Coup of 18 Brumaire
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In 1852, Karl Marx wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon about a much later event, the coup d'état of 1851 against the Second Republic by Napoleon III, who was Napoleon's nephew. Marx considered Louis Napoleon a trifling politician compared to his world-conquering uncle, as expressed in Marx's oft-quoted opening bon mot: "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." |
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The coup of 18 Brumaire brought General Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France, and, in the view of most historians, ended the French Revolution. This bloodless coup d'état overthrew the Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. This occurred on 9 November 1799, which was 18 Brumaire, Year VIII under the French Republican Calendar.
Marx
In 1852, Karl Marx wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon about a much later event, the coup d'état of 1851 against the Second Republic by Napoleon III, who was Napoleon's nephew. Marx considered Louis Napoleon a trifling politician compared to his world-conquering uncle, as expressed in Marx's oft-quoted opening bon mot: "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."
