On 27 July 1794 (9 Thermidor Year II), deputies in the National Convention turned against Maximilien Robespierre and voted to arrest him and close allies. The event marked the political collapse of the radical Jacobin leadership and signaled a move away from the Reign of Terror.
On 28 July 1794 (10 Thermidor), Robespierre and leading supporters were guillotined in Paris. Their executions ended the central figurehead of the Terror and opened the way for a new, more moderate coalition (often called the Thermidorians) to reshape revolutionary politics.
In the days and weeks after Thermidor, anti-Jacobin reprisals began, sometimes called an early “White Terror,” as former Jacobin officials and activists were targeted. This signaled a shift from state-led revolutionary violence to a mix of legal prosecutions and local retaliation directed at the radical left.
On 11 November 1794 (21 Brumaire Year III), the National Convention permanently shut the Jacobin Club in Paris. Closing the club removed an important organizing center for radical politics and helped the Thermidorian leadership limit Jacobin influence nationwide.
On 24 December 1794, the Convention repealed the General Maximum, a key wartime price-control system. Ending these controls was meant to restore freer markets, but it also contributed to severe inflation and worsening food hardship, especially for urban workers.
On 1 April 1795 (12 Germinal Year III), crowds in Paris protested hunger and economic hardship, pressing the Convention for action. The demonstration was suppressed, showing that the Thermidorian government was willing to use force to keep control while resisting a return to Jacobin-style economic policies.
On 5 April 1795, France and Prussia signed the Peace of Basel, pulling Prussia out of the War of the First Coalition. The treaty reduced France’s immediate foreign pressure, but it did not solve the domestic crisis of inflation, shortages, and political conflict in Paris.
From 20 to 23 May 1795 (1–4 Prairial Year III), armed crowds again invaded the Convention demanding “bread” and the 1793 constitution. The uprising failed, and the aftermath included arrests and disarming of militant sections, marking the effective end of the sans-culottes as a major political force in Paris.
Between 23 June and 21 July 1795, émigré and royalist forces, supported by Britain, landed on the Quiberon peninsula to aid counterrevolutionary revolt. Republican troops under commanders including Lazare Hoche defeated the expedition, limiting royalist momentum during the period of political instability.
On 22 July 1795, France and Spain signed a Peace of Basel treaty ending the War of the Pyrenees. With Spain leaving the coalition, France faced fewer enemies abroad, but political conflict at home remained intense as France drafted a new constitution.
On 22 August 1795 (5 Fructidor Year III), the Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III, which set up a more conservative political system than the 1793 constitution. It created a bicameral legislature and a five-man executive (the Directory), aiming to prevent a return to both dictatorship and mass popular pressure.
On 6 September 1795, voters approved the Constitution of the Year III and a related measure known as the Two-Thirds Decree. The Two-Thirds rule reserved most seats in the new legislature for sitting Convention deputies, a move intended to stabilize the transition but widely criticized by opponents as self-protection.
On 5 October 1795 (13 Vendémiaire Year IV), royalist forces in Paris challenged the Convention after the constitutional votes. Republican troops under leaders including Paul Barras and Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the uprising, helping secure the new political order and boosting Bonaparte’s reputation.
In late October and early November 1795, executive power shifted to the five-man Directory created by the Constitution of the Year III. This transition marked the formal endpoint of the Thermidorian Convention and the start of a new regime that prioritized order and property rights while facing continuing unrest from both royalists and radicals.
Thermidorian Reaction and the White Terror (July 1794–Nov 1795)