François Gérard
François Pascal Simon Gérard, titled as Baron Gérard in 1809, was a prominent French painter. He was born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador, his mother was Italian. After he was made a baron of the Empire in 1809 by Emperor Napoleon, he was known formally as Baron Gérard. François Gérard was born in Rome to J. S. Gérard and Cleria Matteï. At the age of twelve, Gérard obtained admission into the Pension du Roi in Paris. From the Pension, he passed to the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou, which he left at the end of two years for the studio of the history painter Nicolas-Guy Brenet, whom he quit immediately to place himself under Jacques-Louis David. In 1789, he competed for the Prix de Rome, carried off by his comrade Girodet. In the following year, he again presented himself, but the death of his father prevented the completion of his work and obliged him to accompany his mother to Rome. In 1791, he returned to Paris, but his poverty was so great that he was forced to forgo his studies in favor of employment which would bring in immediate profit.
David at once availed himself of his help, one of that master's most celebrated portraits, of Louis-Michel Le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau, may owe much to the hand of Gérard. This painting was executed early in 1793, the year in which Gérard, at the request of David, was named a member of the revolutionary tribunal, from the fatal decisions of which he, invariably absented himself. In 1794, he obtained the first prize in a competition, the subject of, The Tenth of August, that is, the storming of the Tuileries Palace. Further stimulated by the successes of his rival and friend Girodet in the Salons of 1793 and 1794, Gérard produced in 1795 his famous Bélisaire. In 1796, a portrait of his generous friend obtained undisputed success, the money received from Isabey for these two works enabled Gérard to execute in 1797 his Psyche et l'Amour. At last, in 1799, his portrait of Madame Mère established his position as one of the foremost portrait-painters of the day. In 1808, as many as eight portraits by him were exhibited at the Salon, these figures afford only an indication of the enormous numbers which he executed yearly.
All of the leading figures of the Empire and of the Bourbon Restoration, all of the most celebrated men and women of Europe, sat for Gérard. This extraordinary vogue was due to the charm of his manner and conversation, for his salon was as much frequented as his studio. Madame de Staël, George Canning and the Duke of Wellington have all borne witness to the attraction of his society. Rich and famous, Gérard was stung by remorse for earlier ambitions abandoned, his Bataille d'Austerlitz showed a breadth of invention and style, more conspicuous in L'Entrée d'Henri IV à Paris, the work with which in 1817 he paid homage to the returned Louis XVIII. After this date, Gérard declined. Loaded with honors – baron of the Empire in 1809, member of the Institut on 7 March 1812, officer of the Légion d'honneur, first painter to the king – he worked on, sad and discouraged; the revolution of 1830 added to his disquiet, on 11 January 1837, after three days of fever, he died. Gérard is best remembered for his portraits.
The color of his paintings has suffered, but his drawings show in uninjured delicacy the purity of his line, those of women are specially remarkable for a virginal simplicity and frankness of expression. His students included Heinrich Christoph Kolbe. Neoclassicism in France This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Gérard, François". Encyclopædia Britannica. 11. Cambridge University Press. P. 764. Lenormant, Charles. François Gérard, peintre d'histoire: essai de biographie et de critique. Paris: Adolphe René et compagnie. Retrieved 10 May 2009. A biography by Charles Lenormant. Gérard, Henri. Correspondance de François Gérard: peintre d'histoire, avec les artistes et les personnages célèbres de son temps. Paris: Adolphe Lainé et J. Havard. Retrieved 10 May 2009. A biography by Adolphe Viollet-le-Duc followed by François Gérard's correspondence collected by his nephew Henri Gérard. Gérard, Henri. Lettres adressées au baron François Gérard, peintre d'histoire, par les artistes et les personnages célèbres de son temps.
Paris: A. Quentin. Retrieved 10 May 2009. A different biography by his nephew Henri Gérard, 14 etched portraits, additional letters and notes
Guntur district
Guntur district is an administrative district in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and population, it has a coastline of 100 km and is situated on the right bank of Krishna River, that separates it from Krishna district and extends till it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded on the south on the west by the state of Telangana, it has an area of 11,391 km2 and is the 2nd most populous district in the state, with a population of 4,889,230 as per 2011 census of India. The district is referred to as the Land of Chillies, it is a major centre for agriculture and learning. It exports large quantities of chillies and tobacco. Amaravati, the proposed capital of Andhra Pradesh is situated in Guntur district, on the banks of River Krishna; the district derives its name from Guntur. The original Sanskrit name for Guntur was Garthapuri. The'Agasthyeswara Sivalayam' in the old city of Guntur is an ancient temple for Siva.
It has inscriptions on two stones in'Naga Lipi'. It is said that Agastya built the temple in the last Treta-Yuga around the Swayambhu Linga and hence the name. The'Nagas' were said to have ruled the region; the place of Sitanagaram and the Guthikonda Caves can be traced back to the traditional timescale Treta-Yuga and Dwapara-Yuga. Guntur District is home to the second oldest evidence of human habitation in India, in the form of Palaeolithic implements. Ancient history can be traced from the time of Sala kings who ruled during the 5th century BCE; the earliest reference to Guntur, a variant of Guntur, comes from the Idern plates of Ammaraja I, the Vengi Chalukyan King. Guntur appears in two inscriptions dated 1147 and 1158 CE. Since the beginning of Buddhist time, Guntur stood in the forefront in matters of culture and civilisation. Gautama Buddha preached at Dharanikota/Dhanyakatakam near Guntur and conducted Kalachakra ceremony, which takes its antiquity to 500 BCE. Taranatha, a Buddhist monk writes: "On the full moon of the month Caitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka, the Buddha emanated the mandala of "The Glorious Lunar Mansions".
Buddhists established universities in ancient times at Amaravathi. Scores of Buddhist stupas were excavated in the villages of Guntur district. Acharya Nagarjuna, an influential Buddhist philosopher taught at Nagarjunakonda and is said to have discovered Mica in 200 BCE. Chinese traveller and Buddhist monk Hiuen Tsang visited Amaravati in 640 C. E. stayed for sometime and studied'Abhidhammapitakam'. He observed that there were many Viharas and some of them were deserted, which points out that Hinduism was gaining ground at that time. Xuanzang wrote a glorious account of the place and monasteries that existed. Guntur was successively ruled by famous dynasties such as the Satavahanas, Andhra Ikshvakus, Ananda Gotrikas, Kota Vamsa, Cholas, Reddys and Qutb Shahis during ancient and medieval times; the famous battle of Palnadu, enshrined in legend and literature as Palnati Yuddham was fought in Guntur district in 1180 CE. Guntur became part of the Mughal empire in 1687 CE when the emperor Aurangzeb conquered the Qutb Shahi sultanate of Golconda, of which Guntur was a part.
In 1724 CE, Asaf Jah, viceroy of the empire's southern provinces, declared his independence as the Nizam of Hyderabad. The coastal districts of Hyderabad, known as the Northern Circars, were occupied by the French in 1750. Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu shifted his capital from Chintapalli in Krishna district to Amaravati across the river Krishna, he built many temples in Guntur region. Guntur was brought under the control of the British East India Company in 1788, became a district of Madras Presidency; the Guntur region played a significant role in the struggle for independence and the formation of Andhra Pradesh. The northern, Telugu- speaking districts of Madras state, including Guntur, advocated to become a separate state after independence; the new state of Andhra Pradesh was created in 1953 from the eleven northern districts of Madras. In 1970, part of Guntur district was split off to become part of the Prakasam district; the district is a part of the Red Corridor. Guntur district occupies an area of 11,391 square kilometres, comparatively equivalent to Indonesia's Bangka Island.
The Krishna River forms the northeastern and eastern boundary of the district, separating Guntur District from Krishna District. The district is bounded on the southeast by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by Prakasam District, on the west by Mahbubnagar District, on the northwest by Nalgonda District. Guntur Coast is located on the south east coast of India. River Krishna merges into Bay of Bengal at the coastal area of Guntur district; the braided stream channels, broad floodplain, extensive sandbars suggest that this part of the Krishna River flows through flat terrain and carries substantial amounts of sediment during the monsoon season. Surya Lanka near Bapatla Bobbara Lanka in Repalle are tourist beaches in Guntur coastline; as of 2011 census of India, the district had a population of 4,887,813 with a density of 193 persons per sq.km. The total population constitute, 2,440,521 males and 2,447,292 females –a ratio of 1003 females per 1000 males; the total urban population is 16,52
Louvre
The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world's largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement. 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. In 2018, the Louvre was the world's most visited art museum; the museum is housed in the Louvre Palace built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the urban expansion of the city, the fortress lost its defensive function and, in 1546, was converted by Francis I into the main residence of the French Kings; the building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre as a place to display the royal collection, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons.
The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces; the museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801; the collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon, but after Napoleon's abdication many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown through donations and bequests since the Third Republic; the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities. The Louvre Palace, which houses the museum, was begun as a fortress by Philip II in the 12th century to protect the city from English soldiers which were in Normandy.
Remnants of this castle are still visible in the crypt. Whether this was the first building on that spot is not known. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den. In the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her "Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris" to a monastery.. The Louvre Palace was altered throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis I renovated the site in French Renaissance style. Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed. Four generations of Boulle were granted Royal patronage and resided in the Louvre in the following order: Pierre Boulle, Jean Boulle, Andre-Charles Boulle and his four sons, after him. André-Charles Boulle is the most famous French cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry known as "Inlay".
Boulle was "the most remarkable of all French cabinetmakers". He was commended to Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King", by Jean-Baptiste Colbert as being "the most skilled craftsman in his profession". Before the fire of 1720 destroyed them, André-Charles Boulle held priceless works of art in the Louvre, including forty-eight drawings by Raphael'. By the mid-18th century there were an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery, with the art critic La Font de Saint-Yenne publishing, in 1747, a call for a display of the royal collection. On 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. A hall was opened by Le Normant de Tournehem and the Marquis de Marigny for public viewing of the Tableaux du Roy on Wednesdays and Saturdays, contained Andrea del Sarto's Charity and works by Raphael. Under Louis XVI, the royal museum idea became policy; the comte d'Angiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the "French Museum".
Many proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution. During the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be "a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts". On 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection i
Pagoda (coin)
The pagoda was a unit of currency, a coin made of gold or half-gold minted by Indian dynasties as well as the British, the French and the Dutch. It was subdivided into 42 fanams; the pagoda was issued by various dynasties in medieval southern India, including the Kadambas of Hangal, the Kadambas of Goa, the Vijaynagar Empire. There were two types of pagoda coined by foreign traders: The most valuable was the star pagoda, 100 of them were worth 350 rupees, issued by the East India Company at Madras; the second was the Porto Novo pagoda, issued by the Dutch at Tuticorin and by the Nawabs of Arcot, worth about 25% less than the star pagoda. The French struck silver "fanams" under contract by the nawabs; the silver coins of the French were called "fanon" which were equivalent to the local "fanam" and could be exchanged at the rate of 26 fanon to one gold pagoda. Madras fanam Coinage of Asia Sources of Karnataka History - Numismatics European East India Companies coins - photos The Pagoda - A Proclamation Coin Proclamation Coin - Indian Gold Pagoda
Austria
Austria the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km2, a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion, it is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north and Slovakia to the east and Italy to the south, Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps; the majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, Slovene. Austria played a central role in European History from the late 18th to the early 20th century, it emerged as a margraviate around 976 and developed into a duchy and archduchy. In the 16th century, Austria started serving as the heart of the Habsburg Monarchy and the junior branch of the House of Habsburg – one of the most influential royal houses in history.
As archduchy, it was a major component and administrative centre of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the Holy Roman Empire's dissolution, Austria founded its own empire in the 19th century, which became a great power and the leading force of the German Confederation. Subsequent to the Austro-Prussian War and the establishment of a union with Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was created. Austria was involved in both world wars. Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy with a President as head of state and a Chancellor as head of government. Major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. Austria is ranked as one of the richest countries in the world by per capita GDP terms; the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2018 was ranked 20th in the world for its Human Development Index. The republic declared its perpetual neutrality in foreign political affairs in 1955. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995.
It is a founding member of the OECD and Interpol. Austria signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, adopted the euro currency in 1999; the German name for Austria, Österreich, derives from the Old High German Ostarrîchi, which meant "eastern realm" and which first appeared in the "Ostarrîchi document" of 996. This word is a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Another theory says that this name comes from the local name of the mountain whose original Slovenian name is "Ostravica" - because it is steep on both sides. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976; the word "Austria" was first recorded in the 12th century. At the time, the Danube basin of Austria was the easternmost extent of Bavaria; the Central European land, now Austria was settled in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes. The Celtic kingdom of Noricum was claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province. Present-day Petronell-Carnuntum in eastern Austria was an important army camp turned capital city in what became known as the Upper Pannonia province.
Carnuntum was home for 50,000 people for nearly 400 years. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the area was invaded by Bavarians and Avars. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, conquered the area in AD 788, encouraged colonization, introduced Christianity; as part of Eastern Francia, the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of Babenberg. The area was known as the marchia Orientalis and was given to Leopold of Babenberg in 976; the first record showing the name Austria is from 996, where it is written as Ostarrîchi, referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. In 1156, the Privilegium Minus elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs acquired the Duchy of Styria. With the death of Frederick II in 1246, the line of the Babenbergs was extinguished; as a result, Ottokar II of Bohemia assumed control of the duchies of Austria and Carinthia. His reign came to an end with his defeat at Dürnkrut at the hands of Rudolph I of Germany in 1278. Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was that of its ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law, Emperor Sigismund. Although Albert himself only reigned for a year, henceforth every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception; the Habsburgs began to accumulate territory far from the hereditary lands. In 1477, Archduke Maximilian, only son of Emperor Frederick III, married the heiress Maria of Burgundy, thus acquiring most of the Netherlands for the family. In 1496, his son Philip the Fair married Joanna the Mad, the heiress of Castile and Aragon, thus acquiring Spain and its Italian and New World appendages for the Habsburgs. In 1526, following the Battle of Mohács, Bohemia and the part of Hungary not occupied by the Ottomans came under Austrian rule. Ottoman expansion into Hungary led to frequent conflicts between the two empires evident in the Long War of 1593 to 1606.
The Turks made incursions into Styria nearly 20 times, of which some are c
Eugénie de Montijo
Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox y KirkPatrick, 16th Countess of Teba, 15th Marchioness of Ardales, known as Eugénie de Montijo, was the last Empress Consort of the French as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. The last Empress of the French was born in Granada, Spain, to Don Cipriano de Palafox y Portocarrero, whose titles included 8th Count of Ablitas, 9th Count of Montijo, 15th Count of Teba, 8th Count of Fuentidueña, 14th Marquess of Ardales, 17th Marquess of Moya and 13th Marquess of la Algaba and his half-Scottish, quarter-Belgian, quarter-Spanish wife, María Manuela Enriqueta Kirkpatrick de Closbourn y de Grevigné, a daughter of the Scots-born William Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, who became United States consul to Málaga, was a wholesale wine merchant, his wife, Marie Françoise de Grevigné, daughter of Liège-born Henri, Baron de Grevigné and wife Doña Francisca Antonia de Gallegos. Eugenia's older sister, María Francisca de Sales de Palafox Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick, nicknamed "Paca", who inherited most of the family honours and was 12th Duchess of Peñaranda Grandee of Spain and 9th Countess of Montijo, title ceded to her sister, married the 15th Duke of Alba in 1849.
Until her own marriage in 1853, Eugénie variously used the titles of Countess of Teba or Countess of Montijo, but some family titles were inherited by her elder sister, through which they passed to the House of Alba. After the death of her father, Eugenia became the 9th Countess of Teba, is named as such in the Almanach de Gotha. After Eugenia's demise all titles of the Montijo family came to the Fitz-Jameses. On 18 July 1834, María Manuela and her daughters left Madrid for Paris, fleeing a cholera outbreak and the dangers of the First Carlist War; the previous day, Eugenia had witnessed a riot and murder in the square outside their residence, Casa Ariza. Eugénie de Montijo, as she became known in France, was formally educated in Paris, beginning at the fashionable, traditionalist Convent of the Sacré Cœur from 1835 to 1836. A more compatible school was the progressive Gymnase Normal, Civil et Orthosomatique, from 1836 to 1837, which appealed to her athletic side. In 1837, Eugénie and Paca attended a boarding school for girls on Royal York Crescent in Clifton, Bristol, to learn English.
Eugénie was teased as "Carrots", for her red hair, tried to run away to India, making it as far as climbing on board a ship in Bristol docks. In August 1837 they returned to school in Paris. However, much of the girls' education took place at home, under the tutelage of English governesses Miss Cole and Miss Flowers, family friends such as Prosper Mérimée and Henri Beyle. In March 1839, on the death of their father in Madrid, the girls left Paris to rejoin their mother there. In Spain, Eugénie grew up into a headstrong and physically daring young woman, devoted to horseriding and a range of other sports, she was rescued from drowning, twice attempted suicide after romantic disappointments. She was interested in politics, became devoted to the Bonapartist cause, under the influence of Eleanore Gordon, a former mistress of Louis Napoléon. Thanks to her mother's role as a lavish society hostess, Eugénie became acquainted with Isabel II and the prime minister Ramón Narváez. María Manuela was anxious to find a husband for her daughter, took her on trips to Paris again in 1849 and England in 1851.
She first met Prince Louis Napoléon after he had become president of the Second Republic, with her mother, at a reception given by the "prince-president" at the Élysée Palace on 12 April 1849. Her beauty attracted Louis Napoleon, who, as was his custom, tried to seduce her, but Eugénie told him to wait for marriage. "What is the road to your heart?" Napoleon demanded to know. "Through the chapel, Sire", she answered. In a speech on 22 January 1853, Napoleon III, after having become emperor, formally announced his engagement, saying, "I have preferred a woman whom I love and respect to a woman unknown to me, with whom an alliance would have had advantages mixed with sacrifices", they were wed, on 29 January 1853, in a civil ceremony at the Tuileries, on the 30th there was a much grander religious ceremony at Notre Dame. The marriage had come after considerable activity with regard to who would make a suitable match toward titled royals and with an eye to foreign policy; the final choice was opposed in many quarters and Eugénie considered of too little social standing by some.
In the United Kingdom The Times made light of the latter concern, emphasizing that the parvenu Bonapartes were at least marrying into established Spanish nobility: "We learn with some amusement that this romantic event in the annals of the French Empire has called forth the strongest opposition, provoked the utmost irritation. The Imperial family, the Council of Ministers, the lower coteries of the palace or its purlieus, all affect to regard this marriage as an amazing humiliation..."Eugénie found childbearing extraordinarily difficult. An initial miscarriage in 1853, after a three-month pregnancy and soured her. On 16 March 1856, after a two-day labor that endangered mother and child and from which Eugénie made a slow recovery, the empress gave birth to an only son, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, styled Prince Impérial. After marriage, it didn't take long for her husband to str
French Directory
The Directory or Directorate was a five-member committee that governed France from 2 November 1795, when it replaced the Committee of Public Safety, until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, replaced by the French Consulate. It gave its name to the final four years of the French Revolution; the Directory was continually at war with foreign coalitions which at different times included Britain, Prussia, the Kingdom of Naples and the Ottoman Empire. It annexed Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine, while Bonaparte conquered a large part of Italy; the Directory established 196 short-lived sister republics modelled after France, in Italy and the Netherlands. The conquered cities and states were required to send to France huge amounts of money, as well as art treasures, which were used to fill the new Louvre museum in Paris. An army led by Bonaparte tried to conquer Egypt and marched as far as Saint-Jean-d'Acre in Syria; the Directory defeated a resurgence of the War in the Vendée, the royalist-led civil war in the Vendée region, but failed in its venture to support the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and create an Irish Republic.
The French economy was in continual crisis during the Directory. At the beginning, the treasury was empty; the Directory stopped printing assignats and restored the value of the money, but this caused a new crisis. In its first two years, the Directory concentrated on ending the excesses of the Jacobin Reign of Terror; the Jacobin political club was closed and the government crushed an armed uprising planned by the Jacobins and an early socialist revolutionary, François-Noël Babeuf, known as "Gracchus Babeuf". However, following the discovery of a royalist conspiracy including a prominent general, Jean-Charles Pichegru, the Jacobins took charge of the new Councils and hardened the measures against the Church and émigrés; the Jacobins took two additional seats in the Directory, hopelessly dividing it. In 1799, after several defeats, French victories in the Netherlands and Switzerland restored the French military position, but the Directory had lost the support of all the political factions. Bonaparte returned from Egypt in October, was engaged by the Abbé Sieyès and others to carry out a parliamentary coup d'état on 8–9 November 1799.
The coup abolished the Directory, replaced it with the French Consulate led by Bonaparte. On 27 July 1794, members of the French Convention, the revolutionary parliament of France, rose up against its leader Maximilien Robespierre, in the midst of executing thousands of suspected enemies of the Revolution. Robespierre and his leading followers were declared outside the law, on 28 July were arrested and guillotined the same day; the Revolutionary Tribunal, which had sent thousands to the guillotine, ceased meeting and its head, Fouquier-Tinville, was arrested and imprisoned, after trial was himself guillotined. More than five hundred suspected counter-revolutionaries awaiting trial and execution were released. In July 1794, the members of the Convention began planning a new form of government and drafting a new Constitution, which would become the Constitution of the Year III. An important aim was to prevent too much power from becoming concentrated in the hands of one man. One of the authors of the new Constitution, François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas, wrote to the Convention: We propose to you to compose an executive power of five members, renewed with one new member each year, called the Directory.
This executive will have a force concentrated enough that it will be swift and firm, but divided enough to make it impossible for any member to consider becoming a tyrant. A single chief would be dangerous; each member will preside for three months. By the slow and gradual replacement of members of the Directory, you will preserve the advantages of order and continuity and will have the advantages of unity without the inconveniences; the Constitution of the Year III began with the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and declared that "the Rights of Man in society are liberty, equality and property". It guaranteed freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of labour, but forbade armed assemblies and public meetings of political societies. Only individuals or public authorities could tender petitions; the judicial system was reformed, judges were given short terms of office: two years for justices of the peace, five for judges of department tribunals. They were elected, could be re-elected, to assure their independence from the other branches of government.
The new legislature had two houses, a Council of Five Hundred and a Council of Ancients with two hundred fifty members. Electoral assemblies in each canton of France, which brought together a total of thirty thousand qualified electors, chose representatives to an electoral assembly in each department, which elected the members of both houses; the members of this legislature had a term of three years, with one-third of the members renewed every year. The Ancients could not initiate new laws, but could veto those proposed by the Council of Five Hundred; the Constitution established a unique kind of executive, a five-man Directory chosen by the legislature. It required the Council of Five Hundred to prepare, by secret ballot, a list of candidates for the Directory; the Council of Ancients chose, again by secret ballot, the Direct
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India
