1851 French coup d'état

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, at the time president of France under the Second Republic, staged a self-coup on 2 December 1851. Code-named Operation Rubicon and timed to coincide with the anniversary of his uncle Napoleon I's coronation and victory at Austerlitz, the coup dissolved the National Assembly, granted dictatorial powers to the president and preceded the establishment of the Second French Empire a year later.