The Coup of 18

Fructidor Fructidor () is the twelfth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word ''fructus'' 'fruit'. Fructidor is the third month of the summer quarter (''mois d'été''). By the Gregorian calendar, Fructidor starts ...

, Year V (4 September 1797 in the French Republican Calendar), was a seizure of power in France by members of the Directory, then forming the government of the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted u ...

, with support from the military. The coup was provoked by the results of elections held months earlier, which had given the majority of seats in the country's

Corps législatif The was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any legislative body. History Under Napoleon's Consulate, the Constitution of the Year VIII (1799) set up ...

(Legislative body) to

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

candidates, threatening a restoration of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

and a return to the

ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

. Three of the five members of the Directory,

Paul Barras Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (; 30 June 1755 – 29 January 1829), commonly known as Paul Barras, was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795–1799. Earl ...

Jean-François Rewbell Jean-François Reubell () or Rewbell (6 October 1747 – 24 November 1807) was a French lawyer, diplomat, and politician of the Revolution. The revolutionary Born at Colmar (now in the ''département'' of Haut-Rhin), he became president of the l ...

and

Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux (24 August 1753 – 24 March 1824) was a deputy to the National Convention during the French Revolution. He later served as a prominent leader of the French Directory. Life He was born at Montaigu (Vend� ...

, with support of foreign minister

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (; ; 2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularization, secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he b ...

,Bernard, pp. 193–194. staged the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

that annulled many of the previous election's results and ousted the monarchists from the legislature.

History

Royalist candidates had gained 87 seats in the 1795 elections, where a third of the seats were at stake. A reversal of the majority in favor of royalists and moderate republicans in the two chambers of the legislature, the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () was the lower house of the legislature of the French First Republic under the Constitution of the Year III. It operated from 31 October 1795 to 9 November 1799 during the French Directory, Directory () period of t ...

and the

Council of the Ancients The Council of Ancients or Council of Elders () was a house of the French bicameral legislature under the Constitution of the Year III, during the period commonly known as the Directory (French: ''Directoire''), from 22 August 1795 until 9 Nove ...

, took place in the elections of April 1797. Soon the new majority repealed laws against priests who did not take the oath of the

Civil Constitution of the Clergy The Civil Constitution of the Clergy () was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that sought the Caesaropapism, complete control over the Catholic Church in France by the National Constituent Assembly (France), French gove ...

'' and emigrés'', and demanded the removal of four

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

government ministers from office. Under the royalist majority, the Marquess of Barthélemy, a known monarchist, was elected member of the Directory by the chambers, in replacement of the leaving director Letourneur.

François Barbé-Marbois François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois (31 January 1745 – 12 February 1837) was a French civil servant, diplomat, and politician. He was ambassador of France to the United States (1784–1785), where he married the daughter of the Governor ...

was elected president of the Council of the Ancients, and

Jean-Charles Pichegru Jean-Charles Pichegru (; 16 February 1761 – 5 April 1804) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran Belgium and the Netherlands before fighting on the Rhine front. His royalist positions led to h ...

, a figure widely assumed to be a sympathetic to the monarchy and its restoration, was elected President of the Council of Five Hundred. After documentation of Pichegru's activities was supplied by General

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, the republican Directors accused the entire body of plotting against the Republic and moved quickly to annul the elections and arrest the royalists. At dawn 4 September 1797, Paris was declared to be under martial law, while a decree was issued, asserting that anyone supporting royalism or the restoration of the Constitution of 1793 was to be shot without trial. To support the coup, General

Lazare Hoche Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...

, then commander of the

Army of Sambre-et-Meuse The Army of Sambre and Meuse () was a field army of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing of the Army of the North. I ...

, arrived in

the capital ''The Capital'' (also known as ''Capital Gazette'' as its online nameplate and informally, while the Sunday edition is called ''The Sunday Capital'') is a daily newspaper published by Capital Gazette Communications in Annapolis, Maryland, to ...

with his troops, while Bonaparte sent troops under Charles-Pierre Augereau. Pichegru, Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret, Barthélemy and Amédée Willot were arrested, while

Lazare Carnot Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist, military officer, politician and a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. His military refor ...

made good his escape. 214 deputies were arrested and 65 were subsequently exiled to

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

in French Guiana including Pichegru, Ramel, Barthélemy and Carnot. The election results in 49

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

were annulled. In the aftermath 160 recently returned ''émigrés'' were sentenced to death, and around 1320 priests accused of "conspiring against the Republic" were deported. The two newly vacant places in the Directory were filled by Philippe Merlin de Douai and

François de Neufchâteau François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

. The 80-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

''Foudroyant'' was briefly named ''Dix-huit fructidor'' in after the event.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coup of 18 Fructidor 1797 events of the French Revolution

18th-century coups d'état French Directory Monarchism in France