The Coup of 18 Brumaire

By 1799 the Directory faced renewed war against a Second Coalition, defeats, financial trouble and unrest. The Director Sieyès wanted a stronger constitution and needed a general to back a coup. Bonaparte, back from Egypt and enjoying great popularity, was chosen. On 18 Brumaire Year VIII (9 November 1799), the councils were persuaded to move to Saint-Cloud outside Paris, supposedly because of a Jacobin plot. The next day Bonaparte's speech to the Five Hundred went badly: deputies shouted at him and some jostled him.

His brother Lucien, president of the council, rallied the guards by claiming deputies had threatened the general, and soldiers cleared the chamber. A rump of deputies then voted to replace the Directory with three provisional consuls. Sieyès expected to control Bonaparte, but within weeks Bonaparte dominated the new regime. The coup shows how a political plan can be captured by its military instrument.