History glossary
the Directory
the five-person executive government that ruled France from 1795 until Napoleon's coup.
- Category
- Political system
- Region
- France
- Date range
- 1795-1799
What it means
The Directory was the government established by the Constitution of Year III. It ruled France from 1795 to 1799 through a five-person executive and a legislature, but depended heavily on the army to survive political crises.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The French Revolution
From royal debt and social inequality to republic, terror, and Napoleon, the French Revolution dismantled the old order and produced the political ideas of citizenship, rights, and nationalism that defined the modern world.
Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon turned revolutionary opportunity into continental empire, then lost it in total war that still transformed European politics, states, and nationalism.
