Summary
Napoleon Bonaparte was the military and political figure who emerged from the upheavals of the French Revolution to seize power in 1799 and then reshape France and Europe on a new imperial basis.
Historical role
He matters because he is the principal bridge between the revolutionary era and the Napoleonic era. Rising through the Revolutionary Wars, he overthrew the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire and ended the revolutionary republic's unstable political phase.
Connections
Useful for linking the French Revolution, the Directory, the Consulate, the Revolutionary Wars, and the transition from revolutionary politics to Napoleonic rule.