Vendémiaire and the Whiff of Grapeshot

October 5, 1795

A royalist mob in Paris marched on the Convention. A young Corsican artillery general, Napoleon Bonaparte, placed cannons loaded with grapeshot and swept the streets clean. Thousands died in half an hour. The grateful Directory gave Bonaparte command of the Army of the Interior. A reputation was made. Within a year he would be commanding the Army of Italy and beginning the conquests that would reshape Europe.