Editing French Directory (section)

=== October 1795 royalist rebellion ===
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[[File:Attaque de la Convention nationale, 1790.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Government troops under [[Napoleon]] fire on insurgents near [[Saint-Roch, Paris]], 5 October 1795]]

The new [[Constitution of the Year III]] was officially proclaimed in force on 23 September 1795, but the new Councils had not yet been elected, and the Directors had not yet been chosen. The leaders of the royalists and constitutional monarchists chose this moment to try to seize power. They saw that the vote in favor of the new Constitution was hardly overwhelming. Paris voters were particularly hostile to the idea of keeping two-thirds of the old members of the Convention in the new Councils. A central committee was formed, with members from the wealthier neighborhoods of Paris, and they began planning a march on the center of the city and on the Tuileries, where the Convention still met.

The members of the Convention, very much experienced with conspiracies, were well aware that the planning was underway. A group of five republican deputies, led by [[Paul Barras]], had already formed an unofficial directory, in anticipation of the creation of the real one. They were concerned about the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]] members from western Paris, and were unsure about the military commander of Paris, General [[Jacques-François Menou]]. Barras decided to turn to military commanders in his entourage who were known republicans, particularly [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], whom he had known when Bonaparte was successfully [[Siege of Toulon (1793)|fighting the British in Toulon]]. Bonaparte, at this point a general of second rank in the [[Army of the Interior]], was ordered to defend the government buildings on the right bank.

The armed royalist insurgents planned a march in two columns along both the right bank and left bank of the [[Seine]] toward the Tuileries. There on 5 October 1795, the royalists were met by the artillery of ''sous-lieutenant'' [[Joachim Murat]] at the Sablons and by Bonaparte's soldiers and artillery in front of the church of [[Saint-Roch, Paris|Saint-Roch]]. Over the next two hours, the "[[13 Vendémiaire|whiff of grapeshot]]" of Bonaparte's cannons and gunfire of his soldiers brutally mowed down advancing columns, killing some four hundred insurgents, and ending the rebellion. Bonaparte was promoted to General of Division on 16 October, and General in Chief of the Army of the Interior on 26 October. It was the last uprising to take place in Paris during the French Revolution.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=202}}