What triggered the formation of the Directory?

The formation of the Directory was triggered by the fall of the Jacobin government during the French Revolution.

The Directory was established in France following the collapse of the radical Jacobin government, which had been in power during the most violent phase of the French Revolution known as the Reign of Terror. The Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, had implemented extreme measures including mass executions to suppress counter-revolutionary activities. However, their radical policies and the ongoing violence led to widespread discontent, culminating in the Thermidorian Reaction in July 1794, which resulted in the overthrow and execution of Robespierre.

The fall of the Jacobin government created a power vacuum in France. The moderate and conservative factions in the National Convention, which was the revolutionary government body at the time, seized this opportunity to establish a new form of government. They aimed to prevent the return of either the monarchy or the radical Jacobin rule. Thus, in November 1795, they established the Directory, a five-man executive body that ruled France alongside two legislative houses.

The Directory was designed to provide a more stable and moderate government that would end the political turmoil and violence that had characterised the previous years of the Revolution. It was also intended to safeguard the gains of the Revolution, such as the abolition of feudalism and the establishment of secularism, while preventing the excesses of the Reign of Terror.

However, the Directory faced numerous challenges, including economic difficulties, political corruption, and ongoing wars with other European powers. It was also deeply unpopular with many sections of French society, from royalists who wanted to restore the monarchy, to Jacobins and other radicals who saw it as a betrayal of the Revolution's ideals. These factors eventually led to the Directory's downfall and its replacement by Napoleon Bonaparte's Consulate in 1799.