French Republican calendar first dayIn 1792, this day was adopted as day 1, year 1 of a new French Republican calendar, marking the start of the new French Republic. The French Revolution created a new government keen to break from the aristocracy, the Catholic Church and their institutions, including the pope's Gregorian calendar. The new starting date was set retrospectively, as a committee worked until Sep 1793 to develop the calendar. So, in fact, the Gregorian calendar continued to be used until the Republican calendar was implemented on 24 Nov 1793. The new calendar had 12 months of 30 days each, divided into 10-day decades instead of 7-day weeks. Five supplementary days ended the year (6 in a leap year). A day had 10 hours of 100 minutes each. Napoleon abolished this “Calendar of Reason” on 31 Dec 1805.« |
