brief biography of napoleon bonaparte

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Napoleon Bonaparte

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 24, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.

Napoleon’s Education and Early Military Career

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836). Although his parents were members of the minor Corsican nobility, the family was not wealthy. The year before Napoleon’s birth, France acquired Corsica from the city-state of Genoa, Italy. Napoleon later adopted a French spelling of his last name.

As a boy, Napoleon attended school in mainland France, where he learned the French language, and went on to graduate from a French military academy in 1785. He then became a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the French army. The French Revolution began in 1789, and within three years revolutionaries had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed a French republic. During the early years of the revolution, Napoleon was largely on leave from the military and home in Corsica, where he became affiliated with the Jacobins, a pro-democracy political group. In 1793, following a clash with the nationalist Corsican governor, Pasquale Paoli (1725-1807), the Bonaparte family fled their native island for mainland France, where Napoleon returned to military duty.

In France, Napoleon became associated with Augustin Robespierre (1763-1794), the brother of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), a Jacobin who was a key force behind the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a period of violence against enemies of the revolution. During this time, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the army. However, after Robespierre fell from power and was guillotined (along with Augustin) in July 1794, Napoleon was briefly put under house arrest for his ties to the brothers.

In 1795, Napoleon helped suppress a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted to major general.

Did you know? In 1799, during Napoleon’s military campaign in Egypt, a French soldier named Pierre Francois Bouchard (1772-1832) discovered the Rosetta Stone. This artifact provided the key to cracking the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics, a written language that had been dead for almost 2,000 years.

Napoleon’s Rise to Power

Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French.

The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798; soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman Empire -ruled Syria , which ended with a failed siege of Acre, located in modern-day Israel . That summer, with the political situation in France marked by uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon his army in Egypt and return to France.

Napoleon’s Life—and Mysterious Death—in Exile

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the former emperor was placed in a 'wretched' home on a remote island.

The Personality Traits that Led to Napoleon Bonaparte’s Epic Downfall

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How Napoleon Plotted One of History’s Greatest Prison Breaks

The French emperor escaped his island prison in plain sight.

The Coup of 18 Brumaire

In November 1799, in an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the French Directory.

The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and 5'7" Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading political figure. In June 1800, at the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon’s forces defeated one of France’s perennial enemies, the Austrians, and drove them out of Italy. The victory helped cement Napoleon’s power as first consul. Additionally, with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, the war-weary British agreed to peace with the French (although the peace would only last for a year).

Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France. He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought to improve relations between his regime and the pope (who represented France’s main religion, Catholicism), which had suffered during the revolution. One of his most significant accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code , which streamlined the French legal system and continues to form the foundation of French civil law to this day.

In 1802, a constitutional amendment made Napoleon first consul for life. Two years later, in 1804, he crowned himself emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Napoleon’s Marriages and Children

In 1796, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), a stylish widow six years his senior who had two teenage children. More than a decade later, in 1809, after Napoleon had no offspring of his own with Empress Josephine, he had their marriage annulled so he could find a new wife and produce an heir. In 1810, he wed Marie Louise (1791-1847), the daughter of the emperor of Austria. The following year, she gave birth to their son, Napoleon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte (1811-1832), who became known as Napoleon II and was given the title king of Rome. In addition to his son with Marie Louise, Napoleon had several illegitimate children.

The Reign of Napoleon I

From 1803 to 1815, France was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, a series of major conflicts with various coalitions of European nations. In 1803, partly as a means to raise funds for future wars, Napoleon sold France’s Louisiana Territory in North America to the newly independent United States for $15 million, a transaction that later became known as the Louisiana Purchase .

In October 1805, the British wiped out Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar . However, in December of that same year, Napoleon achieved what is considered to be one of his greatest victories at the Battle of Austerlitz, in which his army defeated the Austrians and Russians. The victory resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine.

Beginning in 1806, Napoleon sought to wage large-scale economic warfare against Britain with the establishment of the so-called Continental System of European port blockades against British trade. In 1807, following Napoleon’s defeat of the Russians at Friedland in Prussia, Alexander I (1777-1825) was forced to sign a peace settlement, the Treaty of Tilsit. In 1809, the French defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram, resulting in further gains for Napoleon.

During these years, Napoleon reestablished a French aristocracy (eliminated in the French Revolution) and began handing out titles of nobility to his loyal friends and family as his empire continued to expand across much of western and central continental Europe.

Napoleon’s Downfall and First Abdication

In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System. In retaliation, Napoleon led a massive army into Russia in the summer of 1812. Rather than engaging the French in a full-scale battle, the Russians adopted a strategy of retreating whenever Napoleon’s forces attempted to attack. As a result, Napoleon’s troops trekked deeper into Russia despite being ill-prepared for an extended campaign.

In September, both sides suffered heavy casualties in the indecisive Battle of Borodino. Napoleon’s forces marched on to Moscow, only to discover almost the entire population evacuated. Retreating Russians set fires across the city in an effort to deprive enemy troops of supplies. After waiting a month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the onset of the Russian winter, was forced to order his starving, exhausted army out of Moscow. During the disastrous retreat, his army suffered continual harassment from a suddenly aggressive and merciless Russian army. Of Napoleon’s 600,000 troops who began the campaign, only an estimated 100,000 made it out of Russia.

At the same time as the catastrophic Russian invasion, French forces were engaged in the Peninsular War (1808-1814), which resulted in the Spanish and Portuguese, with assistance from the British, driving the French from the Iberian Peninsula. This loss was followed in 1813 by the Battle of Leipzig , also known as the Battle of Nations, in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a coalition that included Austrian, Prussian, Russian and Swedish troops. Napoleon then retreated to France, and in March 1814 coalition forces captured Paris.

On April 6, 1814, Napoleon, then in his mid-40s, was forced to abdicate the throne. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. He was given sovereignty over the small island, while his wife and son went to Austria.

HISTORY Vault: Napoleon Bonaparte: The Glory of France

Explore the extraordinary life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, the great military genius who took France to unprecedented heights of power, and then brought it to its knees when his ego spun out of control.

Hundred Days Campaign and Battle of Waterloo

On February 26, 1815, after less than a year in exile, Napoleon escaped Elba and sailed to the French mainland with a group of more than 1,000 supporters. On March 20, he returned to Paris, where he was welcomed by cheering crowds. The new king, Louis XVIII (1755-1824), fled, and Napoleon began what came to be known as his Hundred Days campaign.

Upon Napoleon’s return to France, a coalition of allies–the Austrians, British, Prussians and Russians–who considered the French emperor an enemy began to prepare for war. Napoleon raised a new army and planned to strike preemptively, defeating the allied forces one by one before they could launch a united attack against him.

In June 1815, his forces invaded Belgium, where British and Prussian troops were stationed. On June 16, Napoleon’s troops defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. However, two days later, on June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels, the French were crushed by the British, with assistance from the Prussians.

On June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate.

Napoleon’s Final Years

In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely from stomach cancer. (During his time in power, Napoleon often posed for paintings with his hand in his vest, leading to some speculation after his death that he had been plagued by stomach pain for years.) Napoleon was buried on the island despite his request to be laid to rest “on the banks of the Seine, among the French people I have loved so much.” In 1840, his remains were returned to France and entombed in a crypt at Les Invalides in Paris, where other French military leaders are interred.

Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

• “The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope.”
• “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
• “Envy is a declaration of inferiority.”
• “The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.”
• “If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.”

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Napoleon Bonaparte

French military general Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself the first emperor of France in 1804. His Napoleonic Code remains a model for governments worldwide.

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Latest News: Napoleon Movie in Theaters Now

Legendary French General Napoleon Bonaparte has been the subject of many movies, and the latest is director Ridley Scott ’s new biopic simply titled Napoleon . The movie, now in theaters , stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby as his wife Josephine. In addition to depicting the famed military leader’s rise to French emperor, the movie focuses heavily on Napoleon and Josephine’s tumultuous relationship .

Napoleon has received some flack for its historical inaccuracies , such as showing the titular character shooting at pyramids. “If you want to really understand Napoleon, then you should probably do your own studying and reading,” Phoenix previously told Empire magazine . “Because if you see this film, it’s this experience told through Ridley’s eyes... What we were after was something that would capture the feeling of this man.”

Who Was Napoleon Bonaparte?

Quick facts, early life and military education, how tall was napoleon, napoleon’s rise to power, wives: empress josephine and marie-louise, napoleonic code, napoleonic wars, exile on st. helena, death and tomb, napoleon movies.

French General Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the world’s greatest military leaders who became the first emperor of France, from 1804 to 1815. Born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, he attended military schools in France and eventually embraced his adopted home. Bonaparte steadily rose to power in the tumult of the French Revolution before seizing power in a 1799 coup. He was elected consul for life in 1802, then proclaimed the French emperor two years later. As a political leader, Bonaparte broadly transformed French society, most notably ushering in the Napoleonic Code that still serves as the basis of civil codes around the world today. During the Napoleonic Wars, the famed military tactician expanded France’s footprint before a string of critical losses forced him into exile. Bonaparte spent the final years of his life on the remote island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821 at age 51.

FULL NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte BORN: August 15, 1769 DIED: May 5, 1821 BIRTHPLACE: Ajaccio, Corsica SPOUSES: Josephine de Beauharnais (1796-1809) and Archduchess Marie-Louise (1810-1821) CHILDREN: Charles, Alexandre, and Napoleon II ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo HEIGHT: 5 ft. 7 in.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born Napoleone Buonaparte in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica, on August 15, 1769. He was the fourth, and second surviving, child of Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer, and his wife, Letizia Ramolino. Napoleon eventually had seven surviving siblings.

Around the time of Napoleon’s birth, the French’s occupation of Corsica had drawn considerable local resistance. Napoleon’s father had at first supported the nationalists, siding with their leader, Pasquale Paoli. But after Paoli was forced to flee the island, Carlo switched his allegiance to the French. After doing so, he was appointed assessor of the judicial district of Ajaccio in 1771, a plush job that eventually enabled him to enroll his two sons, Joseph and Napoleon, in France’s College d’Autun.

In 1779, young Napoleon began attending the military college of Brienne, where he studied for five years. He excelled as a student yet struggled to fit in with his classmates who were the children of French nobles and bullied Napoleon for being a foreigner.

At age 15, Napoleon moved on to the military academy in Paris. While Napoleon was still there, his father died of stomach cancer in 1785. This propelled Napoleon to take the reins as the head of the family. Graduating early from the military academy, Napoleon, now second lieutenant of artillery, returned to Corsica in 1786.

Back home, Napoleon got behind the Corsican resistance to the French occupation, siding with his father’s former ally, Pasquale Paoli. But the two soon had a falling out, and when a civil war in Corsica began in April 1793, Napoleon—now an enemy of Paoli—and his family relocated to France, where they assumed the French version of their name: Bonaparte.

Napoleon stood about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, making him slightly taller than the average Frenchman of his time.

Much has been made of Napoleon’s height, and legends claim that he was unusually short, giving rise to the term “Napoleon complex,” an inferiority complex sometimes associated with people of short stature. Some historians attribute the myths about Napoleon’s height to British propaganda.

Napoleon’s return to France began with a service with the French military, where he rejoined his regiment at Nice in June 1793. The turmoil of the French Revolution , which began four years prior, created opportunities for ambitious military leaders like Napoleon. The young leader quickly showed his support for the Jacobins, a far-left political movement and the most well-known and popular political club from the French Revolution.

A year after France was declared a republic, King Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. Ultimately, these acts led to the rise of Maximilien de Robespierre and what became, essentially, the dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety. The years of 1793 and 1794 came to be known as the Reign of Terror , in which as many as 40,000 people were killed. Eventually, the Jacobins fell from power, and Robespierre was executed.

Trusted Military Leader

In 1795, the French revolutionary government known as the Directory took control of the country. Napoleon, who had previously fallen out of favor with Robespierre, came into the good graces of the Directory that same year after he saved the government from counter-revolutionary forces. For his efforts, Napoleon was soon named commander of the Army of the Interior. In addition, he was a trusted advisor to the Directory on military matters.

In 1796, Napoleon took the helm of the Army of Italy, a post he’d been coveting. The army—just 30,000 strong, disgruntled, and underfed—was soon turned around by the young military commander. Under his direction, the reinvigorated army won numerous crucial victories against the Austrians, greatly expanded the French empire, and squashed an internal threat by the royalists, who wished to return France to a monarchy. All of these successes helped make Napoleon the military’s brightest star.

Failed Egypt Campaign

On July 1, 1798, Napoleon and his army traveled to the Middle East to undermine Great Britain’s empire by occupying Egypt and disrupting English trade routes to India. But his military campaign proved disastrous: On August 1, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s fleet decimated Napoleon’s forces in the Battle of the Nile.

Napoleon’s image and that of France were greatly harmed by the loss, and in a show of newfound confidence against the commander, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Turkey formed a new coalition against France. In the spring of 1799, French armies were defeated in Italy, forcing France to give up much of the peninsula. That October, Napoleon returned to France as his troops continued fighting.

Coup of 18 Brumaire

Shortly after his return to France, Napoleon participated in an event known as the Coup of 18 Brumaire. The bloodless coup d’etat, heavily orchestrated by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, overthrew the newly Jacobin-controlled Directory on November 9, 1799. Napoleon and Sieyès ushered in a new government called the Consulate to be led by three members—themselves and Pierre-Roger Ducos. Napoleon’s brother Lucien Bonaparte also assisted the cause.

When Napoleon was named first consul, he became France’s leading political figure in a position that amounted to nothing less than a dictatorship. Under the new guidelines, the first consul was permitted to appoint ministers, generals, civil servants, magistrates, and even members of the legislative assemblies. Sieyès and Ducos were reduced to figureheads. In February 1800, the new constitution was easily accepted.

At the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, Napoleon’s forces defeated the Austrians and drove them from the Italian peninsula. This military victory cemented Napoleon’s authority as first consul.

Napoleon proceeded to transform France’s economy, legal and educational systems, and even the Church, as he reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state religion through the Concordat of 1801. He also negotiated a European peace, partially through the 1802 Treaty of Amiens that struck a (short-lived) truce with the war-weary British.

His reforms proved popular: In 1802, he was elected consul for life, and two years later, he was proclaimed emperor of France on May 18, 1804. He was officially crowned Napoleon I during his coronation at Notre Dame Cathedral on December 2 of that year.

As Napoleon was rising in the ranks, his personal life was also taking shape. He met Josephine de Beauharnais, the widow of General Alexandre de Beauharnais (guillotined during the Reign of Terror) and a mother of two children, at a party in 1795. He was quickly smitten and despite her initial reservations— Josephine described Napoleon as “altogether strange in all his person”—they married on March 9, 1796, in a civil ceremony.

Their union was tempestuous from the outset, with Napoleon’s military campaigns forcing him away from home for long periods. Although he often complimented Josephine in letters from the battlefield, both of them engaged in extramarital affairs. Napoleon had at least two children out of wedlock—Charles Léon Denuelle in 1806 and Alexandre Walewski in 1810.

Josephine was known for holding lavish parties and spending money on clothing and property, including the Malmaison estate near Paris in 1799. Despite their arguments, the two stayed together as Josephine maintained a positive perception among the public. When Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, he insisted upon placing a crown upon Empress Josephine as well.

Despite his new title, not all was going to plan for Napoleon. He faced mounting pressure from his family to separate from Josephine, who was in her 40s by this point, because she was unable to give him a legitimate son and, thus, an heir. So in December 1809, Napoleon arranged for the annulment of their marriage.

Following the annulment, Napoleon searched in haste for a new bride. His first choice was Anna Pavlovna, the 15-year-old sister of Russian Tsar Alexander I. But after delays and excuses, he instead selected Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, 18, due largely to political motivations. Marie-Louise was the great-niece of Marie Antoinette . She dreaded the idea , writing in her diary that just looking at Napoleon would be the “worst form of torture.” However, she complied and married Napoleon by proxy in a civil ceremony in March 1810.

Marie-Louise gave Napoleon the heir he desired, as the couple had a son—Napoleon II, King of Rome—on March 20, 1811.

Despite his marriage to Marie-Louise, Napoleon continued his correspondence with Josephine and made unannounced personal visits to Malmaison. In 1813, he even brought his young son to meet her, as their struggle to produce an heir “had cost her so many tears.” This stoked jealousy in Marie-Louise, who remained married to Napoleon until his death.

Continuing the societal reforms he made, Napoleon instituted the Napoleonic Code, otherwise known as the French Civil Code, on March 21, 1804. The sweeping set of laws ended the feudal system and addressed property rights, family law, and individual freedoms. It forbade privileges based on birth, declaring all men to be equal and stating that government jobs must be given to the most qualified. Men were entitled to religious freedom and placed in charge of the women and children in their families. Women were largely left without rights, though they did have limited liberties in divorce proceedings.

The Napoleonic Code applied in France and its growing number of territories. Napoleon correctly predicted that his code, more so than his many military victories, would have a lasting legacy. Parts of it are still in use around the world today. The terms of the code are the main basis for many other countries’ civil codes throughout Europe and North America.

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of European wars lasting from 1803 to Napoleon’s permanent abdication of power in 1815.

In 1803, in part to raise funds for war, France sold its North American Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million, a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase . Napoleon then returned to war with Britain, Russia, and Austria.

In 1805, the British registered an important naval victory against France at the Battle of Trafalgar , which led Napoleon to scrap his plans to invade England. Instead, he set his sights on Austria and Russia, beating back both militaries in the Battle of Austerlitz.

Other victories soon followed, allowing Napoleon to greatly expand the French empire and paving the way for loyalists to his government—including his brothers and other family members—to be installed in Holland, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Spain, and Westphalia.

Invasion of Russia

In 1812, France was devastated when Napoleon’s invasion of Russia turned out to be a colossal failure—and the beginning of the end for Napoleon. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Napoleon’s Grand Army were killed or badly wounded: Out of an original fighting force of some 600,000 men, just 10,000 soldiers were still fit for battle.

News of the defeat reinvigorated Napoleon’s enemies, both inside and outside of France. Some attempted a failed coup while Napoleon led his charge against Russia and as the British began to advance through French territories. With international pressure mounting and his government lacking the resources to fight back against his enemies, Napoleon surrendered to allied forces on March 30, 1814.

First Exile

About a week later, on April 6, Napoleon was forced to abdicate power and went into exile on the island of Elba off the Italian coast in the Mediterranean Sea. His exile didn’t last long, as he watched France stumbled forward without him.

In March 1815, Napoleon escaped the island and quickly made his way back to Paris. King Louis XVIII fled, and Napoleon triumphantly returned to power. But the enthusiasm that greeted Napoleon when he resumed control of the government soon gave way to old frustrations and fears about his leadership.

On June 16, 1815, Napoleon led French troops into Belgium and defeated the Prussians; two days later, he was defeated by the British, reinforced by Prussian fighters, at the Battle of Waterloo .

It was a humiliating loss, and on June 22, 1815, Napoleon abdicated his powers for good. In an effort to prolong his dynasty, he pushed to have his young son, Napoleon II, named emperor, but the coalition rejected the offer.

After Napoleon’s abdication from power in 1815, fearing a repeat of his earlier return from exile on Elba, the British government sent Napoleon to the remote island of St. Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. He lived there for the rest of his life.

For the most part, Napoleon was free to do as he pleased at his new home. He had leisurely mornings, wrote often, and read a lot. But the tedious routine of life soon got to him, and he often shut himself indoors.

According to historian Kate Williams’ 2014 book Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte , Napoleon continued to show great affection for his ex-wife , who died of pneumonia at her Malmaison estate in May 1814. He had portraits of Josephine placed throughout his residence and even ate off plates with her likeness on them.

Starting in 1817, Napoleon’s health began to deteriorate. In early 1821, he was bedridden and growing weaker by the day. That April, he dictated his last will: “I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of that French people which I have loved so much. I die before my time, killed by the English oligarchy and its hired assassins.”

Napoleon died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena at age 51. Allegedly, he uttered his ex-wife Josephine’s name as his final word.

During his final weeks, he experienced symptoms such as vomiting, incessant hiccups, and blood clots. Physicians who conducted his autopsy ruled stomach cancer, exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, as the cause of Napoleon’s death. According to PBS News Hour , Napoleon’s cancer was in an advanced state, and his family history of gastric carcinomas supported the autopsy results.

However, researchers have posited alternative theories regarding his demise. In 1961, Swedish dentist Sten Forshufvud and Drs. Hamilton Smith and Anders Wassen analyzed a sample of his hair and published an article suggesting he might have died from arsenic poisoning. Although other experts have rebuffed this theory, it has led to conspiracies surrounding Napoleon’s death.

Despite what he requested in his last will, Napoleon was initially buried on St. Helena on May 9, 1821, in the Geranium Valley, now known as the Valley of the Tomb. In 1840, he was exhumed by order of French King Louis-Phillippe , and Bonaparte’s remains were transferred back to mainland France, arriving on December 15 .

Napoleon’s tomb is located in Paris in the Dôme des Invalides . Originally a royal chapel built between 1677 and 1706, the Invalides were turned into a military pantheon under Napoleon’s reign. In addition to Napoleon Bonaparte, several other French notables are buried there, including: Napoleon II, the King of Rome and Napoleon’s son; Napoleon’s brothers Joseph and Jérôme Bonaparte; Generals Henri-Gratien Bertrand and Géraud-Christophe-Michel Duroc; and the French Marshals Ferdinand Foch and Hubert Lyautey.

Not surprising given his place in world history, Napoleon has appeared on the big screen many times with depictions ranging from purposefully humorous to based in realism.

Marlon Brando and Dennis Hopper were cast as Bonaparte in the 1950s movies Désirée (1954) and The Story of Mankind (1957), respectively. The general also appears in films such as Waterloo (1970), Time Bandits (1981), and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).

In terms of more fantastical portrayals, Napoleon is a character in the 1989 cult comedy Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, in which the title characters played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves decide to abduct historical figures for their high school project through the use of time travel. He also appears as an antagonist in the 2009 sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian .

In 2023, director Ridley Scott helmed a new biopic simply titled Napoleon that released in theaters on November 22. The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as Josephine and focuses heavily on their tumultuous relationship. Napoleon marked a reunion for Phoenix and Scott, who worked on the 2000 classic Gladiator also starring Russell Crowe .

• I am never angry when contradicted; I seek to be enlightened.
• I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of that French people which I have loved so much. I die before my time, killed by the English oligarchy and its hired assassins.
• A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
• A great people may be killed, but they will not be intimidated.
• He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat.
• Love does more harm than good.
• A man is not dependent upon his fellow creature, when he does not fear death.
• It is the cause, and not the death that makes the martyr.
• Even when I am gone, I shall remain in people’s minds the star of their rights, my name will be the war cry of their efforts, the motto of their hopes.
• Men of genius are meteors, intended to burn to light their century.
• Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
• In choosing a wife, a man does not renounce his mother, and still less is he justified with breaking her heart.

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A short biography of Napoleon Bonaparte

Last Updated:  9 July 2022

You may hate him or love him… but you can’t ignore Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French emperor! Born in 1769 in Corsica from the minor nobility, Napoleon rose to fame during the French Revolution and proclaimed himself emperor in 1804. His legacy is still visible in France. Think about the Code Napoleon still in use today. Or the Arc de Triomphe that he commissioned (but never saw completed). Here is a (very) brief biography of Napoleon Bonaparte…

A (very) short biography of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on the 15th of August 1769 .

Born two years before it would have been Italian as the Mediterranean island became part of France in 1767.

This military genius who graduated from the Ecole Militaire in Paris became a general at the young age of 26.

From First Consul to Emperor

Napoleon was elected First Consul of France for life in 1802. In December 1804 he crowned himself emperor of the French at Notre-Dame cathedral . The coronation brought the 1st Republic to an end. France was now under a military despotism presided over by an absolute monarch. His court was re-established in the Tuileries .

During the 10 years of his reign, he successfully conquered Spain, Germany, Poland, Austria, and Italy.

Napoleon is known for having translated the great principles of the French Revolution into law, giving France a new civil code: the Code Napoléon . His work still remains in force not only in France but also in other countries. He re-established public worship and religious tolerance, making an agreement (the Concordat ) with the Pope in 1801.

But the emperor’s greatest mistake was the invasion of Russia in 1812. The great distances and severe cold of Russia caused the loss of most of his army.

Napoleon was defeated at Leipzig in 1814. Forced to abdicate, Napoleon was banished to the tiny Mediterranean island of Elba off the coast of Italy for a kingdom and granted a pension for life.  

In February 1815, Napoleon returned to France for “ Les Cent Jours ” (The Hundred Days).

After a few victories, Napoleon was lured into a confrontation with the Allied armies, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, at Waterloo in Belgium, on the 15th June 1815.

Napoleon’s exile and death

Napoleon abdicated on the 22nd June 1815 and was taken in exile by the English under guard to the lonely island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, a British possession.

Napoleon Bonaparte died on the 5th May 1821  in St. Helena.

In his will, Napoleon had asked to be buried in Paris on the banks of the Seine “ in the midst of the French people [whom I] loved so much “. However, the British governor insisted that he should be buried on the island, in a place called the Valley of the Willows.

Placed in a solitary spot, the tomb of Napoleon was covered by three bare slabs placed level with the soil. These slabs can still be seen today in the garden of Les Invalides .

The ‘retour des cendres’ in 1840

Then in 1840, King Louis-Philippe was granted from the British the agreement to repatriate Napoleon’s remains to France. The ‘ retour des cendres ‘ (returning of the ashes) is an episode that relates the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon in the Hôtel des Invalides , Paris.

When the mortal remains of Napoleon was transferred from St. Helena Island to France, the tomb was set up in the St. Jérôme chapel, a side-chapel of the Dome church of Les Invalides.

Architect Louis Visconti had a circular hollow cut beneath the dome to create a sort of an open crypt. In its centre would be placed a large sarcophagus containing the remains of the emperor.

Napoleon’s coffin was moved to the dedicated crypt in 1861 during a ceremony presided by his nephew, Napoleon III.

>> Get your Tickets for Les Invalides: the Army Museum [Priority Entrance], Napoleon’s tomb and see war memorabilia! <<

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About the author

Pierre is a French/Australian who is passionate about France and its culture. He grew up in France and Germany and has also lived in Australia and England. He has a background teaching French, Economics and Current Affairs, and holds a Master of Translating and Interpreting English-French with the degree of Master of International Relations, and a degree of Economics and Management. Pierre is the author of Discovery Courses and books about France.

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This is very nice bio on Napoleon Bonaparte….. ❤❤😇😇

You’re welcome!

This was a great biography of Napoleon Bonaparte which helped me to do my history holiday homework…

Thank you, glad the article helped! 🙂

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Biography Online

Napoleon Bonaparte Biography

“France has more need of me than I have need of France. “

Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, he rose to prominence under the First French Republic. He distinguished himself as a military commander fighting in Italy. In 1799, Bonaparte staged a coup d’état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later he crowned himself Emperor of the French. In the first decade of the Nineteenth Century, he turned the armies of the French Empire against every major European power and dominated continental Europe, through a series of military victories epitomised in battles such as Austerlitz. He maintained France’s sphere of influence by the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states. It appeared that through Napoleon’s tactical genius, nothing could stop the French as they won a series of military victories.

“Circumstances–what are circumstances? I make circumstances.”

However, in 1812, the French invasion of Russia led to a reversal of fortunes. His army succeeded in advancing to the outskirts of Moscow, but it was a hollow victory. The Russians had retreated into the interior, leaving a desolate and empty city. Cold and worn down with illness, his Grande Armée was forced into a long and painful retreat through the deep freeze of the Russian winter.

In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig, and the following year the Coalition invaded France, forcing Napoleon to abdicate and making him an exile in the island of Elba. However, less than a year later, Napoleon escaped Elba. After his escape, an army was sent by Louis XVIII to arrest Napoleon, but Napoleon was able to sway his former army and they dramatically joined up with Napoleon. On returning to Paris, Louis XVIII fled and Napoleon regained power. Almost straight away, eight European countries joined forces against him to make a coalition army led by the Duke of Wellington .  It was at Waterloo, in June 1815, that the Duke of Wellington decided to turn and fight Napoleon. The Battle of Waterloo was a close-run affair, with the outcome uncertain at one stage. But, the arrival of the Prussian army helped to swing the battle against the French, and Napoleon was eventually decisively beaten and ousted from power.

Napoleon spent the last six years of his life under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena, where he died. His autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, though Sten Forshufvud and other scientists have since conjectured that he had been poisoned with arsenic.

Despite his military prowess and empire building, he was also conscious of a more spiritual perspective on life.

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him. ”

Napoleon scored major victories with a modernised French army and drew his tactics from different sources. His campaigns are studied at military academies the world over, and he is regarded as one of history’s great commanders. While considered a tyrant by his opponents, he is also remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative and judicial foundations for much of Western Europe.

Commentary on Life of Napoleon

Napoleon was a colossal figure of nineteenth-century Europe. He had an unfettered conviction in his own destiny and that of Europe. He paved the way for a very impressive modern European Empire. In doing so, he swept away much of the old feudal systems and customs of Europe. Napoleon helped to usher in a new era of European politics. He established a Napoleonic code of religious tolerance, rational values and a degree of liberalism. Yet, he was a man of paradoxes: his naked ambition led to costly wars with 6 million dead across Europe. His liberalism and tolerance were imposed with ruthless efficiency and conquest of foreign lands. Sri Aurobindo later summed up the paradox of Napoleon by saying, “Napoleon was the despotic defender of democracy.”

Eventually, his ambition outreached his ability, leading to his humiliation in the severe Russian winter and later against the British at Waterloo.

The Duke of Wellington , the British Commander at Waterloo was asked who he thought was the best General of all time. Wellington’s reply was revealing in its unmitigated praise for Napoleon.

“In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon!

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Napoleon”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 01/10/2013 updated 22 September 2017

Napoleon: A Biography

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Napoleon Bonaparte is a name that evokes both admiration and controversy. As one of the most iconic figures in history, he is remembered as a brilliant military strategist, a charismatic leader, and a symbol of revolution. His meteoric rise to power and eventual downfall have captivated people for centuries, and his legacy continues to shape the world we live in today. In this article, we will delve into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, exploring his early years, his ascent to power, and the events that led to his ultimate downfall.

Through examining his life, we will gain a deeper understanding of this complex historical figure and the impact he had on the world. So, let us embark on a journey through history as we uncover the rise and fall of the revolutionary leader, Napoleon Bonaparte. To truly understand Napoleon Bonaparte , we must first delve into the historical context of his rise to power. At a time when Europe was undergoing major political and social changes, Napoleon emerged as a charismatic and ambitious leader who was determined to make his mark on the world. He rose through the ranks of the French military, eventually seizing control of the country in a coup d'état in 1799. From there, he went on to establish himself as the Emperor of France and conquer vast territories across Europe.

His reign was marked by military conquests , political reforms, and cultural advancements that transformed France and left a lasting impact on the rest of the world. Napoleon's rise to power was fueled by the turmoil of the French Revolution , a period of intense social and political upheaval in France. As a young officer in the French army, he quickly gained recognition for his strategic brilliance and leadership skills. His military successes and political savvy caught the attention of influential figures in France, including the Directory - the governing body of the country at the time. In 1799, with support from key allies and fellow military leaders, Napoleon staged a coup d'état and overthrew the Directory, establishing himself as First Consul and effectively becoming the ruler of France. This marked the beginning of his rise to power and his transformation into one of the most influential leaders in European history. As First Consul, Napoleon implemented a series of political and social reforms that aimed to stabilize France and consolidate his power.

He introduced a new constitution, reformed the legal system, and established a centralized government that allowed for more efficient decision-making. These reforms helped to restore order in France and earned Napoleon the support of the French people. In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France, solidifying his position as the country's absolute ruler. With a firm grip on power, he set his sights on expanding the French empire and establishing French dominance in Europe. Over the next decade, Napoleon led his army to victory in numerous military campaigns, conquering and annexing territories across Europe and spreading French influence and ideals. However, Napoleon's thirst for power and military conquest ultimately led to his downfall.

As his empire grew, so did the opposition from other European powers who feared the threat of French dominance. In 1812, Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia marked the beginning of his decline. He faced a series of defeats in battles against a coalition of European armies, eventually leading to his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he spent the rest of his days until his death in 1821. Despite his defeat and downfall, Napoleon's legacy continues to live on. His influence on military strategy, political systems, and cultural developments can still be seen today.

The Napoleon Series

From revolutionary to ruler.

His rise to power was met with both praise and criticism, as some saw him as a savior of the Republic while others feared his authoritarian tendencies. Nevertheless, Napoleon's rule brought about significant changes in France, including the introduction of a new legal system, the Napoleonic Code, and major economic and social reforms. He also expanded France's territory through successful military campaigns, establishing himself as one of the most powerful leaders in Europe. However, Napoleon's ambitions ultimately led to his downfall. His failed invasion of Russia in 1812 and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 marked the end of his reign as Emperor of France. He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. Despite his eventual defeat, Napoleon's legacy continues to be a topic of debate among historians.

The Legacy of Napoleon

The napoleonic code, cultural impact, influence on modern leaders, the napoleonic wars, napoleon bonaparte's legacy.

Grace Thompson

Grace Thompson is a dedicated historian and writer, contributing extensively to the field of world history. Her work covers a wide range of topics, including ancient civilizations, cultural histories, and significant global events like the World Wars. Known for her meticulous research and clear, engaging writing style, Grace makes complex historical subjects accessible to readers. Her articles are a valuable resource for both students and educators, providing deep insights into how historical events shape the modern world.

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Biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, Great Military Commander

At its height, his empire covered much of Europe

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Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769–May 5, 1821), one of the greatest military commanders in history, was the twice- emperor of France whose military endeavors and sheer personality dominated Europe for a decade.

In military affairs, legal issues, economics, politics, technology, culture, and society in general, his actions influenced the course of European history for over a century, and some argue, to this very day.

Fast Facts: Napoleon Bonaparte

• Known For : Emperor of France, conqueror of much of Europe
• Also Known As : Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon 1st of France, The Little Corporal , The Corsican
• Born : August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica
• Parents : Carlo Buonaparte, Letizia Ramolino
• Died : May 5, 1821 on Saint Helena, United Kingdom
• Published Works : Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire), a pro-republican pamphlet (1793); the Napoleonic Code , the French civil code (1804); authorized the publication of Description de l'Égypte , a multivolume work authored by dozens of scholars detailing Egypt's archeology, topography, and natural history (1809-1821)
• Awards and Honors : Founder and grand master of the Legion of Honor (1802), the Order of the Iron Crown (1805), the Order of the Reunion (1811)
• Spouse(s) : Josephine de Beauharnais (m. March 8, 1796–Jan. 10, 1810), Marie-Louise (m. April 2, 1810–May 5, 1821)
• Children : Napoleon II
• Notable Quote : "Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them."

Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769, to Carlo Buonaparte , a lawyer and political opportunist, and his wife Marie-Letizia . The Buonapartes were a wealthy family from the Corsican nobility, although when compared to the great aristocracies of France, Napoleon's kin were poor.

Napoleon entered the military academy at Brienne in 1779. He moved to the Parisian École Royale Militaire in 1784 and graduated a year later as a second lieutenant in the artillery. Spurred on by his father's death in February 1785, the future emperor had completed in one year a course that often took three.

Early Career

Despite being posted on the French mainland, Napoleon was able to spend much of the next eight years in Corsica thanks to his ferocious letter writing and rule-bending, as well as the effects of the French Revolution (which led to the French Revolutionary Wars ) and sheer good luck. There he played an active part in political and military matters, initially supporting the Corsican rebel Pasquale Paoli, a former patron of Carlo Buonaparte.

Military promotion also followed, but Napoleon became opposed to Paoli and when civil war erupted in 1793 the Buonapartes fled to France, where they adopted the French version of their name: Bonaparte.

The French Revolution had decimated the republic's officer class and favored individuals could achieve swift promotion, but Napoleon's fortunes rose and fell as one set of patrons came and went. By December 1793, Napoleon was the hero of Toulon , a general and favorite of Augustin Robespierre; shortly after the wheel of revolution turned and Napoleon was arrested for treason. Tremendous political flexibility saved him and the patronage of Vicomte Paul de Barras, soon to be one of France's three "Directors," followed.

Napoleon became a hero again in 1795, defending the government from angry counter-revolutionary forces; Baras rewarded Napoleon by promoting him to high military office, a position with access to the political spine of France. Napoleon swiftly grew into one of the country's most respected military authorities, largely by never keeping his opinions to himself, and he married Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796.

Rise to Power

In 1796, France attacked Austria. Napoleon was given command of the Army of Italy , whereupon he welded a young, starving and disgruntled army into a force which won victory after victory against theoretically stronger Austrian opponents.

Napoleon returned to France in 1797 as the nation's brightest star, having fully emerged from the need for a patron. Ever a great self-publicist, he maintained the profile of a political independent, thanks partly to the newspapers he now ran.

In May 1798, Napoleon left for a campaign in Egypt and Syria, prompted by his desire for fresh victories, the French need to threaten Britain's empire in India and the Directory's concerns that their famous general might seize power.

The Egyptian campaign was a military failure (although it had a great cultural impact) and a change of government in France caused Bonaparte to leave—some might say abandon—his army and return in the August 1799. Shortly after he took part in the Brumaire coup of November 1799, finishing as a member of the Consulate, France's new ruling triumvirate.

First Consul

The transfer of power might not have been smooth, owing much to luck and apathy, but Napoleon's great political skill was clear; by February 1800, he was established as the First Consul, a practical dictatorship with a constitution wrapped firmly around him. However, France was still at war with her fellows in Europe and Napoleon set out to beat them. He did so within a year, although the key triumph, the Battle of Marengo, fought in June 1800, was won by the French General Desaix.

From Reformer to Emperor

Having concluded treaties that left Europe at peace, Bonaparte began working on France, reforming the economy, legal system (the famous and enduring Code Napoleon), church, military, education, and government. He studied and commented on minute details, often while traveling with the army, and the reforms continued for most of his rule. Bonaparte exhibited skill as both legislator and statesmen.

Napoleon's popularity remained high, helped by his mastery of propaganda but also genuine national support, and he was elected Consulate for life by the French people in 1802 and Emperor of France in 1804, a title which he worked hard to maintain and glorify. Initiatives like the Concordat with the Church and the Code helped secure his status.

Return to War

Europe was not at peace for long. Napoleon's fame, ambitions, and character were based on conquest, making it almost inevitable that his reorganized Grande Armée would fight further wars. However, other European countries also sought conflict, for not only did they distrust and fear Napoleon, but they also retained their hostility toward revolutionary France.

For the next eight years, Napoleon dominated Europe, fighting and defeating a range of alliances involving combinations of Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia. Sometimes his victories were crushing—such as Austerlitz in 1805, often cited as the greatest military victory ever—and at other times, he was either very lucky, fought almost to a standstill, or both.

Napoleon forged new states in Europe, including the German Confederation—built from the ruins of the Holy Roman Empire —and the Duchy of Warsaw, while also installing his family and favorites in positions of great power. The reforms continued and Napoleon had an ever-increasing effect on culture and technology, becoming a patron of both the arts and sciences while stimulating creative responses across Europe.

Disaster in Russia

The Napoleonic Empire may have shown signs of decline by 1811, including a downturn in diplomatic fortunes and continuing failure in Spain, but such matters were overshadowed by what happened next. In  1812 Napoleon went to war with Russia , assembling a force of over 400,000 soldiers, accompanied by the same number of followers and support. Such an army was almost impossible to feed or adequately control and the Russians repeatedly retreated, destroying the local resources and separating Napoleon's army from its supplies.

Napoleon continually dithered, eventually reaching Moscow on Sept. 8, 1812, after the Battle of Borodino, a bludgeoning conflict where over 80,000 soldiers died. However, the Russians refused to surrender, instead torching Moscow and forcing Napoleon into a long retreat back to friendly territory. The Grande Armée was assailed by starvation, extremes of weather and terrifying Russian partisans throughout, and by the end of 1812 only 10,000 soldiers were able to fight. Many of the rest had died in horrible conditions, with the camp's followers faring even worse.

A coup had been attempted in Napoleon's absence from France and his enemies in Europe were reinvigorated, forming a grand alliance intent on removing him. Vast numbers of enemy soldiers advanced across Europe toward France, overturning the states Bonaparte had created. The combined forces of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and others just used a simple plan, retreating from the emperor himself and advancing again when he moved to face the next threat.

Throughout 1813 and into 1814 the pressure grew on Napoleon; not only were his enemies grinding his forces down and approaching Paris, but the British had fought out of Spain and into France, the Grande Armée's Marshalls were underperforming and Bonaparte had lost the French public's support.

Nevertheless, for the first half of 1814 Napoleon exhibited the military genius of his youth, but it was a war he couldn't win alone. On March 30, 1814, Paris surrendered to allied forces without a fight and, facing massive betrayal and impossible military odds, Napoleon abdicated as Emperor of France; he was exiled to the Island of Elba.

Second Exile and Death

Napoleon made a sensational  return to power in 1815 . Traveling to France in secret, he attracted vast support and reclaimed his imperial throne, as well as reorganizing the army and government. After a series of initial engagements, Napoleon was narrowly defeated in one of history's greatest battles: Waterloo.

This final adventure had occurred in less than 100 days, closing with Napoleon's second abdication on June 25, 1815, whereupon British forces forced him into further exile. Housed on St. Helena, a small rocky island well away from Europe in the South Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon's health and character fluctuated; he died within six years, on May 5, 1821, at age 51.

Napoleon helped perpetuate a state of European-wide warfare that lasted for 20 years. Few individuals have ever had such a huge effect on the world, on economics, politics, technology, culture, and society.

Napoleon may not have been a general of utter genius, but he was very good; he may not have been the best politician of his age, but he was often superb; he may not have been a perfect legislator, but his contributions were hugely important. Napoleon used his talents—through luck, talent, or force of will—to rise from chaos and then build, lead, and spectacularly destroy an empire before doing it all again in a tiny microcosm one year later. Whether a hero or tyrant, the reverberations were felt across Europe for a century.

• I, Napoleon. “ Description of Egypt. Second Edition. Antiquities, Volume One (Plates). ”  WDL RSS , Detroit Publishing Company, 1 Jan. 1970.
• “ 16 Most Remarkable Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes. ”  Goalcast , Goalcast, 6 Dec. 2018.
• Editors, History.com. “ Napoleon Bonaparte. ”  History.com , A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009.
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Napoleon Bonaparte

Facts and summary information and article on napoleon bonaparte, emperor napoleon i of france, who is ranked among the greatest military leaders of all time for his performance during the napoleonic wars, napoleon bonaparte facts.

August 15, 1769. Ajaccio, Island of Corsica

May 5, 1821. St. Helena Island

Initial Rank

Second lieutenant, artillery

Highest Rank Achieved

Self-proclaimed emperor, in command of all French armies

Battles Engaged

Napoleon Bonaparte summary: Napoleon Bonaparte—Napoleon I, Emperor of France—was the greatest soldier of his age and ranks among the most renowned military leaders of all time. The tactics he refined in the Napoleonic Wars heavily influenced European and American armies into the 21st century, but his legacy went beyond strictly military concerns. For nearly a quarter of a century his influence in politics, law, and military organization and tactics spread across most of Europe and parts of Africa and the MidEast. The Napoleonic Code of laws did a great deal to standardize law across Europe and brought greater freedom to the peoples of the lands he conquered than they had previously known.

In the military realm, he masterfully adapted existing tactics and made maximum use of the technology of his time and Europe’s improved network of roads. Speed and shock were his primary weapons, and he coordinated the separate arms of infantry, cavalry and artillery effectively. He organized his forces so that armies, corps and even divisions could go into battle and fight independently as needed. He chose skillful subordinates and then closely coordinated their efforts. His chief of staff, Louis Alexandre Berthier, who was as much a master at handling logistics as Napoleon was a master of battlefield tactics, ably aided him. Added to all this was Napoleon’s charisma and personal courage, which earned him the devout allegiance of his soldiers.

After years of successfully outmaneuvering and outfighting armies of several nations, he made the mistake of invading the vast stretches of Russia in 1812. Before the year was over, the French Army that staggered back out of the tsar’s lands was barely a shadow of the conquering horde that had entered in June. Forced to abdicate, Napoleon was sentenced to exile on the island of Elba but escaped and returned to France in 1815. He attempted to resume his winning ways with a rapid strike to divide Anglo-Dutch and Prussian armies in Belgium in order to defeat them in detail, but he lost his final battle, south of Waterloo , on June 15, 1815. Again forced to abdicate, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic where he died in 1821.

Part conquering megalomaniac, part revolutionary who brought greater freedoms to Europe as he expanded his empire, he left bloodshed and death in his wake but was dedicated to the advancement of France. He said of himself, "Power is my mistress."

Napoleon Rising

Born Napoleon Buonaparte on the French island of Corsica on August 15, 1769, he changed his surname to Bonaparte in 1796 following his first military victories and eventually became simply Napoleon—no surname required. His family was minor nobility with no military tradition, but he read military history voraciously and after an early education in "gentleman subjects," he attended a military school in France. Graduating at age 16, he became a second lieutenant in the artillery. When Corsica declared independence from France in 1793 he severed all ties with the island; he was henceforth a Frenchman, through and through.

During the French Revolution (1789–1799), many army officers fled the country, as they were also nobility. This opened up opportunities for military advancement based on merit rather than birth status. The young Napoleon was handed such an opportunity during the 1793 siege of Toulon, a port city in southern France that had rebelled against the Parisians controlling the revolution. The city had invited in British ships and turned command over to their officers. When the commander of the French artillery was wounded in September, Napoleon was named as his replacement. He performed skillfully and played a vital role in the fall of the city on December 19, for which he was promoted to brigadier general.

He always believed luck played a role in success, and Dame Fortune smiled upon him again in October 1795. When a Royalist revolt against the regime broke out in Paris, Napoleon squelched it with a "whiff of grapeshot" from a battery, killing and wounding hundreds and clearing the streets. He was rewarded with command of the Army of Italy.

Before leaving for his new position he married Josephine de Beauharnais , whose husband had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror. A graceful, attractive woman six years his senior, she had social position that the Corsican hoped would open doors for him. The passionate letters he wrote to her while on campaign indicated he was truly taken with her, and after he declared himself emperor in 1804, she was crowned Empress Josephine; she served as ambassador and hostess and returned to the French court some of the ceremony it had known under the monarchy. She was unable to produce a male heir for Napoleon, however, and he had their marriage annulled in 1810. He then married Marie-Louise of Austria but provided Josephine with a generous settlement and the two remained in close contact.

Napoleon in Italy, 1796-97

France’s revolution was initially viewed by other European nations as an internal matter, but in August 1791 Austria and Prussia, in the declaration of Pillnitz, warned that they were willing to use force to protect King Louis XVI of France. The following April they began soliciting allies for war against the republican government in Paris, which responded by declaring war on Austria. From 1792 on, France found itself embroiled in wars with most nations of Europe; thanks to a new policy of conscription, the republicans are able to raise several large armies, named for their areas of responsibility. Napoleon left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy just days after marrying Josephine.

During 1796-97 he defeated Austrian armies at Lodi, Castiglione, Arcola and Rivoli . At Lodi he personally led a bayonet charge across a bridge to attack the Austrian rear guard. Impressed by his courage, his soldiers affectionately nicknamed their five-foot-two brigadier general "the Little Corporal." The end of 1797 saw him in control of Italy and Austria, and the peace he negotiated expanded France’s holdings in Europe, including giving the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and Lombardy to France. Napoleon became a national hero.

He next hoped to invade a traditional enemy, Great Britain, against whom France had fought the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), but he soon realized he lacked the strength for a successful cross-channel invasion. Instead, on July 1, 1798, he invaded Egypt to interfere with Britain’s trade lines with India and North Africa. Napoleon won several victories on land against the Turks, who controlled Egypt at the time, but his fleet suffered a severe defeat off Alexandria at the hands of British admiral Horatio Nelson.

Leaving most of his army behind, Napoleon returned to France and joined in an uprising against the ruling Directory. Following the coup of November 9, 1799, he became first consul and was virtually the ruler of France. To solidify his power, he rewrote the French Constitution in 1802, making himself consul for life; two years later he again fiddled with the constitution to declare himself emperor.

One result of Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt was the discovery by one of his soldiers of the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the language of hieroglyphics, greatly aiding the study of ancient Egypt.

Napoleon’s Years of Glory

As emperor, Napoleon used his power to organize his country’s civil laws into a single civil code. He improved transportation through a program of bridge- and canal-building and reformed the education system. He established leading universities and the Bank of France.

In the meantime, he used a strict conscription system to raise a powerful army and again invaded Austria in 1800, winning a victory on the Marengo Plain in northern Italy; this time, the peace terms recognized the Rhine River as the eastern border of France. His belligerence led to war with Britain in 1803, and two years later Russia and Austria allied with the British against him. To fund his wars, he sold 828,000 square miles of French territory on the North American continent to the young United States of America, an event known in the US as the Louisiana Purchase .

Between 1805 and 1807 he conducted a brilliant campaign marked by rapid maneuvering and violent attacks. Victories over the Austrians at Ulm, an Austro-Russian force at Austerlitz and the Russians at Friedland led to the Treaties of Tilsit with Russia and Prussia (respectively). These treaties made France and Russia allies and essentially split the European continent between the two. Prussia’s territory was reduced by nearly half.

The Continental System

Napoleon used his control of European ports to institute a blockade, excluding British trade from the continent, a situation known as the Continental System. He had suffered another naval defeat at the hands of Horatio Nelson, at Trafalgar ; if he couldn’t invade Britain, he would bankrupt what he called the "nation of shopkeepers." The mutual trade-war blockades between France and Britain created the conditions that led to the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.

His desire for complete blockade led Napoleon to occupy Portugal in 1807 and Spain in 1808, but Spanish and Portuguese troops aided by the British fought a determined resistance. Known as the Peninsular War , it would tie down 300,000 French soldiers between 1807 and 1814. By October 1813 the British commander in the Peninsular War, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, had crossed the Pyrenees and invaded France.

During the years following the Treaties of Tilsit, Napoleon implemented throughout his European holdings a legal system known as the Napoleonic Code that did much to standardize laws. It guaranteed freedom of religion, abolished serfdom and established free schools for all citizens.

Le Grande Armee Meets Disaster in Russia

Russia initially joined its ally France in the Continental System blockade, but the effect was damaging to Russia’s own trade, and ports were reopened to neutral ships on December 31, 1810, straining the Franco-Russian partnership. On June 24, 1812, Napoleon led an army of 600,000— le Grand Armee , the largest in the history of Europe up to that time—in an invasion of Russia. Unable to defeat such a force, the Russians fell back and adopted a scorched earth policy, burning buildings, crops, orchards and anything else that could be of use to the French.

Napoleon finally engaged the Russians at Borodino in September, an inconclusive battle with high casualties on both sides. On September 15, the French army entered the Russian capital of Moscow, but it was a Pyrrhic victory: the population was gone, and the Russians set fire to the town. For over a month, Napoleon waited for his erstwhile partner to capitulate, but a bitter winter and no means of feeding his troops forced him to abandon Moscow. Freezing weather, starvation, desertion, harassing attacks by Cossacks, and a bloody battle at the Berezina River on November 27 reduced le Grand Armee from 600,000 to less than 100,000. The emperor returned to Paris to strengthen his forces there, but the disaster in Russia and the continuing war in Spain and Portugal had emboldened his enemies.

In the spring of 1813, Britain, Prussia, Portugal, Spain, Russia and Sweden along with minor German states formed the Sixth Coalition of nations allied against France. The emperor gathered his veterans and conscripted new recruits. Initially, he claimed victories at Lutzen and Bautzen and forced a peace that bought him time to raise additional troops, but in August Austria officially joined the coalition, tipping the balance. At the three-day Battle of Leipzig in October, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the coalition dealt Napoleon a devastating defeat. Ultimately he was forced back behind the Rhine, and an invasion of France was imminent. Napoleon’s field marshals forced him to abdicate on April 11, 1814, and he was banished to the island of Elba.

Napoleon’s Hundred Days

The following March, he escaped and returned to France, where he was still widely regarded as a hero, and assumed his role as emperor, displacing King Louis XVIII. This began a period known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or simply The Hundred Days (actually 111 days, March 20–July 8, 1815). While he was raising a new army, Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia agreed to a new coalition to oppose him. Knowing he would soon be vastly outnumbered, Napoleon chose to strike quickly into Belgium where he hoped to inject his army between an Anglo-Dutch force under his old enemy in Spain, the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian Army under Field Marshal Prince Gebhard von Blücher and defeat each force separately.

In this campaign, however, the French emperor would not have the assistance of his exceptional former chief of staff, Louis Alexandre Berthier, who chose not to rejoin his old commander and instead personally escorted King Louis XVIII to safety. Berthier had been among those who forced Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, believing that the long period of war had to end for the good of France.

After clashes at Ligny and Quatre Bras , Napoleon attacked Wellington’s Anglo-Dutch army near Mont St. Jean, south of the village of Waterloo , Belgium, on June 18, 1815. After hours of bloody fighting, Wellington’s line was close to breaking, but Blücher arrived with 48,000 Prussians in the late afternoon. The battered, outnumbered French army retreated back into France.

Napoleon abdicated a second time and was carried into exile on a British ship to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. He died there May 5, 1821, at the age of 51. Claims arose that he had been gradually poisoned with arsenic, but most likely he died of stomach cancer, which also killed his father and sister Pauline. His remains were not returned to France until 1840 when he was interred at Les Invalides in Paris.

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A Short History of Napoleon, the Ambitious, Charismatic Emperor of France

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Key Takeaways

• Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Corsica in 1769, rose through the ranks of the French army and became a wildly ambitious military leader known for his speed and cunning on the battlefield.
• Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804 after a series of political maneuvers, implementing reforms that brought financial security and stability to post-Revolution France.
• Napoleon's reign was marked by nonstop fighting with European rivals, culminating in his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and subsequent exile to the remote island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.

More words have been written about Napoleon Bonaparte than almost any other historical figure. But for those with limited time resources, here's a short primer on the wildly ambitious French military leader with help from Peter Hicks, historian and manager of international affairs for the napoleon.org/en/">Fondation Napoléon in Paris.

Born in Corsica, Arrives in France

Marriage to josephine, hero of the italian campaign, visions of empire in the exotic east, from first consul to emperor, napoleon helped make modern france, france versus the world, in russia, napoleon was beaten by retreat, exile to elba, triumphant return and final defeat at waterloo, death on st. helena, an island prison.

Napoleon was born Napoleone di Buonaparte Aug. 15, 1769, on the island of Corsica, only recently bought by France from the Italian city-state of Genoa. Young Napoleon, the son of a prominent Corsican family, was sent to mainland France for school, where his Parisian classmates made fun of his provincial accent.

"Instead of calling him Napoleon, they called him 'straw on the nose,'" says Hicks, "mispronouncing his name in French with a Corsican accent."

After graduating from the French military academy and becoming part of the French Revolution , Napoleon dropped the extra vowels in his Italian-sounding name.

Napoleon was six years her junior when he met 32-year-old Paris socialite Marie-Josephe-Rose de Beauharnais , who already had two children : Eugène, born in 1781 and Hortense, born in 1783. Their father, Alexandre de Beauharnais, had been executed in 1794 during France's Reign of Terror. Napoleon and Josephine married in 1796 and Napoleon became stepfather to her children.

In the course of time, it was discovered that Josephine was incapable of having more children. Napoleon would divorce her in 1809 to marry Austrian Archduchess Maria-Louise, banking on her to produce him an heir, which she did with the birth of a son, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, later Napoleon II, in 1811. Napoleon was said to have loved Josephine for the rest of his life and her name was reportedly the last word on his lips when he died in 1821.

But back to the battlefield.

Napoleon rose through the ranks of the French army and was promoted to major general after helping to quash a royalist coup in Paris. In 1796, at just 26 years old, he was sent to Italy to mount a last-ditch campaign against France's bitter rival Austria. He found the French troops exhausted and unpaid but whipped them into excitement with promises of glory and riches to be won.

Despite being outnumbered almost two-to-one by Austrian and Italian Piedmontese fighters, Napoleon used speed and cunning to separate the enemy forces and ruthlessly attack their weak points. Napoleon's armies could cover up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) a day compared to just 6 or 7 (10 or 11 kilometers) for the Austrians and Italians.

"They sent a young madman who attacks right, left and from the rear," complained a Piedmontese officer. "It's an intolerable way of making war."

When the Austrians and Italians surrendered, Napoleon demanded payment in gold, which he gave to his fighting men, sealing their loyalty. Word of his exploits spread far and wide.

"Napoleon really burst onto the scene with the staggering success of the first Italian campaign, which put him on the radar with the rest of Europe," says Hicks. "Everybody wanted to know, 'Who is this guy?'"

It didn't take long for Napoleon to begin seeing himself as the French incarnation of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great . He could have made a play for emperor in 1797, but felt the moment wasn't quite right in Paris. So he rallied his armies and set off for Egypt, where he hoped to cut off British trade with India.

Napoleon scholar Jean Tulard called the Egyptian campaign, "probably the craziest expedition in the history of France." Napoleon marched 35,000 troops across the desert from the port city of Alexandria toward Cairo. At the Battle of the Pyramids, he faced a wall of 10,000 fearless Mameluke fighters on horseback.

"Soldiers," Napoleon shouted to his troops, "from the height of these pyramids, 40 centuries look down upon you."

The French, following Napoleon's ingenious battlefield strategies, crushed the saber-wielding Mamelukes and took Cairo. But while Napoleon was daydreaming of conquest — "I saw myself founding a new religion," he later wrote , "marching into Asia riding an elephant, a turban on my head, and in my hand the new Koran" — the British struck back, destroying the French fleet docked in the Mediterranean.

Stranded in Egypt, Napoleon decided to pick more fights with the locals. He took on the Turks in Syria and bombarded the centuries-old walls at the ancient city of Acre. But by 1798, morale was low and a civil war was raging back home. Napoleon saw an opening for his triumphant return, so he abandoned his troops in Egypt and secretly made for France.

The Egyptian campaign wasn't a total wash, though. Napoleon's soldiers, while digging to reinforce a fortress wall in 1799, made an accidental discovery in the Nile Delta — the Rosetta Stone .

When Napoleon arrived in France in October 1798, he found his country in chaos. The state coffers were empty, a coalition of enemies was on the attack, and the French central government lead by a five-man Directory was divided and crumbling. France needed a strong, authoritarian leader and Napoleon knew just the right guy for the job.

In a matter of weeks, he plotted with two of the Directors and some wealthy backers to hatch a coup d'etat. They convinced the legislature that another royalist coup was imminent, pretense for relocating the government to a country palace and sending in troops to "protect" them.

First, Napoleon made a ham-handed speech presenting himself as France's savior, which the constitutional body violently rejected, crying "down with the dictator!" and "death to the tyrant!" He returned the next day with more troops, and in a complicated series of political maneuvers , convinced the deputies to dissolve the Directory and create a new three-person consul with Napoleon at its head.

After rallying the army to defeat the Austrians, Napoleon earned the title of "First Consul for Life" and decided it was time to bring monarchy back to post-Revolution France. On Dec. 2, 1804, after literally snatching the crown from the hand of Pope Pius VII, Napoleon named himself Emperor of France.

While still First Consul, Napoleon created several new state institutions and spearheaded reforms that pulled the country out of chaos by consolidating power in a strong central government.

Among the big changes were to bring religion back to France through a pact with the Pope. Not only did Napoleonic France recognize Catholics, but welcomed Protestants and Jews on equal footing.

Under Napoleon, France created its first central bank, the franc was introduced, and taxes were collected in a fair and timely manner. The messy post-Revolution legal system was codified under what's known as the Civil Code or the Napoleonic Code . On the flip side, women lost almost all legal rights and slavery was reintroduced in French colonies.

"Government was settled along a top-down structure — and it was very much one man at the top," says Hicks, "but Napoleon's reforms brought financial security, and also political and social stability."

Napoleon's rule of France was dominated by nonstop fighting with European rivals, chiefly Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. The Napoleonic Wars spanned from 1796 to 1815 and were bankrolled by Britain, the major economic and military power of the day.

"Britain was happy to have Europe fighting itself so it could run the rest of the world," says Hicks. "Britain paid other countries to do the fighting against France, but the other guys didn't need much encouraging. They found Napoelonic France quite challenging."

The British formed coalition after coalition against the French Empire, but Napoleon managed to keep the upper hand and even win more territory until 1812, when he made a fateful and failed gamble in Russia.

When the Russian czar Alexander I backed out of Napoleon's blockade of British goods in 1811, Napoleon was livid. Against the advice of his generals, Napoleon chose to invade Russia with one of the largest European armies ever assembled, an estimated 600,000 soldiers from France, Italy, Germany and Poland.

Napoleon's army charged into Russia in the blazing heat of the summer. The Russians, overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemy fighters, fell back in retreat, burning the towns and countryside behind them. Exhausted and without towns to raid for supplies, the French forces suffered from disease and desertion.

Finally, the two armies met at the Battle of Borodino, where Napoleon threw his men into a brutal, all-day assault that cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides. The Russians finally relented and Napoleon marched triumphantly into Moscow, only to find the city in flames.

The Russian winter arrived early and with a vengeance. Napoleon's army, fully unprepared for temperatures as low as -22 degrees F (-30 degrees C), froze to death by the thousands. Starving soldiers killed each other over horsemeat. And throughout the ordeal, Cossacks raided the retreating French army, dealing devastating blows to its flanks and rear.

Of Napoleon's invading army of 600,000, only 100,000 made it out of Russia alive.

After barely escaping total disaster in Russia, Napoleon came home to fight off another coalition of European foes: Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Austria. With diminished forces, he held off the coalition for a year before the enemy marched on Paris itself and Napoleon's generals refused to follow him into a final battle.

On April 12, 1814, Napoleon abdicated his throne and was exiled to the tiny island of Elba between Italy and Corsica. Hicks says that Napoleon's expulsion to Elba was "kind of a joke," less of a punishment for Napoleon than a strategy engineered by the Russians to destabilize Austrian-controlled Italy.

"Cartoons at the time compared Napoleon on Elba to Vesuvius next to Naples," says Hicks. "It's going to blow up, and it did."

After less than a year in exile, Napoleon sailed from Elba with 1,000 supporters and landed on the French mainland, where he was met by exultant crowds. King Louis XVIII, who had been installed by the coalition allies in Napoleon's place, skipped town without a fight. The Emperor was back, but not for long.

What followed is known as the Hundred Days Campaign, Napoleon's last desperate grasp at power. With coalition forces amassing against him, Napoleon decided to strike first by invading Belgium. He had some luck against the Prussians in a preliminary battle, but then he came up against the British outside the Belgian town of Waterloo.

The British army, under the command of the formidable Duke of Wellington, numbered 68,000 troops at Waterloo, roughly the same size as Napoleon's force. But Napoleon didn't know that the Prussians were waiting in the wings with 72,000 more enemy troops. Napoleon might have won if he had ordered the attack on the British line sooner, but he opted to wait and let the muddy ground dry. Those extra hours gave the Prussians time to join the fight and rout the French.

On June 22, 1815, Napoleon abdicated the throne for the second and final time.

The British weren't going to take any chances with Napoleon's second exile. They chose the remote tropical island of St. Helena, thousands of miles from France off the coast of Africa. There, in a ramshackle estate called Longwood, a single prisoner was guarded by 2,800 men and a Royal Navy squadron of 11 ships.

Napoleon died May 5, 1821, likely from stomach cancer. He was 51 years old. He was buried on St. Helena, but his remains were eventually returned to France where he was entombed at Les Invalides among the great French leaders of all time.

Napoleon wasn't nearly as short as his enemies made him out to be. Historians believe he stood 5 feet, 6.5 inches (169 centimeters), which was average for his day.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Rise to Power and History of Napoleon Bonaparte

An enigmatic man of vicious consequence, Napoleon Bonaparte captured the world’s attention and fell only an inch short of capturing the world itself. Between 1796 and 1815, the Commander-turned-Emperor won 38 battles and lost only 5, an unmatched score in history. Riding the momentum of the turmoil caused by the French Revolution , Napoleon secured power and gained a reputation for himself in a move that stunned surrounding European nations. The path he continued to take until his demise is a tale best understood by the following series of events.

Early Years

Born on the island of Corsica in 1769 to parents of Italian nobility, Napoleon was brought up speaking Corsican and Italian. As the son of two nobles, he was expected to attend military school when he turned 15. Napoleon was sent to Paris, France , but was severely bullied because of his native Corsican accent. When his father, Carlo, passed away in 1785, his family's financial situation changed, and his performance at school deteriorated. Despite his difficulty at school, Napoleon showed early signs of competency as a military leader; supposedly, while a junior, he led his friends to victory during a snowball fight against senior students. 

Participation in French Revolution

Following Napoleon's graduation from military school in 1785, he was stationed in Valence, southeastern France. He remained in Valence until the French Revolution began in 1789. Napoleon first encountered the Revolutionists after his return to Corsica. He eventually adopted their beliefs and joined the Jacobins Club, a group of left-wing revolutionaries aimed at creating a Republic. Napoleon gained fame when he dispersed a royalist insurrection in Paris and was promoted to Commander. Leading the Army of Italy, he conducted campaigns in Italy and Egypt with unprecedented success.

A Coup Within a Coup

Following the abolition of the Monarchy in 1795, a new governing body called the Directory was established in France. Upon Napoleon's return to France, the Directory was bankrupt and unpopular with the public. One director, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, enlisted Napoleon to help dismantle the ineffectual government. In November of 1799, the Coup d'éte of 18 Brumaire occurred, replacing the Directory with the French Consulate and putting Sieyès and Napoleon in power. Napoleon then staged a coup within a coup; he drafted the decree in such a way that by December of 1799, he received the majority of the power. 

War and Empire

European nations were wary of Napoleon's sudden rise to power. After surviving assassination attempts and managing an onslaught of battles, Napoleon realized he must quell invading forces. Allied with the disposed French Monarchy, European countries began to align themselves together and create coalitions. Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803 as a means to preemptively fund a war with Britain; two weeks following its purchase, the War of the Third Coalition began. 

Napoleonic Code

In 1804, Napoleon drafted and instituted a new civil code focused on disbanding antiquated feudal laws. The monarchy and feudal-lord system were overturned; therefore, the many regions of France operating under constantly changing systems were inefficient for the average citizen. The Napoleonic Code established universal doctrines over trade, property, marriage, and inheritance. Although not the first civil code in Europe, it was the first to be used overseas in colonies, and it continued to influence their legislation after their independence movements. Tragically, Napoleon reinstated slavery, limited the rights of women, and granted limited protections for children born out of wedlock.

Abolishment of the Holy Roman Empire

A significant moment in Napoleon’s career came in August of 1805. The Holy Roman Empire , a hierarchal body consisting of Austrian and German vassals, confronted him in the Battle of Austerlitz . With Napoleon as the victor, this created an opportunity for him to seize the influential title of Holy Roman Emperor and gain power from associated institutions and resources. To deny Napoleon the opportunity to be declared Emperor, the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, abdicated the throne, symbolically abolishing the Empire itself.

Marriage and Divorce

In 1796, Napoleon’s married his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, who was a former mistress of Paul Barras, a revolutionary leader who encouraged Napoleon early on in his career. Although he cared for Joséphine dearly, she was unable to give him an heir. Napoleon divorced Joséphine in 1810 in favor of marrying Marie Louise, the Duchess of Parma, in 1811. Following the divoce, he still favored Joséphine; she retained the title of Empress and remained living at the Château de Malmaison, an ostentatious villa outside of Paris. The Duchess of Parma gave birth to their son, who is famously referred to as Napoleon II despite never actually ruling. Regarding his matrimony with Marie Louise, Napoleon cynically stated, “it is a womb that I am marrying.”

Moscow Campaign

After failing to preserve an alliance with the Russian Tsar , Alexander I, Napoleon learned that Russia planned to invade France in 1812. By June, Napoleon amassed over 450 thousand soldiers to commence a first strike. After over a decade of observing Napoleon’s victories, the Tsar outmaneuvered him through tactical retreats all the way to Moscow . Once Napoleon entered the capital, he realized it was burned and abandoned; the French were trapped deep in enemy territory. Over 400 thousand French troops perished during the harsh winter retreat, creating a sizable hole in Napoleon’s army and popularity.

After Napoleon's stunning loss in Russia, a year of battles followed in 1813. Coalitions of enemy nations regained their momentum and finally pushed Napoleon back to Paris. Upon the victory of the allied forces on April 4th, 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate the French throne. The expelled French monarch, King Louis XVIII, was reinstated by the Coalition, and Napoleon was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba . Despite his exile, Napoleon's influence continued; Louis XVIII kept the reforms made during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Code in practice. 

The Hundred Days

In characteristic fashion, Napoleon managed to rally a force from the island of Elba and sneak back onto the French mainland. Royalist troops who engaged them often surrendered and joined forces with Napoleon, which shows the French population’s discontent with Royalist rule and the popularity of Napoleon at the time. Upon arrival in Paris on March 20th, 1815, Napoleon reassumed his role as Emperor. The foreign coalitions again rallied, and Napoleon confronted them in the Battle of Waterloo in June. 

Imprisonment and Death

Following his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon once again lost power. It is estimated between 3 to 6 million soldiers and over 3 million civilians died during the Napoleonic Wars. He was imprisoned and exiled to Saint Helena , an isolated British island territory off the southwestern coast of Africa. Napoleon died in 1821 while in exile. His final reflections were, "My true glory is not to have won 40 battles ... Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories, ... But ... what will live forever, is my Civil Code."

Having shaped history for two decades, Napoleon exited the world stage. The century that followed saw a back-and-forth over French rule between monarchies, republics, and Emperors. Between his civil code and relentless victory, there is a reason he is still celebrated as a French national hero, despite moral failings. Nevertheless, his glorious rise and fall is a testament to what the will of one person can achieve within a single lifetime.

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Life of Napoleon

Napoleon was a ruthless leader, brilliant military leader and paradoxically an enlightened ruler and political reformer. His rise and fall followed an amazing path: from obscure beginnings on the island of Corsica, to becoming Emperor of a French empire spanning most of Europe and large parts of the world.

The Rise and Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Leading His Men

His birth name was Napoleone di Buonaparte, but when he moved to France he changed the spelling of his name to the French, Napol�on Bonaparte. Later, when he became Emperor of France, he adoped the reign-name of Napoleon, by which he is most commonly known,

Napoleon's father, Carlo Bonaparte was a Corsican lawyer and local political leader and his mother Letizia Bonaparte was noted as woman of considerable intellect. The famous Napoleon was the couple's second of three children. Their first son, also named Napoleone, died in infancy before his most famous brother and namesake was born. Although he would eventually becone the Emperor of France and one of the greatest leaders of Europe, Napoleon came from a fairly humble background and was not even French. His father, Carlo (Charles) Bonaparte, an advocate and his mother, Letizia Ramolino, were Corsican Italians and spoke a Corsican dialect

Napoleon as a Young Man

As a youth, Napoleon enrolled at the military school at Brienne, France. He did not speak French fluently and was relentlessly mocked and bullied by his fellow students for his accent and his country bumpkin behaviour. While at the school, Napoleon's father died, leaving the family penniless due to gambling debts but Napoleon was able to continue his studies as a pensioner of the French king. Napoleon remained at the military academy a little more than five years.

Shortly after completing the academy, Napoleon entered the military school of Paris, where he received a commission as lieutenant of artillery in 1785. He was located in a garrison at Valence when the French Revolution began, and the period of confusion and strife that followed led Napoleon to rise from obscurity to become the master of France, his adopted country.

Soon after the Revolution began, Napoleon made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Corsican cities for France. Despite this setback, in 1793 he was made lieutenant colonel of artillery, and shortly after succeeded in capturing Toulon from the British, who had occupied the city. Napoleon's victory brought him to the attention of the Revolutionary government and he was promoted to brigadier general of artillery in February 1794. He was planning, in 1795, to engage in military service with the Sultan of Turkey. In the early part of that same year the Convention was thrown into great peril by the mutinous spirit of a large number of people at Paris, and Napoleon was selected to command the national forces. A rebellious force of the national guard numbering 30,000 men undertook to reach the Convention at the Tuileries, where it was headquartered.

Napoleon Bonaparte had only 5,000 troops at his disposal with which to defend the revolutionary government from a counter revolution. Even at this early stage Napoleon displayed his ability to win against overwhelming odds. He placed his forces in line and sent a destructive volley of grape shot to clear the streets, mowing down those engaged in the mutiny with great destruction, and not only disbanded the national guard, but ended the insurrection by disarming the populace.

Immediately after this victory Napoleon was given command of the army of the interior. On March 9, 1796, he was married to Josephine Beauharnais , the widow of General Beauharnais. Soon after he assumed supreme command of the army of Italy, which he found in a wretched condition, and quickly began reorganizing. Although the French forces numbered but 40,000 men, he was confronted by a force of 75,000 Austrians and Sardinians. On April 11, 1796, he succeeded in securing possession of the Apennines by defeating the Austrians at Montenotte, and soon after followed successful battles that concluded at Lodi on May 10, thereby bringing all of northern Italy into possession of the French. He immediately began to move upon Austria, and that country was compelled to make peace after its army was defeated at Bassano, Roveredo, Rivoli, and other points. These successes also required the Pope to cede a portion of his Papal States dominion. They brought about peace treaties with Modena, Parma, and Naples, while the treaty with Austria, on Oct. 17, 1797, gave Lombardy, the Netherlands, and the Ionian Islands to France, and Venice was made a part of Austria.

Napoleon returned in December, 1797, to France, where he was greeted as a hero and as the most celebrated military leader of the world. The Directory began to fear his power and decided to have him take charge of an expedition to Egypt, then a possession of Turkey, for the purpose of conquering that country and destroying the influence of England in that region. Possession of Egypt would also have given France the ability to strike overland at British possessions in India.

Napoleon's First Major Military Campaign

Napoleon at the Battle of the Pyramids

Accordingly Napoleon embarked in May, 1798, with a well-organized army from Toulon, reduced Malta while en route, and on July 1 effected a landing at Alexandria, Egypt. On July 4 he took that city, on the 24th of the same month Napoleon captured Cairo by winning the Battle of the Pyramids, and subsequently overran Egypt and much of Palestine. On land, Napoleon was everywhere victorious except at Acre. However his fleet was destroyed in the Bay of Aboukir by a British fleet under the command of Nelson. This was followed by a Turkish counter attack which landed a large force at Aboukir on July 25. This attack was skillfully repelled and the Turks were almost annihilated. Soon after intelligence reached him that the army of France was meeting with disaster at home, which caused him to give the command of the army in Egypt to General Kleber and he returned to France.

Napoleon's expedition to Egypt was notable for the number of scientists whom he brought along. These scientists conducted many important surveys and excavations which led to many discoveries and a renewed interest in ancient Egyptian culture and history. One of the discoveries made by the French scientists accompanying the expedition was the Rosetta Stone, part of an inscription which eventually allowed the translation of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.

Napoleon's Seizes Power

The government of France had been unsuccessful in satisfying the people, and Napoleon was hailed as the right man to restore order and confidence. After securing the cooperation of Moreau and other military men of influence, he abolished the Directory on Nov. 9, 1799, and caused the adoption of a new constitution. This constitution provided for three consuls, of which Napoleon was the first consul ; Cambaceres, the second; and Lebrun, the third. However, Napoleon was the real ruler of France, and he and Josephine occupied the palace of the kings of France in the Tuileries. Napoleon's position as First Consul was secured by a rigged election giving him over 99 percent of the popular vote.

His government gave vigorous attention to both military and civil affairs, and constructing canals and highways and reorganizing the army. In his prime, Napoleon worked 12 to 14 hours every day, taking no more than 15 minutes for lunch and dinner. He would read reports, send orders, and meet with representatives from the everywhere in France and its terrtories. He amazed his staff with his prodigious memory and the ability to distill facts and figures. However his reign was also marked by more or less constant warfare with all of the main European powers who engaged in shifting alliances against him. His principal opponents were Britain and Austria, as well as Prussia and Russia, though at times he was able to make peace with some of his enemies or at least force some of them to withdraw from the fight.

One of the main threats to France and to Napoleon's power was the empire of Austria. In 1800 Napoleon marched into Italy by way of the Great Saint Bernard pass, shortly after defeated the Austrians at Marengo, won the Battle of Hohenlinden through the skillful cooperation of Moreau, and by the Peace of Luneville acquired all of Italy. Subsequently treaties were made with Portugal, Spain, Bavaria, Naples, Turkey, and Russia, and in 1802 Great Britain agreed to the Treaty of Amiens.

Napoleon as First Consul

His attention was next directed to the enlargement of civil institutions. Accordingly he reformed local government, established schools, revised the code of laws, founded the Bank of France, established universities, defined the powers of the church, and gave encouragement to the development of industrial arts and sciences. Napoleon's achievements included establishing the Napoleonic code of laws, which is to this day the foundation of criminal and civil law in France and many former French colonies. He also emancipated the Jews, giving them full status as citizens of France. However, Napoleon's rule was not completely progressive. He re-established slavery as a legal institution, which had been abolished during the French Rfevolution and he sent his army to suppress a slave revolt in the French colony of Haiti, but it was defeated.

France's defeat in Haiti and British control of the seas convinced Napoleon that France would not be able to hold on to its remaining possessions in North America, so he sold the Louisiana Territories to the United States, which led to a large expansion of America. He planned on using the money from the sale of Louisiana for the construction of a large invasion fleet to cross the English Channel and conquer Britain. However French naval defeat at the battle of Trafalgar would dash any French hope of an invasion.

Napoleon is Crowned Emperor

At home, Napoleon faced a number of plots to remove him from power or assassinate him. Some of the concpirators were monarchists who wished to restore the old ruling family. Napoleon uses these plots as a pretext to amend the constitution to make himself hereditary ruler of France, on the premise that these plots could not succeed in destabilizig the government and restore the old ruling nobility, if a new nobility was established. In 1802 the French senate proclaimed Napoleon consul for life and in May, 1804, he proclaimed himself emperor, being crowned with Josephine as empress by the Pope in Paris , Dec. 2, 1804. The people gave a decided vote in favor of this action, but the vote was likely rigged given the unusually lopsided results in favour of Napoleon becoming emperor. Immediately he established titles of nobility, created military marshals, and instituted an imperial court,

Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at Milan on May 26, 1805, and his stepson, Eugene Beauharnais, became his viceroy. This course and his policy in annexing large territories to his dominion caused his power to be feared by the European states, and soon after an alliance was formed against him by Russia, Austria, Sweden, and England. Napoleon immediately invaded Germany, where he defeated a large Austrian army at Ulm, captured Vienna, and on Dec. 2, 1805, won the Battle of Austerlitz over the Austrians and Russians. These successes were followed by making his brother Joseph King of Naples; his brother Louis King of Holland; and the electors of Bavaria and Wurttemburg, who had rallied to his assistance, kings of their respective countries. A large army of Prussians and Russians had in the meantime gathered at Jena, which Napoleon defeated, and, after capturing Berlin, he established the kingdom of Westphalia for his brother Jerome. In June, 1807, Napoleon defeated the Russians at Friedland and shortly after a compact was formed between him and Emperor Alexander I., by which Russia was allowed to take Finland from Sweden and annex a portion of Prussian Poland, while the King of Prussia received as a possession one-half of his former dominions.

It was Napoleon’s ambition to humble England, an object he hoped to accomplish by closing the principal ports of Europe against that country, but the English army defeated his forces in Portugal. He sent an army against the allied Portuguese and English in 1807, which resulted in the royal family of Portugal settling in the then Portuguese colony of Brazil, and the following year Napoleon deposed the Spanish king and installed Napooleon's brother Joseph as King of Spain, while his brother-in-law, Murat , succeeded to the throne of Naples. The Spanish rebelled and angaged in long war with the French occupiers, with British assistance, which drained the French of resources. The French were finally driven from Spain by the allied army of English and Spaniards, this being known as the Peninsular War and extending over a period of seven years.

Austria declared war against Napoleon in 1809, which caused him to enter Bavaria with a large army, but he met defeat at Aspern and Esslingen. However, on July 6 the final battle was fought at Wagram, in which the opposing forces were crushed completely, and as a result Emperor Francis was compelled to cede more of his territory. Napoleon also took over what remained of the Papal States, and the Pope reaced by excommunicating Napoleon. In response, Napoleon had his soldiers break into the Vatican, kidnap the Pope and bring him to Framce.

Napoleon’s accomplished wife, Josephine, had borne him no children, hence he divorced her, and on April 2, 1810, married Marie Louise of Austria . From this union came a son in 1811, who is known as Napoleon II.

Napoloen Granting the Legion of Honour to His Veterans

Napoleon was in the height of his power in 1810 and 1811, his dominion extending from Hamburg to the Mediterranean and from Vienna to the Atlantic, but his influence began to decline rapidly. He declared war against Russia in 1812 because the Czar refused to maintain a continental blockade against Britain, and with an army of 550,000 men entered upon his disastrous invasion of Russian territory.

The Russians made a stand at Borodino, but were defeated, and by a skillful retreat avoided engagements. They not only fell back with great precision, but destroyed or carried away all available supplies. This course made it exceedingly difficult for Napoleon to gather support for his immense army, and when he reached Moscow the city had been reduced to ashes. The winter setting in made it impossible to continue farther pursuit, neither could he subsist at Moscow, and the only thing that remained was an inglorious retreat.

No sooner had Napoleon decided upon this course than extremely severe weather set in. The Russians took advantage of his dilemma by pursuing him with companies of mounted Cossacks, who harassed his army and destroyed in great numbers the French soldiers, now fatigued and weakened by famine and disease. Not more than 50,000 of his army lived to return, from Russia. During this retreat, Marshal Ney distinguished himself in commanding the French rear guard.

As he had done in Egypt, Napoleon essentially abandoned his defeated army and fled back to France. The main body of his army continued to retreat through Germany, pursued by the Russians and now the Austrians. The French garrisons in Germany were forced to surrender and France lost its German possessions, and France itself was now threatened with invasion.

The Beginning of the End

Napoleon immediately ordered a conscription and raised a new army of 350,000 men. However, French forces were greatly outnumbered by their enemies. In 1812 an alliance was formed by Prussia, Spain, Russia, Great Britain, and Sweden against France. The allies now pressed their advantage against France. But the first battles ended in victories for Napoleon who was, as usual able to win against numerically superior forces.

Napoleon first won the battle at Lutzen, on May 2, 1813, followed by more French victories at Bautzen and Dresden. Despite these successes, Napoleon was forced to retreat to Leipzig, where he was defeated at the famous “Battle of Nations”, so called because of the vast number of countries arrayed against him, on Oct. 16, 18, and 19.

The Defence of France

Despite these setbacks, Napoleon and France showed great resiliency and recovered enough to continue fighting. In the early part of 1814 he was ready with a new army and defeated the Prussian General Blucher in four successive engagements, but the allied armies captured Paris on March 30, 1814, and Napoleon proposed to abdicate in favor of his son. This proposition was not accepted, since the allies looked upon him as a disturber of the peace in Europe, and on April 5 he abdicated unconditionally at Fontainebleau. He retained the title of emperor, and was given the sovereignty of the island of Elba. Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of France, and the work of the French Revolution was largely undone.

Napoleon was not to be so easily disposed of and, taking advantage of the unpopularity of the Bourbons in France, he escaped from Elba after ten months’ residence and landed, on March 1, 1815, at Frejus. An army under Marshal Ney was sent by the king to stop Napoleon, but Ney and his troops defected to Napoleon, who immediately began a triumphant march upon Paris. Louis XVIII. fled, while his place was taken by Napoleon, who began at once to raise a powerful army with which to confront the consolidated forces of Europe.

The allied armies began an immediate march upon France but Napoleon planned to defeat them one by one before they could unite. The German army under Blucher was defeated at Ligny on June 16, and Wellington was attacked at Waterloo on the 18th, to which place he had retired. Napoleon was on the verge of success against the English army, but the Prussians under Blucher made a sudden and decisive attack from the rear, and thus the great Battle of Waterloo was lost. Napoleon fled the battlefield with some troops providing a body guard while the rest of the army was completely routed and destroyed.

The allied armies occupied Paris without opposition, and Napoleon abdicated in favor of his son on June 22 and sought to escape to America. However the allies refused to allow his young son to retain power and Napoleon found it impossible to escape from France. He accordingly surrendered to Captain Maitland of a British warship. Louis XVIII. was immediately restored to the throne and Napoleon was exiled on the island of Saint Helena, off the coast of west Africa, where he remained a prisoner under the charge of Sir Hudson Lowe.

Napoleon was bewildered the last few days of his life, his last words being “head of the army,” from which it is taken that he thought himself still in command of his troops. He was buried on the island, but twenty years later the remains were removed to France, where they were placed in a magnificent tomb in the Hotel des Invalides on Dec. 15, 1840.

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Napoleon I Timeline

August 15, 1769.

May 5, 1821

Napoleon Bonaparte: A Brief Biography

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Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. His family had moved there from Italy 14 years earlier. Napoleon was the fourth of eleven children. He had two older sisters, Letizia and Maria Anna (nicknamed “Pauline”).

Napoleon’s mother, Letizia, was a strong and determined woman who had a great influence on her son. His father, Carlo, was a man of weak character who could not control his children.

In 1779, Napoleon was sent to a French military school at Brienne-le-Château. He was an average student, but he did well in mathematics and geography. He was also a good horseman and fencer. In 1784, he entered the Royal Military Academy at Paris. Napoleon did not like the strict discipline at the academy. He was often in trouble for his rebellious behavior.

After graduation, Napoleon was made a lieutenant in the La Fère artillery regiment. In 1791, he was promoted to captain. The following year, he was sent to Corsica to help put down a rebellion against the French government.

In 1793, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, a beautiful young widow. They had one child, a son named Napoleon Charles, who died in infancy.

In 1796, Napoleon was given command of the French army in Italy. He quickly gained a series of victories against the Austrians. In 1797, he invaded Switzerland. The following year, he invaded Egypt in an attempt to disrupt British trade with India.

In 1799, Napoleon returned to France. He seized power in a coup d’état and became First Consul of the French Republic. In 1804, he was proclaimed Emperor of the French.

As emperor, Napoleon expanded the French empire. He conquered most of Europe, including Austria, Prussia, and Russia. In 1812, he invaded Russia, but was forced to retreat because of the harsh winter. The following year, his army was defeated by a coalition of European nations at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he escaped and tried to regain power, but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. He was then exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he died on May 5, 1821.

Frequently asked questions about Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most influential figures in European history. He was a general during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and he became the first Emperor of France. Napoleon was a controversial figure, and there are many questions about his life and legacy . Here are some frequently asked questions about Napoleon Bonaparte.

What Was Ironic About The 1804 Crowning Of Napoleon Bonaparte?

What was ironic about the 1804 crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte? The fact that he was crowned by the Pope, when he had previously been excommunicated by the Catholic Church.

Why Did The French People Support Napoleon Bonaparte?

The French people were looking for a strong leader after the French Revolution, and Napoleon Bonaparte fit that bill. He was a great military commander and had a lot of success early on, which endeared him to the French people. He also promised to bring stability to France, which was something the people were yearning for.

How Did Napoleon Bonaparte Restore Social Order?

In the early 1800s, France was in a state of chaos. The people were unhappy with their government, and there were many uprisings. Napoleon Bonaparte was a military general who saw this as an opportunity to take control. He staged a coup and took over the government. Once in power, Napoleon began to restore social order. He made changes to the education system and the legal system. He also created new laws and regulations. These changes helped to improve the lives of the people of France and bring stability to the country.

Was Napoleon Bonaparte A Good Ruler?

Some people may say that Napoleon Bonaparte was a good ruler because he helped to modernize France and he was a very effective military leader. However, others may say that he was a bad ruler because he was a dictator and he started a lot of wars.

Where Is Napoleon Bonaparte Buried?

Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century, is buried on the island of Saint Helena. He was exiled to Saint Helena in 1815 after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and died there in 1821.

Where Was Napoleon Bonaparte Buried?

Napoleon Bonaparte was buried on the island of Saint Helena in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. His body was first buried in a tomb on the island, and then moved to Les Invalides in Paris in 1840.

Was Napoleon Bonaparte Short?

There is no definitive answer to this question, as Napoleon’s height is disputed by historians. Some claim that he was 5’2″, while others say he was 5’6″. However, there is evidence to suggest that Napoleon may have been taller than originally thought. For example, his surviving clothing items suggest he was around 5’7″. Therefore, it is likely that Napoleon was somewhere between 5’2″ and 5’7″.

Why Did Napoleon Bonaparte Hide His Hand?

There are a number of theories as to why Napoleon Bonaparte hid his hand. One theory is that he had a deformity that he was self-conscious about. Another theory is that he had developed a skin condition that made his hand look discolored and he was embarrassed by it. Whatever the reason, it is clear that Napoleon Bonaparte had a reason for hiding his hand and it was likely a personal one.

Why Was Napoleon Bonaparte Important To The French Revolution?

Napoleon Bonaparte was a general during the French Revolution. He was important to the Revolution because he was able to lead the French army to many victories against the other European powers that were trying to stop the Revolution. He was also able to take control of the government and establish himself as the leader of France.

Was Napoleon Bonaparte A Dictator?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as it depends on how you define “dictator.” However, many historians would say that Napoleon Bonaparte was a dictator, as he held absolute power in France during his reign. He was not elected by the people, and he did not rule with the consent of the legislature. He made all the decisions himself, and his rule was characterized by repression and terror.

How Did Napoleon Bonaparte Come To Power?

Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in a series of events that started with the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a time of great political and social upheaval in France. It began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, a symbol of the monarchy’s power. The Revolution led to the creation of a new constitution and the rise of the Jacobin Club, a political club that supported the Revolution. The Jacobins took control of the government in 1792 and declared war on Austria and Prussia. The Jacobins were overthrown in 1794, and Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799.

What Form Of Government Did Napoleon Bonaparte Lead?

Napoleon’s government was a dictatorship. He made himself the absolute ruler of France. He controlled the government and the military. Napoleon was a brilliant military leader. He conquered most of Europe. Napoleon’s government was eventually overthrown, and he was exiled to the island of Elba.

How Did Napoleon Bonaparte Die?

Napoleon Bonaparte died of stomach cancer on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51. He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Napoleon’s health began to decline in early 1821, and he became increasingly frail as the months went on. He died surrounded by his family and close friends, with his wife, Marie Louise, by his side.

Where Did Napoleon Bonaparte Die?

Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French emperor, died on May 5, 1821 on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

What Did Napoleon Bonaparte Accomplish?

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most well-known and controversial figures in history. He was a general during the French Revolution and helped lead France to victory in many battles. He also became Emperor of France and ruled for a time. Napoleon made many reforms during his rule, such as creating a new legal system, and he also expanded the French empire. However, he was eventually defeated and exiled. Napoleon is remembered as both a great leader and a tyrant.

What Did Napoleon Bonaparte Do In The French Revolution?

Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most influential figures in the French Revolution. He was a general who led the French army to many victories, including the Battle of Austerlitz. He also served as the first Consul of France and was eventually crowned Emperor. Napoleon’s reforms helped to modernize France and spread the ideals of the Revolution to other countries.

What Is Napoleon Bonaparte Known For?

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution. He was known for his military successes, most notably his invasion of Italy and his defeat of the Egyptian army at the Battle of the Pyramids. He also served as the first Consul of France and was later crowned Emperor of the French. However, his reign was short-lived and he was eventually defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

If Napoleon Bonaparte got in a time machine and took it to today, what would he do?

If Napoleon Bonaparte got in a time machine and took it to today, he would be amazed by the advances in technology. He would probably be most interested in the military technology and how it has changed warfare. He would also be interested in the political changes that have taken place in the last 200 years.

10 Quotes from Napoleon Bonaparte

1. “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”

2. “I am the true founder of the French Empire.”

3. “In politics, an absurdity is not a handicap.”

4. “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!”

5. “Leaders are born, not made.”

6. “Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.”

7. “Revolution is not a bed of roses.”

8. “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving.”

9. “The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.”

10. “There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest.”

In conclusion…

Napoleon Bonaparte was a great military leader and one of the most influential figures in European history. His successes and failures had a lasting impact on the development of the modern world .

Napoleon Bonaparte was a great military leader whose successes and failures had a lasting impact on the development of the modern world.

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Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte, also known as Napoleon I, was a French general and emperor who conquered large parts of Europe in the 19th century. 

Famed for his tactical brilliance and quick thinking in desperate situations, he went down in European history as one of the foremost military strategists of the time.

This article will be of immense use for candidates preparing for the Civil Services examination .

Some important world history-related articles are linked below:

Early Life of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica, an island located on the Mediterranean Coast, on August 15, 1768,  to Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Romalino Bonaparte. Despite being part of the Corsican nobility, Napoleon’s family were of modest means. 

Napoleon did his schooling in mainland France, graduating from the military academy in 1785. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of an artillery detachment in the French Army. He was on leave when the French Revolution broke out in 1789, during which he became involved with the Corsican branch  of the Jacobins , one of many pro-democratic parties in France at the time. At the time, the Bonaparte family had gotten into a dispute for their pro-democratic leanings with the monarchy supporting the governor of Corsica. The result was them fleeing Corsica for mainland France in 1793, where Napoleon returned to active military duty

Napoleon came into contact with Augustine Robespierre, the brother of the infamous Maximilien Robespierre. Maximilien Robespierre would herald the Reign of Terror, a period of anarchy marked by violence against and execution of those considered the enemies of the French revolution .

But when the Robespierre brothers fell from power and were guillotined in July 1794, Napoleon was placed under house arrest for a brief period of time due to his association with them. In 1795, he suppressed a monarchy-backed uprising against the revolutionary government, being promoted to a major general as a result.

Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

The French government was fighting against other European monarchies since 1792. In a series of battles taking place in Italy during 1796, Napoleon led a French army to victory over the much better equipped and larger armies of Austria. The Treaty of Campo Formio signed between France and Austria led to territorial gains for France.

The Directory, a five-member group that governed France since the Reign of Terror ended in 1795, directed Napoleon to lead an invasion of Great Britain. Knowing the French Navy was inadequate to deal with the far more superior British Royal Navy, Napoleon instead proposed an expedition to Egypt, then a British Protectorate. Taking Egypt from the British would effectively cut them off from their vital trade with India, causing widespread economic hardship on the British Isle. Landing in Egypt in 1798, the French army won the Battle of the Pyramids in June of that year.

But during the Battle of the Nile in August, the French Navy was nearly wiped out following the engagement with the British Navy. Later, Napoleon would launch an invasion of Syria in 1798. Syria was then a province of the Ottoman Empire. This campaign would be a failure as well.

With the political situation in France deteriorating, Napoleon decided to return to France. He then became part of the group that overthrew the Directory in 1799.

Now a three-member group called the Consulate ruled France with Napoleon becoming first consul, a position consolidated by his victory over Austria at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800.

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Napoleon I, Emperor of France

A constitutional amendment made in 1802 made Napoleon first consul for life. In 1804, he crowned himself, emperor of France, during a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame

Seeking to restore stability in post-revolutionary France, he centralized the government by introducing reforms in banking and education, supporting science and art. His most significant accomplishment was the creation of the Napoleonic Code, which transformed the French legal system and continues to be the be basis of the legal system in France and most of Western Europe to this day.

The Napoleonic Wars broke out in 1803, lasting until 1815. It was a series of conflicts between the French Empire and a coalition of European nations.

On October 1805, the French fleet was annihilated during the battle of Trafalgar, nullifying the threat of invasion of the British Isles. The Battle of Austerlitz in December of that year, however, solidified his reputation as one of the greatest generals in European History.  A combined army of Austrians and Russians was defeated by the French and the termination of the Holy  Roman Empire that resulted would be a catalyst for the unification of Germany in 1871

Seeking to defeat his British rivals through economic means, Napoleon devised the Continental System in 1806, which blockaded Europeans ports from British Trade. Subsequent victories in 1807 and 1809 against the Russians and Austrians resulted in French territorial gains in central and Eastern Europe

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Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte

The Russian withdrawal from the continental system gave Napoleon  casus belli for Napoleon to launch an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. It proved to be a costly mistake as the Russians switched to scorched-earth tactics to deny the French army any hope of preparing for the brutal winter that would follow. By September of that year, both sides had suffered enormous casualties.

The French Army did eventually take Moscow but all they found was an empty city, with its population having evacuated further east. Seeing little point in residing in Moscow, Napoleon retreated back towards the west under constant attack by the Russians. Only 100,000 of the original 600,000 managed to reach the safety of the empire.

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Further setbacks for Napoleon awaited him with the defeat of his armies in Spain. Napoleon’s forces were again defeated in 1813 during the Battle of Leipzig by a coalition force of Austrian, Prussian, Russian and Swedish troops. He was forced to abdicate his throne when the coalition forces captured Paris. He was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Italy while his wife and son were sent to Austria

On February 26, 1815, Napoleon escaped to mainland France, where he was welcomed to Paris by cheering crowds. He began a campaign to reconquer lost French possessions in Europe shortly after. 

The French Army invaded Belgium in 1815 in order to defeat a combined British and Prussian army. In the engagement that followed the Prussians were defeated at Ligny but on June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo, the  French were crushed by the British through Prussian support. The battle permanently ended Napoleon’s threat to Europe.

In June 1815, Napoleon was dethroned once again.

Napoleon Bonaparte: UPSC Notes – Download PDF Here

Final years of Napoleon Bonaparte

In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. He passed away while there on May 5, 1821. He was 51 at the time. The likely cause of his demise is said to be stomach cancer, although it was speculated with no sufficient evidence that he was poisoned. Although his last wish was to be buried on the banks of the Seine, he was buried on the island. In 1840 his remains were returned to France and given a state funeral. 

Frequently Asked Questions  about Napoleon Bonaparte

Why is napoleon famous, who defeated napoleon.

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Napoleon Bonaparte

• Occupation: Emperor of France
• Born: August 15, 1769 at Ajaccio, Corsica, France
• Died: May 5, 1821 at St. Helena, United Kingdom
• Best known for: A brilliant military commander, conquered much of Europe
• Nickname: Little Corporal

• Napoleon is famous for being fairly short, probably 5 feet 6 inches tall. However, he would have been average height during the time period that he lived.
• Today, when someone seems to be overcompensating for being short they are said to have a "Napoleon complex."
• His birth name was Napoleone di Buonaparte. He changed the name to be more French when he moved to mainland France.
• He married his first wife, Josephine, in 1796. She became the first Empress of France, but he divorced her in 1810 and married Marie-Louise of Austria.
• The famous composer Beethoven was going to dedicate his 3rd Symphony to Napoleon, but changed his mind after Napoleon crowned himself emperor.
• He wrote a romance novel called Clisson et Eugenie.
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

Napoleon's biography 1. The Youth of Napoleone

Napoleon was born on August 15th, 1769 in Ajaccio   , Corsica, the younger son of Carlo Bonaparte , a lawyer of the Supreme Council of Corsica, and Letizia Ramolino . He was baptized in    the cathedral    of the city on July 21st, 1771, the year the Bonaparte family was given its noble status by the Board of Corsica.

The young Napoleon made his first trip to France in December 1778. He was admitted the following January 1st to the college of Autun, Burgundy, where his father had registered him after having obtained a scholarship. In May 1779, Napoleon joined the military school of Brienne    , which prepared children of the nobility for a military career. He demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for mathematics.

He left this institution in October 1784 to enter the Royal Military School    of Champ-de-Mars in Paris in the Company of gentlemen cadets.

The year 1785 was a sad one for Napoleon, as he mourned the death of his father Charles, probably of stomach cancer, leaving a widow with eight children and little income. In the fall, Napoleon received his wings of second Lieutenant and was assigned to the artillery regiment of La Fere, stationed at Valence, Rhone Valley.

In 1786, his first leave saw him off to Corsica, which he had left nearly eight years ago. He returned to Paris the following year.

In June 1788, Lieutenant Bonaparte rejoined his regiment, stationed at Auxonne, a small town in Burgundy. In 1789, troubled year, he was responsible for suppressing riots in the region, and then returned to Corsica, where he participated in the political turmoil that was stiring the island. He demonstrated at the time an insular nationalism, supporting the action of Pasquale Paoli , with whom he had an inconclusive interview in July 1790.

Back in Auxonne, Napoleon was promoted to first Lieutenant in June 1791 and transferred to the 4th Artillery Regiment in Valence. On the occasion of a new leave, he joined a battalion of National Guard of Ajaccio, with which he took part in the clashes, which forced him to return to Paris in May 1792 to defend himself. He was reinstated in the army in July 1792 with the rank of Captain and sent to Ajaccio.

His break with Pasquale Paoli, whose supporters had ransacked Bonaparte's house, forced him to flee the island with his family in June 1793. While his family was moving towards Toulon, he joined his regiment in Nice. After a mission in Avignon, he was appointed by the National Convention in command of artillery in Toulon, Provence, with the rank of Battalion chief. Under the command of General Jacques Dugommier , Napoleon took a decisive part in the expulsion of the English fleet with his talent as a gunner. He fought alongside future marshals and generals of the Empire, as Auguste Viesse de Marmont , Jean-Andoche Junot , André Masséna , Louis-Gabriel Suchet and Claude-Victor Perrin . He was rewarded for his great deeds with the rank of Brigadier general.