In Venice Napoleon deposes the last of the doges and sets up a provisional democracy

On 18 Fructidor (September 4) Napoleon organizes, from a distance, a coup d'étât in Paris on behalf of three of the Directors

Napoleon achieves the peace of Campo Formio, by which Austria cedes the Austrian Netherlands and northern Italy to France

By the Treaty of Campo Formio the free republic of Venice, created by Napoleon, is handed over to Austrian rule

Napoleon, with distinguished scientists in his fleet, sails to invade Egypt

Napoleon's campaign in Egypt begins well with the Battle of the Pyramids, a victory over an Egyptian army

Disaster strikes the French in Egypt when Nelson finds their fleet in Aboukir Bay and destroys it in the Battle of the Nile

Napoleon's soldiers discover a black basalt slab, the Rosetta Stone, near the village of Rashid in Egypt

Napoleon leads a costly, unsuccessful and plague-ridden expedition against the Turkish garrisons in Syria

Napoleon, in Syria, orders 3000 captured defenders of Jaffa to be killed by bayonet or drowning to save ammunition

In a famous moment of calculated courage Napoleon visits and touches the sick in a plague hospital in Jaffa

Napoleon abandons his army in Egypt and returns hastily to Paris at a time of great political opportunity

Napoleon contrives a military coup that ends the Directory and gives him sweeping powers as First Consul

Napoleon appoints a commission to prepare a code of civil law, which becomes known as the Code Napoléon

Napoleon takes a French army through the Alps before the snows have cleared, and defeats the Austrians at Marengo

Horatio Nelson puts his telescope to his blind eye when the signal is given to withdraw from Copenhagen harbour

Napoleon mends France's fences with Roman Catholicism by agreeing a Concordat with Pope Pius VII

Both France and Britain, engaged against each other in the Napoleonic Wars, take the first census of their populations

Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (in 1800) is the first of several paintings by Jacques-Louis David celebrating the future emperor

The treaty agreed at Amiens between France and Britain brings a welcome lull after ten years of warfare in Europe

Josephine's daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, marries Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte

The Constitution of the Year XII (the twelfth year of the French Revolutionary Calendar) makes Napoleon First Consul for life

The peace of Amiens comes to an abrupt end when Britain declares war again on France

Napoleon assembles an invasion fleet against Britain, where Martello towers are hastily built in preparation

In the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson buys from Napoleon nearly a million square miles at a knock-down price, doubling the size of the USA