Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor

Napoleon Bonaparte rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution, and in November 1799 he engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the French Directory. He was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804, and his coronation took place at Notre Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804, with the participation of Pope Pius VII: after being anointed by the pope, Napoleon crowned himself with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. He enacted legal and administrative reforms in France and Western Europe, such as the Napoleonic Code, and his conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation-states. Napoleon's reorganisation of the Holy Roman Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine sparked a new wave of German nationalism that opposed the French intervention, and the movement toward Italian unification was similarly sparked by Napoleonic rule. These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the nation state. However, he remains controversial because of his role in wars that devastated Europe, his looting of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights.