French+Empire

The **First French Empire** [|[1]] [|[2]] ( [|French] : //**Empire Français**//), also known as the **Greater French Empire** or **Napoleonic Empire**, was the empire of [|Napoleon I] of France. It was the dominant power of much of continental Europe during the early 19th century. Napoleon became [|Emperor of the French] (//L'Empereur des Français//, pronounced: [|[ɑ̃.pʁœʁ dɛ fʁɑ̃.sɛ]]  ) on 18 May 1804 and crowned Emperor on 2 December 1804, ending the period of the [|French Consulate], and won early military victories in the [|War of the Third Coalition] against Austria, [|Prussia] , Russia, Portugal, and allied nations, notably at the [|Battle of Austerlitz] (1805) and the [|Battle of Friedland] (1807). The [|Treaty of Tilsit] in July 1807 ended two years of bloodshed on the European continent. The subsequent series of wars known collectively as the [|Napoleonic Wars] extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. At its height in 1812, the French Empire had 130 [|départements], ruled over 44 million subjects, maintained an extensive military presence in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the [|Duchy of Warsaw] , and could count Prussia and Austria as nominal allies. [|[7]] Early French victories exported many ideological features of the [|French Revolution] throughout Europe. [|Seigneurial dues and seigneurial justice] were abolished, aristocratic privileges were eliminated in all places except Poland, and the introduction of the [|Napoleonic Code] throughout the continent increased legal equality, established jury systems, and legalized divorce. [|[8]] Napoleon placed relatives on the thrones of several European countries and granted many noble titles, most of which were not recognized after the empire fell. Historians have estimated the [|death toll from the Napoleonic Wars] to be 6.5 million people, or 15% of the French Empire's subjects. In particular, French losses in the [|Peninsular War] in [|Iberia] severely weakened the Empire; after victory over the [|Austrian Empire] in the [|War of the Fifth Coalition] (1809) Napoleon deployed over 600,000 troops to attack Russia, [|[9]] in a catastrophic [|French invasion of that country] in 1812. The [|War of the Sixth Coalition] saw the expulsion of French forces from [|Germany] in 1813. Napoleon [|abdicated] in 11 April 1814. The Empire was briefly restored during the [|Hundred Days] period in 1815 until Napoleon's defeat at the [|Battle of Waterloo]. It was followed by the [|restored monarchy] of the [|House of Bourbon]. [ [|hide] ] *  [|1 Origin]
 * == Contents ==
 * [|2 Early victories]
 * [|3 Height of the Empire]
 * [|4 Intrigues and unrest]
 * [|5 The Fall]
 * [|6 Nature of Bonaparte's rule]
 * [|7 Art & Culture]
 * [|8 Notes and references]
 * [|9 External links] ||

[ [|edit] ] Origin
Main articles: [|18 Brumaire] and [|French Consulate] In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte was confronted by [|Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès] – one of the five [|Directors] who constituted the executive branch of the French government—who sought his support for a //coup d'état// to overthrow the [|French Constitution of 1795]. The plot included Bonaparte's brother [|Lucien], then serving as speaker of the [|Council of Five Hundred] , [|Roger Ducos] , another Director, and [|Talleyrand]. On 9 November 1799 ( [|18 Brumaire], An VIII under the [|French Republican Calendar] ), and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the [|Consulate], he was outmanoeuvred by Bonaparte, who drafted the [|Constitution of the Year VIII] and secured his own election as First Consul. This made him the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the [|Constitution of the Year X], which made him First Consul for life. The [|Battle of Marengo] (14 June 1800) inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleon's Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the [|Duchy of Milan] for France, setting aside Austria, and was thought to prepare a new campaign in the East. The [|Peace of Amiens], which cost him control of [|Egypt] , was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the [|Piedmont] and by acquiring [|Genoa], [|Parma] , Tuscany and [|Naples] and added this Italian territory to his [|Cisalpine Gaul]. Then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the [|Concordat of 1801] to control the material claims of the [|pope]. When he recognised his error of raising the authority of the pope from that of a figurehead, Napoleon produced the // [|Articles Organiques] // (1802) wanting, like [|Charlemagne], to be the legal protector of the papacy. To conceal his plans before their actual execution, he aroused French colonial aspirations against Britain and the memory of the 1763 [|Treaty of Paris], exacerbating British envy of France, whose borders now extended to the [|Rhine] and beyond, to [|Hanover] , Hamburg and [|Cuxhaven]. On 12 May 1802, the French [|Tribunat] voted unanimously, with exception of [|Carnot], in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the [|Corps Législatif]. A general [|plebiscite] followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. [|[10]] On 2 August 1802 (14 Thermidor, An X), Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life. An overwhelming tide of pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany by the "Recess of 1803", which brought [|Bavaria], [|Württemberg] and [|Baden] to France's side. [|William Pitt the Younger], back in power in Britain, appealed once more for an Anglo-Austro-Russian [|coalition] against Napoleon to stop the ideals of revolutionary France spreading. // [|Napoleon on his Imperial Throne] //, by [|Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres], 1806. Imperial Standard of Napoleon I.  On 18 May 1804, Napoleon was given the title of emperor by the [|Senate] ; finally, on 2 December 1804, he was [|solemnly crowned], after receiving the [|Iron Crown] of the [|Lombard kings] , and was consecrated by [|Pope Pius VII] in [|Notre-Dame de Paris]. [|[11]] After this, in four campaigns, the Emperor transformed his " [|Carolingian] " [|feudal] and [|federal] empire into one modelled on the [|Roman Empire]. The memories of imperial Rome were for a third time, after [|Julius Caesar] and [|Charlemagne], to modify the historical evolution of France. Though the vague plan for an invasion of Britain was never executed, the [|Battle of Ulm] and the [|Battle of Austerlitz] overshadowed the defeat of [|Trafalgar], and the camp at [|Boulogne] put at Napoleon's disposal the best military resources he had commanded, in the form of // [|La Grande Armée] //.

[ [|edit] ] Early victories
"Napoleon's coronation balloon". Collecting card with vignettes of Napoleon's military victories. In the [|War of the Third Coalition], Napoleon swept away the remnants of the old [|Holy Roman Empire] and created in [|southern Germany] the [|vassal states] of [|Bavaria] , [|Baden] , [|Württemberg] , [|Hesse-Darmstadt] and [|Saxony] , which were reorganized into the [|Confederation of the Rhine]. The [|Treaty of Pressburg], signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France[// [|citation needed] //]. On the other hand, Napoleon's creation of the [|Kingdom of Italy], the occupation of [|Ancona] , and his annexation of [|Venetia] and its former [|Adriatic] territories marked a new stage in his Empire's progress. To create [|satellite states], Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European nations. The [|Bonapartes] began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations. [|Joseph Bonaparte] replaced the dispossessed [|Bourbons] in Naples; [|Louis Bonaparte] was installed on the throne of the [|Kingdom of Holland], formed from the [|Batavian Republic] ; [|Joachim Murat] became Grand-Duke of [|Berg] ; [|Jérôme Bonaparte] was made son-in-law to the King of Württemberg; and Eugène de Beauharnais was appointed to be the King of Bavaria while [|Stéphanie de Beauharnais] married the son of the Grand Duke of Baden. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power. On 6 August 1806 he forced the [|Habsburgs] to abdicate their title of [|Holy Roman Emperor], ending a political power which had endured for over a thousand years. Prussia had been offered the territory of [|Hannover] to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal. This, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1808. In this [|War of the Fourth Coalition], Napoleon destroyed the armies of [|Frederick William] at [|Jena-Auerstedt]. The [|Eylau] and the [|Friedland] against the Russians finally ruined [|Frederick the Great] 's formerly mighty kingdom, obliging [|Russia] and Prussia to make peace at [|Tilsit].

[ [|edit] ] Height of the Empire
This article is part of [|**a series**] || [|(1944–1946)] ||
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* [|v] || The [|Treaties of Tilsit] ended war between [|Imperial Russia] and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires which held power of much of the rest of Europe. The two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes. France pledged to aid Russia against [|Ottoman] [|Turkey], while Russia agreed to join the [|Continental System] against the [|British Empire]. Napoleon also convinced Alexander to enter the [|Anglo-Russian War] and to instigate the [|Finnish War] against Sweden in order to force Sweden to join the Continental System. More specifically, the Tsar agreed to evacuate [|Wallachia] and [|Moldavia], which had been occupied by Russian forces as part of the [|Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812]. The [|Ionian Islands] and [|Cattaro], which had been captured by Russian admirals [|Ushakov] and [|Senyavin] , were to be handed over to the French. In recompense, Napoleon guaranteed the sovereignty of the [|Duchy of Oldenburg] and several other small states ruled by the Tsar's German relatives. The treaty removed about half of [|Prussia] 's territory: [|Kottbus] passed to [|Saxony], the left bank of the [|Elbe] was awarded to the newly-created [|Kingdom of Westphalia] , [|Białystok] was given to Russia, and the rest of Polish lands in the Prussian possession were set up as the [|Duchy of Warsaw]. Prussia was ordered to reduce their army to 40,000 and to pay an indemnity of 100,000,000 francs. Observers in Prussia viewed the treaty as unfair and as a national humiliation. [|Talleyrand] had advised Napoleon to pursue milder terms; the treaties marked an important stage in his estrangement from the emperor. After the Treaties of Tilsit, instead of trying to reconcile Europe, as Talleyrand had advised, Napoleon wanted to defeat Britain and complete his Italian dominion. It was from Berlin, on 21 November 1806, that he had dated the first decree of a continental [|blockade], intended to paralyze his rival, but which would contribute to his own fall by its immoderate extension of the Empire. To the coalition of the northern powers, he added the league of the [|Baltic] and Mediterranean ports, and to the bombardment of [|Copenhagen] by a [|Royal Navy] fleet he responded by a second decree of blockade, dated from Milan on 17 December 1807. The application of the Concordat and the taking of Naples led to the first struggles with the Pope, centered around two issues: Napoleon declaring himself Roman Emperor[// [|citation needed] //], and [|Pius VII] renewing the theocratic affirmations of [|Pope Gregory VII]. The Emperor's Roman ambition was made more visible by the occupation of the Kingdom of Naples and of the [|Marches], and by the entry of [|Miollis] into Rome; while [|Junot] invaded Portugal, [|Joachim Murat] [|took possession] of formerly Roman Spain, whither Joseph Bonaparte transferred afterwards. Napoleon thought he might succeed in the [|Iberian Peninsula] as he had done in Italy, in Egypt, and in Hesse. However, the exile of the Royal Family to [|Bayonne], together with the enthroning of Joseph Bonaparte, turned the Spanish against Napoleon. After the [|Dos de Mayo] riots and subsequent reprisals, the Spanish began an effective guerrilla campaign, under the oversight of a Supreme Junta. The Peninsula became the grave of whole armies and saw a war against Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain. [|Dupont] capitulated at [|Bailen] to [|General Castaños], and [|Junot] at [|Sintra] , Portugal to [|General Wellesley]. To combat the Spanish resistance, Napoleon came to terms with the [|Tsar] [|Alexander I of Russia] at [|Erfurt], so that, abandoning his designs in the East, he could make the [|Grand Army] return in force to [|Madrid]. Spain used up the soldiers needed for Napoleon's other fields of battle, and they had to be replaced by conscripts. Spanish resistance affected Austria, and indicated the potential of national resistance. The provocations of Talleyrand and Britain strengthened the idea that Austrians could emulate the Spaniards. On April 10, 1809, Austria invaded France's ally, Bavaria. The campaign of 1809, however, would not be nearly as long and troublesome for France as the Peninsula. After a short and decisive action in Bavaria, Napoleon opened up the road to [|Vienna] for a second time. At [|Aspern-Essling], Napoleon suffered his first serious tactical defeat, along with the death of [|Jean Lannes] , an able Marshall and dear friend of the Emperor. The victory at [|Wagram], however, forced Austria to sue for peace. The [|Treaty of Schönbrunn], 14 December 1809, annexed the [|Illyrian provinces] and recognized past French conquests. The Pope was deported to [|Savona], and his domains were incorporated into the Empire. The Senate's decision on 17 February 1810 created the title of King of Rome, and made Rome the capital of Italy. Between 1810 and 1812 Napoleon's divorce of [|Josephine], and his marriage with [|Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria] , followed by the birth of the [|king of Rome] , shed light upon his future policy. He gradually withdrew power from his siblings and concentrated his affection and ambition on his son, the guarantee of the continuance of his [|dynasty]. This was the [|apogee] of the empire.
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[ [|edit] ] Intrigues and unrest
France in 1804 Undermining forces, however, had already begun to impinge on the faults inherent in Napoleon’s achievements. Britain, protected by the English Channel and her navy, was persistently active, and rebellion of both the governing and of the governed broke out everywhere. Napoleon, though he underrated it, soon felt his failure in coping with the Spanish uprising. Men like [|Baron von Stein], [|August von Hardenberg] and [|Johann von Scharnhorst] had secretly started preparing Prussia's retaliation. The alliance arranged at Tilsit was seriously shaken by the Austrian marriage, the threat of Polish restoration to Russia, and the Continental System. The very persons whom he had placed in power were counteracting his plans. With many of his siblings and relations performing unsuccessfully or even betraying him, Napoleon found himself obliged to revoke their power. [|Caroline Bonaparte] conspired against her brother and against her husband Murat; the hypochondriac Louis, now Dutch in his sympathies, found the supervision of the blockade taken from him, and also the defense of the [|Scheldt], which he had refused to ensure. [|Jérôme Bonaparte] lost control of the blockade on [|North Sea] shores. The very nature of things was against the new dynasties, as it had been against the old. After national insurrections and family recriminations came treachery from Napoleon's ministers. Talleyrand betrayed his designs to [|Metternich] and suffered dismissal. [|Joseph Fouché], corresponding with Austria in 1809 and 1810, entered into an understanding with Louis and also with Britain, while [|Bourrienne] was convicted of speculation. By consequence of the spirit of conquest Napoleon had aroused, many of his marshals and officials, having tasted victory, dreamed of sovereign power: [|Bernadotte], who had helped him to the [|Consulate] , played Napoleon false to win the crown of Sweden. [|Soult], like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating the treason of 1813 and the defection of 1814. Many persons[// [|who?] //] hoped for "an accident", which might resemble the deaths of [|Alexander the Great] and of Julius Caesar. The country itself, though flattered by conquests, was tired of self-sacrifice. The unpopularity of [|conscription] policies gradually turned many of Napoleon’s subjects against him. Amidst profound silence from the press and the assemblies, a protest was raised against imperial power by the literary world, against the excommunicated sovereign by Catholicism, and against the author of the continental blockade by the discontented [|bourgeoisie], ruined by the crisis of 1811. Even as he lost his military principles, Napoleon maintained his gift for brilliance. His [|Six Days Campaign], which took place at the very end of the [|Sixth Coalition] , is often regarded as his greatest display of leadership and military prowess. But by then it was the end, and it was during the years before when the nations of Europe conspired against France. While the Emperor and his holdings idled and worsened, the rest of Europe agreed to avenge the revolutionary events of 1792.

[ [|edit] ] The Fall
[|Napoleonic //départements//] Main articles: [|Napoleon's Invasion of Russia], [|Sixth Coalition] , and [|Hundred Days] Napoleon had hardly succeeded in putting down the revolt in Germany when the Tsar of Russia himself headed a European insurrection against Napoleon. To put a stop to this, to ensure his own access to the Mediterranean and exclude his chief rival, Napoleon made an effort in 1812 against Russia. Despite his victorious advance, the taking of [|Smolensk], the victory on the [|Moskva] , and the entry into Moscow, he was defeated by the country and the climate, and by Alexander's refusal to make terms. After this came the lamentable retreat in the harsh Russian winter, while all Europe was concentrating against him. Pushed back, as he had been in Spain, from bastion to bastion, after the action on the [|Berezina], Napoleon had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1809, and then—having refused the peace offered to him by Austria at the [|Congress of Prague] (4 June–10 August 1813), from a dread of losing Italy, where each of his victories had marked a stage in the accomplishment of his dream—on those of 1805, despite [|Lützen] and [|Bautzen] , and on those of 1802 after his defeat at [|Leipzig] , when [|Bernadotte] – now Crown Prince of Sweden – turned upon him, [|General Moreau] also joined the Allies, and longstanding allied nations, such as [|Saxony] and [|Bavaria] , forsook him as well. Following his retreat from Russia, Napoleon continued to retreat, this time from Germany. After the loss of Spain, reconquered by an allied army led by Wellington, the rising in the Netherlands preliminary to the invasion and the [|manifesto of Frankfort] (1 December 1813) [|[12]] which proclaimed it, he had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1795; and then later was driven yet farther back upon those of 1792—despite the campaign of 1814 against the invaders. Paris capitulated on 30 March 1814, and the [|//Delenda Carthago//], pronounced against Britain, was spoken of Napoleon. The Empire fell with Napoleon's abdication at [|Fontainebleau] on 11 April 1814. After a brief exile at the island of [|Elba], Napoleon recaptured the throne temporarily in 1815, reviving the Empire in what is known as the [|Hundred Days]. However, he was defeated by the Seventh Coalition at the [|Battle of Waterloo]. He surrendered himself to the Coalition and he was exiled to [|Saint Helena], a remote island in the South Atlantic, where he remained until his death in 1821. After the Hundred Days, the [|Bourbon monarchy was restored], with [|Louis XVIII] ascending the throne of France, while the rest of Napoleon's conquests were disposed of in the [|Congress of Vienna]. [|France series] || [|of the French Republic] || ||
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[ [|edit] ] Nature of Bonaparte's rule
Napoleon gained support by appealing to some common concerns of French people. These included dislike of the emigrant [|nobility] who had escaped persecution, fear by some of a restoration of the // [|ancien régime] //, a dislike and suspicion of foreign countries had tried to reverse the Revolution – and a wish by Jacobins to extend France's //revolutionary ideals//. Napoleon attracted power and imperial status and gathered support for his changes of French institutions, such as the [|Concordat of 1801] which confirmed the Catholic Church as the majority church of France and restored some of its civil status. Napoleon by this time however was not a democrat, nor a republican. He was, he liked to think, an enlightened despot, the sort of man Voltaire might have found appealing. He preserved numerous social gains of the Revolution while suppressing political liberty. He admired efficiency and strength and hated feudalism, religious intolerance, and civil inequality. Enlightened despotism meant political stability. He knew his Roman history well, as after 500 years of republicanism, Rome became an empire under Augustus Caesar. Although a supporter of the [|radical] [|Jacobins] during the early days of the Revolution (more out of [|pragmatism] than any real ideology), Napoleon became increasingly autocratic as his political career progressed and once in power embraced certain aspects of both liberalism and authoritarianism – for example, [|public education], a generally liberal restructuring of the French [|legal system] , and the emancipation of the Jews – while rejecting [|electoral democracy] and [|freedom of the press].


 * Napoleon Bonaparte** ( [|French] : //Napoléon Bonaparte// [|[napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt]]  ) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the [|French Revolution] . As **Napoleon I**, he was [|Emperor of the French] from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the [|Napoleonic Code], has been a major influence on many [|civil law] jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called [|Napoleonic Wars] . He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an [|imperial monarchy] which restored aspects of the deposed [|Ancien Régime] . Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time and his campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world. [|[1]]

Napoleon was born in [|Corsica] to parents of [|noble Genoese] ancestry, and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. He rose to prominence under the [|French First Republic] and led successful campaigns against the [|First] and [|Second] Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a // [|coup d'état] // and installed himself as [|First Consul] ; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor. In the first decade of the 19th century, the [|French Empire] under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—involving every major European power. [|[1]]

After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French [|sphere of influence] through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French [|client states].

The [|Peninsular War] and 1812 [|French invasion of Russia] marked turning points in Napoleon's fortunes. His // [|Grande Armée] // was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the [|Sixth Coalition] defeated his forces [|at Leipzig] ; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of [|Elba]. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power, but was defeated at the [|Battle of Waterloo] in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life in confinement by the British on the island of [|Saint Helena]. An autopsy concluded he died of [|stomach cancer], although this claim has sparked significant debate, as some scholars have held that he was a victim of [|arsenic] poisoning.

[ [|hide] ] *  [|1 Origins and education]
 * == Contents ==
 * [|2 Early career]
 * [|2.1 Siege of Toulon (1793)]
 * [|2.2 13 Vendémiaire (1795)]
 * [|2.3 First Italian campaign (1796–97)]
 * [|2.4 Egyptian expedition (1798–1801)]
 * [|3 Ruler of France]
 * [|3.1 French Consulate]
 * [|3.1.1 Temporary peace in Europe]
 * [|3.2 French Empire]
 * [|3.2.1 War of the Third Coalition]
 * [|3.2.2 Middle-Eastern alliances]
 * [|3.2.3 War of the Fourth Coalition]
 * [|3.2.4 Peninsular War]
 * [|3.2.5 War of the Fifth Coalition and remarriage]
 * [|3.2.6 Invasion of Russia]
 * [|3.2.7 War of the Sixth Coalition]
 * [|3.2.8 Exile to Elba]
 * [|3.2.9 Hundred Days]
 * [|4 Exile on Saint Helena]
 * [|4.1 Death]
 * [|4.1.1 Cause of death]
 * [|5 Reforms]
 * [|5.1 Napoleonic Code]
 * [|5.2 Metric system]
 * [|6 Napoleon and religions]
 * [|6.1 Concordat]
 * [|6.2 Religious emancipation]
 * [|7 Image]
 * [|8 Legacy]
 * [|8.1 Warfare]
 * [|8.2 Bonapartism]
 * [|8.3 Criticism]
 * [|8.4 Propaganda and memory]
 * [|8.5 Legacy outside France]
 * [|9 Marriages and children]
 * [|10 Titles, styles, honours and arms]
 * [|10.1 Titles and styles]
 * [|10.2 Full titles]
 * [|10.3 1804–1805]
 * [|10.4 1805–1806]
 * [|10.5 1806–1809]
 * [|10.6 1809–1814]
 * [|10.7 1815]
 * [|11 Ancestry]
 * [|12 Notes]
 * [|13 Citations]
 * [|14 References]
 * [|15 External links] ||

Napoleon's father [|Carlo Buonaparte] was Corsica's representative to the court of [|Louis XVI of France].

Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769, the second of eight children, in his family's ancestral home [|Casa Buonaparte], located in the town of [|Ajaccio] , Corsica. This was a year after the island was transferred to France by the [|Republic of Genoa]. [|[2]] He was christened //Napoleone di Buonaparte//, probably acquiring his first name from an uncle (though an older brother, [|who did not survive infancy, was also named Napoleone] ). He was called by this name until his twenties, when he adopted the more French-sounding //Napoléon Bonaparte//. [|[3]] [|[note 1]]

The Corsican Buonapartes originated from minor [|Italian nobility] of [|Lombard] origin, [|[4]] [|[5]] [|[6]] [|[7]] who had come to Corsica from [|Liguria] in the 16th century. [|[8]] 2012 DNA tests found some of the family's ancestors were from the [|Caucasus] region. [|[9]] The study found haplogroup type E1b1c1* originating in Northern Africa circa 1200 BC. [|[10]]

His father //Nobile// [|Carlo Buonaparte], an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of [|Louis XVI] in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, [|Letizia Ramolino], whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child. [|[11]]

Nationalist Corsican leader [|Pasquale Paoli], 1798 portrait by [|Richard Cosway]

He had an elder brother, [|Joseph] ; and younger siblings [|Lucien], [|Elisa] , [|Louis] , [|Pauline] , [|Caroline] and [|Jérôme]. There were also two other children, a boy and girl, who were born before Joseph but died in infancy. [|[12]] Napoleon was baptised as a Catholic just before his second birthday, on 21 July 1771 at [|Ajaccio Cathedral]. [|[13]]

Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background and family connections afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time. [|[14]] In January 1779, Napoleon was enrolled at a religious school in [|Autun], mainland France, to learn French, and in May he was admitted to a [|military academy] at [|Brienne-le-Château]. [|[15]] He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell properly. [|[16]] Napoleon was teased by other students for his accent and applied himself to reading. [|[17]] [|[note 2]] An examiner observed that Napoleon "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography...This boy would make an excellent sailor." [|[19]] [|[note 3]]

On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite // [|École Militaire] // in Paris; this ended his naval ambition, which had led him to consider an application to the British [|Royal Navy]. [|[21]] Instead, he trained to become an artillery officer and when his father's death reduced his income, was forced to complete the two-year course in one year. [|[22]] He was the first Corsican to graduate from the Ecole Militaire [|[22]] and was examined by the famed scientist [|Pierre-Simon Laplace], whom Napoleon later appointed to the Senate. [|[23]]

Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican [|Republican volunteers].

Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was [|commissioned] a [|second lieutenant] in //La Fère// artillery regiment. [|[15]] [|[note 4]] He served on garrison duty in [|Valence, Drôme] and [|Auxonne] until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, though he took nearly two years' leave in Corsica and Paris during this period. A fervent Corsican nationalist, Bonaparte wrote to the Corsican leader [|Pasquale Paoli] in May 1789: "As the nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me." [|[25]]

He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle between royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He supported the revolutionary [|Jacobin] faction, gained the rank of [|lieutenant colonel] in the Corsican militia and command over a battalion of volunteers. After he had exceeded his leave of absence and led a riot against a French army in Corsica, he was somehow able to convince military authorities in Paris to promote him to captain in the regular army in July 1792. [|[26]]

He returned to Corsica once again and came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage a French assault on the [|Sardinian] island of [|La Maddalena], where Bonaparte was one of the expedition leaders. [|[27]] Bonaparte and his family had to flee to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split with Paoli. [|[28]]

Main article: [|Siege of Toulon]

General Bonaparte at the siege of [|Toulon]

In July 1793, he published a pro-republican pamphlet, // [|Le souper de Beaucaire] // (Supper at [|Beaucaire] ), which gained him the admiration and support of [|Augustin Robespierre], younger brother of the Revolutionary leader [|Maximilien Robespierre]. With the help of fellow Corsican [|Antoine Christophe Saliceti], Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon. The city had risen against the [|republican government] and was occupied by British troops. [|[29]]

He adopted a plan to capture a hill that would allow republican guns to dominate the city's harbour and force the British ships to evacuate. The assault on the position, during which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to the capture of the city and his promotion to [|brigadier general] at the age of 24. His actions brought him to the attention of the [|Committee of Public Safety], and he was put in charge of the artillery of France's [|Army of Italy]. [|[30]]

Whilst waiting for confirmation of this post, Napoleon spent time as inspector of coastal fortifications on the Mediterranean coast near Marseille. He devised plans for attacking the [|Kingdom of Sardinia] as part of France's campaign [|against the First Coalition]. [|[31]] The commander of the Army of Italy, [|Pierre Jadart Dumerbion] had seen too many generals executed for failing or for having the wrong political views. Therefore, he deferred to the powerful // [|représentants en mission] //, Augustin Robespierre and Saliceti, who in turn were ready to listen to the freshly promoted artillery general. [|[32]]

Carrying out Bonaparte's plan in the [|Battle of Saorgio] in April 1794, the French army advanced northeast along the [|Italian Riviera] then turned north to seize [|Ormea] in the mountains. From Ormea, they thrust west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around [|Saorge]. As a result, the coastal towns of [|Oneglia] and [|Loano] as well as the strategic [|Col de Tende] (Tenda Pass) fell into French hands. [|[33]] Later, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to understand that country's intentions towards France. [|[31]]

Main article: [|13 Vendémiaire]

//Journée du [|13 Vendémiaire] //. Artillery fire in front of the // [|Church of Saint-Roch, Paris] //,// [|Rue Saint-Honoré] //

Following the fall of the Robespierres in the July 1794 [|Thermidorian Reaction], Bonaparte was put under [|house arrest] at [|Nice] for his association with the brothers. [|[note 5]] He was released within two weeks and due to his technical skills was asked to draw-up plans to attack Italian positions in the context of France's war with Austria. He also took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the Royal Navy. [|[35]]

Bonaparate became engaged to [|Désirée Clary], whose sister, [|Julie Clary] , married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph; the Clarys were a wealthy merchant family from Marseilles. [|[36]] In April 1795, he was assigned to the [|Army of the West], which was engaged in the [|War in the Vendée] —a civil war and royalist [|counter-revolution] in Vendée, a region in west central France, on the Atlantic Ocean. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general—for which the army already had a full quota—and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting. [|[37]]

He was moved to the Bureau of [|Topography] of the Committee of Public Safety and sought, unsuccessfully, to be transferred to [|Constantinople] in order to offer his services to the [|Sultan]. [|[38]] During this period he wrote a romantic novella, // [|Clisson et Eugénie] //, about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Désirée. [|[39]] On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for his refusal to serve in the Vendée campaign. He now faced a difficult financial situation and reduced career prospects. [|[40]]

On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the [|National Convention] after they were excluded from a new government, the [|Directory]. [|[41]] One of the leaders of the Thermidorian Reaction, [|Paul Barras], knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and gave him command of the improvised forces in defence of the Convention in the [|Tuileries Palace]. Bonaparte had witnessed the [|massacre of the King's Swiss Guard] there three years earlier and realised artillery would be the key to its defence. [|[15]]

He ordered a young cavalry officer, [|Joachim Murat], to seize large cannons and used them to repel the attackers on 5 October 1795—//13 Vendémiaire An IV// in the [|French Republican Calendar]. One thousand four hundred royalists died, and the rest fled. [|[41]] He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of [|grapeshot] ", according to the 19th century historian [|Thomas Carlyle] in // [|The French Revolution: A History] //. [|[42]]

The defeat of the Royalist insurrection extinguished the threat to the Convention and earned Bonaparte sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory; Murat would become his brother-in-law and one of his generals. Bonaparte was promoted to Commander of the Interior and given command of the Army of Italy. [|[28]] Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, [|Joséphine de Beauharnais], whom he married on 9 March 1796 after he had broken off his engagement to Désirée Clary. [|[43]]

Main article: [|Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars]

// [|Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole] //, by Baron [|Antoine-Jean Gros], ( [|ca.] 1801), [|Musée du Louvre] , Paris

Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy and led it on a successful invasion of Italy. At the [|Battle of Lodi] he defeated Austrian forces and drove them out of [|Lombardy]. [|[28]] He was defeated at [|Caldiero] by Austrian reinforcements, led by [|József Alvinczi], though Bonaparte regained the initiative at the crucial [|Battle of the Bridge of Arcole] and proceeded to subdue the [|Papal States]. [|[44]]

Bonaparte argued against the wishes of Directory atheists to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope as he reasoned this would create a [|power vacuum] which would be exploited by the [|Kingdom of Naples]. Instead, in March 1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced it to [|negotiate peace]. [|[45]] The [|Treaty of Leoben] gave France control of most of northern Italy and the [|Low Countries], and a secret clause promised the [|Republic of Venice] to Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending 1,100 years of independence; he also authorised the French to loot treasures such as the [|Horses of Saint Mark]. [|[46]]

His application of conventional military ideas to real-world situations effected his military triumphs, such as creative use of artillery as a mobile force to support his infantry. He referred to his tactics thus: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning. Look at Caesar; he fought the first like the last." [|[47]]

He was adept at espionage and deception and could win battles by concealment of troop deployments and concentration of his forces on the 'hinge' of an enemy's weakened front. If he could not use his favourite [|envelopment strategy], he would take up the central position and attack two co-operating forces at their hinge, swing round to fight one until it fled, then turn to face the other. [|[48]] In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons and 170 [|standards]. [|[49]] The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 [|pitched battles] through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics. [|[50]]

During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics; he founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and another for circulation in France. [|[51]] The royalists attacked Bonaparte for looting Italy and warned he might become a dictator. [|[52]] Bonaparte sent General [|Pierre Augereau] to Paris to lead a //coup d'état// and purge the royalists on 4 September — [|Coup of 18 Fructidor]. This left Barras and his Republican allies in control again but dependent on Bonaparte who proceeded to peace negotiations with Austria. These negotiations resulted in the [|Treaty of Campo Formio], and Bonaparte returned to Paris in December as a hero. [|[53]] He met [|Talleyrand], France's new Foreign Minister—who would later serve in the same capacity for Emperor Napoleon—and they began to prepare for an invasion of Britain. [|[28]]

Main article: [|French campaign in Egypt and Syria]

//Bonaparte Before the [|Sphinx] //, (ca. 1868) by [|Jean-Léon Gérôme], [|Hearst Castle]

After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided France's naval power was not yet strong enough to confront the Royal Navy in the [|English Channel] and proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its [|trade interests in India]. [|[28]] Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with a Muslim enemy of the British in India, [|Tipu Sultan]. [|[54]]

Napoleon assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions." [|[55]] According to a February 1798 report by Talleyrand: "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from [|Suez] to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English." [|[55]] The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to India. [|[56]]

In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the [|French Academy of Sciences]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists: mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and [|geodesists] among them; their discoveries included the [|Rosetta Stone], and their work was published in the // [|Description de l'Égypte] // in 1809. [|[57]]

En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached [|Malta] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the [|Knights Hospitaller]. The two hundred Knights of French origin did not support the Grand Master, [|Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim], who had succeeded a Frenchman, and made it clear they would not fight against their compatriots. Hompesch surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men. [|[58]]

//Battle of the Pyramids//, [|François-Louis-Joseph Watteau], 1798–1799

General Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and on 1 July landed at [|Alexandria]. [|[28]] He fought the [|Battle of Shubra Khit] against the [|Mamluks], Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practice their defensive tactic for the [|Battle of the Pyramids] fought on 21 July, about 24 km from the [|pyramids]. General Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry, but he formed hollow squares with supplies kept safely inside. 29 French [|[59]] and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the morale of the French army. [|[60]]

On 1 August, the British fleet under [|Horatio Nelson] captured or destroyed all but two French vessels in the [|Battle of the Nile], and Bonaparte's goal of a strengthened French position in the Mediterranean was frustrated. [|[61]] His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings. [|[62]] In early 1799, he moved an army into the [|Ottoman province] of Damascus ( [|Syria] and [|Galilee] ). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of [|Arish], [|Gaza] , [|Jaffa] , and [|Haifa]. [|[63]] The [|attack on Jaffa] was particularly brutal: Bonaparte, on discovering many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on [|parole], ordered the garrison and 1,400 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning to save bullets. [|[61]] Men, women and children were robbed and murdered for three days. [|[64]]

With his army weakened by disease—mostly [|bubonic plague] —and poor supplies, Bonaparte was unable to [|reduce the fortress] of [|Acre] and returned to Egypt in May. [|[61]] To speed up the retreat, he ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned. [|[65]] (However, British eyewitness accounts later showed that most of the men were still alive and had not been poisoned.) His supporters have argued this was necessary given the continued harassment of stragglers by Ottoman forces, and indeed those left behind alive were tortured and beheaded by the Ottomans. Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at [|Abukir]. [|[66]]

Main articles: [|18 Brumaire] and [|the Napoleonic era]

General Bonaparte surrounded by members of the Council of Five Hundred during the [|18 Brumaire] coup d'état, by [|François Bouchot]

While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs through irregular delivery of newspapers and dispatches. He learned France had suffered a [|series of defeats] in the [|War of the Second Coalition]. [|[67]] On 24 August 1799, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact he had received no explicit orders from Paris. [|[61]] The army was left in the charge of [|Jean Baptiste Kléber]. [|[68]]

Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return to ward off possible invasions of French soil, but poor lines of communication meant the messages had failed to reach him. [|[67]] By the time he reached Paris in October France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic was bankrupt, however, and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population. [|[69]] The Directory discussed Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak to punish him. [|[67]]

Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, [|Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès], for his support in a coup to overthrow the [|constitutional government]. The leaders of the plot included his brother Lucien; the speaker of the [|Council of Five Hundred], [|Roger Ducos] ; another Director, [|Joseph Fouché] ; and Talleyrand. On 9 November—18 Brumaire by the French Republican Calendar—Bonaparte was charged with the safety of the legislative councils, who were persuaded to remove to the [|Château de Saint-Cloud], to the west of Paris, after a rumour of a Jacobin rebellion was spread by the plotters. [|[70]] By the following day, the deputies had realised they faced an attempted coup. Faced with their remonstrations, Bonaparte led troops to seize control and disperse them, which left a [|rump legislature] to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. [|[61]]

Main articles: [|French Consulate] and [|War of the Second Coalition]

// [|Napoleon Crossing the Alps] //(1800), by [|Jacques-Louis David]

Though Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmanoeuvred by Bonaparte, who drafted the [|Constitution of the Year VIII] and secured his own election as [|First Consul], and he took up residence at the Tuileries. [|[71]] This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France. [|[61]]

In 1800, Bonaparte and his troops crossed the Alps into Italy, where French forces had been almost completely driven out by the Austrians whilst he was in Egypt. [|[note 6]] The campaign began badly for the French after Bonaparte made strategic errors; one force was left [|besieged at Genoa] but managed to hold out and thereby occupy Austrian resources. [|[73]] This effort, and French general [|Louis Desaix] 's timely reinforcements, allowed Bonaparte narrowly to avoid defeat and to triumph over the Austrians in June at the significant [|Battle of Marengo]. [|[74]]

Bonaparte's brother Joseph led the peace negotiations in [|Lunéville] and reported that Austria, emboldened by British support, would not recognise France's newly gained territory. As negotiations became increasingly fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general [|Moreau] to strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to victory at [|Hohenlinden]. As a result, the [|Treaty of Lunéville] was signed in February 1801; the French gains of the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased. [|[74]]

See also: [|Haitian Revolution]

[|Napoleon as First Consul of the Republic], by [|Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]

Both France and Britain had become tired of war and signed the [|Treaty of Amiens] in October 1801 and March 1802. This called for the withdrawal of British troops from most colonial territories it had recently occupied. [|[73]] The peace was uneasy and short-lived. Britain did not evacuate Malta as promised and protested against Bonaparte's [|annexation] of Piedmont and his [|Act of Mediation], which established a new [|Swiss Confederation] , though neither of these territories were covered by the treaty. [|[75]] The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803, and he reassembled the invasion camp at Boulogne. [|[61]]

Bonaparte faced a major setback and eventual defeat in the Haitian Revolution. By the [|Law of 20 May 1802] Bonaparte re-established slavery in France's colonial possessions, where it had been banned following the Revolution. [|[76]] Following a slave revolt, he [|sent an army] to reconquer [|Saint-Domingue] and establish a base. The force was, however, destroyed by [|yellow fever] and fierce resistance led by Haitian generals [|Toussaint Louverture] and [|Jean-Jacques Dessalines]. [|[note 7]] Faced by imminent war against Britain and bankruptcy, he recognised French possessions on the mainland of North America would be indefensible and sold them to the United States—the [|Louisiana Purchase] —for less than three cents per acre (7.4 cents per hectare). [|[78]]

Main article: [|First French Empire]

See also: [|Coronation of Napoleon I] and [|Napoleonic Wars]

Napoleon faced royalist and Jacobin plots as France's ruler, including the // [|Conspiration des poignards] // (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and the [|Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise] (also known as the //infernal machine//) two months later. [|[79]] In January 1804, his police uncovered an assassination plot against him which involved Moreau and which was ostensibly sponsored by the [|Bourbon] former rulers of France. On the advice of Talleyrand, Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of [|Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien], in violation of neighbouring [|Baden] 's sovereignty. After a secret trial the Duke was executed, even though he had not been involved in the plot. [|[80]]

[|Coronation of Napoleon I] and [|Empress Josephine] //by [|Jacques-Louis David] ，in 1804.//

Napoleon used the plot to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as emperor, as a Bourbon restoration would be more difficult if the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution. [|[81]] Napoleon [|crowned] himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at [|Notre Dame de Paris] and then crowned Joséphine Empress. [|Ludwig van Beethoven], a long-time admirer, was disappointed at this turn towards imperialism and scratched his dedication to Napoleon from his [|3rd Symphony]. [|[81]] The story that Napoleon seized the crown out of the hands of [|Pope Pius VII] during the ceremony to avoid his subjugation to the authority of the pontiff is [|apocryphal] ; the coronation procedure had been agreed in advance. [|[note 8]]

At [|Milan Cathedral] on 26 May 1805, Napoleon was crowned [|King of Italy] with the [|Iron Crown of Lombardy]. He created eighteen // [|Marshals of the Empire] // from amongst his top generals, to secure the allegiance of the army.

Main article: [|War of the Third Coalition]

Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by [|François Gérard] 1805. The [|Battle of Austerlitz], also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was Napoleon's greatest victory, where the [|French Empire] effectively crushed the [|Third Coalition].

Great Britain broke the Peace of Amiens and declared war on France in May 1803. Napoleon set up a camp at [|Boulogne-sur-Mer] to prepare for an [|invasion of Britain]. By 1805, Britain had convinced Austria and Russia to join a Third Coalition against France. Napoleon knew the French fleet could not defeat the Royal Navy in a head-to-head battle and planned to lure it away from the English Channel. [|[82]]

The [|French Navy] would escape from the British blockades of Toulon and Brest and threaten to attack the West Indies, thus drawing off the British defence of the [|Western Approaches], in the hope a Franco-Spanish fleet could take control of the channel long enough for French armies to cross from Boulogne and [|invade England]. [|[82]] However, after defeat at the naval [|Battle of Cape Finisterre] in July 1805 and [|Admiral Villeneuve's] retreat to Cadiz, invasion was never again a realistic option for Napoleon. [|[83]]

As the Austrian army marched on [|Bavaria], he called the invasion of Britain off and ordered the army stationed at Boulogne, his // [|Grande Armée] //, to march to Germany secretly in a [|turning movement] —the [|Ulm Campaign]. This encircled the Austrian forces about to attack France and severed their lines of communication. On 20 October 1805, the French captured 30,000 prisoners at [|Ulm], though the next day Britain's victory at the [|Battle of Trafalgar] meant the Royal Navy gained control of the seas. [|[84]]

Six weeks later, on the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at [|Austerlitz]. This ended the Third Coalition, and he commissioned the [|Arc de Triomphe] to commemorate the victory. Austria had to concede territory; the [|Peace of Pressburg] led to the dissolution of the [|Holy Roman Empire] and creation of the [|Confederation of the Rhine] with Napoleon named as its // [|Protector] //. [|[84]]

Napoleon would go on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought." [|[85]] Frank McLynn suggests Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one". [|[86]] [|Vincent Cronin] disagrees, stating Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, that "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen". [|[87]]

Main articles: [|Franco-Ottoman alliance] and [|Franco-Persian alliance]

The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini meets with Napoleon I at [|Finckenstein Palace], 27 April 1807, by [|François Mulard]

Even after the failed campaign in Egypt, Napoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French presence in the Middle East. [|[54]] An alliance with Middle-Eastern powers would have the strategic advantage of pressuring Russia on its southern border. From 1803, Napoleon went to considerable lengths to try to convince the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia in the [|Balkans] and join his anti-Russian coalition. [|[88]]

Napoleon sent General [|Horace Sebastiani] as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire recover lost territories. [|[88]] In February 1806, following Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz and the ensuing dismemberment of the [|Habsburg Empire], the Ottoman Emperor [|Selim III] finally recognised Napoleon as Emperor, formally opting for an alliance with France //"our sincere and natural ally"//, and war with Russia and England. [|[89]]

A Franco-Persian alliance was also formed, from 1807 to 1809, between Napoleon and the [|Persian Empire] of [|Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar], against Russia and Great Britain. The alliance ended when France allied with Russia and turned its focus to European campaigns. [|[54]]

Main article: [|War of the Fourth Coalition]

The [|Treaties of Tilsit] : Napoleon meeting with [|Alexander I of Russia] on a raft in the middle of the [|Neman River].

The Fourth Coalition was assembled in 1806, and Napoleon defeated Prussia at the [|Battle of Jena-Auerstedt] in October. [|[90]] He marched against advancing Russian armies through Poland and was involved in the bloody stalemate of the [|Battle of Eylau] on 6 February 1807. [|[91]]

After a decisive victory at [|Friedland], he signed the [|Treaties of Tilsit] ; one with Tsar [|Alexander I of Russia] which divided the continent between the two [|powers] ; the other with Prussia which stripped that country of half its territory. Napoleon placed [|puppet rulers] on the thrones of [|German states], including his brother Jérôme as king of the new [|Kingdom of Westphalia]. In the French-controlled part of Poland, he established the [|Duchy of Warsaw] with King [|Frederick Augustus I of Saxony] as ruler. [|[92]]

With his [|Milan] and [|Berlin Decrees], Napoleon attempted to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain called the // [|Continental System] //. This act of economic warfare did not succeed, as it encouraged British merchants to smuggle into continental Europe, and Napoleon's exclusively land-based customs enforcers could not stop them. [|[93]]

Main article: [|Peninsular War]

Portugal did not comply with the [|Continental System], so in 1807 Napoleon invaded with the support of Spain. Under the pretext of a reinforcement of the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, Napoleon invaded Spain as well, replaced [|Charles IV] with his brother Joseph and placed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat in Joseph's stead at Naples. This led to resistance from the Spanish army and civilians in the [|Dos de Mayo Uprising]. [|[94]]

[|Joseph Bonaparte], Napoleon's brother, as King of Spain

In Spain, Napoleon faced a new type of war, coined since then as // [|guerrilla] //, in which the local population, inspired by religion and patriotism, was heavily involved. This early type of [|national war] consisted of various types of low intensity fighting (ambushes, sabotage, uprisings...) and open support to the Spanish-allied regular armies.

Following a French retreat from much of the country, Napoleon took command and defeated the [|Spanish Army]. He retook Madrid, then outmanoeuvred a British army sent to support the Spanish and drove it to the coast. [|[95]] Before the Spanish population had been fully subdued, Austria again threatened war, and Napoleon returned to France. [|[96]]

The costly and often brutal Peninsular War continued in Napoleon's absence; in the second [|Siege of Zaragoza] most of the city was destroyed and over 50,000 people perished. [|[97]] Although Napoleon left 300,000 of his finest troops to battle Spanish [|guerrillas] as well as British and Portuguese forces commanded by [|Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington], French control over the peninsula again deteriorated. [|[98]]

Following several allied victories, the war concluded after Napoleon's abdication in 1814. [|[99]] Napoleon later described the Peninsular War as central to his final defeat, writing in his memoirs "That unfortunate war destroyed me... All... my disasters are bound up in that fatal knot." [|[100]]

Main article: [|War of the Fifth Coalition]

In April 1809, Austria abruptly broke its alliance with France, and Napoleon was forced to assume command of forces on the Danube and German fronts. After early successes, the French faced difficulties in crossing the [|Danube] and suffered a defeat in May at the [|Battle of Aspern-Essling] near [|Vienna]. The Austrians failed to capitalise on the situation and allowed Napoleon's forces to regroup. He defeated the Austrians again at [|Wagram], and the [|Treaty of Schönbrunn] was signed between Austria and France. [|[101]]

Britain was the other member of the coalition. In addition to the [|Iberian Peninsula], the British planned to open another front in mainland Europe. However, Napoleon was able to rush reinforcements to [|Antwerp], owing to Britain's inadequately organised [|Walcheren Campaign]. [|[102]]

He concurrently annexed the Papal States because of the Church's refusal to support the Continental System; Pope Pius VII responded by [|excommunicating] the emperor. The pope was then abducted by Napoleon's officers, and though Napoleon had not ordered his abduction, he did not order Pius' release. The pope was moved throughout Napoleon's territories, sometimes while ill, and Napoleon sent delegations to pressure him on issues including agreement to a new concordat with France, which Pius refused. In 1810 Napoleon married [|Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria], following his divorce of Joséphine; this further strained his relations with the Church, and thirteen cardinals were imprisoned for non-attendance at the marriage ceremony. [|[103]] The pope remained confined for 5 years and did not return to Rome until May 1814. [|[104]]

[|First French Empire] at its greatest extent in 1811

French Empire

French [|satellite states]

Allied states

Napoleon consented to the ascent to the Swedish throne of [|Bernadotte], one of his marshals and a long-term rival of Napoleon's, in November 1810. Napoleon had indulged Bernadotte's indiscretions because he was married to his former fiancée Désirée Clary but came to regret sparing his life when Bernadotte later allied Sweden with France's enemies. [|[105]]

Main article: [|French invasion of Russia]

The [|Congress of Erfurt] sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance, and the leaders had a friendly personal relationship after their first meeting at Tilsit in 1807. [|[106]] By 1811, however, tensions had increased and Alexander was under pressure from the [|Russian nobility] to break off the alliance. An early sign the relationship had deteriorated was the Russian's virtual abandonment of the Continental System, which led Napoleon to threaten Alexander with serious consequences if he formed an alliance with Britain. [|[107]]

By 1812, advisers to Alexander suggested the possibility of an invasion of the French Empire and the recapture of Poland. On receipt of intelligence reports on Russia's war preparations, Napoleon expanded his //Grande Armée// to more than 450,000 men. [|[108]] He ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the Russian heartland and prepared for an offensive campaign; on 23 June 1812 the invasion commenced. [|[109]]

In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon termed the war the //Second Polish War//—the //First Polish War// had been the [|Bar Confederation] uprising by Polish nobles against Russia in 1768. Polish patriots wanted the Russian part of Poland to be joined with the Duchy of Warsaw and an independent Poland created. This was rejected by Napoleon, who stated he had promised his ally Austria this would not happen. Napoleon refused to [|manumit] the Russian [|serfs] because of concerns this might provoke a reaction in his army's rear. The serfs later committed atrocities against French soldiers during France's retreat. [|[110]]

//Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia//, a painting by [|Adolph Northen]

The Russians avoided Napoleon's objective of a decisive engagement and instead retreated deeper into Russia. A brief attempt at resistance was made at [|Smolensk] in August; the Russians were defeated in a series of battles, and Napoleon resumed his advance. The Russians again avoided battle, although in a few cases this was only achieved because Napoleon uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity arose. Owing to the Russian army's [|scorched earth] tactics, the French found it increasingly difficult to forage food for themselves and their horses. [|[111]]

The Russians eventually offered battle outside Moscow on 7 September: the [|Battle of Borodino] resulted in approximately 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French dead, wounded or captured, and may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history up to that point in time. [|[112]] Although the French had won, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major battle Napoleon had hoped would be decisive. Napoleon's own account was: "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible." [|[113]]

The Russian army withdrew and retreated past Moscow. Napoleon entered the city, assuming its fall would end the war and Alexander would negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city's governor [|Feodor Rostopchin], rather than capitulation, Moscow was burned. After a month, concerned about loss of control back in France, Napoleon and his army left. [|[114]]

The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat, including from the harshness of the [|Russian Winter]. The Armée had begun as over 400,000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer than 40,000 crossed the [|Berezina River] in November 1812. [|[115]] The Russians had lost 150,000 in battle and hundreds of thousands of civilians. [|[116]]

Main article: [|War of the Sixth Coalition]

//Adieux de Napoléon à la Garde impériale dans la cour du Cheval-Blanc du château de Fontainebleau.// [Napoleon's farewell to the [|Imperial Guard] in the White Horse courtyard of the [|Palace of Fontainebleau] ] – on 20 April 1814. By Antoine Alphonse Montfort, [|Palace of Versailles] national museum.

There was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 while both the Russians and the French rebuilt their forces; Napoleon was then able to field 350,000 troops. [|[117]] Heartened by France's loss in Russia, Prussia joined with Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal in a new coalition. Napoleon assumed command in Germany and inflicted a series of defeats on the Coalition culminating in the [|Battle of Dresden] in August 1813. [|[118]]

Despite these successes, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon, and the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size and lost at the [|Battle of Leipzig]. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost more than 90,000 casualties in total. [|[119]]

Napoleon withdrew back into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more than three times as many Allied troops. [|[120]] The French were surrounded: British armies pressed from the south, and other Coalition forces positioned to attack from the German states. Napoleon won a series of victories in the [|Six Days' Campaign], though these were not significant enough to turn the tide; Paris was captured by the Coalition in March 1814. [|[121]]

When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his marshals decided to mutiny. [|[122]] On 4 April, led by [|Ney], they confronted Napoleon. Napoleon asserted the army would follow him, and Ney replied the army would follow its generals. Napoleon had no choice but to abdicate. He did so in favour of his son; however, the Allies refused to accept this, and Napoleon was forced to abdicate unconditionally on 11 April.

British etching from 1814 in celebration of Napoleon's first exile to Elba at the close of the War of the Sixth Coalition

> //The Allied Powers having declared that Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to do in the interests of France.// > Done in the palace of Fontainebleau, 11 April 1814. —Act of abdication of Napoleon [|[123]]

In the [|Treaty of Fontainebleau], the victors exiled him to [|Elba] , an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 20 km off the [|Tuscan] coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him to retain his title of emperor. Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill he had carried since a near-capture by Russians on the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, and he survived to be exiled while his wife and son took refuge in Austria. [|[124]] In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, and issued decrees on modern agricultural methods. [|[125]]

Main article: [|Hundred Days]

Napoleon returned from Elba, by Karl Stenben, 19th century

Separated from his wife and son, who had come under Austrian control, cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815. He landed at [|Golfe-Juan] on the French mainland, two days later. [|[126]]

The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact [|just south] of [|Grenoble] on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish." [|[127]]

The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris; [|Louis XVIII] fled. On 13 March, the powers at the [|Congress of Vienna] declared Napoleon an [|outlaw], and four days later Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to each put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule. [|[128]]

Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now called the Hundred Days. By the start of June the armed forces available to him had reached 200,000, and he decided to go on the offensive to attempt to drive a wedge between the oncoming British and Prussian armies. The French Army of the North crossed the frontier into the [|United Kingdom of the Netherlands], in modern-day Belgium. [|[129]]

Napoleon's forces fought the allies, led by Wellington and [|Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher], at the [|Battle of Waterloo] on 18 June 1815. Wellington's army withstood repeated attacks by the French and drove them from the field while the Prussians arrived in force and broke through Napoleon's right flank. Napoleon was defeated because he had to fight two armies with one, attacking an army in an excellent defensive position through wet and muddy terrain.

His health that day may have affected his presence and vigour on the field, added to the fact that his subordinates may have let him down. Despite this, Napoleon came very close to clinching victory. Outnumbered, the French army left the battlefield in disorder, which allowed Coalition forces to enter France and restore Louis XVIII to the French throne.

Off the port of [|Rochefort, Charente-Maritime], after consideration of an escape to the United States, Napoleon formally demanded political asylum from the British [|Captain Frederick Maitland] on [|HMS //Bellerophon//] on 15 July 1815. [|[130]]

Napoleon on [|Saint Helena]

Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to the island of [|Saint Helena] in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870 km from the west coast of Africa. In his first two months there, he lived in a pavilion on the // [|Briars] // estate, which belonged to a William Balcombe. Napoleon became friendly with his family, especially his younger daughter Lucia Elizabeth who later wrote //Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon//. [|[131]] This friendship ended in 1818 when British authorities became suspicious that Balcombe had acted as an intermediary between Napoleon and Paris and dismissed him from the island. [|[132]]

Napoleon moved to [|Longwood House] in December 1815; it had fallen into disrepair, and the location was damp, windswept and unhealthy. // [|The Times] // published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death, and he often complained of the living conditions in letters to the governor and his custodian, [|Hudson Lowe]. [|[133]]

With a small cadre of followers, Napoleon dictated his memoirs and criticised his captors—particularly Lowe. Lowe's treatment of Napoleon is regarded as poor by historians such as Frank McLynn. [|[134]] Lowe exacerbated a difficult situation through measures including a reduction in Napoleon's expenditure, a rule that no gifts could be delivered to him if they mentioned his imperial status, and a document his supporters had to sign that guaranteed they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely. [|[134]]

[|Longwood House], Saint Helena: site of Napoleon's captivity

In 1818, //The Times// reported a false rumour of Napoleon's escape and said the news had been greeted by spontaneous illuminations in London. [|[note 9]] There was sympathy for him in the British Parliament: [|Lord Holland] gave a speech which demanded the prisoner be treated with no unnecessary harshness. [|[136]] Napoleon kept himself informed of the events through //The Times// and hoped for release in the event that Holland became prime minister. He also enjoyed the support of [|Lord Cochrane], who was involved in Chile's and Brazil's struggle for independence and wanted to rescue Napoleon and help him set up a new empire in South America, a scheme frustrated by Napoleon's death in 1821. [|[137]]

There were other plots to rescue Napoleon from captivity including one from Texas, where exiled soldiers from the //Grande Armée// wanted a resurrection of the Napoleonic Empire in America. There was even a plan to rescue him with a primitive [|submarine]. [|[138]] For [|Lord Byron], Napoleon was the epitome of the Romantic hero, the persecuted, lonely and flawed genius. The news that Napoleon had taken up gardening at Longwood also appealed to more domestic British sensibilities. [|[139]]

Further information: [|Napoleon's Death Mask] and [|Retour des cendres]

//Napoleon's funeral carriage passes along the [|Champs-Élysées] .// Engraving by Louis-Julien Jacottet after a drawing by Louis Marchand.

His personal physician, [|Barry O'Meara], warned the authorities of his declining state of health mainly caused, according to him, by the harsh treatment of the captive in the hands of his "gaoler", Lowe, which led Napoleon to confine himself for months in his damp and wretched habitation of//Longwood//. O'Meara kept a clandestine correspondence with a clerk at the Admiralty in London, knowing his letters were read by higher authorities: he hoped, in such way, to rise alarm to the government, but to no avail. [|[140]]

In February 1821, Napoleon's health began to fail rapidly, and on 3 May two British physicians, who had recently arrived, attended on him but could only recommend palliatives. [|[141]] He died two days later, after confession, [|Extreme Unction] and [|Viaticum] in the presence of Father Ange Vignali. [|[141]] His last words were, "France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine."("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.") [|[141]]

Napoleon's original [|death mask] was created around 6 May, though it is not clear which doctor created it. [|[142]] [|[note 10]] In his will, he had asked to be buried on the banks of the [|Seine], but the British governor said he should be buried on St. Helena, in the Valley of the Willows. Hudson Lowe insisted the inscription should read 'Napoleon Bonaparte'; [|Montholon] and [|Bertrand] wanted the Imperial title 'Napoleon' as royalty were signed by their first names only. As a result the tomb was left nameless. [|[141]]

Napoleon's tomb at [|Les Invalides]

In 1840, [|Louis Philippe I] obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon's remains to France. The remains were transported aboard the frigate [|//Belle-Poule//], which had been painted black for the occasion, and on 29 November she arrived in [|Cherbourg]. The remains were transferred to the steamship //Normandie//, which transported them to [|Le Havre], up the Seine to [|Rouen] and on to Paris. [|[144]]

On 15 December, a [|state funeral] was held. The hearse proceeded from the Arc de Triomphe down the [|Champs-Élysées], across the [|Place de la Concorde] to the [|//Esplanade des Invalides//] and then to the cupola in St Jérôme's Chapel, where it stayed until the tomb designed by [|Louis Visconti] was completed. In 1861, Napoleon's remains were entombed in a [|porphyry] sarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides. [|[144]]

Napoleon's physician, [|François Carlo Antommarchi], led the autopsy, which found the cause of death to be [|stomach cancer]. Antommarchi did not, however, sign the official report. [|[145]] Napoleon's father had died of stomach cancer though this was seemingly unknown at the time of the autopsy. [|[146]] Antommarchi found evidence of a stomach ulcer, and it was the most convenient explanation for the British who wanted to avoid criticism over their care of the emperor. [|[141]]

//Napoléon sur son lit de mort// (Napoleon on his death bed), by [|Horace Vernet], 1826.

In 1955, the diaries of Napoleon's valet, Louis Marchand, appeared in print. His description of Napoleon in the months before his death led [|Sten Forshufvud] to put forward other causes for his death, including deliberate [|arsenic poisoning], in a 1961 paper in // [|Nature] //. [|[147]] Arsenic was used as a poison during the era because it was undetectable when administered over a long period. Forshufvud, in a 1978 book with [|Ben Weider], noted the emperor's body was found to be remarkably well-preserved when moved in 1840. Arsenic is a strong preservative, and therefore this supported the poisoning hypothesis. Forshufvud and Weider observed that Napoleon had attempted to quench abnormal thirst by drinking high levels of [|orgeat syrup] that contained cyanide compounds in the almonds used for flavouring. [|[147]]

They maintained that the [|potassium tartrate] used in his treatment prevented his stomach from expellation of these compounds and that the thirst was a symptom of poisoning. Their hypothesis was that the [|calomel] given to Napoleon became an overdose, which killed him and left behind extensive [|tissue] damage. [|[147]] A 2007 article stated the type of arsenic found in Napoleon's hair shafts was mineral type, the most toxic, and according to toxicologist Patrick Kintz, this supported the conclusion his death was murder. [|[148]]

The wallpaper used in Longwood contained a high level of arsenic compound used for colouring by British manufacturers. The adhesive, which in the cooler British environment was innocuous, may have grown mould in the more humid climate and emitted the poisonous gas [|arsine]. This theory has been ruled out as it does not explain the arsenic absorption patterns found in other analyses. [|[147]]

There have been modern studies which have supported the original autopsy finding. [|[148]] Researchers, in a 2008 study, analysed samples of Napoleon's hair from throughout his life, and from his family and other contemporaries. All samples had high levels of arsenic, approximately 100 times higher than the current average. According to these researchers, Napoleon's body was already heavily contaminated with arsenic as a boy, and the high arsenic concentration in his hair was not caused by intentional poisoning; people were constantly exposed to arsenic from glues and dyes throughout their lives. [|[note 11]] 2007 and 2008 studies dismissed evidence of arsenic poisoning, and confirmed evidence of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer as the cause of death. [|[150]]