Analysis
Napoleons coup d'état, which happened in 1799 was a consolidation of the political forces that sought to bring France under a unified central rule. However, the events that preceded the coup ensured that France was reduced to a country that was at war with itself and with other countries. In fact, the initial euphoria of the revolution soon weaned after much bloodshed and civil strife because the revolution was thought to have been encouraged by the middle class who had scant regard for the concerns of the poor [Wells, 2001]. Hence, it must be said that the revolution did not bring social equality and could not do away with the hegemony of the Church, even though they were some of the main objectives that encouraged the revolution. Taxes were reintroduced and the peasants experienced the same fate as they had before the revolution. The political establishment was divided between the Jacobins, Girondists and the Sans-culottes; three distinct sections of the society. The Girondists were politically ambitious moderates who were accused of mismanaging the war with Prussia and Austria and so were generally unpopular. The Jacobins who held most powerful positions in the French parliament were radicals who believed in equalitarianism and worked to ensure that the class system and other inequalities in the society were abolished. The Sans-culottes, which was made up of the poorer sections of the society was much more radical and they had a natural hate towards the monarchy and the slow pace of reforms.

After the first phase of the revolution, France was still reeling under poverty even though industries had come up in the country. France lacked a unified political will which was exemplified by the fact that many hundreds of thousands of French were killed on mere suspicion of being a counter-revolutionary [Hooker, 1996] In fact, the political dominance of the radical groups had such a profound and unfortunate effect on the French political situation and lasted until Napoleon took charge in 1799 and later. The most chaotic years of the revolution were from the 1790 to 1799 when France had to experience wars, famine, internal strife, political anarchy and diplomatic indecision. It saw its monarch being beheaded on retaliatory grounds. However, the same forces that beheaded the King also used the guillotine liberally for settling political scores. It was during this time that the already chaotic political scene was influenced by the leftists, called enragées who were very much influenced by the views of Rousseau.

The convention, which was a body that was supposed to rule France, under the behest of the revolutionists, deferred democracy in view of the wars and the growing internal strife and transferred power to the Committee of Public Safety. The tax system failed to enthuse the poor and poverty was as rampant as in the monarchial France. So in fact what France witnessed until Napoleon took over was the shift of oppression from the monarchy to the so called revolutionists who created more havoc in France in terms of arson and wanton executions. If the revolution was encouraged by a sense of justice, the executions sponsored by the committee were an example of political intolerance. The reign of terror of the committee ended only when circumstances led to the arrest and later execution of its members. The committee was replaced by a Directory of eminent businessmen who were however despised by the polity for their corrupt ways at making money [Wells, 2001; Hooker, 1996]

When the reign of terror came to an end after the disbanding of the committee, democracy and religion was instilled in France and it seemed that everything would be smooth. However, the first election saw people voting for the return of a Monarch. The Directory obviously would not allow this and so declared the elections as invalid, which immediately encouraged mass uprising and resentment. This finally led to Napoleon being invited to disband the directory and establish order. That he established order and became Monarch himself is history.