Revolt of 1 Prairial Year III

Following the Coup of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794), the Thermidorians dismantled the institutions of the Reign of Terror, repealed the General Maximum on prices, and reopened free commerce. The winter of 1794–95 was severe, with the Seine frozen for forty-five days, and food shortages and inflation worsened. A peaceful demonstration on 12 Germinal Year III (1 April 1795) failed to change policy. By mid-May, the Paris bread ration had fallen below 60 g per day. ==Uprising==

1 Prairial (20 May) Armed crowds from the faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marcel, accompanied by artillery, entered the Tuileries. Deputy Féraud was shot while attempting to block their entry; his head was placed on a pike and presented to Convention president Boissy d'Anglas, who saluted it impassively. Montagnard deputies demanded the immediate enforcement of the Constitution and restoration of price controls, but the insurgents lacked coordination and withdrew at dusk as loyal forces arrived. 2–3 Prairial The Convention declared Paris in a state of siege and authorized General Menou to restore order. Skirmishes occurred around the Halle aux Blés and Hôtel de Ville, but most sections remained neutral or loyal to the Convention. National Guard units from the western arrondissements joined with army detachments, gradually isolating the insurgents in the eastern faubourgs. By the evening of 3 Prairial, the uprising had lost momentum. 4 Prairial (23 May) Menou’s columns occupied the eastern districts without resistance, seized artillery, and arrested hundreds of militants. The Convention ordered the arrest of fourteen deputies who had supported the revolt; eight were apprehended. ==Repression and trials==

A military commission sentenced six deputies — Romme, Goujon, Duquesnoy, Bourbotte, Duroy, and — to death. Romme, Goujon, and Duquesnoy took their own lives en route to the scaffold. The others were guillotined on 29 Prairial. The repression extended further: dozens were tried, imprisoned, or executed. Thousands of suspected militants were arrested, and sans-culottes were purged from the National Guard and sectional assemblies. Philippe Rühl committed suicide in May 1795 when called before the military commission. ==Aftermath==

Prairial’s defeat ended the sans-culottes as a political and military force. Sectional assemblies were dissolved, militants disarmed, and the city placed under military oversight. The Constitution of the Year III (22 August 1795) reintroduced property qualifications for voting, excluding much of the working class. The uprising’s suppression relied heavily on regular troops rather than citizen guards, setting a precedent for military involvement in civil politics. This reliance would characterize the Directory and foreshadow Napoleon’s rise. ==In art==

Nineteenth-century painters often depicted Boissy d’Anglas saluting Féraud’s severed head, notably Félix Auvray, Joseph-Désiré Court, Eugène Delacroix, and Auguste Vinchon. ’s Les Derniers Montagnards (1882) portrays the suicides of the condemned deputies. ==See also==