Coup of 18 Brumaire
Also called: 18 Brumaire, Coup of Brumaire, French Consulate, First Consul
Back from Egypt, Napoleon joined Sieyès to overthrow the Directory; the Consulate was set up with Napoleon as First Consul.
François Bouchot · Public domain · Source
In 1799 France was losing ground to the Second Coalition and was in disorder at home. The Director Sieyès resolved to use a soldier to create a strong government and joined forces with Napoleon, who had returned from Egypt in October to great acclaim. On 9 November (18 Brumaire Year VIII) the Council of Ancients, citing a Jacobin plot, moved both councils to the Château de Saint-Cloud west of Paris, and the Directors resigned.
The next day at Saint-Cloud, when Napoleon appeared before the Five Hundred, deputies jostled him with cries of “Outlaw the dictator!” His brother Lucien Bonaparte, president of the Five Hundred, called in the troops, and grenadiers cleared the chamber. That night a rump of deputies named three consuls: Napoleon, Sieyès and Roger Ducos. Under the Constitution of Year VIII in December Napoleon as First Consul held power, and the consuls proclaimed that “the Revolution is over”.
