Italian campaigns, Napoleon demonstrated not only military prowess
but also a unique facility for self-promotion. He was fast becoming a
well-known figure in France.

In 1798 Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt in order to threaten the
British position in India and the eastern Mediterranean. Although his
troops were cut off in August when the British fleet under Horatio Nel-
son defeated the French navy at the Battle of the Nile, or Aboukir Bay,
French public opinion regarded the young general as a hero. Sensing
that the time was right to further his ambitions, Napoleon abandoned
his army in Egypt, returned to France, and joined a group of conspirators
who plotted to overthrow the Directory and needed a military figure to
give their scheme credibility. On November 9, 1799, the conspirators
ousted the Directory, replacing it with a new government called the Con-
sulate. Although the Consulate consisted of three consuls, Napoleon
soon emerged as first among equals and dominated the new regime as
First Consul.

By December 1804, Napoleon had turned the Consulate into an empire
with himself at its head. Napoleon's imperial state proved to be quite
impressive, so much so that many subsequent rulers patterned their gov-
ernments after his. A key feature was its centralized bureaucracy. The
emperor exercised a monopoly on all power, and he used a dedicated,
intelligent, and omnipresent administration to rule the country. Al-
though for a time there existed on paper a number of representative
institutions, this was a sham. The most important legislative body was
the Council of State, an appointed group filled with technocrats who
crafted laws according to the emperor's desires. Furthermore, Napoleon
virtually did away with local government; Paris made practically all local
appointments.

Although Napoleon did not institute a democracy, he did establish a
meritocracy. France became a state where "careers were open to talent."
Napoleon did not care about one's social background as long as one was
competent and loyal. Perhaps Napoleon said it best when he remarked
that every army recruit potentially carried a marshal's baton in his knap-
sack; and, in fact, common soldiers did become generals under the em-
pire. The upper ranks of the Napoleonic administration were filled with
people ranging from former aristocrats to revolutionaries and regicides.
Ability and loyalty alone counted; all the rest was inconsequential.

Napoleon also established the rule of law, but it was a curious one in
that it buttressed a police state. The Code Napoleon placed all France on
a uniform legal basis; it did away once and for all with the legal jumble

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