History glossary
First Consul
the leading office in the French Consulate, held by Napoleon as the center of executive power.
- Category
- Political office
- Region
- France
- Date range
- 1799-1804
What it means
First Consul was the dominant executive office in the French Consulate after 18 Brumaire. Although the constitution named three consuls, Napoleon as First Consul controlled the central direction of government before becoming emperor in 1804.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The French Revolution
From royal debt and social inequality to republic, terror, and Napoleon, the French Revolution dismantled the old order and produced the political ideas of citizenship, rights, and nationalism that defined the modern world.
Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon turned revolutionary opportunity into continental empire, then lost it in total war that still transformed European politics, states, and nationalism.
