Council of Five Hundred

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For the Council of Five Hundred in ancient Athens, see Boule (ancient Greece).

James Gillray's cartoon depicting Napoleon's coup

The Council of Five Hundred (Conseil des Cinq-Cents), or simply the Five Hundred was the lower house of the legislature of France during the period commonly known (from the name of the executive branch during this time) as the Directory (Directoire), from August 22, 1795 until November 9, 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the French Revolution. The upper house was the Council of Ancients (Conseil des Anciens).

Besides functioning as a legislative body, the Council of Five Hundred proposed the list out of which the Ancients chose five Directors, who jointly held executive power.

Napoleon Bonaparte led a group of grenadiers who drove the Council from its chambers and installed himself as leader of France as its First Consul in the Coup d'État of Eighteenth Brumaire.