The end of the Great French revolution and its historical significance
In January 1793 King Louis XVI was executed; Britain, Spain and others joined the war against France. Power passed to the Jacobins — Robespierre, Marat, Danton and their followers — who punished opponents by terror; the Girondins were executed. On 27 July 1794 (Thermidor) a plot in the Convention led to Robespierre’s arrest and execution, and the Jacobin dictatorship ended. Under the Constitution of 1795 executive power went to a five-man Directory; this regime, which protected property owners’ interests, had little public support. The Italian campaign (1796–1797) and the Egyptian campaign (1798–1799) made General Napoleon Bonaparte famous. In the coup of 9 November 1799 the Directory was overthrown, the Consulate was set up and Napoleon became one of the three consuls. The revolution ended feudal order and absolutism and laid the foundations of a state under law and civil society, but its terror and killings also remain a lesson of history.
“Staircase of revolution”: draw the stages from 1789 to 1799 as steps on the board and write who held power at each.