ABSTRACT
Most survey histories of the French Revolution end in 1799; someeven end in 1794. Why, then, do we continue the story until 1804and Bonaparte’s coronation as Emperor of the French? The question should be answered at several levels. For a start, the republic remained in existence until 1804. It was a system of government that could accommodate hugely divergent interpretations of how power should be exercised. However, it could not accommodate the hereditary rule of one man. Moreover, France’s infant republic was in the throes of an evolution in 1799, as we have seen, and it would be arbitrary to curtail its life cycle purely on the grounds a coup happened in Brumaire.
