French Directory: Map & History

History

Between 12 and 21 October 1795, immediately after the suppression of royalist uprising in Paris, the elections for the new Councils decreed by the new Constitution took place. 379 members of the old Convention, for the most part moderate republicans, were elected to the new legislature. To assure that the Directory did not abandon the Revolution entirely, the Council required that all of the members of the Directory be former members of the Convention and regicides, those who had voted for the execution of Louis XVI.

Due to the rules established by the Convention, a majority of members of the new legislature, 381 of 741 deputies, had served in the Convention and were ardent republicans, but a large part of the new deputies elected were royalists, 118 versus 11 from the left.

Economy

Many of the economic, social and political woes during the Directory were results of the breakdown of the financial system. The principal problem was a great shortage of money with real value; that is, coins made of silver, and an excess of paper money, the value of which shrank as more and more was printed. The Directory produced only 32 million livres worth of silver-based coins in its first two years. Much of this money was hoarded, since, unlike the paper money, it had and retained real value. As a consequence, the government, to cover its costs, was forced to print millions of notes, first called assignats and then mandats, which were based on the value of property seized from the Church and the clergy. These notes declined in value as more and more were printed.

Art and culture

The artists of Paris were in a difficult situation during the Directory, as their most important patrons, the aristocracy, had been executed or had emigrated; however a new wealthy class was just being formed. Before the Revolution a half-figure portrait could be commissioned from a less-known artist for three hundred livres. During the Directory, the price fell to forty-eight livres. Nonetheless, the Salon took place in the Louvre in 1795 as it had since 1725, before the Revolution, and each year thereafter. The most prominent artist of the Revolution, Jacques-Louis David, closely connected with the Jacobins, was in seclusion in his studio inside the Louvre. At the end of the period, in 1799, he produced one important work, the Intervention of the Sabine Women.

Background

The period known as the Reign of Terror began as a way of harnessing revolutionary fervour, but quickly degenerated into the settlement of personal grievances. On 17 September 1793, the Law of Suspects authorised the arrest of any suspected "enemies of freedom"; on 10 October, the National Convention recognised the Committee of Public Safety under Maximilien Robespierre as the supreme authority, and suspended the Constitution until "peace was achieved".