President of France if Napoleon dies 1799 ?

If Napoleon did not come back from Egypt, who would have emerged eventually as individual ruler of France ?

Having gone through numerous committees and triumvirates, the time seems ripe for an individual to rise to undisputed power. Now, in OTL that was Napoleon as First Consul, and then as Emperor

My question is two-fold

-1- Who would most likely, or quite possibly, replace Napoleon in achieving this ?

-2- Of the possible candidates, who would be most likely to introduce 'direct' election of the president as per the American system ?

Best Regards
grey Wolf
 
What? no one?

OK, I'll try.

The conspirators for the 18 Brumaire ( ie Cambaceres et al ) needed a successfull general with a good popularity to cover the military side of their cabal and provide assurance on that side.

They went for the most popular general they could find.

IMO, if it hadn't been Napoleon, it would have been Massena, who just had some important victories in Switzerland, IIRC. However, others have suggested Moreau, which is also a very real possibility. There could have been others, as loçng as they filled the criteria for military figurehead for the coup, but those are the most likely possibility. ( and I think neither is more likely than Napoleon to accept being just a figurehead, if for different reasons ).

Another solution would be to call back Carnot. But I find it less likely, as he would not have as much prestige when in exile as a recently successfull general. Of course, you could get Carnot to win against Barras...

BTW, I think neither of these will be FIRST consul, much less emperor, that was uniquely Napoleon. With anyone else, there would be 3 consuls, supposedly equals, elected for 10 years.


As for the second part of the question : from which TL are you from? IN mine, the US president isn't directly elected, even with commas, and was even less at that point. If you're asking who is going for the most republican ( democratic ) government, I would say Moreau ( or Carnot, in time ). Or, you could reach a few years before and get Hoche's coup to work.
 
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