The French Directory was governed by five directors. The Constitution of the Year III deliberately divided executive authority among five men to prevent power from concentrating in a single leader or becoming dictatorial.
The Directory was created in 1795, after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror. Its five directors were chosen by the legislature, while ministers handled specific departments under their supervision. One director was replaced each year, creating continuity while allowing gradual change.
The number five is easy to confuse with the Directory’s two legislative chambers: the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients. Those bodies were part of the same constitutional system but were not the executive Directory itself. The government lasted until Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup of 18 Brumaire, on 9 November 1799, when it was replaced by the Consulate.