the Directory

  • comes to power in nov 1795

directors:

  • 13 men served as Directors over 4 years

  • key ones:

    • lazare carnot: was spared exile post Thermidor coz of his role in organising the war

    • emmanuel joseph-sieyes: was elected in 1795 but didn’t agree to serve until 1799

    • pierre-roger ducos: a ‘moderate’ who had kept his head down during the Terror

    • paul barras: formerly responsible for the brutal suppression of the counter-rev n only one to serve full-term

  • no prominent leader stood out as the entire idea was the limit of an individual’s power

  • lacked clear direction n was increasingly difficult for the Directors to work tgt

  • after the 1st year, a schism between moderate conservatives Carnot, letouman n later francois de barthelemy on 1 side and republicans barras, rewbell louis mare de la reveillere-lepeaux on the other

  • carnot n barthelemy forced to step in the 1797 coup of Fructidor

  • also no mechanism to resolve disputes between exec n legislative councils > meant the Directors resorted to understand practices to try n control composition of the Councils

survival:

  • survived longer than any other revolutionary regime

  • factors:

    • restoration of rule of law

    • discreditation of opponents