Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras, commonly known as Paul Barras, was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795–1799.
Colored engraving by Pierre Alexandre Tardieu after a drawing by Hilaire Ledru, 1798
James Gillray's caricature of 1805. Barras being entertained by the naked dancing of two wives of prominent men, Thérésa Tallien and Joséphine Bonaparte. On the right, Napoleon Bonaparte takes a peek.
The Directory was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 26 October 1795 until 10 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by the Consulate. Directoire is the name of the final four years of the French Revolution. Mainstream historiography also uses the term in reference to the period from the dissolution of the National Convention on 26 October 1795 to Napoleon's coup d'état.
The Convention rises against Robespierre (27 July 1794)
François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas, one of the principal authors of the Constitution of 1795
Paul Barras, who defended the government against attacks from the left and right
General Lazare Hoche defeated a royalist army that landed in Brittany (July 1795)
