What coup on 9 November 1799 brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power?

The coup that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power on November 9, 1799, was the Coup of 18 Brumaire. Its name comes from the French Republican calendar, in which November 9, Year VIII, was called 18 Brumaire.

The coup targeted the five-man Directory, France’s executive government, which was weakened by political instability, military setbacks, and opposition from both royalists and Jacobins. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès helped organize the plot and regarded Napoleon as a useful general, but Napoleon soon took control of the operation.

On the second day, Napoleon used troops to disperse the Council of Five Hundred at Saint-Cloud after deputies resisted him. The Directory collapsed, and a provisional Consulate was formed with Napoleon, Sieyès, and Roger Ducos as consuls. The Constitution of Year VIII then made Napoleon First Consul, giving him dominant executive power. The coup did not immediately make him emperor; that came in 1804.