Curated playlist
French Consulate
- NapoleonNapoleon crowned himself emperor with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. The pope had just anointed him.
- Sénat conservateurThe Sénat conservateur chose its own members, with no election at all. Napoleon's 1799 constitution created it.
- TribunatFrance's Tribunat could debate Napoleon's laws but never vote on them. The Senate ended it in 1807.
- War of the Second CoalitionNapoleon's stop at Malta in 1798 helped pull Russia into a war against France.
- French ConsulateThe French Consulate gave Napoleon power as First Consul, not king. It lasted less than five years.
- Concordat of 1801Parts of Napoleon's 1801 deal with the pope still apply in Alsace-Moselle. France ended it elsewhere in 1905.
- Coup of 18 BrumaireThe 1799 coup that made Napoleon ruler of France began as someone else's plot. Sieyès wanted a general as scenery.
- Constitution of the Year VIIIThe Constitution of the Year VIII, the charter that created France's Consulate, was written in just 11 days. The man who stood to gain most from it, Napoleon Bonaparte, wanted a text that was, in his own words, "short and obscure". He got…
- Corps législatifFrance once had a legislature whose members could vote on laws but not debate them.
- Roger DucosRoger Ducos voted to execute King Louis XVI, and it later cost him his life.
- Treaty of AmiensThe Treaty of Amiens took its final shape in a negotiating session that lasted five hours and ended at 3 a.m. on the 25th of March 1802. Joseph Bonaparte and Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, then signed it in the Hôtel de…
- Treaty of LunévilleAt five o'clock in the evening on the 9th of February 1801, the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville. Two men put their names to it. Joseph Bonaparte acted for the French Republic. Count Ludwig von Cobenzl, the…
- Emmanuel Joseph SieyèsA Catholic priest who scorned religion wrote the French Revolution's rallying cry.
- Charles-François LebrunA relative stole the record of his prosecution, saving Charles-François Lebrun from the guillotine.
- Jean-Jacques-Régis de CambacérèsCambacérès voted to convict Louis XVI but wanted the execution delayed. That careful vote later helped save him.
- Plot of the rue Saint-NicaiseA girl paid twelve sous to hold a horse in Paris died in a 1800 bomb plot against Napoleon.