The "S-culottes" movement - Nha Yue Uprising and Muzuki Uprising
On the economic front, the Thermidors advocated liberalism and therefore gradually relaxed their interference in economic life since the Thermidorian coup. On December 24, 1794, the maximum price limit decree was abolished, and the "controlled economy" that was contrary to the principles of capitalist economy became a relic of history.
Social unrest and war torments
However, after several years of social unrest and war, France's economic base has become quite fragile. After the end of the controlled economy, prices soared. In response to the crisis, the Thermidorian government has made full efforts to print finger coupons, which have become waste paper. It was in this context that ordinary people began to nostalgia for the Jacobin dictatorship, which had both bread and power.
On April 1, 1795 (Bud 12), a group of Parisians stormed the Tuileries and demanded "bread and the Constitution of 1793" from the National Convention, but the leaderless crowd was immediately dispersed by the army, which became the "Nha Moon Uprising". From May 20 to 23, 1795 (1-4 of the month of Muyue), the people of Paris armed with guns and cannons launched a larger confrontation and contest with the National Convention, which was suppressed again, which was the "Muzuki Uprising".
The current site of the Tuileries Palace
The Nha Yue Uprising and the Muyue Uprising were the last two large-scale "sans-culottes" movements of the Great Revolution, and since no faction in the bourgeoisie was willing to "unite" with them, the power of the "people" was no longer as brilliant as before, and the situation in which the masses in the streets dominated the political power came to an end.
Military measures taken by the Thermidorian government to stabilize social order - Louis XVIII came to the throne
On the military front, the Thermidorian government has achieved further results on the basis of its predecessor. On the one hand, it is to continue the war with the anti-French coalition. By the end of 1794, the French had occupied all of the Austro-Dutch and Rhineland. Shortly thereafter, the French invaded the Netherlands, and the Spanish army was driven to the side of the Pyrenees.
What the French call "natural boundaries" have now been formed. After secret negotiations, Prussia, the Netherlands, and Spain withdrew from the Coalition, and after July 1795, only Britain and Austria continued to fight France. On the other hand, it is to deal with the royal elements. On June 8, 1795, the second son of the former king, who was honored as "Louis XVII" by the exiled aristocracy, died in prison in Paris.
Louis XVII
After the news, Louis XVI's younger brother, the Count of Provence in exile in Italy (1755-1824), immediately "ascended" to the throne according to the old order of succession, called "Louis XVIII". At the same time, royal elements in exile in Germany and elsewhere began to gather on the west coast of France, ready to take action and bring Louis XVIII into the palace.
With the cooperation of the British navy, thousands of exiled nobles and their followers landed on the Quiberon peninsula in Brittany on June 27. After more than 20 days of confrontation, the Battle of Quiberon ended with the victory of the government army. Military tribunals ordered the execution of all 748 prisoners of war, 428 of whom were nobles.
Quiberon's current location
For the Thermidorians, the measures described above were concrete actions with only a "palliative" meaning, and a practical constitution was necessary to ensure that social order was to be truly stable, and the extremely democratic Constitution of 1793 was obviously difficult to serve. On June 23, 1795, the new constitution was promulgated in draft form.
1795 Constitution in the History of France - Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Convention also announced that discussions and amendments to the draft constitution would continue until 22 August. Just as the constitution was nearing its final moments, the Thermidors suddenly realized that it would be a dangerous gamble for existing members of the National Convention to compete for seats in the future legislature through real elections, because French society was so confused about their support.
Member of the National Convention
Thus, on August 22, the deadline for the discussion of the draft constitution, the Thermidors, who did not want to be simple paving stones, promulgated a surprise addition in the name of the National Convention: 2/3 (i.e., 500) of the members of the new legislature must be elected from among the current members of the National Convention. On September 23, the National Convention announced that the constitution and its supplementary provisions had been "successfully passed" in a referendum, with about 1.06 million votes in favor and 49,000 against. On September 27, the new constitution came into effect.
The Constitution of 1795, the third written constitution in French history, began with a discreet Declaration of the Rights of Man, and in order to avoid "misunderstandings" among the masses, the famous clause that "all men are and always have been free and have equal rights" was silently abolished; The sanctity of private property was reaffirmed and reaffirmed; Universal suffrage was abolished, and adult French men were once again divided into active citizens with the right to vote and passive citizens without the right to vote.
French Constitution
According to the Constitution, the legislature consists of two houses: the upper house, called the Conseil des Anciens, consists of 250 deputies, who must be over 40 years old; There is also a rule that may be unique, that members of the Senate must be married or widowers. The House of Commons, called the Conseil des Cinq-Cents, is composed of 500 members. The members of both houses are re-elected 1/3 of each year.
Executive power is held by a Directoire composed of five directeurs, and the chairman of the government is rotated by the governors for a three-month term; The Governor is replaced by lottery once a year. From the point of view of people's nature, this constitution certainly seems a bit bourgeois "domineering", but for the Thermidors to formulate a Jacobin constitution like the one during the Jacobin dictatorship, it can only be wishful thinking of the masses of the people.
Minne
In the view of the bourgeois historian Migne, the 1795 constitution was "the least flawed, most liberal and far-sighted constitution ever formulated or drafted, the culmination of six years of revolutionary and legislative experience."
The promulgation of a republican constitution, especially the passage of the "2/3 Article", greatly disappointed the royalists, whose original aspiration to enter parliament through elections and thus change the French polity was dashed. With no hope of peace, the royal elements began to gather in revolt and launched an armed attack on the National Convention on October 5 (13 Portuguese).
Armed offensive
The National Convention authorized Barras to suppress it, and Barras immediately handed over command of the artillery to Napoleon Bonaparte, a young officer who happened to be idle in Paris at the time, famous for the Battle of Toulon in 1793.
Bonaparte once again demonstrated his military prowess, and after firing a few shots at the rioting crowd, the problem was "solved". The Constitution of 1795 survived with the power of cannons. On October 12, 1795, the election of the new legislature officially began; On October 26, the National Convention, an extraordinary institution that had existed for more than three years, came to an end, and France entered the period of the Directory.