biography
| name: |
Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, comte de (Count of)
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pronunciation:
[bara]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1755–1829)
|
| biography:
| French revolutionary, born in Fox-Amphoux, SE France. An original member of the Jacobin Club, he voted for the king's execution. He conducted the siege of Toulon, and suppressed the revolt in the S of France. Hated by Robespierre, he played the chief part in the tyrant's overthrow, and was appointed virtual dictator by the terrified Convention. In 1795, faced with a royalist rising, he called his young friend Napoleon to his aid, who assured his own future with the historical ‘whiff of grape-shot’. The Directory being appointed, Barras was nominated one of the five members. Once more dictator in 1797, he guided the state almost alone, until his covetousness had rendered him so unpopular that Napoleon overthrew him easily in the coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov) 1799. |
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