The Coup of 18

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

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

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

, with support from the French 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 (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 governm ...

candidates, threatening a restoration of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy ...

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, Jean-François Rewbell and Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, 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 clergyman, politician and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the C ...

,Bernard, pp. 193–194. staged the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...

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 legislatures, the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of the Ancients, 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'' and emigrés'', and demanded the removal of four Jacobin 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 was elected president of the Council of the Ancients, and Jean-Charles Pichegru, 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 treasonous activities was supplied by General

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, 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, then commander of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, arrived in the capital with his troops, while Bonaparte sent troops under Pierre Augereau. Pichegru, Dominique-Vincent Ramel-Nogaret, Barthélemy and

Amédée Willot Amédée Willot, Count of Gramprez, (31 August 1755 – 17 December 1823) held several military commands during the French Revolutionary Wars but his association with Jean-Charles Pichegru led to his exile from France in 1797. He joined the Fre ...

were arrested, while

Lazare Carnot Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Education and early ...

made good his escape. 214 deputies were arrested and 65 were subsequently exiled to Cayenne 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. The 80-gun ship of the line ''Foudroyant'' was briefly named ''Dix-huit fructidor'' in honour of the event.

References

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

18th-century coups d'état and coup attempts French Directory