French Revolution: Girondins, Jacobins, Directory & Napoleon
Censitary Suffrage and Early French Republic
Censitary suffrage involved voting restricted to citizens, generally those with greater economic power.
The Convention: 1792-1795. Moderate or Radical Republic?
Following elections in 1792, the Assembly was renamed the Convention. The king had been deposed, and France became a republic.
The outcome of the elections resulted in three groups within the Convention:
- Girondins: Conservatives who won a majority in the elections. They were rich burghers of moderate standing, seeking a republic that held back the revolutionary aspirations of the popular classes. They held power until June 1792.
- Jacobins: Radicals who came second in the elections. They were petty bourgeoisie opposed in many respects to the Girondins and were close to the most radical elements. Their leader was Robespierre. They took power in June 1792 by military coup.
- Plain or Mixed Group: Moderates composed of deputies who supported the Girondins or Jacobins depending on the circumstances. They took power in July 1794 by coup.
Girondin Government
The Convention voted to execute Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette in January 1793, prompting European countries of the Old Regime to declare war on France (England, Austria, Prussia, and Spain). The French army defeated the foreign troops in several battles, with Napoleon Bonaparte distinguishing himself.
The Girondins were unable to solve the country’s problems, and the Jacobins took power in 1792 with the help of the sans-culottes, the more radical and violent social sector.
Jacobin Government
With the Jacobins in power, state control was in the hands of their leader, Robespierre, who relied on a so-called Revolutionary Court and Public Health Committee as the governing bodies. Many Girondin members were tried and sentenced to death on charges of treason against the Revolution, and the radical phase known as “the Terror” began. The new Jacobin government, with support from the people of Paris, physically removed at the guillotine not only many nobles and ecclesiastics but also bourgeois rich enough to draw the people’s hatred.
The Jacobins, listening to popular requests, adopted measures to promote greater economic equality, but with a heavy burden of violence.
Such repression and abuse caused discontent among a good part of the town. The Plain group seized power in a coup in July 1794 to stop the bloodshed. New elections were held based on censitary suffrage in 1795, resulting in a moderate government.
The Directory: 1795-1799. The Government of the Moderate Bourgeoisie
This is the final moment of the French Revolution.
The new government adopted a constitution with the following characteristics:
- Suffrage based on census: Voting restricted to the more affluent middle class.
- Creation of two legislatures.
- The executive branch is a directory of five persons elected by the legislatures.
France managed to defeat the foreign powers, and Napoleon Bonaparte became a national hero against the Old Regime.
The economic situation did not improve, and the Jacobins were conspiring against the government, planning a coup. Some board members persuaded Napoleon to stage another coup and so take power until the danger had passed. Napoleon took power in 1799, effectively ending the Revolution.
The Revolution Defeated? From the Restoration to Napoleon
- Napoleon’s coup of 1799 had the support of the gentry of France and the most humble grassroots, who considered him as one of their own due to his social origins.
- For some people, Napoleon’s coup marks the end of the French Revolution, as it ended some of its fundamental principles. But at the time, Napoleon was aligned with the French company and to the absolutist Europe and El Salvador of the Revolution and the driving force for most of his ideals spread throughout Europe.
- Napoleon managed to bring stability to the French government, ending the internal conspiracies. His government pleased the people, who, although they had full participation in political life, saw the economic situation improving and had guaranteed the fundamental rights that the Revolution had given them.
- The commitment to face Napoleon’s Europe, imposing the social and political model of the French Revolution, failed. He was finally defeated in 1815.
- Your victors sought to reimpose the old regime and absolutism between 1815 and 1830, a period known as the Restoration.