In the winter and spring of Year III (1795), agriculture and trade were in chaos and the currency was rapidly devaluing. Townspeople were starving as the prices of staple foods rose. The Convention, which had mobilised its armies against external threats and deployed them to repress rebellions in the provinces, could hardly contain the unrest in Paris. During the Revolt of 1 Prairial Year III the crowds forced their way into the Convention's sessions to demand bread.