The Coup of 18 Brumaire Brings Napoleon Bonaparte to Power
On November 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire, year VIII, in the French Republican calendar), a plot led by Abbé Sieyès and General Napoleon Bonaparte began the overthrow of the Directory, the government of France.
Published · Updated · 3 min read
The Directory
France had been governed since 1795 by the Directory, an executive of five directors, with two legislative councils: the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred. The government faced war with Austria, Britain and other powers, financial difficulties and unrest in parts of the country. Its elections had been annulled twice, in 1797 and 1798, when the results favored its opponents. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, one of the directors, wanted a stronger executive and looked for a general who could provide military backing.
Bonaparte's Return
Napoleon Bonaparte, 30 years old, had won victories in Italy in 1796 and 1797 and had led an army to Egypt in 1798. He left it in August 1799 and landed in France at Fréjus on October 9. He was welcomed in Paris. Sieyès and Bonaparte, with Bonaparte's brother Lucien, who presided over the Council of Five Hundred, and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, a former foreign minister, prepared a plan to move the councils out of Paris and to change the constitution.
18 Brumaire
On the morning of November 9, 1799, the Council of Ancients, on the pretext of a Jacobin plot, voted to move the two councils to the palace of Saint-Cloud, outside Paris, and gave Bonaparte command of the troops in Paris. Two directors, Sieyès and Roger Ducos, resigned. Paul Barras also resigned, and the two remaining directors, Louis Gohier and Jean-François Moulin, were kept under guard at the Luxembourg Palace. By the end of the day the Directory had ceased to exist.
19 Brumaire at Saint-Cloud
On November 10 the councils met at Saint-Cloud. Bonaparte appeared before the Ancients, and then before the Five Hundred, where deputies shouted at him and some tried to push him out. Lucien Bonaparte called on the soldiers to protect the council, and grenadiers cleared the hall. Later that night, a small number of members who remained voted to set up a provisional government of three consuls: Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos.
The Constitution of Year VIII
A new constitution was drafted in the following weeks, and it took effect on December 25, 1799. It gave Bonaparte the post of First Consul with most of the executive power. It was submitted to a vote of the public in a plebiscite, and the results announced in February 1800 showed over three million in favor and about 1,500 against. Bonaparte later became Consul for life in 1802 and was crowned Emperor of the French on December 2, 1804.
The Calendar
The dates of the coup are given in the French Republican calendar, which the revolutionary government introduced in 1793. It divided the year into twelve months of thirty days, plus a few extra days, with names such as Brumaire, the month of fog, and it counted years from the founding of the Republic in 1792. Napoleon's government abolished the calendar, and France returned to the Gregorian calendar on January 1, 1806.
Sources
Found an error? Send a correction. Read our editorial standards.