Napoleon became First Consul of France in 1799. He gained the position through the Coup of 18 Brumaire, which took place on 9–10 November 1799 in the Revolutionary calendar.
The coup overthrew the Directory, France’s unstable five-member executive government. Napoleon, supported by politicians including Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès and backed by troops, helped replace it with the Consulate. The new constitution made Napoleon First Consul, alongside Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun, but real authority increasingly rested with Napoleon.
This date is sometimes confused with 1804, when Napoleon became Emperor of the French. He also became a military hero earlier, especially after the Italian campaign of 1796–97, but battlefield fame did not make him head of state. As First Consul, he centralized administration, reorganized finances, negotiated peace with European powers, and sponsored the Civil Code, before proclaiming himself emperor in 1804.