When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few.

November 9, 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte become First Consul of France

On November 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire in the French Revolutionary calendar) Napoleon Bonaparte executed a coup d’état and came to power as First Consul of France. The French Revolutionary government, the Directory, was under constant assault by the monarchs of Europe.  The led to Austria declaring war on France in March of 1799.  The new French Republic was under threat and Napoleon had proven himself the republic’s best army commander having won massive victories in Syria and Egypt.

France’s other “savior” was Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, apolitical writer who was the chief political theorist of the French Revolution.  Sieyès was a Roman Catholic clergyman who actively opposed Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre’s Reign of Terror.  Robespierre’s Reign of Terror as a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervor, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason of those who supported the deposed Louis XVI.  After the execution of Robespierre in 1794, Sieyès reemerged as an important political player during the constitutional debates that followed. In 1795, he went on a diplomatic mission to The Hague, and was instrumental in drawing up a treaty between the French and Batavian republics.

Napoleon and Sieyès planned a coup to oust the failing Directory.  Unbeknownst to Sieyès, Napoleon was plotting a coup within the coup, ultimately gaining power for himself rather than Sieyès.  Troops were conveniently deployed around Paris. The plan was, first, to persuade the Directors to resign, then, to get the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred (the upper and lower houses of the legislature, respectively) to appoint a commission that would draw up a new constitution.  On the morning of November 9 (18 Brumaire), Bonaparte announced to the Councils that Sieyès was attempting a coup and they should flee to safety in the suburban Château de Saint-Cloud. Sieyès and Roger Ducos resigned as Directors and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord pressured Paul Barras to do the same.  This prevented the Directory from forming a quorum.  The remaining Directors, Louis-Jérôme Gohier and Jean-François-Auguste Moulin, were then arrested by Napoleon’s army.  Napoleon stormed into the Council chambers, escorted by a small force of grenadiers and announced he was Consul of France until a new constitution could be enacted.  The lack of reaction from the streets proved that the revolution was, indeed, over. Napoleon was condoned, nay applauded, by the French nation.

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