The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'etat in which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory and seized power, ending the French Revolutionary period. It was organised with Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, a director who wanted a stronger executive, and Napoleon's brother Lucien, who was president of the Council of Five Hundred. The legislative councils were moved to the palace at Saint-Cloud, outside Paris, where soldiers were used to disperse deputies who resisted. A provisional government of three consuls was set up, with Napoleon as the leading figure, and a new constitution made him First Consul. Within a few years he made himself Consul for life and then Emperor of the French.
Before and after
- 20 May 1799Birth of Honoré de Balzac
- 26 May 1799Birth of Alexander Pushkin
- from 5 June 1799 to 1 January 1804Alexander von Humboldt begins his American expedition
- 15 July 1799The Rosetta Stone is found
- from 9 November 1799 to 10 November 1799Coup of 18 Brumaire
- 14 December 1799Death of George Washington
- from 1 January 1800 to 17 August 1945Dutch East Indies
- from 1800 to 1900Rise of Romantic music
- from c. 1800s to 1860sCircassian genocide
More in Wars, politics & history
- 4 July 1776United States Declaration of Independence
- 17 September 1787United States Constitution
- 1815Congress of Vienna
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
- from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
- from 8 February 1904 to 5 September 1905Russo-Japanese War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.