French Consulate
The Consulate (French: Le Consulat) was the top-level government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the French Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to this period of French history.
This article is about the government of France from 1799–1804. For France's diplomatic missions also known as "consulates", see List of diplomatic missions of France.
French Consulate
Consulat français
During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul (Premier consul), established himself as the head of a more autocratic and centralised republican government in France while not declaring himself sole ruler. 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] By the end of this period, Bonaparte had engineered an authoritarian personal rule now viewed as a military dictatorship.[2]