Coup of 18 Brumaire
By November 1799 the Directory that had governed France since 1795 had exhausted its legitimacy: it had survived two royalist plots and a Jacobin resurgence through irregular purges of its own legislative councils, presided over military reverses and financial instability, and was widely seen as corrupt and incapable. The coup was planned by the abbé Sieyès, himself a Director, who needed a 'sword' — a popular general to provide military muscle. Napoleon, returned from Egypt and far the most famous general in France, accepted the role. On 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), the legislative councils were transferred to Saint-Cloud under the pretext of a Jacobin plot. The next day Lucien Bonaparte, as president of the Council of Five Hundred, ordered troops to clear the hall when Napoleon's appearance in the chamber triggered hostile shouting. The Council was dispersed, a rump convened, and three Consuls — Napoleon, Sieyès, and Ducos — were proclaimed. Within weeks Napoleon had marginalised his co-Consuls and concentrated executive power as First Consul. The coup ended the French Republic in practice, though not yet in name, and launched a decade of Napoleonic dominance over Europe.
- Year: 1799 CE
- Category: Political
