n 1793; elected general of brigade
in the Italian campaign of 1794; he fell under suspicion, but was soon
after invested with the supreme command of the army there and the conduct
of the war, which was rendered memorable by the victories of Montenotte,
Lodi, Rivoli, Arcole, &c.; on his return to Paris he was received with an
enthusiasm which excited in him the ambition to render himself
indispensable to the country; to utilise his services in their own
interest the Directory determined to strike a blow at England, and Egypt
being the point of attack selected, he sailed in command of an expedition
for that destination in 1797, and conducted it with successes and
reverses till, in 1799, the unpopularity and threatened fall of the
Directory called him back; it was the occasion for a _coup d'etat_ which
he had meditated, and which he accomplished on the henceforward
celebrated 18th Brumaire (9th Nov. 1799), when a consulship of three was
established, himself First Consul, and eventually in 1802 Consul for
life; his administration in this capacity, while disgraced by several
despotic acts, was in the main of a nature for the public benefit, and
distinguished by its regard for the interest of law and good order, but
his personal ambition the while was not asleep, for, by a Concordat with
the Pope he so attached the Catholic Church to the state as to secure the
clerical support to his ambitious projects, and was able on the 18th May
1804, to get himself invested with the imperial dignity, only Carnot in
the Tribunate and Gregoire in the Senate protesting against the step as a
violation of liberty; Napoleon owed it to his victories in the field that
he attained this elevation, and the sword must maintain what the sword
had won; from this date accordingly began that long array of wars against
the rest of Europe, distinguished by the victories of Austerlitz, and
Jena, and Eylau, and Friedland, and Eckmuehl, and Wagram, and which
contributed to inspire all the nations around with a sense of the terror
of his name; but with the unfortunate expedition into Russia, in 1812,
Napoleon's glory began to wane and the tide to turn; after the battles of
Luetzen and Bautzen, he might perhaps have signed an honourable peace, but
he declined the terms offered, and was defeated at Luetzen by the Allies,
who invaded France, and entered Paris in 1814 in spite of all his efforts
to keep them at bay, upon which he was compelled to abdicate at
Fontain