In 2016 (Gregorian), the US Presidential election fell on 18 Brumaire of the French Republican Calendar. In 1799, 18 Brumaire is remembered as the day Napoleon formed a coup to seize power from the Council of Five Hundred. While Napoleon used military force to arrest and subdue Republicans opposed to him, the coup was bloodless. The following day, his allies in the legislature appointed him provisional consul. From the Wikipedia entry: “Resistance by Jacobin officeholders in the provinces was quickly crushed. Twenty Jacobin deputies were exiled, and others were arrested.” In the days and years after 18 Brumaire, Napoleon further consolidated his power and had military success in Italy. In 1802, a new constitution was approved which declared Napoleon “First Consul for Life.”

In 1852, Karl Marx published an essay entitled, “Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon”. 

The first line of the essay is one of his most-quoted, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”