Napoleon Orders Duke's Execution: Rise of the French Empire
Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of the French on May 18, 1804, after a rigged plebiscite approved the change from Consulate to Empire by 3.6 million votes to 2,569. The coronation ceremony at Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2 was meticulously staged: Napoleon took the crown from Pope Pius VII's hands and placed it on his own head, signaling that his authority derived from his own merit rather than divine right. Ludwig van Beethoven, who had dedicated his Third Symphony to Napoleon as a champion of republican ideals, was so disgusted by the self-coronation that he scratched Napoleon's name from the title page so violently that he tore a hole in the paper. The symphony was retitled "Eroica" (Heroic). The Empire lasted until Napoleon's first abdication in 1814.
May 18, 1804
222 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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