenchmen, was the personification of terror and received the nickname "Angel of Death" and "Raging Dog". Thus, with the execution of the Jacobin leaders, the revolution was beheaded. And the crowd that demolished the Bastille tried to recapture Robespierre at the time of his arrest. As with the guillotining of all previous leaders of the French Revolution, she shouted: "Death to the tyrant!"
Nouveau riche
The French historian F. Furet stated that Thermidor brought to power people who enriched themselves during the revolution and who wholeheartedly wished to take advantage of the benefits obtained, rather than trying to build a new history of mankind. Immediately after the execution of supporters of Robespierre, the Commune was dissolved, the Jacobin club was closed. Paris was transformed - it was cleaned of garbage, the lights were turned on, order was established and maintained. After the Thermidor, trade resumed, which led to an increase in speculation and prices.
The rich are richer, the poor are poorer
In the spring of 1795, two revolts broke out, which, especially the second, were suppressed by the new government with revealing cruelty. These were the last unrest in the history of the French Revolution, which, according to the dying utterance of Georges Jacques Danton, "devoured their children."
After the Thermidorian coup in Paris, as well as throughout France, the gap between the poor and the rich, who arranged a provocative demonstration of luxury, was so great that, according to one journalist, the population of Paris seemed to consist of two nations, completely different from each other in clothes , language, mores and feelings.