Other meanings of Thermidorian Reaction
French Revolution
The Thermidorian Reaction was a coup d'état during the French Revolution that resulted in the overthrow and execution of Maximilien Robespierre and the fall of the radical Jacobin government on 9 Thermidor Year II (27 July 1794). It marked a decisive shift to the right, ending the Reign of Terror and leading to the more conservative Directory period.
The Thermidorian Reaction was precipitated by a combination of factors, including the escalating violence of the Reign of Terror, economic hardships, and political rivalries within the National Convention.1 By mid-1794, the Committee of Public Safety, dominated by Robespierre, had executed thousands of perceived enemies, and even members of the Convention feared for their own safety. The Law of 22 Prairial (10 June 1794) streamlined the revolutionary tribunal, depriving defendants of legal counsel and making execution almost automatic, which intensified fears among deputies.2
On 9 Thermidor, a coalition of deputies, including former allies of Robespierre such as Joseph Fouché and Paul Barras, orchestrated his arrest during a session of the National Convention.1 Robespierre and his supporters were declared outlawed, and after a failed escape attempt, they were captured and executed the following day without trial.3 The coup was not a popular uprising but a parliamentary coup, driven by the deputies' desire to protect themselves from further purges.
Following the coup, the Thermidorians dismantled the machinery of the Terror: the Revolutionary Tribunal was suspended, the Jacobin Club was closed, and the Committee of Public Safety was stripped of its powers.1 They also initiated a policy of reaction, releasing many prisoners and prosecuting former terrorists, while also repealing economic controls, which led to inflation and hardship for the poor.4 The Constitution of the Year III (1795) established the Directory, a more conservative executive, marking the end of the revolutionary government's radical phase.5
The Thermidorian Reaction also saw the rise of the jeunesse dorée (gilded youth), gangs of young men who attacked Jacobins and promoted a fashionable, anti-revolutionary culture.6 The term 'Thermidorian' later became a general label for any political reaction that follows a radical period, used by figures like Leon Trotsky to describe the Stalinist bureaucracy's betrayal of the Russian Revolution.7 Additionally, the coup was partly a response to Robespierre's Cult of the Supreme Being, which alienated many who saw it as a new form of religious persecution.2
The Thermidorian Reaction is often cited as a classic example of a political revolution devouring its own children, and its name has become a byword for any rightward turn after a period of radicalism.
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