Napoleonic Era

• Napoleon achieved power through the Coup de Brumaire in 1799

• Coup of 18–19 Brumaire, (November 9–10, 1799), coup d’état that overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and substituted the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte. The event is often viewed as the effective end of the French Revolution.

In the final days of the Directory, Abbé Sieyès and Talleyrand planned the coup with the aid of General Napoleon Bonaparte, who had arrived in France from the ill-fated Egyptian campaign to be greeted, nevertheless, with triumphal cheers. In Paris on 18 Brumaire, year VIII (November 9, 1799), the legislative Council of Ancients, under Sieyès, voted to have both the Ancients and the lower house, the Council of Five Hundred, meet the next day in the palace at Saint-Cloud, ostensibly in order to render the councils safe from a purported “Jacobin plot” in Paris but in reality in order to put the councils at a convenient site away from the city and under the intimidation of Bonaparte’s troops.

• The next day, 19 Brumaire, when the councils met at Saint-Cloud, Bonaparte blundered through a speech before the Ancients and later was met by a storm of abuse in the meeting place of the Five Hundred, whose members, hearing rumours and seeing troops all about, began to perceive the real plot that was brewing. Bonaparte fled the hall, but Sieyès, Lucien Bonaparte, and Joachim Murat retrieved the situation, ultimately by sending in the grenadiers, dissolving the Five Hundred, and forcing the Ancients to decree the end of the Directory (and itself) and the creation of a new consular government headed by First Consul Bonaparte and aided by consuls Sieyès and Roger Ducos. By November 14 Bonaparte was established in the Luxembourg Palace.
• Although the political class in the beginning opposed him, ironically the Coup de Brumaire ensured their social and economic success of the bourgeoisie which stayed in control. Ironically with the extinction of political rights the revolutionary ideas survived, along with the dominance of the bourgeoisie in society (entrepreneurial-minded)

• Napoleon's main aim was to win and reassert France. What Napoleon invaded in a few years, Louis XIV did not mange to do throughout his whole life.
• Napoleon invested in nationalism

• Decrease in liberal rights with a form of dirigisme system which was very centralised, with Napoleon being the point of reference. He imagined a European empire. Napoleon had to confirm himself as emperor as his family did not have a history of sovereignty. The creation of so many satellites in the long run had economic repercussions as the exploitation of wealth from the satellites etc. did harm to the French economy.
• Nationalism ironically turned against the French

• In Malta - rebellion as a nation against the French
• In Spain
• In Germany
• In the Netherlands

• Napoleon wanted to create a European system circulating around France with the

• Application of the Continental System of 1806
• Conscription by quota
• Taxation
• FRANCE FIRST
• Basic revolutionary principles and reforms
• No political rights for the majority of the population who were always at the mercy of the leader (Napoleon)

• Napoleon, ironically used democracy to extinguish democracy. He is considered to be the root of modern dictatorship, since he was above the law, assuming the responsibility of political matters. He confirmed his power with a plebiscite (referendum), creating the Consulate

• Consulate, (1799–1804) French government established after the Coup of 18–19 Brumaire (Nov. 9–10, 1799), during the French Revolution. The Constitution of the Year VIII created an executive consisting of three consuls, but the First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, wielded all real power, while the other two, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès and Pierre-Roger Ducos (1747–1816), were figureheads. The principles of representation and legislative supremacy were discarded. The executive branch was given the power to draft new laws, and the legislative branch became little more than a rubber stamp. Elections became an elaborate charade, with voters stripped of real power. Napoleon abolished the Consulate when he declared himself emperor in 1804.

•  1801 - The Conciliation with the Catholic Church

• Concordat of 1801, agreement reached on July 15, 1801, between Napoleon Bonaparte and papal and clerical representatives in both Rome and Paris, defining the status of the Roman Catholic Church in France and ending the breach caused by the church reforms and confiscations enacted during the French Revolution. The Concordat was formally promulgated on Easter day, 1802.
• In the agreement the first consul (Napoleon) was given the right to nominate bishops; the bishoprics and parishes were redistributed; and the establishment of seminaries was allowed. The pope (Pius VII) condoned the actions of those who had acquired church property, and by way of compensation the government engaged to give the bishops and curés suitable salaries. The government added to it unilateral provisions of Gallican tendencies, which were known as the Organic Articles. After having been the law of the church of France for a century, it was denounced by the French government in 1905, when by the “Separation Law” church and state were sundered.
• This was a very important move as the government would now clash no more with the Catholic Church. In essence this sanctioned the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Pope would choose the bishops still, but the government would have the right to confirm them.

• Introduction of Departments

• Instead of devolving power, they aided the centralisation of power
• The prefects were in charge of the departments
• Problem: the system was overly based on Napoleon as he was in charge of everything

• There was an attempt to stabilize the French economy

• Napoleon introduced bimetallic currency
• He established a Bank of France
• He had control over the working class by issuing a workbook

• Battle of Marengo, (June 14, 1800), narrow victory for Napoleon Bonaparte in the War of the Second Coalition, fought on the Marengo Plain about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Alessandria, in northern Italy, between Napoleon’s approximately 28,000 troops and some 31,000 Austrian troops under General Michael Friedrich von Melas; it resulted in the French occupation of Lombardy up to the Mincio River and secured Napoleon’s military and civilian authority in Paris.

Napoleon led his army across several Alpine passes in May and cut Melas off from communication with Austria. Melas concentrated his troops at Alessandria to meet the French. Napoleon mistakenly thought Melas was at Turin, more than 50 miles (80 km) to the west, and his troops were widely separated when Melas attacked. The initial French force of about 18,000 men was at first overpowered by the Austrians and was pushed back 4 miles (6.4 km) by 3 pm. Melas, believing victory was secured, gave the command to a subordinate and retired to Alessandria. The slow Austrian pursuit enabled Napoleon to hold his forces together until the arrival of some 10,000 reinforcements, mainly General Louis Desaix’s corps. The furious French counterattack at 5 pm, in which Desaix was killed almost immediately, forced the Austrians into headlong retreat. Austrian losses included about 7,500 killed and wounded and some 4,000 captured, while French losses totaled about 6,000. The next day Melas signed an armistice.