And during the tumultuous five years that followed, Fouche repeatedly shifted between the Royalists and the Jacobins, and ultimately waited for the opportunity of 'meeting his wise ruler'.
In August 1799, General Napoleon, after achieving a grand victory in Egypt, secretly returned to Paris and had clandestine meetings with Talleyrand and Fouche.
What they actually discussed, probably only those involved know.
As outsiders, we only know that three months later Napoleon became the First Consul of the Republic, while Talleyrand was reinstated to his former position as Foreign Minister, and Fouche was appointed as Police Minister.
Upon officially taking office at the Voltaire Riverfront Road headquarters, Fouche's first act as Police Minister was to ruthlessly suppress his former Jacobin colleagues and conduct stringent inspections of theaters, publishing houses, and newspapers to quell protests. To show determination, all dissenters were ordered to be executed.
