From Revolution to Empire

Robespierre's execution did not end the Revolution but launched a period of instability that culminated in a military dictatorship. The Directory government that followed was corrupt and ineffective. Into this vacuum stepped Napoleon Bonaparte, a young general who seized power in a 1799 coup.

Within five years, the revolution that killed a king to establish a republic had produced an emperor. Napoleon crowned himself at Notre-Dame in December 1804, pointedly taking the crown from the Pope's hands.