Thermidorien

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to the period after July 1794 in the French Revolution, when Robespierre fell ; a person who took part in the faction that overthrew him
2. Of or belonging to the French Revolutionary moderate reaction that followed Robespierre's fall ; one of the political figures who helped bring that reaction about
3. Characteristic of the 1794 reaction against the Jacobin Terror in France ; a supporter or participant in the movement that ended Robespierre's rule

Etymology: Thermidorien comes from Thermidor, the eleventh month of the French Republican calendar, which the revolutionaries introduced in 1793 to replace the Gregorian system and its saints' days. Thermidor, from Greek "thermon" meaning heat, named the hot summer month, running roughly from mid-July to mid-August. The month gave its name to the coup of 9 Thermidor, Year II (27 July 1794), when the National Convention turned against Robespierre and the Jacobin leadership, who were executed the next day. The adjective "thermidorien" was applied to the politicians who followed, the moderate members of the Convention and the faction that dismantled the Terror and its controls. Historians use it for the period from that coup to the establishment of the Directory in 1795, and for the reaction it represented. The word's meaning has stayed tied to that political turn rather than to the calendar month itself.