Brief History of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte) (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a general and Emperor of France.

Napoleon was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica to Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer and politician, and his wife, Marie-Letizia Buonaparte. The Buonapartes were a wealthy family from the Corsican nobility. Napoleon changed his name so it sounded more French.

Napoleon was able to enter 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 of artillery.

Napoleon was able to spend much of the next eight years in Corsica. There he played an active part in political and military matters. Napoleon was promoted in the military.

The French Revolution caused much fighting and disorder in France. At times, Napoleon was connected to those in power. Other times, he was in jail. He helped the French Republic from those who supported the former king of France. He became a general in the French army. He led troops in Italy and he began to gain fame and power.

Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais on March 9, 1796.

In May 1798, Napoleon left for a campaign in Egypt and Syria. The French needed to threaten Britain's empire in India and the French Directory's concerns that Napoleon would take control of France. The Egyptian campaign was a military failure. Napoleon went back to France because of a change in the French government. Some believe that Napoleon should not have left his soldiers in Egypt. Napoleon helped lead the Brumaire coup of November 1799.


By February 1800, Napoleon was the First Consul of France. France was still at war with most of Europe. Peace was gained for a short time after the Battle of Marengo.

Bonaparte changed many ways of life in France. His changes to the legal system, the Napoleonic Code, are considered to be a good change. Napoleon became First Consul for Life in 1802 and Emperor of France in 1804. This means that he was essentially a dictator.

Europe was not at peace for long. Fighting resumed. Napoleon and France won many battles against a range of alliances between Austria, Great Britain, Russia, and Prussia. Early on, Napoleon won many battles like the Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon made his relatives rulers of some of the countries he beat.

Napoleon also made mistakes and suffered setbacks. The French navy was kept firmly in check by British navy. The British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar let the British control the ocean and sea.

Napoleon made his brother the ruler of Spain. This caused some in Spain to begin guerilla warfare against the French.

On March 11, 1810, Napoleon married his second wife, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. Many people were upset that he divorced Josephine.

In 1812, Napoleon went to war with Russia. They defeated many Russian cities and villages, but by the time they reached Moscow it was winter and his army did not have enough food. Napoleon's army was unable to defeat the Russians. The Russians began to attack. Napoleon and his army had to go back to France. Only 10,000 soldiers were able to fight at the end of the retreat.

On March 30, 1814, Paris surrendered. Napoleon gave up rule of France on April 11, 1814. He went into exile on the small island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea.

Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. He died on May 5 1821, of stomach cancer.

Struggle in Europe, rise to emperor - History of Napoleon Bonaparte
In June 1800, the Austrians were routed at Marengo. Napoleon returned to Paris to disprove the rumors about his defeat and death. Joseph, Napoleons's brother leading the peace negotiations in Lunéville, reported that due to British backing for Austria, Austria would not recognize France's newly gained territory. As negotiations developed more and more into a farce, Napoleon gave orders to his general Moreau to strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to victory at Hohenlinden 1800. As a result the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February 1801, under which the French gains of the Campo Formio treaty were reaffirmed and increased; the British also committed themselves to sign a peace treaty and finally signed the treaty of Amiens in March 1802, in which Malta was to be handed over to France. It was during this period that Napoleon tried to ensure peace in Europe. However his enemies had difficulties in recognizing a republic, as all the countries bordering France were kingdoms and were horrified that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. In Britain the brother of Louis XVI was welcomed as a state guest although officially Britain recognized France as republic. Although France complied with some of the provisions of the treaty, for strategic reasons Britain did not cede Malta to France.

In 1803, Napoleon sold a large part of North America to the United States — the Louisiana Purchase — for less than three cents per acre; he had just faced a major setback when an army he sent to conquer Santo Domingo and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. With his western forces diminished, Napoleon knew he would be unable to defend Louisiana and decided to sell it to finance the war against Britain, which at that time was more or less inevitable.

Coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, memorialized by Jacques-Louis DavidThe dispute over Malta provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on France in 1803 to support French royalists. Napoleon, however, crowned himself Emperor on 2 December 1804 (illustration, right) at Notre-Dame Cathedral. Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the authority of the pontiff are apocryphal; after the Imperial regalia had been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself before crowning his wife Joséphine as Empress. Then at Milan's cathedral on 26 May 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.

History of Napoleon Bonaparte

A plan by the French, along with the Spanish, to defeat the Royal Navy failed dramatically at the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805), and Britain gained lasting control of the seas.

By 1805 the Third Coalition against Napoleon had formed in Europe; Napoleon attacked and secured a major victory against Austria and Russia at Austerlitz (2 December) and, in the following year, humbled Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (14 October 1806). As a result, Napoleon became the de facto ruler over most of Germany. Napoleon marched on through Poland and then signed a treaty with the Russian tsar Alexander I, dividing Europe between the two powers. In the French part of Poland, he established the restored Polish state of Grand Duchy de Varsovie with the Saxonian King as a ruler.

Then on 17 May 1809 Napoleon ordered the annexation of the Papal States to the French empire.

History of Napoleon Bonaparte

Battles in Spain, Austria, and Russia - History of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte attempted to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain called the "Continental System". He invaded Spain and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king there. The Spanish rose in revolt, which Napoleon was unable to suppress. The British invaded Spain through Portugal in 1808 and, with the aid of the Spanish nationalists, slowly drove out the French. While France was engaged in Spain, Austria attacked in Germany, but after initial success suffered defeat at the Battle of Wagram (6 July 1809).

Alexander I of Russia had become distrustful of Napoleon and refused to co-operate with him against the British. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia. Napoleon ignored the advice of the Poles, who predicted long-term war rather than a quick victorious campaign. They proposed to retrieve former Polish areas from Russian hands gradually and build a base for further war there. As the Poles predicted, the Russians under Kutuzov, who declared a Patriotic War, retreated instead of giving battle. Outside Moscow on 12 September, the Battle of Borodino took place. The Russians retreated and Napoleon was able to enter Moscow, assuming that Alexander I would negotiate peace. Moscow began to burn and within the month, fearing loss of control in France, Napoleon left Moscow. The French Grand Army suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat; the Army had begun as over 600,000 men, but in the end fewer than 10,000 crossed the Berezina River (November 1812) to escape. Encouraged by this dramatic reversal, several nations again took up arms against France. The decisive defeat of the French came at the Battle of Leipzig, also called "The Battle of the Nations" (16-19 October 1813).