Aftermath: inquiry, nickname, and Carlyle's verdict
- When
- 19 October 1795
- Where
- Paris, seat of the Committee of Public Safety's inquiry
- Part of
- 13 Vendémiaire
Officers had to account for their whereabouts on 19 October; Royalists nicknamed Bonaparte Général Vendémiaire; Carlyle recorded a "Whiff of Grapeshot".
On 19 October, all officers in the army, including those dismissed, had to prove to the Committee of Public Safety where they were on the days around 13 Vendémiaire. The defeated Royalists, seeking to portray the Republican defense as a massacre, nicknamed Bonaparte Général Vendémiaire, a title he later claimed as his first title of glory. Thomas Carlyle later famously recorded that Bonaparte gave his opponent a "Whiff of Grapeshot," ending the French Revolution, though the words are probably Carlyle's, not Bonaparte's.
Sources
- 13 Vendémiaire Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20
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