In
1799,
one
General
Napoléon
Bonaparte
, who
had
made a
name
for
himself
as
commander
of the
Revolutionary
armies
in
Italy
and
Egypt,
returned
to
France
and
took
power
in a
coup
d'état.
He was
appointed
First
Consul,
with
power
to
choose
officials
and
initiate
legislation.
He
redesigned
the
tax
system
and
created
the
Bank
of
France,
replaced
the
power
of
local
institutions
by a
corps
of
préfets
answerable
to
himself,
made
judges
into
state
functionaries
- in
short,
laid
the
foundations
of the
modern
French
administrative
system.
Though
Napoléon
upheld
the
fundamental
reforms
of the
Revolution,
the
retrograde
nature
of his
regime
became
more
and
more
apparent
with
the
proscription
of the
Jacobins,
granting
of
amnesty
to the
émigrés
and
restoration
of
their
unsold
property,
reintroduction
of
slavery
in the
colonies,
recognition
of the
Church
and so
on.
Although
alarmingly
revolutionary
in the
eyes
of the
rest
of
Europe,
his
Civil
Code
worked
essentially
to the
advantage
of the
bourgeoisie.
In
1804
he
crowned
himself
emperor
in the
presence
of the
pope.
Decline,
however,
came
only
with
military
failure.
After
1808,
Spain
-
under
the
rule
of
Napoléon's
brother
- rose
in
revolt,
aided
by the
British.
This
signalled
a
turning
of the
tide
in the
long
series
of
dazzling
military
successes.
The
nation
began
to
grow
weary
of the
burden
of
unceasing
war.
In
1812,
Napoléon
threw
himself
into a
Russian
campaign
,
hoping
to
complete
his
European
conquests.
He
reached
Moscow,
but
the
long
retreat
in
terrible
winter
conditions
annihilated
his
veteran
Grande
Armée.
By
1814,
he was
forced
to
abdicate
by a
coalition
of
European
powers,
who
installed
Louis
XVIII
,
brother
of the
decapitated
Louis
XVI,
as
monarch.
In a
last
effort
to
recapture
power,
Napoléon
escaped
from
exile
in
Elba
and
reorganized
his
armies,
only
to
meet
final
defeat
at Waterloo
on
June
18,
1815.
Louis
XVIII
was
restored
to
power.
