Napoleon's Coup of 18 Brumaire — End of the Revolution

General Napoleon Bonaparte, returning from his Egyptian campaign as a popular hero, leads the coup of 18 Brumaire (November 9–10, 1799) that overthrows the Directory government. He becomes First Consul of France with near-dictatorial powers. The coup is widely seen as the end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, though Napoleon retains revolutionary reforms like the abolition of feudalism.