Napoleon's Coup of 18 Brumaire

November 9, 1799

Returned secretly from Egypt (leaving his army behind), Napoleon conspired with Sieyes to topple the Directory. On 19 Brumaire, grenadiers stormed the council chamber at Saint-Cloud; Bonaparte emerged First Consul. A decade of revolution ended in a coup by its most promising general. The French Republic had a master. Within five years he would crown himself emperor, completing the cycle from popular sovereignty to personal rule.