Paris Rising 1795

• CAUSES:

  • Thermidorians favoured economic freedom, ended price controls, deregulated trade and restored paper currency.
  • Ended Maximum and printed assignats.
  • Freezing winter of 1794-1795
  • Hardships compounded by inflation!
• April 1795 - Assignat worth tenth of original value, farmers refused to sell to the capital for paper money. Bread rations fell, many starved and froze to death!
• What did the daily bread ration fall to?

  60g
• Rising of Germinal - 1st April 1795 - 10,000 invade the convention demanding bread and the 1793 Constitution.
• Germinal demonstrators won't armed, withdrew when National Guardsmen arrived - agitators arrested.
• Response to Germinal - Paris placed under martial law (ruling through the army), arrested agitators and sped up Montagnard deportations.
• Rising of Prairial - 20th May 1795 - larger armed crowd invaded the Convention, paraded deputy Feraud's head and demanded Jacobin prisoner releases, 1793 constitution and food supply controls.
• Response to Prairial - improved food commission agreed, troops called in to disperse rebels. Muscadins also defended Convention.
• May 21st - second part of Prairial rising - 20,000 sans culottes and National guards threatened canons on the Convention. 40,000 soldiers summoned to calm it down.
• How did Prairial end - negotiations, petitions and promises. Sans culottes withdrew, Convention prevented more trouble by forcing a weapons surrender. 42 National Guardsmen executed, some arrests for violent rebels.
• Why was the Vendemiaire rising different?

  It was a royalist rising.
• What caused the 5th October rising of Vendemiaire - Monarchists thought a vote for non-monarchical constitution was rigged. Royalist demonstrations lead by Muscadins, anger at lack of protection for interets such as property owners.
• Starting events of Vendemiaire - rumours of royalist army in Paris, Convention called battalions with previous Jacobin officers. Originally Menou in charge but failed to negotiate.
• What happened after Menou failed in Vendemiaire - Napoleon Bonaparte put in control of 6000 troops.
• Vendemiaire 5th October - royalist group surrounds convention, Napoleon and Murat fired 40 cannons into the ranks, 300 royalists killed.