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A Watershed Moment
- Napoleon's rise in 1799 was a watershed that reshaped France and world history.
- His rule's long-term impact couldn't have been predicted on the morning after the coup.
Engineered Legitimacy
- The 1800 referendum ratifying the constitution of Year VIII was massively staged and rigged.
- Such manipulated plebiscites matched earlier revolutionary votes and mainly provided political legitimacy.
Pacifying The West
- Bonaparte reassured royalists by promising freedom of worship and cancelling the law of hostages to defuse the Vendée unrest.
- He used this pacification to free troops for the coming war across the Rhine.