The Thermidorian coup. What are the causes and consequences of the Thermidorian coup?

The eleventh month of the French Republican calendar (1793-1806) is called a 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 Bruxelles coup of 1799, when the Directory was overthrown, and Napoleon Bonaparte came to power.

In this regard, the question whether the revolution has ended or continued after the Thermidorian coup, it can be answered that the activity that began after the capture of the Bastille and the slogan of which was "Freedom, equality, brotherhood", certainly ended in July 1794. The conservatives came to power, with whom Maximilian Robespierre, who was executed by them, fought.

Destroying even the memory of the revolution

The revolutionary Jacobins were guillotined without trial and investigation, about 100 people were executed within two days - the main functionaries of the Commune. During the entire bloody history of the Great French Revolution, this was the most massive execution. The Thermidorian coup initiated the reaction, in 1795 the Commune was abolished, like the rest of the revolutionary committees, including the Revolutionary Tribunal. The word "revolutionary" was generally banned as a symbol of the Jacobin period. A moderate grouping of the Convention came into power, reflecting the interests of the bourgeoisie.

The new constitution

They were no longer revolutionaries, but they were deputies of the Convention and treated the "regicide" because they participated in the trial of the king. Because of their convictions, they were ardent opponents of the monarchy, but irreconcilable enemies of the revolutionaries. And although at first the system of government bodies, created by the Jacobins, was used by them, it gradually collapsed, some of its institutions, like the Committee of People's Salvation, were abolished unnecessarily.

The Thermidorian revolution meant abandoning the revolution, and in order to destroy the 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 with the amendments introduced. Seeing in it "organized anarchy," the Thermidorians begin to write their main document, which is known in history as the Constitution of the third year of the republic.

End of the Terror era

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 an "era of terror", which, in fact, is the answer to the question.

Proceeding from all the above, the Thermidorian coup can be briefly described as an attempt to stop the bloodshed first. The first step was the transfer of power from the Committee of National Salvation to the National Convention - the repressive body was eliminated.

Achievements of the Jacobin dictatorship

Initially, the Jacobin dictatorship relied on very broad sections of the population, in particular, on wage workers and the petty bourgeoisie. In addition, the revolutionaries created effective authorities - the legislative body of the Convention, the government in the form of the Committee of Public Salvation. The Convention was subordinated to a judicial body - the Revolutionary Tribunal, an army was established, governed by the commissioners of the Convention. And none of the above, which was quite effective, could not protect the dictatorship, in spite of its certain merits. The Jacobins introduced a maximum on prices for a broad stratum of the population alongside a successful struggle against counter-revolutionary elements within the country. The dictatorship succeeded in defending France, successfully fighting almost all of Europe.

Destructive miscalculations

And literally in two days everything was reassigned to the new grouping, which committed July 27-28, in effect, a counter-revolutionary shift of power. What happened? What are the causes and consequences of the Thermidorian coup?

Jacobins were made irreparable mistakes, the first of which - the seizure of grain from the peasants. Concern only about the revolutionary-minded inhabitants of the cities led to the discontent of the peasants, which resulted in the Vendian (southern France) insurrection, brutally suppressed by the dictatorship. Discontent of wage workers in the cities, they caused the establishment of a maximum wage. When Robespierre and his supporters drove to the place of execution, a crowd of Parisians chanted: "Down with the maximum!"

A deadly mistake

But the most important error of the Jacobins was the bloody terror they had organized. 44 thousand committees throughout France every day caught and executed dozens of "suspicious". The Jacobins had their executioners, who had gone down in history because of terrible atrocities. One of the most cruel commissioners of the Convention, Jean-Baptiste Carrière, who defeated the Vendee revolt, was known for his "drownings", the first of which was the murder of 90 priests in this way.

No less terrible were the shootings of this fan. As a result of the Thermidorian coup, an era of terror ended, during which more than 16,000 French people, mostly members of the third estate, were killed. Only with the suppression of the Lyon rebellion, and the violent unrest occurred in Marseilles and Bordeaux, about 2,000 inhabitants of the city were destroyed, and the Convention decided to erase Lyon from the face of the earth.

They were friends against Robespierre

Terror took place against the backdrop of a massive impoverishment of the French. They were also dissatisfied with Robespierre's policy in the Convention. The threat of their own arrest and destruction allowed all the warring factions in the Convention to reconcile within one night and to act as a united front against Robespierre, which prevented both the extremely "left" and the extremely "right" in the legislature. Thus, among the Thermidorian leaders, the "rightists" included Jean-Lambert Tellin, Paul Barras. The plot was led by the Mentanyars, the supporters of the executed Danton, who craved revenge and who rightly fear for their lives.

Among them stood Joseph Bushe, famous for his massacres of the insurgent Lyons. On the "left" side, the counter-revolutionary coup was led by Collo d'Herbois, J. Bio-Varennes and Marcus Vadie. And against them, with the accusatory speech, however, without giving specific names, Robespierre made the 27th day, declaring them counter-revolutionaries and corrupt officials. All perfectly understood. So, not only political considerations, but also personal security are the essential causes of the Thermidorian coup.

Root causes of the coup

In the history of the Great 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 in the defeat of democracy. Thus, the mode of production based on private ownership was not affected. The Yakobins carried out only the strictest regulation of the sphere of distribution. Always, in times of any state turmoil, a certain class is profiting from speculation.

During the Great French Revolution, it was a big bourgeoisie and a prosperous peasantry. For a time, the fear of returning feudalism and restoring the monarchy made them suffer dictatorship. In addition, the people's army managed to maintain the integrity of France and repel external enemies. When all threats were eliminated by the Jacobins, their dictatorship became incompatible with the goals of the bourgeoisie, which was gaining strength, aspiring to power.

The people defended the leader

When asked what kind of event meant the Thermidorian coup, we can answer - Robespierre's speech delivered to him in the Convention on July 26, 1793 and repeated in the Jacobin club after a few hours. In it he said about the existence of a conspiracy, which pushed convicts to 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, quickly gathered in the Greve Square, the prison governor refused to accept the arrested. The national army also joined the defenders of the leaders of the revolution. Sansculottes (revolutionary-minded 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, the police and the army lost their leaders. Remained at large, the Jacobins, who settled in their club, only signed another appeal to the people. And the conspirators quickly oriented themselves and moved on to active action. As soon as Robespierre and his supporters were outlawed, the crowd dispersed, and most of the convention's deputies turned to the side of the victors. Together with Robespierre was beheaded and Saint-Just, who in the eyes of the majority of the French was the embodiment of terror and received the nicknames "Angel of Death" and "Mad Dog". Thus, with the execution of the Jacobin leaders, the revolution was beheaded. And the crowd that demolished the Bastille, tried to repel Robespierre at the time of his arrest. As with the guillotining of all the previous leaders of the Great French Revolution, she cried: "Death to the tyrant!"

Nouveau riche

The French historian F. Furet stated that Thermidor brought to power people who had enriched themselves during the revolution and who wished to use the goods they had all hearted for, and not to try to build a new history of mankind. Immediately after the execution of the supporters of Robespierre, the Commune was dissolved, the Jacobin club closed. Paris was transformed - it was cleared of garbage, turned on the lighting, established and maintained order. After Thermidor, trade resumed, which led to an increase in speculation and prices.

The rich have become richer, the poor have become poorer

In the spring of 1795, two uprisings broke out, which, especially the second, the new authorities were suppressed with indicative cruelty. These were the last popular unrest in the history of the Great French Revolution, which, according to the dying statement of Georges Jacques Danton, "devoured their children."

After the Thermidorian coup in Paris, as in all of France, the gap between the poor and the rich, who organized a provocative display of luxury, was so great that, according to one journalist, the population of Paris seemed to consist of two nations that differed completely from each other in clothes , Language, customs and feelings.