Soon, it became apparent that Napoleon was dominating the other two members completely, and in 1802 he was declared (by his compliant government) Consul for Life, assuming total power. In 1799, Napoleon was hand-picked to join a new three-man conspiracy that succeeded in seizing power in a coup d’etat the new government was called the Consulate, its members 'consuls' after the most powerful politicians in the ancient Roman Republic. Even in defeat, however, Napoleon proved brilliant at crafting a legend of his exploits, quickly becoming the most famous of France’s revolutionary generals thanks in large part to a propaganda campaign he helped finance. He also led an attack on Ottoman Turkish forces in Egypt in 1797, where he was initially victorious, only to have the French fleet sunk behind him by the British (he was later recalled to France, leaving behind most of his army in the process). He went on in 17 to lead French armies to major victories in Northern Italy against the Austrians. Napoleon first came to the attention of the revolutionary government when he put down a royalist insurrection in Paris in 1795. The war against the foreign coalition, which had now grown to include Russia and the Ottoman Empire, ground on endlessly even as the economic situation in France itself kept getting worse. As of 1795, political power had shifted again in the revolutionary government, this time to a five-man committee called the Directorate. He rose to prominence against the backdrop of crisis and war that affected the French Republic in the 1790s. Napoleon had entered the army after training as an artillery officer before the Revolution.

Napoleon total war north and south