The Thermidorian Reaction was when the enemies of Maximillian Robespierre turned on him with him and his associates being guillotined, ending the Reign of Terror and the rule of the Jacobins, but what if there was no Thermidorian Reaction? What happens next in France? What does a France under a Robespierre who wasn't overthrown look like? How would this impact the French Revolutionary Wars?
 
I think Robespierre would still be overthrown. It's just that the regime that overthrows him would not be as counterrevolutionary than the Directory.
 
Robespierre's regime horrified people of the revolution and directly caused the spike in conservatism in France at the end of the French Revolution. It is hard to see how Robespierre would not be overthrown unless he somehow gained the support of the increasingly conservative army.
 
No. If it really was, then it'd advocate for restoring the monarchy.

There are ways to be counterrevolutionary without restoring the Bourbon.

Anyways, I expect the regime that replaces the Convention to be better than the Thermidoreans, actually having some level of popular support. It will also be less likely to purge all the radicals, and the First White Terror would be avoided.
 
It was counterrevolutionary. Elections were banned.

The Thermidorians weren't reactionaries.

In fact, many radical leftists like Fouché supported Thermidor and the left stayed in control of the government (Comité de salut public, Committee of Public Safety). Robespierre's successor as leading member of the Committee was Barrère, a moderate leftist. The Committee was controlled by the left until 1 September 1794, when conservatives replaced the leftist members. These radicals were only exiled after the 1 April 1795.

As to the elections, the Directorate had to reverse two (1797, 1798) of its four (1795, 1799) legislative elections due to royalist and jacobin gains. The Thermidorians couldn't accept extremist victories, neither from the left nor from the right.

However, it's true that many Thermidorians supported the 18 Brumaire coup; now, they had finally the chance to abolish elections and prevent a royalist restoration for another 15 years.
 
So, can we agree to disagree on whether the Thermidorians were reactionaries or not and discuss the implications of a France which continued to be ruled by Robespierre and co?
 
So, can we agree to disagree on whether the Thermidorians were reactionaries or not and discuss the implications of a France which continued to be ruled by Robespierre and co?

The results would be catastrophic. The Terreur was, even if supported by most members of the National Convention, horrific. Maybe some elements of the Terreur were necessary to win the war - but most victims were innocent. The guillotine bled France dry of some of its greatest thinkers. Not only Danton, Camilles Desmoulins and the Girondins; not only atheists like Hébert; also Condorcet, mathematician, republican, democrat and, last but not least, feminist; Lavoisier, chemist; Fabre d'Églantine, important poet; Olympe de Gouges, women's right activist. And not to forget Thomas Paine, who was already in prison and saved only by chance.

Who would want to contine this horror? After the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June, many (correctly) assumed that France would win the war. But Robespierre and the Montagnards made no move to end the Teurreur. On the contrary, the Law of 22 Prairial of the Year II (10 June) even intensified the Terreur. Everybody now felt threatened, especially Fouché, and you can't accuse him to be a reactionary. That was the cause of 9 Thermidor (27 July). It was only a matter of time until Robespierre and his friends would be overthrown, because everybody realized how insane his system was and that it needed to end immediately.

However, if ASB decides to continue the reign of terror, France will lose its leading political, military and cultural personalities, and that would be a very bad outcome.
 
Possible PoD -- Hanriot is not drunk the day of Robespierre's arrest, and is able to effectively raise forces on behalf of the Commune and decisively attack the Convention.
 
The Thermidorians weren't reactionaries.

In fact, many radical leftists like Fouché supported Thermidor and the left stayed in control of the government (Comité de salut public, Committee of Public Safety). Robespierre's successor as leading member of the Committee was Barrère, a moderate leftist. The Committee was controlled by the left until 1 September 1794, when conservatives replaced the leftist members. These radicals were only exiled after the 1 April 1795.

As to the elections, the Directorate had to reverse two (1797, 1798) of its four (1795, 1799) legislative elections due to royalist and jacobin gains. The Thermidorians couldn't accept extremist victories, neither from the left nor from the right.

However, it's true that many Thermidorians supported the 18 Brumaire coup; now, they had finally the chance to abolish elections and prevent a royalist restoration for another 15 years.
Firstly - One of the first decrees of the Directory prohibited the use of the word "revolutionary" and declared a general amnesty for "cases related solely to the revolution." Secondly - Not everyone knows, but Robespierre in the last months of his reign seriously thought about stopping the Terror and reconciliation with the church. Without his arrest, there was no Thermidor reaction with its defeat of the left, the executions of former Jacobins and monstrous corruption.
 
The idea of "Thermidorians" as an unitary group is misleading. The Thermidor Coup was made by a coalition of right-wingers who wanted the end of the Terror in order to change government and left-wingers who either feared for their own lifes (former Representatives, like Fouché or Carrier), for their prerogatives (Comitee of General Security) or their power (Barère). Many first-tier agents of the Terror (Barère, Fouché) put themselves behind the coup.

The threat for the likes of Fouché was not brought by the Loi de Prairial (itself anterior to Fleurus, not a reaction to it), but by the "cleaning campaign" of corruption Robespierre had in mind. Historians still dispute wether Robespierre was going to end the Terror, or his implication in the massive condemnations of 06-07/1794 (he did not siege in the Public Salvation Comittee from 06/19 onwards), but it is clear he wanted to punish the most outrageous abuses of power by the Representatives in the provinces. The reorganization of the revolutionnary judicial system (only one tribunal in Paris) aimed at bringing it under the control of the Convention and the Comittees. In a affair so
Stereotypically "Terror" as the red shirts of june 17 (54 executed on more than dubious evidence), the actors were the Comittee of General Security and Barère. But after Thermidor, it was named one of the many "crimes of Robespierre".
 
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