- Born:
- June 30, 1755, Fox-Amphoux, France
- Died:
- January 29, 1829, Chaillot (aged 73)
- Title / Office:
- National Convention (1792-1795)
- Political Affiliation:
- Jacobin Club
Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras
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Who was Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras?
Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras (1755–1829) was a prominent figure during the French Revolution and a powerful member of the Directory. A Provençal nobleman, Barras served in India before becoming disillusioned with the monarchy and embracing the Revolution. He was elected to the National Convention and played a key role in the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre. As one of the five Directors, he became a symbol of the regime's corruption due to his lavish lifestyle. Barras's political influence waned after Napoleon Bonaparte's coup in 1799, leading to his exile.
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What role did Barras play in the French Revolution?
Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, was a prominent figure during the French Revolution, serving as one of the most powerful members of the Directory. A nobleman who embraced the Revolution, Barras was elected to the National Convention and played a key role in military campaigns, including the liberation of Var and Nice, and the suppression of anti-Jacobin forces at Toulon. He was instrumental in the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre and later helped defend the Directory against a royalist insurrection, leading to his position as one of the five directeurs. His lavish lifestyle, however, made him a symbol of the regime's corruption.
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What was the Directory, and how was Barras involved with it?
The Directory was the French government established by the Constitution of the Year III, which governed from November 1795 to November 1799. It featured a bicameral legislature and a five-member executive body, the Directors. Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, was a prominent and powerful member of this executive body. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Directory after helping to defend the regime against a royalist insurrection alongside Napoleon Bonaparte. Barras became one of the most popular of the five Directors and was involved in political maneuvers, such as the Coup of 18 Fructidor, which purged conservatives from the legislature. His lavish lifestyle also made him a symbol of the regime's corruption.
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How did Barras help Napoleon Bonaparte rise to power?
Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, a powerful member of the Directory, played a crucial role in Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power. Barras first met Napoleon during the successful campaign to retake Toulon. Later, in 1795, Barras, as general of the Army of the Interior, and Napoleon defended the Directory against a royalist insurrection, which led to the establishment of the Directory government. Barras, as one of the new directors, supported Napoleon, notably by giving him command of the Army of Italy. This appointment allowed Napoleon to achieve significant military victories, which greatly enhanced his popularity and paved the way for his eventual seizure of power in the Coup of 18–19 Brumaire.
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What challenges or controversies did Barras face during his political career?
Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, faced significant challenges and controversies during his political career. As a powerful member of the Directory, his lavish lifestyle made him a symbol of the regime's corruption. He was instrumental in the coup of 9 Thermidor, which led to the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre, and later defended the Directory against a royalist insurrection alongside Napoleon Bonaparte.
Barras's political power peaked after the coup of 18 Fructidor, a purge of royalists, but he ultimately fell from power during Napoleon's coup of 18 Brumaire. Following this, he was placed under surveillance and exiled, first to Brussels and later to Rome, due to suspicions of conspiratorial activities.
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What happened to Barras after the fall of the Directory, and how is he remembered today?
After the fall of the Directory, Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, was placed under surveillance by Napoleon's spy network. His suspected conspiratorial activities led to his exile in Brussels from 1801 to 1805, and later to Rome in 1813. Following the Bourbon Restoration, he was permitted to live peacefully on his estate in Chaillot. Barras is remembered today as a powerful but corrupt figure of the Directory, whose lavish lifestyle symbolized the regime's decadence. His memoirs were published posthumously in the late 19th century.
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Paul-François-Jean-Nicolas, vicomte de Barras (born June 30, 1755, Fox-Amphoux, France—died January 29, 1829, Chaillot) was one of the most powerful members of the Directory during the French Revolution.
A Provençal nobleman, Barras volunteered as gentleman cadet in the regiment of Languedoc at the age of 16 and from 1776 to 1783 served in India. A period of unemployment in Paris left Barras disenchanted with the royal regime, and he welcomed the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. He entered the Jacobin Club almost immediately after it was founded and returned to the département of Var in 1791 to make himself eligible for election to the Legislative Assembly. Although his fierce electoral campaign failed to gain him election to the Assembly itself, he was made an elector from Var.
In September 1792 Barras returned to Paris, where he was elected deputy to the National Convention. Sent to supervise the French army of Italy, his first mission was to liberate Var and Nice from royalist forces and to organize the new département of Alpes-Maritimes. After voting for the king’s death, he was sent to conquer anti-Jacobin forces at Toulon, where his successful campaign gained him new prominence in the Convention and where he first met Napoleon Bonaparte.
During the Reign of Terror of 1794, Barras refused to align himself with any particular group. Nevertheless, he shrewdly reasserted himself in the coup of 9 Thermidor, year II (July 27, 1794), acting as one of the key figures in the overthrow of the Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre, and he emerged as the commander of the Army of the Interior and the police. His fame and power quickly increasing, he held a number of high-level positions in the Convention and in the Committee of Public Safety between the summer of 1794 and the autumn of 1795, by which time he had helped crush a revolt of the Parisian populace, aggravated antiroyalist attacks in the Convention, and begun an affair with Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s future wife.
Renamed general of the Army of the Interior on 13 Vendémiaire, year IV (October 5, 1795), he and Napoleon defended the regime against an attempted royalist insurrection and brought about the establishment of the Directory. By engineering the elections, Barras made himself one of the new directeurs, emerging as the most popular of the five. In 1796 he became actively involved with Le Cercle Constitutionnel, a group of antiroyalist liberals that included Talleyrand, Joseph Fouché, Benjamin Constant, and Madame de Staël, who supported the less republican and more authoritarian structure of the Directory. His lavish lifestyle made him a symbol of the regime’s corruption.
The coup of 18 Fructidor, year V (September 4, 1797), a purge of royalists in the Assembly, brought Barras to the apex of his power, but he fell from power in Napoleon’s coup of 18 Brumaire, year VIII (November 9, 1799). He was placed under the constant surveillance of Fouché’s spy network, and Napoleon’s suspicion of his conspiratorial activities brought about his exile to Brussels between 1801 and 1805, when he was permitted to return to southern France. When Napoleon learned of his secret meetings there with the former Spanish king Charles IV, he sent him to Rome in 1813. Barras may have contacted Louis XVIII even before 18 Brumaire; in any event, after the Second Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy (1815) the king permitted him to live in peace at his estate at Chaillot. His Mémoires was published in four volumes in 1895–96.