During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries didn't just want to overthrow the monarchy—they wanted to overthrow time itself. In one of history's most ambitious attempts at social engineering, France created an entirely new calendar and time system based on decimal mathematics and revolutionary ideals.
The French Revolutionary Calendar, officially adopted on October 5, 1793 (or 14 Vendémiaire, Year II in the new system), was designed to eliminate all traces of the old religious and monarchical order from daily life.
• 12 months of exactly 30 days each
• 3 weeks per month, called "décades"
• 10 days per week (décade)
• 5-6 extra days at year's end called "Sansculottides"
• New Year began at the autumn equinox (around September 22)
The month names were poetic and tied to nature, created by poet Philippe Fabre d'Églantine:
Autumn months:
• Vendémiaire (vintage month)
• Brumaire (fog month)
• Frimaire (frost month)
Winter months:
• Nivôse (snow month)
• Pluviôse (rain month)
• Ventôse (wind month)
Spring months:
• Germinal (germination month)
• Floréal (flower month)
• Prairial (meadow month)
Summer months:
• Messidor (harvest month)
• Thermidor (heat month)
• Fructidor (fruit month)
But the calendar was just the beginning. The revolutionaries also created decimal time, dividing each day into 10 hours, each hour into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds.
1 decimal day = 10 decimal hours
1 decimal hour = 100 decimal minutes
1 decimal minute = 100 decimal seconds
Traditional 24-hour day = 10 decimal hours
Traditional hour = 41.67 decimal minutes
Traditional minute = 69.44 decimal seconds
Special decimal clocks were manufactured showing both traditional and revolutionary time. The day began at midnight (0:00:00 decimal time) and noon occurred at 5:00:00 decimal time.
The 10-day week was designed to reduce the influence of Christianity by eliminating Sunday as a day of rest. Instead, every 10th day (décadi) was a rest day, with civic festivals replacing religious observances.
Each day was also assigned to honor something secular rather than saints:
• Agricultural tools and products
• Useful animals
• Minerals and plants
• Revolutionary virtues
For example, 1 Vendémiaire was dedicated to grapes, 2 Vendémiaire to saffron, 3 Vendémiaire to chestnuts, and so on. The 5th day of each décade honored an animal, the 10th day honored an agricultural tool.
The system faced immediate practical problems:
Economic disruption: Markets and businesses struggled with the 10-day work cycle. Workers effectively lost one rest day in ten compared to the weekly Sunday.
International confusion: Foreign trade and diplomacy became complicated when France used completely different dates from the rest of the world.
Religious resistance: Catholics continued to observe Sunday and traditional feast days, creating parallel time systems.
Decimal time failure: The decimal time system was so impractical that it was quietly abandoned after just two years, though the calendar persisted longer.
The decimal time system failed because:
• Existing clocks couldn't be easily converted
• The decimal hour was too long (2.4 traditional hours)
• People couldn't adapt to the unnatural rhythm
• International coordination became impossible
Napoleon, ever practical, began allowing traditional Sunday observance in 1800 and completely abolished the Revolutionary Calendar on January 1, 1806 (11 Nivôse, Year XIV). He reportedly said, "It is easier to make a new calendar than to change the habits of the people."
Interestingly, some French clocks from this period still exist in museums, showing both traditional and decimal time. These artifacts represent one of history's most ambitious attempts to reshape human temporal experience through political decree.
The Revolutionary Calendar briefly returned during the Paris Commune in 1871, but lasted only two months. Its failure demonstrates the deep cultural roots of timekeeping systems and the difficulty of changing fundamental aspects of daily life, even through revolutionary force.
Today, we can still see echoes of this period in French culture. The month names live on in literature and historical references, and "Thermidor" became famous as the name of the period when Robespierre fell from power (9 Thermidor, Year II, or July 27, 1794).
The French Revolutionary Calendar remains a fascinating example of how political ideology can attempt to reshape even the most basic aspects of human experience—and how some aspects of culture, like our relationship with time, prove remarkably resistant to change.