The Jacobin Convention and the Rise of Napoleon
The Jacobin Convention
In June 1793, the Jacobins arrested key Girondin political leaders. That same year, they enacted a new social constitution based on democracy, popular sovereignty, and universal direct suffrage to ensure equality. The executive power was placed in the hands of a Committee of Public Safety, which concentrated all power under Robespierre.
To address external threats to the Republic, they organized an army, decreed mass conscription, and initiated the Reign of Terror. The Committee suspended freedoms and established revolutionary courts that punished suspected counter-revolutionaries with imprisonment or death under the Law of Suspects.
To respond to the aspirations of the sans-culottes, the Committee of Public Safety approved a series of social laws, including price and wage controls (Law of Maximum), the distribution of goods seized from counter-revolutionaries, the sale of clergy lands in small batches, and compulsory education. Additionally, churches were closed, and the worship of Reason was established.
The Fall of the Jacobins
By the summer of 1794, the external and internal risks had decreased: internal revolts had been suppressed, and French armies were prevailing against foreign coalitions. However, the radicalization of the Revolution, the Terror, and the dictatorship of the Jacobins led to widespread opposition. Consequently, in the Thermidorian Reaction in July 1794, Robespierre and other Jacobin leaders were overthrown and executed.
The Bourgeois Republic (1794-1799)
After the Thermidorian Reaction, the conservative bourgeoisie regained control of the revolution. They drafted a new constitution in 1795, which vested executive power in a collegial government (the Directory), established census suffrage, and divided legislative power between two chambers: the Council of 500 and the Council of Elders. The new government aimed to return to the principles of the 1791 constitution.
This involved decommissioning and persecuting the Jacobins, repealing the constitution of 1793, and reversing all measures from that period. They also promoted a policy of allowing exiles from the Terror to return.
Napoleon’s Rise
In 1799, Napoleon was appointed consul, and his government policy aimed at consolidating the achievements of the bourgeois revolution. He prevented the return of absolutism and marginalized the more radical factions. This allowed exiles to return and accept the new order. He also signed a concordat with the Church to establish religious peace.
Napoleon implemented administrative reforms, creating the figure of the prefects to enforce government orders in the provinces. He introduced a civil code that unified and rationalized all previous laws, as well as financial and educational reforms. In 1804, feeling secure in his power, he crowned himself emperor.
His significant military successes and his ability to govern with an iron fist solidified his position.
Napoleonic Conquests
One of the reasons for Napoleon’s prestige and power was his ability to defeat the European absolute monarchs who had allied their armies against revolutionary France. Napoleon’s troops conquered much of Europe, and by 1811, the Napoleonic Empire was at its peak. It stretched from Germany to Spain, with Britain and much of the rest of Europe under French control.
In all countries under French influence or annexed, where Napoleon placed relatives on the throne or generals of his army, revolutionary ideas were imposed: the suppression of manorial rights, tithes, and nobility privileges, and the consecration of freedom and legal equality. Economic freedom, property rights, and religious freedom were also proclaimed.