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1795 Constitution ratified - bicameral system, executive Directory of five.
a national constitution of France ratified by the National Convention on 22 August 1795 (5 Fructidor of the Year III under the French Revolutionary Calendar) during the French Revolution. It established the Directory, and remained in effect until the coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) effectively ended the Revolution and began the ascendancy of Napoleon Bonaparte. -
13 Vendémiaire - Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" quells Paris insurrection.
13 Vendémiaire Year 4 (5 October 1795 in the French Republican Calendar) is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris. The battle was largely responsible for the rapid advancement of Republican General Napoleon Bonaparte's career. -
National Convention dissolved.
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Directory takes on executive power
The Directory was the government of France during the penultimate stage of the French Revolution. Administered by a collective leadership of five directors, it operated following the Committee of Public Safety and preceding the Consulate. It lasted from 2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799, a period commonly known as the "Directory era." It was overthrown by Napoleon. -
Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais
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Coup d'état of 18 Fructidor revives Republican measures (Directory had 1/3 of the people voted in wanting to return a king to the throne)
The Coup of 18 Fructidor, Year V, was a seizure of power by members of the French Directory on 4 September 1797 when their opponents, the Royalists, were gaining strength. Brown stresses the turn toward dictatorship and the failure of liberal democracy under the Directory, blaming it on, "chronic violence, ambivalent forms of justice, and repeated recourse to heavy-handed repression." -
Treaty of Campo Formio
Napoleon brings control of Italy to France. -
Law of 22 Floréal Year VI
Council elections annulled, left wing deputies excluded from Council. -
Battle of the Pyramids
The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a major engagement fought on July 21, 1798 during the French invasion of Egypt. The French army under Napoleon Bonaparte scored a decisive victory against the forces of the local Mamluk rulers, wiping out almost the entire Egyptian army. -
Battle of the Nile
a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off Egypt from 1 to 3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had ranged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under then General Napoleon Bonaparte. In the battle, the British fleet, led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson -
Alliance between Russia and Britain
This makes Russia an anemy of France! -
Coup of 30 Prairial Year VII - removed Directors, left Sieyès as dominant figure in government.
also known as the Revenge of the Councils (revanche des conseils) was a bloodless coup in France that occurred on 18 June 1799—30 Prairial Year VII by the French Republican Calendar. It left Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès as the dominant figure of the French government, and prefigured the coup of 18 Brumaire that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. -
Battle of the Trebia (Suvorov defeats French)
fought near the Trebbia River in northern Italy between the joint Russian and Habsburg Austrian army under Alexander Suvorov and the Republican French army of Jacques MacDonald. Though the opposing armies were approximately equal in numbers, the Austro-Russians severely defeated the French, sustaining about 6,000 casualties while inflicting losses of 12,000 to 16,500 on their enemies. -
Napoleon leaves Egypt.
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Napoleon returns to France
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The Coup d'État of 18 Brumaire: end of the Directory
The coup of 18 Brumaire brought General Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France, and, in the view of most historians, ended the French Revolution. This bloodless coup d'état overthrew the Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. This occurred on 9 November 1799, which was 18 Brumaire, Year VIII under the French Republican Calendar. -
Constitution of the Year VIII - leadership of Napoleon established under the Consulate. French Revolution may be considered ended.
During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, established himself as the head of a more conservative, authoritarian, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state. Due to the long-lasting institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the Consulate "one of the most important periods of all French history."[1]
