Popular revolt in Paris on 20 May 1795 against the policies of the Thermidorian Convention
The defeat of this uprising ended sans-culotte political power and consolidated the Thermidorian Reaction's dominance over the French Revolution.
Key Facts
- Date
- 20 May 1795 (1 Prairial Year III)
- Deputy murdered
- Jean-Bertrand Féraud
- Deputies arrested
- 8 of 14 ordered arrested
- Deputies condemned to death
- 6
- Faubourgs disarmed by
- 4 Prairial (23 May 1795)
- Key demand
- Bread and Constitution of Year I
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ongoing bread shortages and the Thermidorian Convention's dismantling of price controls (the Maximum) left Parisian sans-culottes impoverished and hungry in the spring of 1795. They also resented the suppression of the radical Year I Constitution, which had promised direct democracy and economic protections.
On 20 May 1795, sans-culottes from eastern Paris invaded the National Convention demanding bread and reinstatement of the Year I Constitution. The crowd murdered deputy Jean-Bertrand Féraud and briefly occupied the hall. Loyal National Guard units expelled the insurgents by nightfall. A follow-up mobilization on 2 Prairial collapsed, and the faubourgs were fully disarmed by 4 Prairial.
The Convention ordered the arrest of fourteen sympathetic deputies; eight were seized and six condemned to death. Romme, Goujon, and Duquesnoy committed suicide before execution, while the rest were guillotined. The uprising's failure permanently extinguished sans-culotte political influence and strengthened the Thermidorian Reaction's conservative grip on the Revolution.
Political Outcome
Uprising suppressed; sans-culotte movement crushed; six deputies executed; Thermidorian Reaction consolidated
Sans-culottes and radical Montagnards retained residual political leverage
Thermidorian Convention held unchallenged authority; popular radical movement eliminated