The division of the year into twelve months was unaltered, but instead of weeks each month was divided into three decades of ten days each. This necessitated the addition at the end of the twelfth month of five extra days so that the new calendar might agree with that used by other peoples. These days were called by the absurd name, Sansculottides. The months were given names made appropriate by the season or the customary weather. They were:
October, Vendémiaire, “Vintage month”
November, Brumaire, “Fog month”
December, Frimaire, “Hoar-frost month”
January, Nivose, “Snow month”
February, Pluviose, “Rain month”
March, Ventose, “Wind month”
April, Germinal, “Sprout month”
May, Floréal, “Flower month”
June, Prairial, “Meadow month”
July, Messidor, “Harvest month”
August, Thermidor, “Heat month”
September, Fructidor, “Fruit month.”
On the other hand some excellent constructive work was accomplished by the foundation of several schools and libraries, of several museums, among them the Louvre, and of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, established in the ancient priory of Saint Martin-des-Champs. Thanks to the good sense of a private individual many architectural relics of priceless value were saved from destruction and converted into a museum in what is now the Palais des Beaux Arts. After the Revolution most of them were restored whence they had come.
It has been computed that the Revolution cost France 1,002,351 lives. To make up these figures Robespierre was now killing two hundred people a week. At last, when he tried to establish his own position with some show of legality the end of the Terror was in sight. For the moment, however, it seemed as if there were only increased horror, for the Parisians took possession of
“THE CONVENTION.” MODEL OF GROUP BY SICARD, TEMPORARILY PLACED IN THE PANTHEON.
Robespierre and fought fiercely in his defence against the supporters of the Convention. It was the Grève, the theater of many wild scenes, which furnished the battleground. Robespierre and the mob were defeated and when Robespierre went to the guillotine, with his face, which has been described as looking like a “cat that had lapped vinegar,” bound up because of a wound, then the Terror died with him. Thousands of suspects were released at once from prison, and the city, except for the vicious element whose worst spirit he incarnated, breathed freely once again.
So strong was the reaction that the royalists hoped for a return of power, and even marched against the Tuileries where the Convention was sitting. They were hotly received, however, by the troops of the Convention, one of whose officers, Bonaparte, killed royalist pretenses now only to revive imperial aspirations later on.