{"id":2700,"date":"2016-07-28T00:06:26","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T00:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2700"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:14:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:14:55","slug":"directory-french-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/directory-french-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Directory (French Revolution): A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Directory in the French Revolution<\/a> was a five-member governing body that ruled France from 1795 to 1799, following the fall of the Committee of Public Safety<\/a>. It aimed to bring stability after the chaos and violence of the events of the Reign of Terror<\/a>. However, the Directory struggled with corruption, economic problems, and political unrest. The Directory’s weaknesses eventually led to its overthrow by Napoleon Bonaparte<\/a>, which marked the end of the French Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

GOVERNMENTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in 1789, the French Revolution<\/a> saw the French people overthrow their\u00a0absolute monarchy<\/a>\u00a0and bring about a republic that was based on the principles of equality, liberty and fraternity.\u00a0 Throughout the years of the revolution, there were four different revolutionary governments, including: National Assembly<\/a>, Legislative Assembly<\/a>, National Convention<\/a> and the Directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"National
Etching engraved in 1889 by Alphonse Lamotte. The National Assembly was the first revolutionary government of the French Revolution and existed from June 14th to July 9th in 1789.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

DIRECTORY (FRENCH REVOLUTION) – SUMMARY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Directory formed in 1795 following the end of the National Convention and the excesses of the Reign of Terror<\/a> and the Committee of Public Safety<\/a>.\u00a0 It lasted until November of 1799 when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte<\/a>.\u00a0 The Directory was controlled by five \u2018directors\u2019 who oversaw the economic and political aspects of French society.\u00a0 In general, it was an important time in the French Revolution for several reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Committee
Committee of Public Safety in the French Revolution (Unknown Artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

First, the economy of France was in a constant state of crisis during the four years of the Directory.  In 1795, France\u2019s treasury was nearly empty and money had lost nearly all of its value.  The directors tried to respond but, in general, the country\u2019s economy slowed and became stagnant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the Directory was responsible for ending the excesses of the Reign of Terror.\u00a0 The Reign of Terror had been the most violent time of the French Revolution and saw tens of thousands of people killed by guillotine<\/a>.\u00a0 Many of these people were executed due to the fear and paranoia of the time because radical revolutionaries wanted to prevent any and all threats to the revolution.\u00a0 The Directory stopped the mass executions of the Reign of Terror and took measures to relax some of the more radical views of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, the Directory was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte following his return from a successful battle in Egypt.  Napoleon returned to France in November of 1799 to find that the Directory had lost the support of many in the country.  Along with others, Napoleon carried out a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat against the Directory and replaced the government with the French Consulate, with himself as the First Consul.  The French Revolution was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Napoleon
‘The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries’ by
Jacques-Louis David. (1812)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Directory was controlled by five \u2018directors\u2019 who oversaw the economic and political aspects of French society during the later stages of the French Revolution. This article details the history and significance of the Directory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":20,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[87,15],"class_list":["post-2700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french-revolution","tag-french-revolution","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5639,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions\/5639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}