levo

France in Revolution, 1774–99

The work of the Directory

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Recall questions on the Constitution of 1795, the Two-Thirds Decree, financial and administrative reform, its treatment of religion, and how it is judged.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What government did the Constitution of 1795 establish?

Numbers

What financial reforms did the Directory attempt?

Key term

What lasting administrative achievements does the Directory have?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What government did the Constitution of 1795 establish?

    Model answer

    The Directory: a five-man executive with a bicameral legislature (the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients).

  2. 2

    What were the sister republics of the later 1790s?

    Model answer

    French-backed states modelled on the French Republic, including the Batavian, Cisalpine, Ligurian, Roman and Helvetic republics, which spread revolutionary institutions under French control.

  3. 3

    What was the Two-Thirds Decree?

    Model answer

    The requirement that two-thirds of the new legislature be chosen from serving Conventionnels, designed to prevent a royalist majority and resented as a fraud.

  4. 4

    How did the Constitution of 1795 try to prevent dictatorship?

    Model answer

    By separating powers, requiring annual partial elections, and rotating one Director a year, which produced weakness and deadlock instead.

  5. 5

    What financial reforms did the Directory attempt?

    Model answer

    Abolition of the assignat, a return to metallic currency, the two-thirds bankruptcy of 1797, and a new land tax administered by professional collectors.

  6. 6

    What lasting administrative achievements does the Directory have?

    Model answer

    A reformed tax administration, departmental commissioners who foreshadowed Napoleon's prefects, and legal and educational institutions that Napoleon inherited and built on.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in France in Revolution, 1774–99, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.