Historedia
EuropeEvent

Coup of 18 Fructidor

When
1797
Where
France (legislative elections); France; Paris, France
Episodes
4

The Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) saw three Directors—Barras, Rewbell, and La Révellière-Lépeaux—seize power with military backing, annul royalist election gains, and oust monarchists from the legislature, forestalling a threatened restoration of the monarchy.

Episodes

  1. 1797 · FranceBonaparte's documentation and republican accusations

    Documentation of Pichegru's activities supplied by Bonaparte led republican Directors to accuse the legislature of plotting against the Republic.

  2. April 1797 · France (legislative elections)Royalist electoral gains

    April 1797 elections reversed the legislative majority toward royalists and moderate republicans, threatening a monarchy restoration.

  3. 4 September 1797 · Paris, FranceSeizure of power in Paris

    Three Directors, backed by Talleyrand and the military, staged the coup, annulled election results, and ousted monarchists from the legislature.

  4. 4 September 1797 · Paris, FranceMartial law and shooting decree in Paris

    At dawn on 4 September 1797, Paris was declared under martial law, with a decree ordering royalists shot without trial.

Background and detail

Background. Royalist candidates had gained 87 seats in the 1795 elections, when a third of the seats were at stake. In the April 1797 elections, the majority in both chambers—the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of the Ancients—reversed in favor of royalists and moderate republicans, threatening a restoration of the monarchy and a return to the ancien régime.

Plotters and Evidence. After documentation of General Jean-Charles Pichegru's activities was supplied by General Napoleon Bonaparte, the republican Directors accused the entire legislative body of plotting against the Republic and moved quickly to annul the elections and arrest the royalists.

The Coup. Three of the five Directors—Paul Barras, Jean-François Rewbell, and Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, supported by foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord—staged the coup with military support. At dawn on 4 September 1797, Paris was placed under martial law, and a decree ordered that anyone supporting royalism or restoration of the Constitution of 1793 be shot without trial.

People involved

Sources

  1. Coup of 18 Fructidor Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.