After the fall of both Robespierre and the committee of public safety, the directory took control under five leaders.
Maximilien Robespierre, one of the leaders of the Reign of Terror that took place during the French Revolution, was arrested and guillotined in 1794. Since he was the leading member of the Committee of Public Safety, that is to say the executive committee of the National Convention, this organization ceased to exist and the Directory took control. The Directory was conformed by five members and it governed France from 1795 to 1799, the year in which Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew it.