The Imperial Transformation

The decision to crown himself Emperor was Napoleon's most audacious political gambit. By 1804, he had achieved everything possible as First Consul, but republican institutions imposed theoretical limits on his authority. Creating an empire would give him absolute power while founding a dynasty to ensure continuity after his death.

The proximate cause was the Cadoudal Plot, a royalist conspiracy to assassinate Napoleon and restore the Bourbon monarchy. The discovery of this plot provided the perfect opportunity to eliminate remaining opposition while justifying the imperial transformation. Napoleon had the Duke of Enghien, a Bourbon prince living in exile, kidnapped and executed—a brutal message to all potential conspirators that he would stop at nothing to defend his position.

The Senate's offer of imperial dignity followed logically from the need to secure the succession. Another plebiscite ratified the decision, producing the now-familiar overwhelming majority. On December 2, 1804, in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in a ceremony designed to combine revolutionary legitimacy with traditional majesty.