Coup de Brumaire Was a Success Due to the Dissillutionment of the Directory

1071 Words5 Pages
The coup de Brumaire organisation and execution collectively was a confused affair. The Coup de Brumaire ultimately overthrew the system of government under the Directory in France and it was substituted with the Consulate, making way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte. The event is often viewed as the effective end of the French Revolution. The coup was successful as it resulted in Directory was overthrown and replaced with the Consulate and Napoleon, the young genius who’d had great military success on behalf of the French government overseas (e.g. in Egypt) of a military dictatorship was in power which continued for fifteen years. The success of the Brumaire can be accounted for by many factors, the disillusionment with the Directory, the luck and characteristics of Napoleon himself, the French Revolution and the state of France in 1799, Lucien Bonaparte and the Ancients. The dissatisfaction with the Directory was a contributing factor to the success of the coup de Brumaire. The Directory was set up after the French Revolution in 1795 to restore order after the uprising. Unfortunately, it was not long before the Directory began to abuse its power, the Directory was dependent on the army, and many believed that the Directory was unable to fend for itself but relied on other people for example the army. The supply of the Army was taken out of the hands of the Directory and given to private contractors, who made large fortunes through payoffs that highlighted the regime's tolerance of corruption. The Directory was also involved with financial difficulties and public dissatisfaction was an obvious result, and the next elections would have the lowest turnout of any during the Revolution. The Directory wasn’t stable as there were divisions within the Directory for example Sieyes planning the coup. Sieyes a member of the directory planned the military coup more
Open Document