WI: Napoleon Dies at Acre

What if Napoleon Bonaparte, at the time a general, died during the French campaign in Acre? The plague was running rampant in his army. How would this affect the future of France and the world?
 
What if Napoleon Bonaparte, at the time a general, died during the French campaign in Acre? The plague was running rampant in his army. How would this affect the future of France and the world?

This is a very popular subject with a wide variety of the opinions. You may chose between the early Restoration of the Bourbons, continued Republic, a coup that brings somebody else to power. Then, depending upon the specifics, you can have an earlier peace in Europe or prolonged wars. What is your personal preference?
 
This is a very popular subject with a wide variety of the opinions. You may chose between the early Restoration of the Bourbons, continued Republic, a coup that brings somebody else to power. Then, depending upon the specifics, you can have an earlier peace in Europe or prolonged wars. What is your personal preference?

I've planned a timeline of this several times, but typically, I have Sieyes instigate a coup against the Directory (with a different general backing it) and he transitions France into a democratic republic. France was such a chaotic place at this time that almost anything is possible, so I want to know what other people think would happen.
 
I've planned a timeline of this several times, but typically, I have Sieyes instigate a coup against the Directory (with a different general backing it) and he transitions France into a democratic republic. France was such a chaotic place at this time that almost anything is possible, so I want to know what other people think would happen.

While Sieyes was a master of self preservation and a skillful intriguant, he was not a man of action and did not suffer from an excessive popularity, especially in the army. What you wrote was his OTL plan after which he expected to hold a real power making Bonaparte a fancy-dressed clown. He needed a military man smart and popular enough to conduct the coup and stupid enough (or not interested in power) to let himself be pushed aside by someone who does not have any real power. Probably you agree that this is a rare combination with Moreau being probably the only plausible figure: he was not interested in politics. However, he also did not like the Directorate so why would he support one of its members? Perhaps Massena could do but it is not quite clear if he really was interested exclusively in money and would not consider a coup as an opportunity to grab much more as a head of a government.

Of course, there were numerous more or less popular generals with no visible political ambitions but the obvious problem is that sooner rather than later they may get upset with being a powerless puppet and use their remaining popularity to stage a new coup, execute Sieyes and company and became a head of a government with more or less fancy title.
From the existing AH literature on that specific subject my favorite is Basileus Thomas-Alexander Dumas: you simply can’t get more ‘exotic ‘. Of course he would have to escape successfully from Egypt and arrive to France as savior of the nation.
In practical terms, it would be King Jean Baptist I (he would switch from thinking how to screw up everybody else to how to get on the top but he was intelligent enough for such change of an attitude).
You can pick your own favorite.


Not sure what do you mean by “democratic republic” and why anything presumably good should be associated with Sieyes. I’m also not sure that at this time a civilian government would be sustainable or popular: why change the Directorate on something similar?
 
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