Dec 1794: price controls removed, Maximum laws abolished, arms workshops closed, fall in value of assignat and mass inflation, poor harvest in 1794 led to an increase in bread prices
Winter led to economic collapse, increased misery, suicides, death from malnutrition, scarcity and famine
Germinal, 1 April 1795
Hungry turned against the Convention - more a demonstration - crowd of 10,000 unarmed people marched, many gained access to main hall and disrupted debate with demands for bread, the constitution of 1793, release of former CPS members
- Demonstrators expected support from the Montagnards in the Assembly - didn’t receive
- National guards stopped them, no resistance
Light repression followed - to emphasise authority, the Convention sentenced arrested CPS members to be deported, other known activists during the Terror disarmed
- Spring 1795: Convention’s inability to resolve the famine led to outbreaks of violence in the provinces, some organised by royalists
Prairial, 20-21 May 1795
1 Prairial: armed rising, crown of housewives, some National Guards units marched to the Convention to demand bread
- crowd became hostile, forces loyal to the Convention gathered to confront them, petition accepted and food commission accepted
3 Prairial: rebel suburbs surrounded by 20,000 troops of army, forced to give up, started severe repression
- 40 Montagnards arrested, 6 executed
- Military commission condemned to death a further 36 - including gunners
- 6,000 militants were disarmed and arrested
End of the sans-culottes as a political and military force - can't threaten or intimidate the assembly anymore, demoralised
Failure of the uprising
- Workers of Paris were divided - National Guard units in several Sections of the city remained loyal to the Convention
- No institution like the Paris Commune in 1792 to coordinate their activities
- Politically inexperienced - allowed opportunity to slip
- Lost the support of the radical bourgeoisie, previously held between 1789-93
Role of the army - regular army used against the citizens for the first time since 1789 - made clear how dependent the new regime was on the military