Editing Napoleon (section)

=== ''18 Brumaire'' ===
{{main|Coup of 18 Brumaire|l1=18 Brumaire}}
Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return from Egypt with his army to ward off a possible invasion of France, but these messages never arrived.{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} By the time he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=455}}</ref> Despite the failures in Egypt, Bonaparte returned to a hero's welcome. The Directory discussed Bonaparte's desertion but was too weak to punish him.{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}}

Bonaparte formed an alliance with Talleyrand and leading members of the [[Council of Five Hundred]] and Directory—Lucien Bonaparte, [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès]], [[Roger Ducos]] and [[Joseph Fouché]]—to overthrow the government. On 9 November 1799 (''18 Brumaire'' according to the revolutionary calendar), the conspirators launched a coup and the following day, backed by grenadiers with fixed bayonets, forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory and appoint Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos provisional consuls.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=209-10, 219-23, 229-34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Furet |first=François |author-link=François Furet |url=http://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution0000fure |title=The French Revolution, 1770-1814 |date=1996 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0-631-20299-8 |pages=212}}</ref>