Why was the Directorate government so weak?

The Directorate government was so weak because it had weak executive powers. The system of government was created in reaction to the puritanical dictatorship under the reign of terror.

The Directorate government was divided, it also faced series of political crisis, there was abuse of power, and results of elections were manipulated. The French economy was in continual crisis and the public wondered if royalist’s return to power might be more beneficial. The directorate government didn’t last for a long time; it only lasted for a period of four years (1795 – 1799).

The Directorate government ended up yielding to the more disciplined dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1789 the National Assembly was the first goverment established in France. The other three governments of the French Revolution were the legislative assembly, the first republic and the directory. The latter ran for four years, 1795-99.

It is not surprising that these bodies ran through great difficulties: the country had been run by a rapacious monarchy for generations. On the positive side, the directory set a successful constitutional plebiscite and a general amnesty for political prisoners. Then the 2/3rds rule enfuriated the nobles who had assumed they would return to some power legally.

Their uprising was quickly put down as were attacks by communist elements. Free elections were not possible because of the directory's insistence on barring royalists. It was really the financial disarray that finished the directorate.

It destroyed the good, such as public assistance pensions and free public schooling and strained loyalties, but popularity finally disappeared when the directory interfered with the citizens established way of life with its rules, particularly over the way Sundays were to be enjoyed (or endured).