Napoleon
Military leader and emperor of France (1769–1821) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Napoleon Bonaparte[lower-alpha 1] (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I,[lower-alpha 2] was a French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy endures to this day, as a highly celebrated and controversial leader. He initiated many liberal reforms that have persisted in society, and is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. His wars and campaigns are studied by militaries all over the world. Between three and six million civilians and soldiers perished in what became known as the Napoleonic Wars.[2][3]
| Napoleon | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||
| Emperor of the French | |||||||||
| 1st reign | 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814 | ||||||||
| Coronation | 2 December 1804 Notre-Dame Cathedral | ||||||||
| Successor | Louis XVIII (as King of France) | ||||||||
| 2nd reign | 20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Louis XVIII | ||||||||
| Successor | Napoleon II (disputed) or Louis XVIII | ||||||||
| King of Italy | |||||||||
| Reign | 17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814 | ||||||||
| Coronation | 26 May 1805 Milan Cathedral | ||||||||
| First Consul of France | |||||||||
| In office 12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804 | |||||||||
| Co-Consuls | Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès Charles-François Lebrun | ||||||||
| Provisional Consul of France | |||||||||
| In office 10 November 1799 – 12 December 1799 | |||||||||
| Co-Consuls | Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Roger Ducos | ||||||||
| President of the Italian Republic | |||||||||
| In office 26 January 1802 – 17 March 1805 | |||||||||
| Vice President | Francesco Melzi d'Eril | ||||||||
| Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine | |||||||||
| In office 12 July 1806 – 4 November 1813 | |||||||||
| Prince-Primates | Karl von Dalberg Eugène de Beauharnais | ||||||||
| Born | Napoleone Buonaparte[1] 15 August 1769 Ajaccio, Corsica, Kingdom of France | ||||||||
| Died | 5 May 1821 (aged 51) Longwood, Saint Helena, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | ||||||||
| Burial | 15 December 1840 | ||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||
| Issue Detail | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | Bonaparte | ||||||||
| Father | Carlo Buonaparte | ||||||||
| Mother | Letizia Ramolino | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica, not long after its annexation by France, to a native family descending from minor Italian nobility.[4][5] He supported the French Revolution in 1789 while serving in the French army, and tried to spread its ideals to his native Corsica. He rose rapidly in the Army after he saved the governing French Directory by firing on royalist insurgents. In 1796, he began a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. Two years later, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic.
Differences with the United Kingdom meant France faced the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with victories in the Ulm campaign, and at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him. Napoleon defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, marched the Grande Armée into Eastern Europe, and defeated the Russians in June 1807 at Friedland, forcing the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to accept the Treaties of Tilsit. Two years later, the Austrians challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram.
Hoping to extend the Continental System, his embargo against Britain, Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted in the Peninsular War aided by a British army, culminating in defeat for Napoleon's marshals. Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the catastrophic retreat of Napoleon's Grande Armée. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France, resulting in a large coalition army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. He was exiled to the island of Elba, between Corsica and Italy. In France, the Bourbons were restored to power.
Napoleon escaped in February 1815 and took control of France.[6] The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic, where he died in 1821 at the age of 51.
Napoleon had an extensive impact on the modern world, bringing liberal reforms to the lands he conquered, especially the regions of the Low Countries, Switzerland and parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented many liberal policies in France and Western Europe.[lower-alpha 3] British historian Andrew Roberts summarizes these ideas as follows:
The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire.[13]