WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Executive power was in the hands of five Directors, selected by the Council of Ancients from a list provided by the lower house, with a five-year mandate.

Detailed explanation-2: -The bourgeoisie-merchants, manufacturers, professionals-had gained financial power but were excluded from political power. Those who were socially beneath them had very few rights, and most were also increasingly impoverished. The monarchy was no longer viewed as divinely ordained.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Directory was a fatal experiment in weak executive powers; it was created in reaction to the puritanical dictatorship that had existed under the Reign of Terror of 1793–94, and it would end up yielding to the more disciplined dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Detailed explanation-4: -The majority were peasants who lived in near poverty, but around two million were the middle classes: the bourgeoisie. These had doubled in number between the years of Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715) and XVI (r. 1754–1792) and owned around a quarter of French land.