Napoleon's Coup of 18 Brumaire Begins
The coup of 18 Brumaire began on November 9, 1799, under the Gregorian calendar.
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The Event
The coup of 18 Brumaire began on November 9, 1799, under the Gregorian calendar. Napoleon Bonaparte and political allies moved against the government of the Directory.
The Wider Story
The operation continued into the following day and led toward the Consulate. Military influence and political maneuvering both mattered to its success.
Putting the Event in Perspective
It was not Napoleon's coronation as emperor, which occurred in 1804.
Reading the Historical Record
Keeping the stages separate shows how the revolutionary republic's institutions were displaced before the later imperial title.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: a late-eighteenth-century French council chamber with distant soldiers at the doorway, no coronation. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
Sources
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