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Napoleon I of France

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                        Napoleon I
                   Emperor of the French
    Napoleon in His Study by Jacques-Louis David (1812)
   Reign       20 March 1804 – 6 April 1814
               1 March 1815 – 22 June 1815
   Coronation  2 December 1804
   Full name   Napoleon Bonaparte
   Titles      King of Italy
               Mediator of the Swiss Confederation
               Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine
   Born        15 August 1769
               Ajaccio, Corsica
   Died        5 May 1821
               Saint Helena
   Buried      Les Invalides, Paris
   Predecessor Louis XVI
   Successor   Louis XVIII
   Consort     Joséphine de Beauharnais
               Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
   Issue       Napoleon II
   Royal House Bonaparte
   Father      Carlo Buonaparte
   Mother      Letizia Ramolino

   Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) King
   of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the
   Confederation of the Rhine, born Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a general
   during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul
   (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May
   1804, Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français) under the name
   Napoleon I (Napoléon 1^er) from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814, and was
   briefly restored as Emperor from 20 March to 22 June 1815.

   Over the course of little more than a decade, the armies of France
   under his command fought almost every European power, often
   simultaneously, and acquired control of most of continental Europe by
   conquest or alliance. The disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 marked
   a turning point. Following the Russian campaign and the defeat at
   Leipzig in October 1813, Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 after the
   Allies invaded France. He was exiled to the island of Elba. He staged a
   comeback known as the Hundred Days (les Cent Jours), but was defeated
   at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. He spent the remaining six years of his
   life on the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean under British
   supervision.

   Although Napoleon himself developed few military innovations, apart
   from the divisional squares employed in Egypt and the placement of
   artillery into batteries, he used the best tactics from a variety of
   sources, and the modernized French army reformed by several
   revolutionary governments, to score several major victories. His
   campaigns are studied at military academies all over the world and he
   is widely regarded as one of the greatest commanders ever to have
   lived. Aside from his military achievements, Napoleon is also
   remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic Code.

   He also appointed several members of the Bonaparte family and close
   friends as monarchs of countries he conquered and as important
   government figures (his brother Lucien was Minister of the Interior of
   France during the Consulate). Although their reigns did not survive his
   downfall, a nephew, Napoleon III, ruled France later in the nineteenth
   century.

Early life and military career

   Napoleon Bonaparte as a young officer
   Enlarge
   Napoleon Bonaparte as a young officer

   He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (in Corsican, Nabolione or
   Nabulione) in the town of Ajaccio on Corsica, France, on 15 August
   1769, only one year after the island was transferred to France by the
   Republic of Genoa. He later adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon
   Bonaparte.

   His family was minor Italian nobility living in Corsica. His father,
   Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to
   the court of Louis XVI in 1778, where he remained for a number of
   years. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother,
   Maria Letizia Ramolino. Her firm discipline helped restrain the
   rambunctious Napoleon, nicknamed Rabullione (the "meddler" or
   "disrupter").

   Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background and family connections
   afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a
   typical Corsican of the time. On 15 May 1779, at age nine, Napoleon was
   admitted to a French military school at Brienne-le-Château, a small
   town near Troyes. He had to learn French before entering the school,
   but he spoke with a marked Italian accent throughout his life and never
   learned to spell properly. Upon graduation from Brienne in 1784,
   Bonaparte was admitted to the elite École Royale Militaire in Paris,
   where he completed the two-year course of study in only one year. An
   examiner judged him as "very applied [to the study of] abstract
   sciences, little curious as to the others; [having] a thorough
   knowledge of mathematics and geography[.]" Although he had initially
   sought a naval assignment, he studied artillery at the École Militaire.
   Upon graduation in September 1785, he was commissioned as a second
   lieutenant of artillery and took up his new duties in January 1786 at
   the age of 16.

   Napoleon served on garrison duty in Valence and Auxonne until after the
   outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 (although he took nearly two years
   of leave in Corsica and Paris during this period). He spent most of the
   next several years on Corsica, where a complex three-way struggle was
   playing out between royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican
   nationalists. Bonaparte supported the Jacobin faction and gained the
   rank of lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of volunteers. After coming
   into conflict with the increasingly conservative nationalist leader,
   Pasquale Paoli, Bonaparte and his family were forced to flee to France
   in June 1793.

   Through the help of fellow Corsican Saliceti, Napoleon was appointed as
   artillery commander in the French forces besieging Toulon, which had
   risen in revolt against the republican government and was occupied by
   British troops. He formulated a successful plan: he placed guns at
   Point l'Eguillete, threatening the British ships in the harbour,
   forcing them to evacuate. A successful assault, during which Bonaparte
   was wounded in the thigh, led to the recapture of the city and a
   promotion to brigadier-general. His actions brought him to the
   attention of the Committee of Public Safety, and he became a close
   associate of Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of the Revolutionary
   leader Maximilien Robespierre. As a result, he was briefly imprisoned
   in the Chateau d'Antibes on 6 August 1794 following the fall of the
   elder Robespierre, but was released within two weeks.

The victorious general

The "whiff of grapeshot"

   In 1795, Bonaparte was serving in Paris when royalists and
   counter-revolutionaries organized an armed protest against the National
   Convention on 3 October. Bonaparte was given command of the improvised
   forces defending the Convention in the Tuileries Palace. He seized
   artillery pieces with the aid of a young cavalry officer, Joachim
   Murat, who later became his brother-in-law. He used the artillery the
   following day to repel the attackers. He later boasted that he had
   cleared the streets with a "whiff of grapeshot" (musket balls fired in
   cloth bags from the cannon, a devastating anti-personnel munition),
   although the fighting had been vicious throughout Paris. This triumph
   earned him sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory,
   particularly that of its leader, Barras. Within weeks he was
   romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, Josephine de
   Beauharnais, whom he married on 9 March 1796.

The Italian campaign of 1796–97

   Detail from a 1796 portrait of Napoleon at the Bridge of the Arcole by
   Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, currently on display in the Louvre, Paris
   Enlarge
   Detail from a 1796 portrait of Napoleon at the Bridge of the Arcole by
   Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, currently on display in the Louvre, Paris

   Days after his marriage, Bonaparte took command of the French Armée
   d'Italie "Army of Italy" on 27 March 1796, leading it on a successful
   invasion of Italy. At the Lodi, he gained the nickname of "The Little
   Corporal" (le petit caporal), a term reflecting his camaraderie with
   his soldiers, many of whom he knew by name. He drove the Austrians out
   of Lombardy and defeated the army of the Papal States. Because Pope
   Pius VI had protested the execution of Louis XVI, France retaliated by
   annexing two small papal territories. Bonaparte ignored the Directory's
   order to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope. It was not until the next
   year that General Berthier captured Rome and took Pius VI prisoner on
   20 February. The pope died of illness while in captivity. In early
   1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced that power to sue
   for peace. The resulting Treaty of Campo Formio gave France control of
   most of northern Italy, along with the Low Countries and Rhineland, but
   a secret clause promised Venice to Austria. Bonaparte then marched on
   Venice and forced its surrender, ending over 1,000 years of
   independence. Later in 1797, Bonaparte organized many of the French
   dominated territories in Italy into the Cisalpine Republic.

   His remarkable series of military triumphs were a result of his ability
   to apply his encyclopedic knowledge of conventional military thought to
   real-world situations, as demonstrated by his creative use of artillery
   tactics, using it as a mobile force to support his infantry. As he
   described it: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing
   which I did not know at the beginning." Contemporary paintings of his
   headquarters during the Italian campaign depict his use of the Chappe
   semaphore line, first implemented in 1792. He was also a master of both
   intelligence and deception and had an uncanny sense of when to strike.
   He often won battles by concentrating his forces on an unsuspecting
   enemy by using spies to gather information about opposing forces and by
   concealing his own troop deployments. In this campaign, often
   considered his greatest, Napoleon's army captured 160,000 prisoners,
   2,000 cannons, and 170 standards. A year of campaigning had witnessed
   major breaks with the traditional norms of 18th century warfare and
   marked a new era in military history.

   While campaigning in Italy, General Bonaparte became increasingly
   influential in French politics. He published two newspapers, ostensibly
   for the troops in his army, but widely circulated within France as
   well. In May 1797 he founded a third newspaper, published in Paris,
   entitled Le Journal de Bonaparte et des hommes vertueux. Elections in
   mid-1797 gave the royalist party increased power, alarming Barras and
   his allies on the Directory. The royalists, in turn, began attacking
   Bonaparte for looting Italy and overstepping his authority in dealings
   with the Austrians. Bonaparte sent General Augereau to Paris to lead a
   coup d'etat and purge the royalists on 4 September ( 18 Fructidor).
   This left Barras and his Republican allies in firm control again, but
   dependent on Bonaparte's military command to stay there. Bonaparte
   himself proceeded to the peace negotiations with Austria, then returned
   to Paris in December as the conquering hero and the dominant force in
   government, far more popular than any of the Directors.

The Egyptian expedition of 1798–99

   Napoleon visiting the plague victims of Jaffa, by Antoine-Jean Gros
   Enlarge
   Napoleon visiting the plague victims of Jaffa, by Antoine-Jean Gros

   In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt,
   then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade
   interests and undermine Britain's access to India. The Directory,
   although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, readily
   agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular general from the
   centre of power.

   An unusual aspect of the Egyptian expedition was the inclusion of a
   large group of scientists assigned to the French expeditionary force:
   among their discoveries was the finding of the Rosetta Stone. This
   deployment of intellectual resources is considered by some an
   indication of Bonaparte's devotion to the principles of the
   Enlightenment, and by others as a masterstroke of propaganda,
   obfuscating the true imperialist motives of the invasion. In a largely
   unsuccessful effort to gain the support of the Egyptian populace,
   Bonaparte also issued proclamations casting himself as a liberator of
   the people from Ottoman oppression, and praising the precepts of Islam.

   Bonaparte's expedition seized Malta from the Knights of Saint John on 9
   June and then landed successfully at Alexandria on 1 July, temporarily
   eluding pursuit by the British Navy.

   After landing on the coast of Egypt, the first battle was against the
   Mamelukes, an old power in the Middle East, approximately 4 miles from
   the pyramids. Bonaparte's forces were greatly outnumbered by the
   advanced cavalry, about 25,000 to 100,000, but Bonaparte came out on
   top, mainly due to his strategy. Men formed hollow squares, each side
   facing out. This made it possible to keep cannons and supplies safely
   on the inside, while the soldiers could fire in every direction on the
   outside. This made a very strong defense, and left it possible for many
   soldiers to escape to fight again. In all, only 300 French were killed,
   as opposed to approximately 6,000 Egyptians.

   While the battle on land was a resounding French victory, the British
   Royal Navy managed to compensate at sea. The ships that had landed
   Bonaparte and his army sailed back to France, but a fleet of ships of
   the line that had come with them remained to support the army along the
   coast. On 1 August the British fleet found the French warships anchored
   in a strong defensive position in the bay of Abukir. The French
   believed that they were open to attack on only one side, the other
   being protected by the shore. However, the arriving British fleet under
   Horatio Nelson managed to slip half their ships in between the land and
   the French line, thus attacking from both sides. All but two of the
   French vessels were captured or destroyed. Only the Guillaume Tell with
   rear admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and the Généreux escaped. The
   Guillaume Tell was caught not much later in the course of the British
   conquest of Malta. With Bonaparte land-bound, his goal of strengthening
   the French position in the Mediterranean Sea was frustrated, but his
   army nonetheless succeeded in consolidating power in Egypt, although it
   faced repeated uprisings.

   In early 1799, he led the army into the Ottoman province of Syria, now
   modern Israel, and defeated numerically superior Ottoman forces in
   several battles, but his army was weakened by disease and poor
   supplies. He was unable to reduce the fortress of Acre, and was forced
   to return to Egypt in May. In order to speed up the retreat, Bonaparte
   took the controversial step of killing prisoners and plague-stricken
   men along the way. His supporters have argued that this decision was
   necessary given the continuing harassment of stragglers by Ottoman
   forces. Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman
   amphibious invasion at Abukir.

   With the Egyptian campaign stagnating, and political instability
   developing back home, Bonaparte left Egypt for France in August, 1799,
   leaving his army behind under General Kleber. It has been suggested
   that Sir Sidney Smith and other British commanders in the Mediterranean
   helped Bonaparte evade the British blockade, thinking that he might
   support the Royalists back in France, but there is no solid evidence in
   support of this.

   The remaining soldiers, angry at Bonaparte and the French government
   for having left them behind, were supposed to be honorably evacuated
   under the terms of a treaty Kleber had negotiated with Smith in early
   1800. However, British admiral Keith reneged and sent an amphibious
   assault force of 30,000 Mamelukes against Kleber. The Mamelukes were
   defeated at the battle of Heliopolis in March 1800, and Kleber then
   suppressed an insurrection in Cairo. But he was assassinated in June
   1800 by a Syrian student, and command of the French army went to
   general Menou. Menou held command until August 1801, when, under
   continual harassment by British and Ottoman forces, and after the loss
   of 13,500 men (mostly to disease), he capitulated to the British. Under
   the terms of his surrender, the French army was repatriated in British
   ships, along with a priceless hoard of Egyptian antiquities.

Ruler of France

The coup d'état of 18 Brumaire

   Napoleonic Empire, 1811: France in dark blue, satellite states in light
   blue
   Enlarge
   Napoleonic Empire, 1811: France in dark blue, satellite states in light
   blue

   While in Egypt, Bonaparte tried to keep a close eye on European
   affairs, relying largely on newspapers and dispatches that arrived only
   irregularly. On 23 August 1799, he abruptly set sail for France, taking
   advantage of the temporary departure of British ships blockading French
   coastal ports.

   Although he was later accused by political opponents of abandoning his
   troops, his departure actually had been ordered by the Directory, which
   had suffered a series of military defeats to the forces of the Second
   Coalition, and feared an invasion.

   By the time he returned to Paris in October, the military situation had
   improved due to several French victories. The Republic was bankrupt,
   however, and the corrupt and inefficient Directory was unpopular with
   the French public more than ever.

   Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, Sieyès, seeking his
   support for a coup to overthrow the constitution. The plot included
   Bonaparte's brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of
   Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, and Talleyrand. On 9
   November ( 18 Brumaire), and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte
   seized control and dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump
   to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to
   administer the government. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new
   regime, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution
   of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. This
   made him the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased
   by the Constitution of the Year X, which made him First Consul for
   life.

The First Consul

   Napoleon

   Bonaparte instituted several lasting reforms, including centralized
   administration of the départements, higher education, a tax system, a
   central bank, law codes, and road and sewer systems. He negotiated the
   Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, seeking to reconcile the
   mostly Catholic population with his regime. His set of civil laws, the
   Napoleonic Code or Civil Code, has importance to this day in many
   countries. The Code was prepared by committees of legal experts under
   the supervision of Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, who held the
   office Second Consul from 1799 to 1804; Bonaparte, however,
   participated actively in the sessions of the Council of State that
   revised the drafts. Other codes were commissioned by Bonaparte to
   codify criminal and commerce law. In 1808, a Code of Criminal
   Instruction was published, which enacted precise rules of judicial
   procedure. Although contemporary standards may consider these
   procedures as favouring the prosecution, when enacted they sought to
   preserve personal freedoms and to remedy the prosecutorial abuses
   commonplace in European courts.

An interlude of peace

   Napoléon crossing the Alps, by Jacques-Louis David. Notice the names of
   Hannibal, Charlemagne (Karolus Magnus), and Bonaparte in the rocks
   below.
   Enlarge
   Napoléon crossing the Alps, by Jacques-Louis David. Notice the names of
   Hannibal, Charlemagne (Karolus Magnus), and Bonaparte in the rocks
   below.

   In 1800, Bonaparte returned to Italy, which the Austrians had
   reconquered during his absence in Egypt. He and his troops crossed the
   Alps in spring (although he actually rode a mule, not the white charger
   on which David famously depicted him). While the campaign began badly,
   the Austrians were eventually routed in June at Marengo, leading to an
   armistice. Napoleon's brother Joseph, who was leading the peace
   negotiations in Lunéville, reported that due to British backing for
   Austria, Austria would not recognize France's newly gained territory.
   As negotiations became more and more fractious, Bonaparte gave orders
   to his general Moreau to strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to
   victory at Hohenlinden. As a result the Treaty of Lunéville was signed
   in February 1801, under which the French gains of the Treaty of Campo
   Formio were reaffirmed and increased; the British signed the Treaty of
   Amiens in March 1802, which set terms for peace, including the division
   of several colonial territories.
   Crowning of Napoleon, memorialized by Jacques-Louis David
   Enlarge
   Crowning of Napoleon, memorialized by Jacques-Louis David

   The peace between France and Britain was uneasy and short-lived. The
   monarchies of Europe were reluctant to recognize a republic, fearing
   that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. In Britain,
   the brother of Louis XVI was welcomed as a state guest although
   officially Britain recognized France as a republic. Britain failed to
   evacuate Malta and Egypt as promised, and protested against France's
   annexation of Piedmont, and Napoleon's Act of Mediation in Switzerland
   (although neither of these areas was covered by the Treaty of Amiens).

   In 1803, Bonaparte faced a major setback when an army he sent to
   reconquer Haiti and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of
   yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and
   Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Recognizing that the French possessions on the
   mainland of North America would now be indefensible, and facing
   imminent war with Britain, he sold them to the United States —the
   Louisiana Purchase—for less than three cents per acre ($7.40/km²). The
   dispute over Malta provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on
   France in 1803 to support French royalists.
   Napoleon on his Imperial throne, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1806.
   Enlarge
   Napoleon on his Imperial throne, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1806.

Emperor of the French

   In January 1804, Bonaparte's police uncovered an assassination plot
   against him, ostensibly sponsored by the Bourbons. In retaliation,
   Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien, in a violation of
   the sovereignty of Baden. After a hurried secret trial, the Duke was
   executed on 21 March. Bonaparte then used this incident to justify the
   re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as
   Emperor, on the theory that a Bourbon restoration would be impossible
   once the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution.

   Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de
   Paris. Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius
   VII during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the
   authority of the pontiff are apocryphal; in fact, the coronation
   procedure had been agreed upon in advance. After the Imperial regalia
   had been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself before crowning
   his wife Joséphine as Empress (the moment depicted in David's famous
   painting, illustrated above). Then at Milan's cathedral on 26 May 1805,
   Napoleon was crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.
   Napoleon's Throne. Louvre Museum
   Enlarge
   Napoleon's Throne. Louvre Museum

   By 1805 Britain was reluctantly drawn into a Third Coalition against
   Napoleon, after he made it clear that he wouldn't stop his wars of
   expansion on the continent. Napoleon knew the French fleet could not
   defeat the Royal Navy and therefore tried to lure the British fleet
   away from the English Channel so that, in theory at least, a Spanish
   and French fleet could take control of the Channel for twenty-four
   hours, which he erroneously thought long enough for French armies to
   cross to England. Napoleon was wholly ignorant of nautical matters, his
   orders to his admirals were often contradictory or useless, and the
   fleet of rafts he had prepared would have sunk in the Channel, or taken
   at least three days to transport his army, even if the crossing were
   unopposed. However, with Austria and Russia preparing an invasion of
   France and its allies, he had to change his plans and turn his
   attention to the continent. The newly formed Grande Armee secretly
   marched to Germany. On 20 October 1805, it surprised the Austrians at
   Ulm. The next day, however, with the Battle of Trafalgar ( 21 October
   1805), the British navy gained lasting control of the seas. A few weeks
   later, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at Austerlitz (a decisive
   victory he would be the most proud of in his military career) on 2
   December -the first anniversary of his coronation- forcing Austria yet
   again to sue for peace.

   The Fourth Coalition was assembled the following year, and Napoleon
   defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt ( 14 October 1806). He
   marched on against advancing Russian armies through Poland, and was
   attacked at the bloody Battle of Eylau on 6 February 1807. After a
   decisive victory at Friedland, he signed a treaty at Tilsit in East
   Prussia with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, dividing Europe between the
   two powers. He placed puppet rulers on the thrones of German states,
   including his brother Jerome as king of the new state of Westphalia. In
   the French-controlled part of Poland, he established the Duchy of
   Warsaw, with King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony as ruler. Between 1809
   and 1813, Napoleon also served as Regent of the Grand Duchy of Berg for
   his brother Louis Bonaparte.

The Peninsular War and the War of the Fifth Coalition

   In addition to military endeavours against Britain, Napoleon also waged
   economic war, attempting to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of
   Britain called the " Continental System". Although this action hurt the
   British economy, it also damaged the French economy and was not a
   decisive factor.

   Portugal did not comply with this Continental System and in 1807
   Napoleon sought Spain's support for an invasion of Portugal. When Spain
   refused, Napoleon invaded Spain as well. After mixed results were
   produced by his generals, Napoleon himself took command and defeated
   the Spanish army, retook Madrid and then outmaneuvered a British army
   sent to support the Spanish and drove it to the coast. The French
   occupation of Iberia however led to the costly and brutal Peninsular
   War which robbed Napoleon of several hundred thousand of his finest
   troops at the hands of Spanish guerrillas and led to major defeats
   inflicted by the Allies under the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon
   installed one of his marshals and brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, as the
   King of Naples, and his brother Joseph Bonaparte, as King of Spain.
   The Surrender of Madrid, Antoine-Jean Gros, c. 1810
   Enlarge
   The Surrender of Madrid, Antoine-Jean Gros, c. 1810

   The Spanish, inspired by nationalism and the Roman Catholic Church, and
   angry over atrocities committed by French troops, rose in revolt. At
   the same time, Austria unexpectedly broke its alliance with France and
   Napoleon was forced to assume command of forces on the Danube and
   German fronts. A bloody draw ensued at Aspern-Essling ( 21– 22 May
   1809) near Vienna, which was the closest Napoleon ever came to a defeat
   in a battle with more or less equal numbers on each side. After a two
   month interval, the principal French and Austrian armies engaged again
   near Vienna resulting in a French victory at Wagram ( 6 July).

   Following this a new peace was signed between Austria and France and in
   the following year the Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise married
   Napoleon, following his divorce of Josephine.

Invasion of Russia

                                                CAPTION: French Monarchy -
                                                         Bonaparte Dynasty


                                                Napoleon I
                                Children
                                    Napoleon II
                                Siblings
                                    Napoleone
                                    Maria Anna
                                    Joseph, King of Spain
                                    Lucien, Prince of Canino
                                    Elisa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
                                    Louis, King of Holland
                                    Pauline, Princess of Guastalla
                                    Carloine, Queen of Naples
                                    Jérôme, King of Westphalia
                                Nephews and nieces
                                    Princess Julie
                                    Princess Zénaïde
                                    Princess Charlotte
                                    Prince Charles
                                    Prince Louis
                                    Prince Pierre
                                    Prince Napoleon Charles
                                    Prince Napoleon Louis
                                    Napoleon III
                                    Prince Jérôme
                                    Prince Napoleon Joseph
                                    Princess Mathilde
                                Grandnephews and -nieces
                                    Prince Joseph
                                    Prince Lucien-Louis
                                    Prince Roland
                                    Princess Jeanne
                                    Prince Charles
                                    Prince Jerome
                                    Napoleon (V) Victor
                                Great Grandnephews and -nieces
                                    Princess Marie
                                    Princess Marie Clotilde
                                    Napoleon (VI) Louis
                                Great Great Grandnephews and -nieces
                                    Napoleon (VII) Charles
                                    Princess Catherine
                                    Princess Laure
                                    Prince Jerome
                                Great Great Great Grandnephews and -nieces
                                    Princess Caroline
                                    Prince Jean-Christophe
                                               Napoleon II
                                               Napoleon III
                                Children
                                    Napoleon (IV), Prince Imperial

   Although the Congress of Erfurt had sought to preserve the Russo-French
   alliance, by 1811 tensions were again increasing between the two
   nations. Although Alexander and Napoleon had a friendly personal
   relationship since their first meeting in 1807, Alexander had been
   under strong pressure from the Russian aristocracy to break off the
   alliance with France. Had Russia withdrawn without France doing
   anything the other countries would have followed suit and revolted
   against Napoleon. Thus it was necessary to show that France would
   respond.

   The first sign that the alliance was deteriorating was the easing of
   the application of the Continental System in Russia, angering Napoleon.
   By 1812, advisors to Alexander suggested the possibility of an invasion
   of the French Empire (and the recapture of Poland).

   Large numbers of troops were deployed to the Polish borders (reaching
   over 300,000 out of the total Russian army strength of 410,000). After
   receiving the initial reports of Russian war preparations, Napoleon
   began expanding his Grande Armée to a massive force of over
   450,000-600,000 men (despite already having over 300,000 men deployed
   in Iberia). Napoleon ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the
   vast Russian heartland, and prepared his forces for an offensive
   campaign.

   On 22 June 1812, Napoleon's invasion of Russia commenced. In an attempt
   to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots,
   Napoleon termed the war the "Second Polish War" (the first Polish war
   being the liberation of Poland from Russia, Prussia and Austria).
   Polish patriots wanted the Russian part of partitioned Poland to be
   incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and a new Kingdom of Poland
   created, although this was rejected by Napoleon, who feared it would
   bring Prussia and Austria into the war against France. Napoleon also
   rejected requests to free the Russian serfs, fearing this might provoke
   a conservative reaction in his rear.
   Napoleon campaigning in Northern France in 1814, by E. Meissonier.
   Enlarge
   Napoleon campaigning in Northern France in 1814, by E. Meissonier.

   The Russians under Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly ingeniously
   avoided a decisive engagement which Napoleon longed for, preferring to
   retreat ever deeper into the heart of Russia. A brief attempt at
   resistance was offered at Smolensk ( 16- 17 August), but the Russians
   were defeated in a series of battles in the area and Napoleon resumed
   the advance. The Russians then repeatedly avoided battle with the
   Grande Armée, although in a few cases only because Napoleon
   uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity presented
   itself. The Russians during their strategic retreat, used the scorched
   earth tactic. They burned crops and slaughtered livestock so the French
   would have nothing to eat. Along with the hunger, the French also had
   to face the harsh Russian winter. One American study concluded that the
   winter only had a major effect once Napoleon was in full retreat.
   "However, in regard to the claims of "General Winter," it should be
   noted that the main body of Napoleon's Grande Armée diminished by half
   during the first eight weeks of his invasion before the major battle of
   the campaign. This decrease was partly due to garrisoning supply
   centres, but disease, desertions, and casualties sustained in various
   minor actions caused thousands of losses. At Borodino on 7 September
   1812 - the only major engagement fought in Russia - Napoleon could
   muster no more than 135,000 troops, and he lost at least 30,000 of them
   to gain a narrow and Pyrrhic victory almost 600 miles deep in hostile
   territory. The sequels were his uncontested and self-defeating
   occupation of Moscow and his humiliating retreat, which began on 19
   October, before the first severe frosts later that month and the first
   snow on 5 November."

   Criticized over his tentative strategy of continual retreat, Barclay
   was replaced by Kutuzov, although he continued Barclay's strategy.
   Kutuzov eventually offered battle outside Moscow on 7 September. Losses
   were nearly even for both armies, with slightly more casualties on the
   Russian side, after what may have been the bloodiest day of battle in
   history - the Battle of Borodino (see article for comparisons to the
   first day of the Battle of the Somme). Although Napoleon was far from
   defeated, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major
   battle the French hoped would be decisive. After the battle, the
   Russian army withdrew and retreated past Moscow.

   The Russians retreated and Napoleon was able to enter Moscow, assuming
   that the fall of Moscow would end the war and that Alexander I would
   negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city's military governor and
   commander-in-chief, Fyodor Rostopchin, rather than capitulating, Moscow
   was ordered burned. Within the month, fearing loss of control back in
   France, Napoleon left Moscow.

   The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat; the
   Army had begun as over 650,000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer
   than 40,000 crossed the Berezina River (November 1812) to escape. The
   strategy employed by Kutuzov had culminated in a magnificent victory
   and the deliverance of the Russian people. In total, French losses in
   the campaign were 570,000 against about 400,000 Russian casualties and
   several hundred thousand civilian deaths.

The War of the Sixth Coalition

   There was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 whilst both the
   Russians and the French recovered from their massive losses. A small
   Russian army harassed the French in Poland and eventually 30,000 French
   troops there withdrew to the German states to rejoin the expanding
   force there - numbering 130,000 with the reinforcements from Poland.
   This force continued to expand, with Napoleon aiming for a force of
   400,000 French troops supported by a quarter of a million German
   troops.

   Heartened by Napoleon's losses in Russia, Prussia soon rejoined the
   Coalition that now included Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and
   Portugal. Napoleon assumed command in Germany and soon inflicted a
   series of defeats on the Allies culminating in the Battle of Dresden on
   26- 27 August 1813 causing almost 100,000 casualties to the Coalition
   forces (the French sustaining only around 30,000).

   Despite these initial successes, however, the numbers continued to
   mount against Napoleon as Sweden and Austria joined the Coalition.
   Eventually the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size at
   the Battle of Nations ( 16- 19 October) at Leipzig. Some of the German
   states switched sides in the midst of the battle, further undermining
   the French position. This was by far the largest battle of the
   Napoleonic Wars and cost both sides a combined total of over 120,000
   casualties.

   After this Napoleon withdrew in an orderly fashion back into France,
   but his army was now reduced to less than 100,000 against more than
   half a million Allied troops. The French were now surrounded (with
   British armies pressing from the south in addition to the Coalition
   forces moving in from the German states) and vastly outnumbered. The
   French armies could only delay an inevitable defeat.

Exile in Elba, Les Cent-Jours (The Hundred Days) and Waterloo

   Return from Elba
   Enlarge
   Return from Elba

   Paris was occupied on 31 March 1814. At the urging of his marshals,
   Napoleon abdicated on 6 April in favour of his son. The Allies,
   however, demanded unconditional surrender and Napoleon abdicated again,
   unconditionally, on 11 April. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau the
   victors exiled him to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean 20 km
   off the coast of Italy.

   In France, the royalists had taken over and restored Louis XVIII to
   power. Separated from his wife and son (who had come under Austrian
   control), cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of
   Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours that he was about to be banished to
   a remote island in the Atlantic, Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26
   February 1815 and returned to the mainland on 1 March 1815. Louis XVIII
   sent the 5th Regiment of the Line, led by Marshal Ney who had formerly
   served under Napoleon in Russia, to meet him at Grenoble on 7 March
   1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and,
   when he was within earshot of Ney's forces, shouted "Soldiers of the
   Fifth, you recognize me. If any man would shoot his emperor, he may do
   so now". Following a brief silence, the soldiers shouted "Vive
   L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris. He arrived on 20
   March, quickly raising a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force
   of around 200,000 and governed for a Hundred Days.

   Napoleon was finally defeated by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard
   Leberecht von Blücher at Waterloo in present-day Belgium on 18 June
   1815.

   Off the port of Rochefort, after unsuccessfully attempting to escape to
   the United States, Napoléon made his formal surrender while on board
   HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815.

Exile in Saint Helena and death

   Napoléon on the Bellerophon at Plymouth, before his exile to Saint
   Helena
   Enlarge
   Napoléon on the Bellerophon at Plymouth, before his exile to Saint
   Helena

   Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled by the British to the island of
   Saint Helena (2,800 km off the Bight of Guinea in the South Atlantic
   Ocean) from 15 October 1815. Whilst there, with a small cadre of
   followers, he dictated his memoirs and criticized his captors. Sick for
   much of his time on Saint Helena, Napoleon died on 5 May 1821. His last
   words were: “Tête d’Armée!” (Head of Army!). His heritage was
   distributed to his close followers like the General Marbot, whom he
   asked to continue his writings on the "Grandeur de la France".

   Napoleon had asked in his will to be buried on the banks of the Seine,
   but was buried on Saint Helena, in the "valley of the willows". In
   1840, his remains were taken to France in the frigate Belle-Poule and
   was to be entombed in a porphyry sarcophagus at Les Invalides, Paris.
   However, Egyptian porphyry (used for the tombs of Roman emperors) was
   unavailable, so red quartzite was obtained--but from Russian Finland,
   eliciting protests from those who still remembered the Russians as
   enemies. Hundreds of millions have visited his tomb since that date. A
   replica of his simple Saint Helena tomb is also found at Les Invalides.

Cause of death

   The cause of Napoleon's death has been disputed on numerous occasions,
   and the controversy remains to this day. Francesco Antommarchi,
   Napoleon's personal physician, gave stomach cancer as a reason for
   Napoleon's death in his death certificate.

   In 1955, the diaries of Louis Marchand, Napoléon's valet, appeared in
   print. He describes Napoléon in the months leading up to his death, and
   led many, most notably Sten Forshufvud and Ben Weider, to conclude that
   he had been killed by arsenic poisoning. Arsenic was at the time
   sometimes used as a poison as it was undetectable when administered
   over a long period of time. Arsenic was also used in some wallpaper, as
   a green pigment, and even in some patent medicines. As Napoleon's body
   was found to be remarkably well-preserved when it was moved in 1840, it
   gives support to the arsenic theory, as arsenic is a strong
   preservative. In 2001, Pascal Kintz, of the Strasbourg Forensic
   Institute in France, added credence to this claim with a study of
   arsenic levels found in a lock of Napoleon's hair preserved after his
   death: they were seven to thirty-eight times higher than normal.

   Cutting up hairs into short segments and analysing each segment
   individually provides a histogram of arsenic concentration in the body.
   This analysis on hair from Napoléon suggests that large but non-lethal
   doses were absorbed at random intervals. The arsenic severely weakened
   Napoléon and remained in his system.
   The frigate Belle-Poule brings back the remains of Napoléon to France
   Enlarge
   The frigate Belle-Poule brings back the remains of Napoléon to France

   More recent analysis on behalf of the magazine Science et Vie showed
   that similar concentrations of arsenic can be found in Napoleon's hair
   in samples taken from 1805, 1814 and 1821. The lead investigator, Ivan
   Ricordel (head of toxicology for the Paris Police), stated that if
   arsenic had been the cause, Napoléon would have died years earlier. The
   group suggested that the most likely source in this case was a hair
   tonic. Prior to the discovery of antibiotics, arsenic was also a widely
   used treatment for syphilis. This has led to speculation that Napoleon
   might have suffered from that disease.

   The medical regime imposed on Napoleon by his doctors included
   treatment with antimony potassium tartrate, regular enemas and a 600
   milligram dose of mercuric chloride to purge his intestines in the days
   immediately prior to his death. A group of researchers from the San
   Francisco Medical Examiner's Department speculate that this treatment
   may have led to Napoleon's death by causing a serious potassium
   deficiency.

   In May, 2005 a team of Swiss physicians claimed that the reason for
   Napoleon's death was stomach cancer, which was also the cause of his
   father's death. From a multitude of forensic reports they derive that
   Napoleon at his death weighed approx. 76 kg (168 lb) while a year
   earlier he weighed approx. 91 kg (200 lb), confirming the autopsy
   result reported by Antommarchi. A team of physicians from the
   University of Monterspertoli led by Professor Biondi recently confirmed
   this.

   In October, 2005, a document was unearthed in Scotland that presented
   an account of the autopsy, which again seems to confirm Antommarchi's
   conclusion. The original post-mortem examination carried out by
   Francesco Antommarchi concluded Napoleon died of stomach cancer without
   knowing Napoleon’s father had died of stomach cancer.

Marriages and children

   Napoleon was married twice:
   Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais
   Enlarge
   Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais
     * 9 March 1796 to Joséphine de Beauharnais. He formally adopted her
       son Eugène and cousin Stéphanie after assuming the throne to
       arrange "dynastic" marriages for them. He had her daughter Hortense
       marry his brother, Louis. Though Napoleon and Joséphine's marriage
       was unconventional, and both were known to have many affairs, they
       were ultimately devoted to each other and when Joséphine agreed to
       divorce so he could remarry in the hopes of producing an heir, it
       was devastating for both. It was also the first under the
       Napoleonic Code. Napoleon's letters to Joséphine are romantic and
       interesting. They are available in the original French on the
       French wikisource site.
     * 11 March 1810 by proxy to Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria,
       then in a ceremony on 1 April. They remained married until his
       death, although she did not join him in his exile.
          + Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles ( 20 March 1811 – 22 July
            1832), King of Rome. Known as Napoleon II although he never
            ruled. Was later known as the Duke of Reichstadt. He had no
            issue.

   Acknowledged two illegitimate children, both of whom had issue:
     * Charles, Count Léon, (1806 – 1881), by Louise Catherine Eléonore
       Denuelle de la Plaigne (1787 – 1868).
     * Alexandre Joseph Colonna, Count Walewski, ( 4 May 1810 – 27 October
       1868), by Marie, Countess Walewski (1789 – 1817).

   May have had further illegitimate offspring:
     * Émilie Louise Marie Françoise Joséphine Pellapra, by
       Françoise-Marie LeRoy.
     * Karl Eugin von Mühlfeld, by Victoria Kraus.
     * Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte, by Countess Montholon.
     * Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire ( 19 August 1805 – 24 November 1895)
       whose mother remains unknown.

Legacy

   Statue of Napoléon in Les Invalides, eyes on the French flag.
   Enlarge
   Statue of Napoléon in Les Invalides, eyes on the French flag.

   Napoleon is credited with introducing the concept of the modern
   professional conscript army to Europe, an innovation which other states
   eventually followed. He did not introduce many new concepts into the
   French military system, borrowing mostly from previous theorists and
   the implementations of preceding French governments, but he did expand
   or develop much of what was already in place. Corps replaced divisions
   as the largest army units, artillery was integrated into reserve
   batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry once again
   became a crucial formation in French military doctrine.

   Napoleon's biggest influence in the military sphere was in the conduct
   of warfare. Weapons and technology remained largely static through the
   Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century operational
   strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became infrequent to
   the point of near-irrelevance, a new emphasis towards the destruction,
   not just outmaneuvering, of enemy armies emerged. Invasions of enemy
   territory occurred over broader fronts, thus introducing a plethora of
   strategic opportunities that made wars costlier and, just as
   importantly, more decisive (this strategy has since become known as
   Napoleonic warfare, though he himself did not give it this name).
   Defeat for a European power now meant much more than losing isolated
   enclaves; near- Carthaginian peaces intertwined whole national efforts,
   sociopolitical, economic, and militaristic, into gargantuan collisions
   that severely upset international conventions as understood at the
   time. It can be argued that Napoleon's initial success sowed the seeds
   for his downfall. Not used to such catastrophic defeats in the rigid
   power system of 18th century Europe, many nations found existence under
   the French yoke difficult, sparking revolts, wars, and general
   instability that plagued the continent until 1815.

   In France, Napoleon is seen by some as having ended lawlessness and
   disorder, and the wars he fought as having served to export the
   Revolution to the rest of Europe. The movements of national unification
   and the rise of the nation state, notably in Italy and Germany, may
   have been precipitated by the Napoleonic rule of those areas.

   The Napoleonic Code was adopted throughout much of Europe and remained
   in force after Napoleon's defeat. Professor Dieter Langewiesche of the
   University of Tübingen describes the code as a "revolutionary project"
   which spurred the development of bourgeois society in Germany by
   expanding the right to own property and breaking the back of feudalism.
   Langewiesche also credits Napoleon with reorganizing what had been the
   Holy Roman Empire made up of more than 1,000 entities into a more
   streamlined network of 40 states providing the basis for the German
   Confederation and the future unification of Germany under the German
   Empire in 1871.

   In mathematics Napoleon is traditionally given credit for discovering
   and proving Napoleon's theorem, although there is no specific evidence
   that he did so. The theorem states that if equilateral triangles are
   constructed on the sides of any triangle (all outward or all inward),
   the centres of those equilateral triangles themselves form an
   equilateral triangle.

   Critics of Napoleon argue that his true legacy was a loss of status for
   France and many needless deaths:

     After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars,
     perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas
     colonies lost. And it was all such a great waste, for when the
     self-proclaimed tête d'armée was done, France's "losses were
     permanent" and she "began to slip from her position as the leading
     power in Europe to second-class status—that was Bonaparte's true
     legacy."

   Napoleon was in many ways the direct inspiration for later autocrats:
   he never flinched when facing the prospect of war and destruction for
   thousands, friend or foe, and turned his search of undisputed rule into
   a continuous cycle of conflict throughout Europe, ignoring treaties and
   conventions alike. Even if other European powers continuously offered
   Napoleon terms that would have restored France's borders to situations
   only dreamt by the Bourbon kings, he always refused compromise, and
   only accepted surrender.
   The Tomb at the Invalides
   Enlarge
   The Tomb at the Invalides

   Nevertheless, many in the international community still admire the many
   accomplishments of the emperor as evidenced by the International
   Napoleonic Congress held in Dinard, France in July 2005 that included
   participation by members of the French and American military, French
   politicians, scholars from as far away as Israel and Russia, and a
   parade recreating the Grand Army.

   Moreover, some probably wish Napoleon had achieved his unrealized goal

     ‘to make it a law that only those lawyers and attorneys should
     receive fees who had won their cases. How much litigation would have
     been prevented by such a measure! For it is quite obvious that there
     is not a lawyer who, after a first look at the case, would not turn
     it down if it seemed doubtful. It need not be feared that a man who
     earns his living from his work might take on a case for the simple
     pleasure of hearing himself talk; yet even if he did, he would harm
     no one but himself. . . . I am convinced to this day that the idea
     is brilliant.’

   Napoleon was hated by his many enemies, but respected by them at the
   same time. The Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, when asked who
   he thought was the greatest general that ever lived, answered “In this
   age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon.”

Misconceptions about Napoleon's height

   Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was actually slightly taller than
   an average Frenchman of the 19th century . After his death in 1821, the
   French emperor's height was recorded as 5 ft 2 in French units,
   corresponding to 1.68 meter or 5 ft 6 in using Imperial units. A French
   inch was 2.71 centimetres while an Imperial inch is 2.54 centimetres.
   The metric system was introduced during the French First Republic, but
   was not in widespread use until after Napoleon's death.

   In addition to this miscalculation, his nickname le petit caporal adds
   to the confusion, as non-francophones mistakenly take petit as
   literally meaning "small"; in fact, it is an affectionate term
   reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers (for example,
   "petit ami" means "boyfriend" in French, "petite amie" means
   "girlfriend"). He also surrounded himself with the soldiers of his
   elite guard, who were always six feet tall or taller.

Organizations devoted to the study of Napoleon

     * The Napoleonic Alliance
     * The Napoleonic Society of America - Society founded in 1983 to
       inform and provide its members with the means to share its
       knowledge and views about Napoleon and the Napoleonic Empire.
     * International Napoleonic Society - "The purpose of the
       International Napoleonic Society is to promote the study of the
       Napoleonic Era in accordance with proper academic standards."

   House of Bonaparte
   Born: 15 August 1769; Died: 5 May 1821
   Political Offices
   French Directory Provisional Consular
   November 11– December 12, 1799
   Served alongside:
   Roger DUCOS
   Joseph SIEYÈS Consulate created
   Consulate First Consul
   12 December 1799– 18 May 1804
   Served alongside:
   Jean-Jacques CAMBACÉRÈS
   (Second Consul)
   Charles-François LEBRUN
   (Third Consul) Empire declared
   Preceded by:
   French Directory French Head of State
   12 December 1799 - 6 April 1814 Succeeded by:
   Louis XVIII
   Regnal Titles
   New Title Emperor of the French
   20 March 1804– 6 April 1814 Vacant
   Title next held by
   Napoleon I
   Vacant
   Title last held by
   Napoleon I Emperor of the French
   1 March 1815– 22 June 1815 Succeeded by:
   Napoleon II

                                Persondata
   NAME              Bonaparte, Napoleon
   ALTERNATIVE NAMES Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of
                     Italy
   SHORT DESCRIPTION French general and ruler
   DATE OF BIRTH     15 August 1769
   PLACE OF BIRTH    Ajaccio, Corsica
   DATE OF DEATH     5 May 1821
   PLACE OF DEATH    Saint Helena

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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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