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{{Short description|Emperor of the French (r. 1804–1814, 1815)}} | |||
{{redirect|Napoleon}} | |||
{{Redirect|Napoleon Bonaparte|other uses|Napoleon (disambiguation)|and|Napoleon Bonaparte (disambiguation)}} | |||
{{pp|small=yes}} | |||
Emperor '''Napoleon Bonaparte''' (] ] – ] ]) was a general of the ]; the ruler of ] as ] (''Premier Consul'') of the ] from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804; then Emperor of the French (''Empereur des Français'') and King of ] under the name '''Napoleon I''' from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814; and briefly restored as Emperor from 20 March to 22 June 1815. | |||
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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} | |||
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2019}} | |||
{{Infobox royalty | |||
| image = Jacques-Louis David - The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Google Art Project.jpg | |||
| alt = Portrait of Napoleon in his late thirties, in high-ranking white and dark blue military dress uniform. In the original image he stands amid rich 18th-century furniture laden with papers, and gazes at the viewer. His hair is Brutus style, cropped close but with a short fringe in front, and his right hand is tucked in his waistcoat. | |||
| caption = '']'', 1812 | |||
| succession = ] | |||
| reign = 18 May 1804 – {{nowrap|6 April 1814}} | |||
| reign-type = 1st reign | |||
| cor-type = | |||
| coronation = | |||
| predecessor = | |||
| successor = ]{{efn|name=louis reign|As ]}} | |||
| reign-type1 = ] | |||
| reign1 = {{nowrap|20 March{{snd}}22{{nbsp}}June 1815}} | |||
| predecessor1 = | |||
| successor1 = Louis XVIII{{efn|name=louis reign|As ]}} | |||
{{Infobox officeholder | |||
| embed = yes | |||
| office = ] | |||
| term_start = 13 December 1799 | |||
| term_end = 18 May 1804 | |||
}} | |||
| birth_name = Napoleone di Buonaparte | |||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1769|8|15|df=yes}} | |||
| birth_place = ], Corsica, ] | |||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1821|5|5|1769|8|15|df=yes}} | |||
| death_place = ] | |||
| burial_date = 15 December 1840 | |||
| burial_place = {{lang|fr|]|italic=no}}, Paris | |||
| spouses = {{plainlist| | |||
* {{marriage|]|9 March 1796|10 January 1810|end={{abbr|ann.|annulled}}}} | |||
* {{marriage|]|11 March 1810|1814|end={{abbr|sep.|separated}}}}}} | |||
| religion = | |||
| regnal name = | |||
| issue = ] | |||
| issue-link = #Children | |||
| issue-pipe = more… | |||
| full name = | |||
| house = | |||
| father = | |||
| mother = | |||
| signature = File:Firma Napoleón Bonaparte.svg | |||
}} | |||
{{OSM Location map | |||
| coord = {{coord|45.3|13}} | |||
| zoom = 3 | |||
| float = right | |||
| width = 306 | |||
| height = 330 | |||
| title = ] | |||
| caption = Rescale the fullscreen map to see Saint Helena. | |||
| shapeD = n-circle | |||
| shape-colorD = navy | |||
| shape-outlineD = white | |||
| mark-sizeD = 16 | |||
| label-posD = bottom | |||
| ldxD=0 | |||
| ldyD=-7 | |||
| label-colorD = re | |||
| label-sizeD = 8 | |||
| mark-coord1 = {{coord|43.13|5.92}} | |||
Although Napoleon himself developed few military innovations, apart from the divisional ] employed in ] and the placement of ] into ], he did use the superior quality of the French army, as reformed under the various revolutionary governments, to score some major victories. His campaigns are studied at military academies all over the world and he is generally regarded as one of the greatest commanders to have ever lived. Over the course of little more than a decade, he fought virtually every European power and acquired control of most of the western and central mainland of ] by conquest or alliance until his disastrous invasion of ] in ], followed by defeat at the ] in October ], which led to his ] several months later and his ] to the island of ]. He staged a comeback known as the ] (''les Cent Jours''), but was again defeated decisively at the ] in present day ] on ] ], followed shortly afterwards by his surrender to the ] and his exile to the island of ], where he died six years later. | |||
| mark-title1 = ] from 29 August to 19 December 1793 | |||
| mark-description1 = ] | |||
| label1= Toulon | |||
| mark-coord2 = {{coord|48.86|2.35}} | |||
Aside from his military achievements, Napoleon is also remembered for the establishment of the ]. He is considered by some to have been one of the "]". | |||
| mark-title2 = ] on 5 October 1795 | |||
| mark-description2 = Paris | |||
| label2= Paris | |||
| mark-coord3 = {{coord|45.36|11.28}} | |||
Napoleon appointed several members of the ] family and close friends of his as monarchs of countries he conquered and as important government figures (his brother ] became France's Minister of Finance). Although their reigns did not survive his downfall, a nephew, ], ruled France later in the nineteenth century. | |||
| mark-title3 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] from 11 to 12 April 1796|] from 13 to 14 April 1796|] from 14 to 15 April 1796|] on 16 April 1796|] from 20 to 22 April 1796|] from 7 to 9 May 1796|] on 10 May 1796|] on 30 May 1796|] from 3 to 4 August 1796|] on 5 August 1796|] from 27 August 1796 to 2 February 1797|] on 4 September 1796|] on 8 September 1796|] on 6 November 1796|] on 12 November 1796|] from 15 to 17 November 1796|] from 14 to 15 January 1797|] on 16 March 1797|] on 16 March 1797|] from 21 to 23 March 1797}} | |||
| mark-description3 = ] | |||
| label3= Arcole | |||
| ldx3=+15 | |||
| ldy3=-10 | |||
| mark-coord4 = {{coord|35.88|14.45}} | |||
==Early life and military career== | |||
| mark-title4 = ] from 10 to 12 June 1798 | |||
] | |||
| mark-description4 = ] | |||
He was born '''Napoleone Buonaparte''' (in ], ''Nabolione'' or ''Nabulione'') in the city of ] on ] on ] ], only one year after the island was transferred to France by the ]. He later adopted the more French-sounding ''Napoléon Bonaparte''. | |||
| label4= Malta | |||
| ldx4=+7 | |||
| mark-coord5 = {{coord|30.04|31.25}} | |||
His family were minor Italian ] living in Corsica. His father, ], an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of ] in ], where he remained for a number of years. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Maria ]. Her firm discipline helped restrain the rambunctious Napoleon as a boy, nicknamed ''Rabullione'' (the "meddler" or "disrupter"). | |||
| mark-title5 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 13 July 1798|] on 21 July 1798|] from 1 to 3 August 1798|] from 21 to 22 October 1798|] from 8 to 20 February 1799|] from 3 to 7 March 1799|] from 20 March to 21 May 1799|] on 16 April 1799|] on 25 July 1799}} | |||
| mark-description5 = ] | |||
| label5= Cairo | |||
| label-pos5 = left | |||
| ldx5=9 | |||
| ldy5=-7 | |||
| mark-coord6 = {{coord|44.88|8.68}} | |||
] | |||
| mark-title6 = ] on 14 June 1800 | |||
| mark-description6 = ] | |||
| label6= Marengo | |||
| label-pos6 = left | |||
| ldx6=5 | |||
| ldy6=-7 | |||
| mark-coord7 = {{coord|49.19|16.76}} | |||
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. At age nine, Napoleon was admitted to a French military school at ], a small town near ], on ] ]. He had to learn to speak French before entering the school, but he spoke with a marked Italian accent throughout his life and never learned to spell properly. He earned high marks in mathematics and geography, and passable grades in other subjects. Upon graduation from Brienne in ], Bonaparte was admitted to the elite ] in ], where he completed the two year course of study in only one year. Although he had initially sought a naval assignment, he studied ] at the École Militaire. Upon graduation in September, ], he was ] as a ] of artillery, and took up his new duties in January ], at the age of 16.{{ref|McLynn31}} | |||
| mark-title7 = ] on 2 December 1805 | |||
| mark-description7 = ] | |||
| label7= Austerlitz | |||
| label-pos7 = right | |||
| ldx7=-5 | |||
| ldy7=-10 | |||
| mark-coord8 = {{coord|50.93|11.59}} | |||
Napoleon served on garrison duty in ] and ] until after the outbreak of the Revolution in ] (although he took nearly two years of leave in Corsica and Paris during this period). He spent most of the next several years on Corsica, where a complex three-way struggle was played out among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. Bonaparte supported the ] faction, and gained the position of lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of volunteers. After coming into conflict with the increasingly conservative nationalist leader, ], Bonaparte and his family were forced to flee to France in June ]. | |||
| mark-title8 = ] on 14 October 1806 | |||
| mark-description8 = ] | |||
| label8= Jena | |||
| label-pos8 = left | |||
| ldx8=8 | |||
| ldy8=2 | |||
| mark-coord9 = {{coord|54.43|21.03}} | |||
Through the help of fellow Corsican ], he was appointed as artillery commander in the French forces besieging ], which had risen in revolt against the ] and was occupied by ] troops. He formulated a successful plan: he placed guns at ], threatening the British ships in the harbour with destruction, thereby forcing them to evacuate. A successful assault of the position, during which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to the recapture of the city and a promotion to brigadier-general. His actions brought him to the attention of the ], and he became a close associate of ], younger brother of the Revolutionary leader ]. As a result, he was briefly imprisoned following the fall of the elder Robespierre in ], but was released within two weeks. | |||
| mark-title9 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 23 December 1806|] from 7 to 8 February 1807|] on 14 June 1807}} | |||
| mark-description9 = ], Friedland | |||
| label9= Friedland | |||
| mark-coord10 = {{coord|41.15|-3.58}} | |||
==The victorious general== | |||
| mark-title10 = ] on 30 November 1808 | |||
===The "whiff of grapeshot"=== | |||
| mark-description10 = ] | |||
{{details|13 Vendémiaire}} | |||
| label10= Somosierra | |||
In ], Bonaparte was serving in ] when royalists and counter-revolutionaries organized an armed protest against the ] on ]. Bonaparte was given command of the improvised forces defending the Convention in the ] Palace. He seized artillery pieces with the aid of a young cavalry officer, ], who later became his brother-in-law. He utilized the artillery the following day to repel the attackers. He later boasted that he had cleared the streets with a "whiff of ]" (small pellets fired out of a cannon), although the fighting had been vicious throughout Paris. This triumph earned him sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new ], particularly that of its leader, ]. Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, ], whom he married on ], ]. | |||
| label-pos10 = top | |||
| ldx10=-15 | |||
| ldy10=2 | |||
| mark-coord11 = {{coord|48.18|16.52}} | |||
=== The Italian campaign of 1796–97=== | |||
| mark-title11 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 19 April 1809|] on 20 April 1809|] on 21 April 1809|] from 21 to 22 April 1809|] on 23 April 1809|] from 21 to 22 May 1809|] from 5 to 6 July 1809|] from 10 to 11 July 1809}} | |||
] portrait of Napoleon at the Bridge of the ] by Baron ], currently on display in the Louvre, Paris]] | |||
| mark-description11 = ], Wagram | |||
Days after his marriage, Bonaparte took command of the French "Army of Italy", leading it on a successful ]. At the ], he gained the nickname of "The Little Corporal" (''le petit caporal''), a term reflecting his camaraderie with his soldiers, all of whom he knew by name. He drove the ]ns out of ] and defeated the army of the ]. Because ] had protested the execution of ], France retaliated by annexing two small papal territories. Bonaparte ignored the ]'s order to march on ] and dethrone the Pope. It was not until the next year that ] captured Rome and took Pius VI prisoner on ]. The pope died of illness while in captivity. In early ], Bonaparte ] and forced that power to ]. The resulting ] gave France control of most of northern Italy, along with the ] and ], but a secret clause promised ] to Austria. Bonaparte then marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending over 1,000 years of independence. Later in ], Bonaparte organized many of the French dominated territories in Italy into the ]. | |||
| label11= Wagram | |||
| ldx11=-10 | |||
| ldy11=-8 | |||
| mark-coord12 = {{coord|55.53|35.82}} | |||
His remarkable series of military triumphs were a result of his ability to apply his encyclopedic knowledge of conventional military thought to real-world situations, as demonstrated by his creative use of ] tactics, using it as a mobile force to support his ]. As he described it: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning." Contemporary paintings of his headquarters during the Italian campaign depict his use of the world's first ] system, the ] ] line, first implemented in ]. He was also a master of both ] and deception and had an uncanny sense of when to strike. He often won battles by concentrating his forces on an unsuspecting enemy by using spies to gather information about opposing forces and by concealing his own troop deployments. In this campaign, often considered his greatest, Napoleon's army captured 160,000 prisoners, 2,000 cannon, and 170 standards. A year of campaigning had witnessed major breaks with the traditional norms of 18th century warfare and marked a new era in military history. | |||
| mark-title12 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 26 July 1812|] on 16 August 1812|] on 7 September 1812}} | |||
| mark-description12 = ] | |||
| label12= Borodino | |||
| ldx12=-10 | |||
| mark-coord13 = {{coord|54.23|28.5}} | |||
While campaigning in Italy, General Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He published two newspapers, ostensibly for the troops in his army, but widely circulated within France as well. In May ] he founded a third newspaper, published in Paris, entitled ''Le Journal de Bonaparte et des hommes vertueux''. Elections in mid-1797 gave the royalist party increased power, alarming Barras and his allies on the ]. The royalists, in turn, began attacking Bonaparte for looting Italy and overstepping his authority in dealings with the Austrians. Bonaparte sent General ] to Paris to lead a ] and purge the royalists on ] (]). This left Barras and his Republican allies in firm control again, but dependent on Bonaparte's military command to stay there. Bonaparte himself proceeded to the peace negotiations with Austria, then returned to Paris in December as the conquering hero and the dominant force in government, far more popular than any of the ]. | |||
| mark-title13 = ] from 26 to 29 November 1812 | |||
| mark-description13 = ] | |||
| label13= Berezina | |||
| label-pos13 = bottom | |||
| ldx13=0 | |||
| ldy13=-4 | |||
| mark-coord14 = {{coord|51.33|12.38}} | |||
===The Egyptian expedition of 1798–99=== | |||
| mark-title14 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 2 May 1813|] from 20 to 21 May 1813|] from 26 to 27 August 1813|] from 16 to 19 October 1813|] from 30 to 31 October 1813}} | |||
] | |||
| mark-description14 = ] | |||
In March ], Bonaparte proposed an ] to seize ], then a province of the ], seeking to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to ]. ], although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, readily agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular general from the centre of power. | |||
| label14= Leipzig | |||
| label-pos14 = right | |||
| ldx14=-4 | |||
| ldy14=-2 | |||
| mark-coord15 = {{coord|48.64|4.95}} | |||
An unusual aspect of the Egyptian expedition was the inclusion of a large group of scientists assigned to the invading French force: among the other discoveries that resulted, the ] was found. This deployment of intellectual resources is considered by some an indication of Bonaparte's devotion to the principles of ], and by others as a masterstroke of ] obfuscating the true ] motives of the invasion. In a largely unsuccessful effort to gain the support of the Egyptian populace, Bonaparte also issued ] casting himself as a liberator of the people from ] oppression, and praising the precepts of ]. | |||
| mark-title15 = {{br entries|] is the primary link|---|] on 29 January 1814|] on 1 February 1814|] on 10 February 1814|] on 11 February 1814|] on 12 February 1814|] on 14 February 1814|] on 17 February 1814|] on 18 February 1814|] on 7 March 1814|] from 9 to 10 March 1814|] from 12 to 13 March 1814|] from 20 to 21 March 1814|] on 26 March 1814}} | |||
| mark-description15 = ] | |||
| label15= Dizier | |||
| label-pos15 = right | |||
| ldx15=-5 | |||
| ldy15=-5 | |||
| mark-coord16 = {{coord|42.78|10.29}} | |||
Bonaparte's expedition seized ] from the ] on ] and then landed successfully at ] on ], eluding (temporarily) pursuit by the ]. | |||
| mark-title16 = ] from 30 May 1814 to 26 February 1815 | |||
| mark-description16 = ] | |||
| label16 = Elba | |||
| label-pos16 = bottom | |||
| ldx16=7 | |||
| ldy16=-7 | |||
| mark-coord17 = {{coord|50.72|4.4}} | |||
After landing on the coast of Egypt, the first battle to take place was against the ], an old power in the Middle East, approximately 4 miles from the pyramids. This battle would wipe out their power altogether. Napoleon's forces were greatly outnumbered by the advanced cavalry, about 25,000 to 100,000, and the battle was quick. Napoleon came out on top, mainly due to his strategy; men formed hollow squares, each side facing out. This made it possible to keep cannons and supplies safely on the inside, while the soldiers could fire in every direction on the outside. This made a very strong defense, but left it possible for many soldiers to escape to fight again. In all only 300 French were killed, while approximately 6,000 native Egyptians were killed. | |||
| mark-title17 = ] on 18 June 1815 | |||
| mark-description17 = ] | |||
| label17 = Waterloo | |||
| label-pos17 = left | |||
| ldx17=7 | |||
| ldy17=-5 | |||
| mark-coord18 = {{coord|45.94|-0.96}} | |||
While the battle on land was a resounding victory for the French, the British navy managed to compensate at sea. The ships that had dropped off Napoleon and his army had sailed back to France, but a fleet of ] that had come with them stayed and supported the army along the coast. On August 1, The British fleet found these battleships anchored in a strong defensive position in the bay of ]. The French believed that they were open to attack only on one side, the other side being protected by the shore. However, the arriving British fleet under ] managed to slip half of their ships in between the land and the French line, thus attacking from both sides. All but two of the French vessels were captured or destroyed. Only the ''Guillaume Tell'' with rear admiral ] and the ''Généreux'' escaped. The ''Guillaume Tell'' was caught not much later in the course of the British conquest of ]. Many blame the French loss in this ] on the French admiral Francois-Paul Brueys, who came up with the failed defensive strategy. However, the French ships were also undermanned and the troops were “young and insubordinate”. In all, about 250 British and 1,700 French were killed. Bonaparte became land-bound. His goal of strengthening the French position in the ] was thus frustrated, but his army nonetheless succeeded in consolidating power in Egypt, although it faced repeated ] uprisings. | |||
| mark-title18 = ] on 15 July 1815 | |||
| mark-description18 = ] | |||
| label18 = Rochefort | |||
| label-pos18 = left | |||
| ldx18=7 | |||
| ldy18=-5 | |||
| mark-coord19 = {{coord|-15.97|-5.7}} | |||
In early ] he led the army into the Ottoman province of ], now modern ], and defeated numerically superior ] forces in several battles, but his army was weakened by disease and poor supplies. He was unable to reduce the fortress of ], and was forced to retreat to Egypt in May. On ], he defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at ]. Eventually Bonaparte was forced to withdraw from Egypt in 1799, leaving his troops behind, under constant British and Ottoman attacks. The remaining troops eventually surrendered to British forces but not before one out of every three men had died. | |||
| mark-title19 = {{br entries|]|Napoleon died on 5 May 1821}} | |||
| mark-description19 = ] | |||
| label19 = Saint Helena | |||
}} | |||
'''Napoleon Bonaparte'''{{efn|English: {{IPAc-en|n|ə|ˈ|p|oʊ|l|i|ə|n|_|ˈ|b|oʊ|n|ə|p|ɑːr|t}} {{respell|nə|POH|lee|ən|_|BOH|nə|part}}; {{langx|fr|link=no|Napoléon Bonaparte}} {{IPA|fr|napɔleɔ̃ bɔnapaʁt|}}.}} (born '''Napoleone di Buonaparte''';{{sfnp|Dwyer|2008a|p=xv}}{{efn|{{IPA|it|napoleˈoːne di ˌbwɔnaˈparte|lang|small=no}}; {{langx|co|Napulione Buonaparte}} {{IPA|co|napuliˈɔnɛ ˌbwɔnaˈbartɛ|}}.}} 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his ] '''Napoleon I''', was a French military officer and statesman who rose to prominence during the ] and led ] across Europe during the ] from 1796 to 1815. He was the leader of the ] as ] from 1799 to 1804, then of the ] as ] from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. | |||
Born on the island of ] to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the ] in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789, and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the ] in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on ] in 1795. In 1796, Napoleon commanded ] against the ] and their Italian allies in the ], scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an ] in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power. In November 1799, Napoleon engineered the ] against the ], and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the ] in 1800, which secured France's victory in the ], and in 1803 ] to the ]. In December 1804, Napoleon ] Emperor of the French, further expanding his power. | |||
The breakdown of the ] led to the ] by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the ], which led to the ]. In the ], Napoleon defeated ] at the ] in 1806, marched his {{lang|fr|]}} into Eastern Europe, and defeated the ] in 1807 at the ]. Seeking to extend his ], Napoleon invaded the ] and installed his brother ] as ] in 1808, provoking the ]. In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the ], in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the ]. In summer 1812, he launched ], which ended in the catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the ], in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the ]. The coalition ] and captured Paris, ] in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of ] and restored the ]. Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on a brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a ], which defeated him at the ] in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of ] in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51. | |||
Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history and ] are still studied at military schools worldwide. His ] endures through the modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the ]. He established a system of public education,{{sfnp|Grab|2003|page=56}} abolished the vestiges of ],<ref name="Broers">{{Cite book |last1=Broers |first1=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMgIBFA5AcUC&pg=PA230 |title=The Napoleonic Empire and the New European Political Culture |last2=Hicks |first2=P. |last3=Guimera |first3=A. |date=10 October 2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-27139-6 |pages=230 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040241/https://books.google.com/books?id=MMgIBFA5AcUC&pg=PA230 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> ] and other religious minorities,{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=38–40}} abolished the ],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pérez |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pérez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9oL0js9g5kkC&pg=PA98 |title=The Spanish Inquisition: A History |date=2005 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11982-4 |pages=98 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040241/https://books.google.com/books?id=9oL0js9g5kkC&pg=PA98 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> enacted the principle of ] for an emerging middle class,{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|p=336}} and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities.{{sfnp|Grab|2017|pp=204-211}} His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of ]s. However, he is controversial due to his role in wars which devastated Europe, his ] of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies except for ], banned the entry of blacks and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility,{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|pp=574-76, 582-84}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=32-34, 50-51}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=52}} and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.<ref name="Repa222">{{cite news |last=Repa |first=Jan |date=2 December 2005 |title=Furore over Austerlitz ceremony |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420234710/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |archive-date=20 April 2010 |access-date=5 April 2010 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> | |||
==Early life== | |||
Napoleon's family was of Italian origin. His paternal ancestors, the Buonapartes, descended from a minor ] noble family who emigrated to Corsica in the 16th century and his maternal ancestors, the Ramolinos, descended from a noble family from ].<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=2}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon's parents, ] and ], lived in the ] home in ], where Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769. He had an elder brother, ], and, later, six younger siblings: ], ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=xiv, 14}}</ref> Five more siblings were stillborn or did not survive infancy.<ref>{{Harvp|McLynn|1997|p=4}}</ref> Napoleon was baptized as a ], under the name ''Napoleone di Buonaparte''. In his youth, his name was also spelled as ''Nabulione'', ''Nabulio'', ''Napolionne'', and ''Napulione''.<ref name="dwyerxv2">{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=xv}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon was born one year after the ] ceded Corsica to France.<ref name="McLynn-1997b">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=6}}</ref>{{efn|Although the ] formally ceded Corsica's rights, it remained un-incorporated during 1769<ref name="McLynn-1997b" /> until it became one of the ] in 1770.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=20}}</ref> Corsica would be legally integrated as a ] in 1789.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Corsica |title=Corsica |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128091618/https://www.britannica.com/place/Corsica |archive-date=28 November 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|p=142}}}} His father supported ] during the Corsican war of independence against France. After the Corsican defeat at the ] in 1769 and Paoli's exile in Britain, Carlo became friends with the French governor ], who became his patron and godfather to Napoleon.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=13-17}}</ref><ref name="Ellis22">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlzJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 | first=Geoffrey | last=Ellis |title=Napoleon |publisher=Pearson Education Limited |year=1997b |isbn=978-1317874690 |chapter=Chapter 2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822095518/https://books.google.com/books?id=QlzJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |archive-date=22 August 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> With Mabeuf's support, Carlo was named Corsican representative to the court of ] and Napoleon obtained a royal bursary to a military academy in France.{{sfnp|Cronin|1994|pp=20–21}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=16-20}}</ref> | |||
], fought for ]n independence under ]. After their defeat, he eventually became the island's representative to ]'s court.]]The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.{{sfnp|Cronin|1994|pp=20–21}} Later in life, Napoleon said, "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother."<ref>{{cite book |last=Chamberlain |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcYZlz0ezQUC&q=%22The+future+destiny+of+the+child+is+always+the+work+of+the+mother%22&pg=PA385 |title=The Child and Childhood in Folk Thought: (The Child in Primitive Culture) |date=1896 |publisher=MacMillan |isbn=978-1-4219-8748-4 |page=385 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227171711/https://books.google.com/books?id=fcYZlz0ezQUC&q=%22The+future+destiny+of+the+child+is+always+the+work+of+the+mother%22&pg=PA385#v=onepage&q=%22The%20future%20destiny%20of%20the%20child%20is%20always%20the%20work%20of%20the%20mother%22&f=false |archive-date=27 February 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time.{{sfnp|Cronin|1994|p=27}} | |||
In January 1779, at age 9, Napoleon moved to the French mainland and enrolled at a religious school in ] to improve his French (his mother tongue was the Corsican dialect of Italian).<ref name="Parker-1971">{{cite journal |last=Parker |first=Harold T. |date=1971 |title=The Formation of Napoleon's Personality: An Exploratory Essay |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/286104 |url-status=live |journal=French Historical Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=6–26 |doi=10.2307/286104 |jstor=286104 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://www.jstor.org/stable/286104 |archive-date=25 February 2018 |access-date=2 December 2023|issn = 0016-1071 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|p=11}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=19}}</ref> Although he eventually became fluent in French, he spoke with a Corsican accent and his French spelling was poor.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=18}}</ref> | |||
In May, he transferred to the military academy at ] where he was routinely bullied by his peers for his accent, birthplace, short stature, mannerisms, and poor French.<ref name="Parker-1971" /> He became reserved and melancholic, applying himself to reading. 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".{{efn|Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection between him and ].{{sfnp|Wells|1992|p=74}}}}<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=21}}</ref> | |||
One story of Napoleon at the school is that he led junior students to victory against senior students in a snowball fight, which allegedly showed his leadership abilities.{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|pp=12–14}} But the story was only told after Napoleon had become famous.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=22-23}}</ref> In his later years at Brienne, Napoleon became an outspoken Corsican nationalist and admirer of Paoli.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=28}}</ref> | |||
In September 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the '']'' in Paris where he trained to become an artillery officer. He excelled at mathematics, and read widely in geography, history and literature. However, he was poor at French and German.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=26, 30-31}}</ref> His father's death in February 1785 cut the family income and forced him to complete the two-year course in one year. In September he was examined by the famed scientist ] and became the first Corsican to graduate from the ''École militaire''.<ref name="dwyer422">{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pages=38-42}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=26}}</ref> | |||
==Early career== | |||
=== Return to Corsica === | |||
]. Portrait made in 1835 by ]]] | |||
Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a ] in ].<ref name="rxviii2">{{harvp|Roberts|2001|p=}}</ref> He served in ] and ] until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, but spent long periods of leave in Corsica which fed his Corsican nationalism.{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|loc=Chapter 1, pp. 3–28}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=36, 38}}</ref> In September 1789, he returned to Corsica and promoted the French revolutionary cause. Paoli returned to the island in July 1790, but he had no sympathy for Bonaparte, as he deemed his father a traitor for having deserted the cause of Corsican independence.{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|loc=Chapter 2, pp. 29–53}}<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=41-46}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte plunged into a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He became a supporter of the ] and joined the pro-French Corsican Republicans who opposed Paoli's policy and his aspirations to secede.<ref>{{cite book |author=David Nicholls |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonbiograph00nich |title=Napoleon: A Biographical Companion |date=1999 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-87436-957-1 |page= |url-access=registration}}</ref> He was given command over a battalion of Corsican volunteers and promoted to captain in the regular army in 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and a dispute between his volunteers and the French garrison in Ajaccio.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=52-54}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=52-53}}</ref> | |||
In February 1793, Bonaparte took part in the failed ]. Following allegations that Paoli had sabotaged the expedition and that his regime was corrupt and incompetent, the French ] outlawed him. In early June, Bonaparte and 400 French troops failed to capture Ajaccio from Corsican volunteers and the island was now controlled by Paoli's supporters. When Bonaparte learned that the Corsican assembly had condemned him and his family, the Buonapartes fled to Toulon on the French mainland.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=106-122}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=58-63}}</ref> | |||
===Siege of Toulon=== | |||
{{main|Siege of Toulon (1793)}} | |||
], 1793'', by ]]] | |||
Bonaparte returned to his regiment in Nice and was made captain of a coastal battery.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=130}}</ref> In July 1793, he published a pamphlet, '']'' (Supper at ]), demonstrating his support for the ] which was now heavily influenced by the Jacobins.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=131-32}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=65-66}}</ref> | |||
In September, with the help of his fellow Corsican ], Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces sent to recapture the port of Toulon which was occupied by British and allied forces.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=132-35}}</ref> He quickly increased the available artillery and proposed a plan to capture a hill fort where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the British to evacuate. The successful assault on the position on 16–17 December led to the capture of the city.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=140-41}}</ref> | |||
Toulon brought Bonaparte to the attention of powerful men including ], the younger brother of ], a leading Jacobin. He was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of defences on the Mediterranean coast. In February 1794, he was made artillery commander of the Army of Italy and devised plans to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=245-47}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=76-79}}</ref> | |||
The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the ] in April 1794, and then advanced to seize ] in the mountains. From Ormea, it headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around ]. After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to determine the country's intentions towards France.{{sfnp|Gueniffey|2015|pp=137–159}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=147-52}}</ref> | |||
===13 Vendémiaire=== | |||
{{Main|13 Vendémiaire}}]'', artillery fire in front of the '']'', '']'']] | |||
After the ] in July 1794, Bonaparte's association with leading Jacobins made him politically suspect to the new regime. He was arrested on 9 August but released two weeks later.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=154-55}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|p=55}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=79-80}}</ref> He was asked to draw up plans to attack Italian positions as part of France's war with Austria and, in March 1795, he took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the Royal Navy.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pages=155-57}}</ref> | |||
From 1794, Bonaparte was in a romantic relationship with ] whose sister ] had married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pp=76, 84}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=159-63}} In April 1795, Bonaparte was assigned to the ], which was engaged in the ]—a civil war and royalist counter-revolution in the ] region. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=92}}</ref> During this period, he wrote the romantic novella '']'', about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Clary.<ref name="Dwyer 2008a">{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|page=165-68}}</ref> | |||
In August, he obtained a position with the Bureau of ] where he worked on military planning.<ref name="Dwyer 2008a" /> On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for refusing to serve in the Vendée campaign.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=93}}</ref> He sought a transfer to ] to offer his services to Sultan ]. The request was eventually granted, but he never took up the post.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=169}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=92}}</ref> | |||
On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention.<ref name="m962">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=96}}</ref> ], a leader of the ], knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and made him second in command of the forces defending the convention in the ]. Bonaparte had seen the massacre of the King's Swiss Guard during the ] there three years earlier and realized that artillery would be the key to its defence. He ordered a young cavalry officer, ], to seize cannons and Bonaparte deployed them in key positions. On 5 October 1795—''13 Vendémiaire An IV'' in the ]—he fired on the rebels with canister rounds (later called: "a whiff of ]"). About 300 to 1,400 rebels died in the uprising.<ref name="m962" /><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=95-96}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=65-66}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte's role in defeating the rebellion earned him and his family the patronage of the new government, the ].<ref>{{Harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=67-68}}</ref> On 26 October, he was promoted to commander of the Army of the Interior, and in January 1796 he was appointed head of the Army of Italy.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=97, 103-04}}</ref> | |||
Within weeks of the ''Vendémiaire'' uprising'','' Bonaparte was romantically involved with ], the former mistress of Barras. Josephine had been born in the French colonies in the ], and her family owned slaves on ]<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Knapton |first=Ernest John |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Josephine/KNAEJO/home.html |title=Empress Josephine |publisher=] |year=1963 |isbn=978-0674252011 |location=New York |pages=15–16, 18, 20, 22–23 |language=en-US |chapter=Chapter 2: Bird of the Islands |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674188761 |oclc=1740591 |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Josephine/KNAEJO/2*.html}}</ref> The couple married on 9 March 1796 in a civil ceremony.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|pp=92–94}} Bonaparte now habitually styled himself "Napoleon Bonaparte" rather than using the Italian form "Napoleone di Buonaparte."{{sfnp|Chandler|1966|p=3}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=xv}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2015|p=109}}</ref> | |||
===First Italian campaign=== | |||
{{Main|Italian Campaign of 1796-1797}} | |||
]'', by Baron ], ({{circa|1801}}), ], Paris]] | |||
Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy. He went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia in ] before their Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of victories during the ], he knocked the Piedmontese out of the war in two weeks.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=195, 204-206}}</ref> The French then focused on the Austrians, laying siege to ]. The Austrians launched offensives against the French to break the siege, but Bonaparte defeated every relief effort, winning the ], the ], the ], and the ]. The French triumph at Rivoli in January 1797 led to the collapse of the Austrian position in Italy. At Rivoli, Austria lost 43% of its soldiers dead, wounded or taken prisoner.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=29}}<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=245-50, 268-71}}</ref> | |||
The French then invaded the heartlands of the ]. French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by ] in 1796, but Charles withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning of Bonaparte's assault. In their first encounter, Bonaparte pushed Charles back and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning the ] in March 1797. Alarmed by the French thrust that reached ], about 100 km from Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=282–285}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=149-51}}</ref> | |||
The preliminary ], signed on 18 April, gave France control of most of northern Italy and the ], and promised to partition the ] with Austria.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=285-86, 291}}</ref> Bonaparte marched on Venice and ], ending 1,100 years of Venetian independence. He authorized the French to loot treasures such as the ].<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=132}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=296}}</ref> | |||
]'', by ]]] | |||
In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons, and 170 ]. The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 ]s through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=135}} Bonaparte extracted an estimated 45 million French pounds from Italy during the campaign, another 12 million pounds in precious metals and jewels, and more than 300 paintings and sculptures.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=30}} | |||
During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and one for circulation in France.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=306}}</ref> The royalists attacked him for looting Italy and warned that he might become a dictator.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pages=304-05}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte sent General ] to Paris to support a ''coup d'état'' that purged royalists from the legislative councils on 4 September—the ]. This left Barras and his republican allies in control again but more dependent upon Bonaparte who finalized peace terms with Austria by the ].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=311-16}}</ref> Bonaparte returned to Paris on 5 December 1797 as a hero.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=322}}</ref> He met ], France's Foreign Minister, and took command of the Army of England for the planned invasion of Britain.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=327, 333-35}}</ref> | |||
===Egyptian expedition=== | |||
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}} | |||
]'' (c. 1886) by ], ]]] | |||
After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval strength was not yet sufficient to confront the ] He decided on a military expedition to seize ] and thereby undermine Britain's access to its ].<ref name="rxviii2"/> Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East and join forces with ], the ], an enemy of the British.<ref name=Watson /> Bonaparte 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".{{sfnp|Amini|2000|p=12}} The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to the ].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=342}}</ref> | |||
In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the ]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, and ] among them. Their discoveries included the ], and their work was published in the '']'' in 1809.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|pp=127–28}} En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached ] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the ]. Grand Master ] surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=175}}</ref> | |||
] on 21 July 1798'' by ], 1808]] | |||
Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at ] on 1 July.<ref name="rxviii2"/> He fought the ] against the ]s, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practise their defensive tactic for the ] on 21 July, about {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from the ]. Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=179}}</ref> and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the French army's morale.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=372}}</ref> | |||
On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under ] captured or destroyed all but two vessels of the French fleet in the ], preventing Bonaparte from strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=188}} His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=392}}</ref> In early 1799, he moved an army into the ] of Damascus (Syria and ]). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=411–424}}</ref> The ] was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, so he ordered the garrison and some 1,500–5,000 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=198}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=39-40}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=280}} Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=189}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men. 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly ]. He failed to ] of ], so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. Bonaparte was alleged to have ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium to speed the retreat.{{sfnp|Gueniffey|2015|pp=500–502}} Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an ].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=442}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a ] in the ].{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} On 24 August 1799, fearing that the Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pages=205–206}} The army was left in the charge of ].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=444}}</ref> | |||
==Ruler of France== | ==Ruler of France== | ||
{{main|Napoleonic era|l1=Napoleonic era}} | |||
===The ''coup'' of 18 Brumaire=== | |||
]'', by ]]] | |||
]]] | |||
=== ''18 Brumaire'' === | |||
While in Egypt, Bonaparte had kept a close eye on European affairs, relying largely on newspapers and dispatches that arrived only irregularly. On ] 1799, he abruptly set sail for France, taking advantage of the temporary departure of British ships blockading French coastal ports. | |||
{{main|Coup of 18 Brumaire|l1=18 Brumaire}} | |||
Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return from Egypt with his army to ward off a possible invasion of France, but these messages never arrived.{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} By the time that he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=455}}</ref> Despite the failures in Egypt, Bonaparte returned to a hero's welcome. The Directory discussed Bonaparte's desertion but was too weak to punish him.{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} | |||
Bonaparte formed an alliance with Talleyrand and leading members of the ] and Directory: Lucien Bonaparte, ], ] and ] to overthrow the government. On 9 November 1799 (''18 Brumaire'' according to the revolutionary calendar), the conspirators launched a coup, and the following day, backed by grenadiers with fixed bayonets, forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory and appoint Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos provisional consuls.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=209-10, 219-23, 229-34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Furet |first=François |author-link=François Furet |url=http://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution0000fure |title=The French Revolution, 1770-1814 |date=1996 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-0-631-20299-8 |pages=212}}</ref> | |||
Although he was later accused by political opponents of abandoning his troops, his departure actually had been authorized by the ], which had suffered a series of ] to the forces of the ], and feared an invasion. | |||
===French Consulate=== | |||
By the time he returned to Paris in October, the military situation had improved thanks to several French victories. The ] was bankrupt, however, and the corrupt and inefficient Directory was more unpopular with the French public than ever. | |||
{{main|French Consulate|War of the Second Coalition}} | |||
]'', by ]. Posing ] was often used in portraits of rulers to indicate calm and stable leadership.]] | |||
On 15 December, Bonaparte introduced the ], under which three consuls were appointed for 10 years. Real power lay with Bonaparte as First Consul, and his preferred candidates ] and ] were appointed as second and third consuls who only had an advisory role. The constitution also established a ] and ]e which were selected from indirectly elected candidates, and a ] and ] which were effectively nominated by the executive.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=240-43}}</ref> | |||
The new constitution was approved by plebiscite on 7 February 1800. The official count was over three million in favour and 1,562 against. Lucien, however, had doubled the count of the "yes" vote to give the false impression that a majority of those eligible to vote had approved the constitution.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=242}}</ref><ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 1112">{{harvp|Lyons|1994|p=111}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, ], seeking his support for a ''coup'' to overthrow the ]. The plot included Bonaparte's brother ], then serving as speaker of the ], ], another Director, and ]. On ] (]), and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control and dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the ] and secured his own election as ]. This made him the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the ], which made him First Consul for life. | |||
Historians have variously described Bonaparte's new regime as "dictatorship by plebiscite,"<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 1112" /> "absolutist rule decked out in the spirit of the age,"<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=243}}</ref> and "soft despotism."<ref>{{Harvp|Bell|2015|p=43}}</ref> Local and regional administration was reformed to concentrate power in the central government,<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=265}}</ref> censorship was introduced, and most opposition newspapers were closed down to stifle dissent.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=246-47}}</ref> Royalist and regional revolts were dealt with by a combination of amnesties for those who lay down their arms and brutal repression of those who continued to resist.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=249-50}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=256}}<ref>{{Harvp|Conner|2004|p=37}}</ref> Bonaparte also improved state finances by securing loans under a promise to defend private property, raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol and salt, and extracting levies from France's satellite republics.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=267}}</ref> | |||
===The First Consul=== | |||
:''Main article: ]'' | |||
] | |||
Bonaparte believed that the best way to secure his regime was by a victorious peace.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=268-70}}</ref> In May 1800, he led an army across the Swiss Alps into Italy, aiming to surprise the Austrian armies that had reoccupied the peninsula when Bonaparte was still in Egypt. After a difficult crossing over the Alps,{{efn|This is depicted in '']'' by ] and in Jacques-Louis David's imperial ''Napoleon Crossing the Alps''. He is less realistically portrayed on a ] in the latter work.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|2002|p=51}}</ref>}} the French captured Milan on 2 June.<ref name="Chandler-1966a">{{harvp|Chandler|1966|pp=279–281}}</ref><ref name="Zamoyski-2018">{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=271-74}}</ref> | |||
Bonaparte instituted several lasting reforms including centralized administration of the ], higher education, a tax system, a central bank, law codes, and road and sewer systems. He negotiated the ] with the ], seeking to reconcile the mostly Catholic population with his regime. His set of civil laws, the ] or Civil Code, has importance to this day in many countries. The Code was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of ], who held the office ] from ] to ]; Bonaparte, however, participated actively in the sessions of the ] that revised the drafts. Other codes were commissioned by Bonaparte to codify criminal and commerce law. In ], a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which enacted precise rules of judicial procedure. Although contemporary standards may consider these procedures as favoring the prosecution, when enacted they sought to preserve personal freedoms and to remedy the prosecutorial abuses commonplace in European courts. | |||
The French confronted an Austrian army under ] at ] on 14 June.<ref name="Chandler-1966a" /><ref name="Zamoyski-2018" /> The Austrians fielded about 30,000 soldiers while Bonaparte commanded 24,000 troops.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=292}}</ref> The Austrians' initial attack surprised the French who were gradually driven back.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=293}}</ref> Late in the afternoon, however, a full division under ] arrived on the field and reversed the tide of the battle. The Austrian army fled leaving behind 14,000 casualties.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, p. 2962">{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=296}}</ref> The following day, the Austrians signed an armistice and agreed to abandon Northern Italy.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, p. 2962" /> | |||
===An interlude of peace=== | |||
]. Notice the names of ] and ] in the rocks below.]] | |||
When peace negotiations with Austria stalled, Bonaparte reopened hostilities in November. A French army under ] swept through Bavaria and scored an overwhelming victory over the Austrians at ] in December. The Austrians capitulated and signed the ] in February 1801. The treaty reaffirmed and expanded earlier French gains at Campo Formio.<ref name="Schom 1997, p.3022">{{harvp|Schom|1997|p=302}}</ref> | |||
In ], Bonaparte returned to Italy, which the Austrians had reconquered during his absence in Egypt. He and his troops crossed the Alps in spring (although he actually rode a mule, not the white charger on which ] famously depicted him). While the campaign began badly, the Austrians were eventually routed in June at ], leading to an armistice. Napoleon's brother ], who was leading the peace negotiations in ], reported that due to British backing for Austria, Austria would not recognize France's newly gained territory. | |||
As negotiations became more and more fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general ] to strike Austria once more. | |||
Moreau led France to victory at ]. | |||
As a result the ] was signed in February ], under which the French gains of the ] were reaffirmed and increased; the British signed the ] in March ], which set terms for peace, including the division of several colonial territories. | |||
Bonaparte's triumph at Marengo increased his popularity and political authority. However, he still faced royalist plots and feared Jacobin influence, especially in the army. Several assassination plots, including the '']'' (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and the ] two months later, gave him a pretext to arrest about 100 suspected Jacobins and royalists, some of whom were shot and many others deported to penal colonies.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=283-84, 289, 294-96}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=243}}</ref> | |||
The peace between France and Britain was uneasy and short-lived. | |||
The "legitimate" monarchies of Europe were reluctant to recognize a republic, fearing that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. | |||
In Britain, the ] was welcomed as a state guest although officially Britain recognized France as a republic. | |||
Britain failed to evacuate Malta and Egypt as promised, and protested against France's ] of ], and Napoleon's ] in ] (although neither of these areas was covered by the Treaty of Amiens). | |||
====Temporary peace in Europe==== | |||
In ], Bonaparte faced a major setback when an army he sent to reconquer ] and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of ] and fierce resistance led by ]. Recognizing that the French possessions on the mainland of ] would now be indefensible, and facing imminent war with Britain, he sold them to the ] —the ]—for less than three ] per ] ($7.40/km²). The dispute over ] provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on France in ] to support French royalists. | |||
{{See also|Haitian Revolution}} | |||
] totalled {{convert|827,987|sqmi|km2|abbr=off|order=flip}}, doubling the size of the United States.]] | |||
After a decade of war, France and Britain signed the ] in March 1802, bringing the Revolutionary Wars to an end. Under the treaty, Britain agreed to withdraw from most of the colonies it had recently captured from France and her allies, and France agreed to evacuate Naples. In April, Bonaparte publicly celebrated the peace and his controversial ] with ] under which the Pope recognized Bonaparte's regime and the regime recognized Catholicism as the majority religion of France. In a further step towards national reconciliation (known as "fusion"), Bonaparte offered an amnesty to most émigrés who wished to return to France.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=313-15}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=79-84}}</ref> | |||
With Europe at peace and the economy recovering, Bonaparte became increasingly popular, both domestically and abroad.<ref>{{harvp|Lyons|1994|pp=111–114}}</ref> In May 1802, the Council of State recommended a ] asking the French people to make "Napoleon Bonaparte" Consul for life. (It was the first time his first name was officially used by the regime.)<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=319}}</ref> About 3.6 million voted "yes" and 8,374 "no." 40%-60% of eligible Frenchmen voted, the highest turnout for a plebiscite since the Revolution.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=319-20}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=100-102}}</ref> | |||
]]] | |||
], 1806.]] | |||
France had regained her overseas colonies under Amiens but did not control them all. The French National Convention had voted to abolish slavery in February 1794, but, in May 1802, Bonaparte reintroduced it in all the recovered colonies except ] and ] which were under the control of rebel generals. A French military expedition under ] regained control of Guadeloupe and slavery was reintroduced there on 16 July.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Regent |first=Frédéric |title=A Companion to the French Revolution |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4443-3564-4 |editor-last=McPhee |editor-first=Peter |pages=409–12 |chapter=Slavery and the Colonies}}</ref> | |||
=== Emperor of the French === | |||
{{main articles|], ], and ]}} | |||
] coin depicting Napoleon as ] from AN XI, 1802 |left]] | |||
In January ], Bonaparte's police uncovered an assassination plot against him, ostensibly sponsored by the ]s. In retaliation, Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the ], in a violation of the sovereignty of ]. After a hurried secret trial, the Duke was executed on ]. Bonaparte then used this incident to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as ], on the theory that a ] restoration would be impossible once the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution. | |||
Saint-Domingue was the most profitable of the colonies {{En dash}} a major source of sugar, coffee and indigo {{En dash}} but was under the control of the former slave ].<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=329}}</ref> Bonaparte sent the ] under his brother-in-law ] to retake the colony and they landed there in February 1802 with 29,000 men. Although Toussaint was captured and sent to France in July, the expedition ultimately failed due to high rates of disease and a string of defeats against rebel commander ]. In May 1803, Bonaparte acknowledged defeat, and the last 8,000 French troops left the island. The former slaves proclaimed the independent republic of ] in 1804.<ref>Christer Petley (2018), ''White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution'', Oxford University Press, p. 182.</ref>{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|p=303}} | |||
Napoleon crowned himself Holy Roman ] on ] ] at ]. Claims that he seized the crown out of the hands of ] during the ceremony in order to avoid subjecting himself to the authority of the pontiff are ]; in fact, the coronation procedure had been agreed upon in advance. After the Imperial regalia had been blessed by the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself before crowning his wife ] as Empress (the moment depicted in David's famous painting, illustrated at right). It is said that he playfully placed the crown atop her head, lifted it, then finally placed it. Then at ]'s cathedral on ] ], Napoleon was crowned ] with the ]. | |||
] | |||
As war with Britain again loomed in 1803, Bonaparte realized that his American colony of Louisiana would be difficult to defend.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=337}}</ref> In need of funds, he agreed to the ] with the United States, doubling the latter's size. The price was $15 million.<ref name="Roberts, Andrew 201422">{{harvp|Roberts|2014|loc=Introduction}}</ref>{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=70}}{{sfnp|Broers|2015|pp=389-390}} | |||
By ] Britain instigated a ] against Napoleon. Napoleon knew the French fleet could not defeat the ] and therefore arranged to lure the British fleet away from the English Channel so that a joint ] and French fleet could regain control of the Channel for twenty-four hours, enough for French armies to cross to England. However, with ] and ] preparing an invasion of France and its allies, he had to change his plans and turn his attention to the continent. The newly born ] secretly marched towards Germany. On ] ] it surprised the Austrians at ]. The next day, however, at the decisive ] (] ]), ]. A few weeks later, Napoleon secured a major victory against ] and ] at ] (]), forcing Austria yet again to sue for peace. He would forever recount this as his grandest military achievement. The Battle of Austerlitz was a testament to his military genius portraying a decisive battle in which he lured the enemy into a carefully laid trap that caused the battle to proceed on Napoleon’s terms. In fortification of his belief in his lucky star, the battle was fought and won around the first anniversary of his coronation. | |||
The peace with Britain was uneasy. Britain did not evacuate ] as promised and protested against Bonaparte's annexation of Piedmont and his ], which established a new ]. Neither of these territories were covered by Amiens, but they inflamed tensions significantly, as did Bonaparte's occupation of Holland and apparent ambitions in India.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=265}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=110-13}}</ref> The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803. Bonaparte responded by reassembling the invasion camp at Boulogne and ordering the arrest of every British male between eighteen and sixty years old in France and its dependencies as a ].{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pages=338–339}} | |||
A ] was assembled the following year, and Napoleon defeated ] at the ] (] ]). He marched on against advancing Russian armies through ], and was attacked at the bloody ] on ] ]. After a decisive victory at ] he signed a ] at ] in ] with Tsar ] of Russia, dividing Europe between the two ]. He placed puppet rulers on the thrones of ], including his brother ] as king of the new state of ]. In the French-controlled part of Poland, he established the ] with King ] of ] as ruler. Between 1809 and 1813 Napoleon also served as Regent of the ] for his brother ]. | |||
===French Empire=== | |||
] initially dedicated his third symphony, the ] (Italian for "heroic"), to Napoleon in the belief that the general would sustain the democratic and republican ideals of the French Revolution, but in 1804, as Napoleon's imperial ambitions became clear, renamed the symphony as the "Sinfonia Eroica, composta per festeggiare il Sovvenire di un grand'Uomo", or in English, "composed to celebrate the memory of a great man". | |||
{{main|First French Empire}} | |||
{{see also|Coronation of Napoleon I|Napoleonic Wars}} | |||
]'' by ] (1804)]] | |||
==== Bonaparte becomes Napoleon I ==== | |||
===The Peninsular War and the War of the Fifth Coalition=== | |||
In February 1804, Bonaparte's police made a series of arrests in relation to a royalist plot to kidnap or assassinate him that involved the British government, Moreau and an unnamed ] prince. On the advice of his foreign minister, Talleyrand, Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of the ], violating the sovereignty of ]. The Duke was quickly executed after a secret military trial, even though there was no proof he had been involved in the plot. Enghien's kidnapping and execution infuriated royalists and monarchs throughout Europe, and drew a formal protest from Russia.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=296}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=342-48}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=116-23}}</ref> | |||
''Main articles: ], ]'' | |||
Following the royalist plot, Bonaparte's supporters convinced him that creating a hereditary regime would help secure it in case of his death, make it more acceptable to constitutional monarchists, and put it on the same footing as other European monarchies.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=349-50}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=125, 129-31}}</ref><ref name="m2973">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=297}}</ref> On 18 May, the senate proclaimed Napoleon ''Emperor of the French'' and approved a new constitution. The following day, Napoleon appointed 18 of his leading generals Marshals of the Empire.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=127-28}}</ref>]The hereditary empire was confirmed by a plebiscite in June. The official result showed 3.5 million voted "yes" and 2,569 voted "no". The yes count, however, was falsely inflated by 300,000 to 500,000 votes. The turnout, at 35%, was below the figure for the previous plebiscite.<ref>{{Harvp|Zamoyski|2018|p=359}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=144-45}}</ref> Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire refused to recognize Napoleon's new title. Austria, however, recognized Napoleon as Emperor of the French in return for his recognition of ].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=130-31}}</ref> | |||
In addition to military endeavors against Britain, Napoleon also waged economic war, attempting to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain called the "]". Although this action hurt the British economy, it also damaged the French economy and was not a decisive factor. | |||
Napoleon's coronation, with the participation of ], took place at ], on 2 December 1804. After having been anointed by the pope, Napoleon crowned himself with a replica of ] crown. He then crowned Joséphine, who became only the second woman in French history, after ], to be crowned and anointed. He then swore an oath to defend the territory of the Republic; to respect the Concordat, freedom of worship, political and civil liberty and the sale of nationalized lands; to raise no taxes except by law; to maintain the ]; and to govern in the interests, wellbeing and the glory of the French people.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=164-66}}</ref> | |||
], c. 1810]] | |||
On 26 May, Napoleon crowned himself ], with the ], at the ]. Austria saw this as a provocation because of its own territorial interests in Italy. When Napoleon incorporated ] and ] into his empire, Austria formally protested against this violation of the Treaty of Lunéville.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=185-87}}</ref> | |||
] did not comply with this Continental System and in ] Napoleon sought ]'s support for an invasion of Portugal. When Spain refused, Napoleon invaded Spain as well. After mixed results were produced by his generals, Napoleon himself took command and defeated the Spanish army, retook Madrid and then defeated a British army sent to support the Spanish, driving it to the coast and forcing withdrawal from ] (in which its commander, ], was killed). Napoleon installed one of his marshals and brother-in-law, ], as the King of ], and his brother ], as King of Spain. | |||
====War of the Third Coalition==== | |||
The Spanish, inspired by ] and the ], and angry over atrocities committed by French troops, rose in revolt. At the same time, Austria unexpectedly broke its alliance with France and Napoleon was forced to assume command of forces on the Danube and German fronts. A bloody draw ensued at ] (]–], ]) near ], which was the closest Napoleon ever came to a defeat in a battle with more or less equal numbers on each side. After a two month interval, the principal French and Austrian armies engaged again near Vienna resulting in a French victory at ] (]). | |||
{{main|War of the Third Coalition}} | |||
], {{circa|1805}}]] By September 1805, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Naples and the Ottoman Empire had joined Britain in a coalition against France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rosenberg |first=Chaim M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a34yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |title=Losing America, Conquering India: Lord Cornwallis and the Remaking of the British Empire |date=2017 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6812-3 |page=168 |access-date=18 October 2018 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227171737/https://books.google.com/books?id=a34yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=190}} | |||
In 1803 and 1804, Napoleon had assembled a force around ] for an invasion of Britain. They never invaded, but the force formed the core of Napoleon's '']'', created in August 1805.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=96}}{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=138}} At the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven ], artillery and cavalry reserves, and the élite Imperial Guard.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=332}}</ref>{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=138}} By August 1805, the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} had grown to a force of 350,000 men,<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=333}}</ref> who were well equipped, well trained, and led by competent officers.<ref>Michael J. Hughes, ''Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée: Motivation, Military Culture, and Masculinity in the French Army, 1800–1808'' (NYU Press, 2012).</ref> | |||
Following this a new peace was signed between Austria and France and in the following year the Austrian Archduchess ] married Napoleon, following his divorce of Josephine. | |||
To facilitate the invasion, Napoleon planned to lure the Royal Navy from the English Channel by a diversionary attack on the ].<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=321}}</ref> However, the plan unravelled after the British victory at the ] in July 1805. French ] then retreated to ] instead of linking up with French naval forces at Brest for an attack on the English Channel.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=332}}</ref> | |||
===Invasion of Russia=== | |||
{{Bonaparte}} | |||
''Main article: ]'' | |||
Facing a potential invasion from his continental enemies, Napoleon abandoned his invasion of England and sought to destroy the isolated Austrian armies in Southern Germany before their Russian ally could arrive in force. On 25 September, 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine on a front of {{convert|260|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History''. p. 108</ref><ref>Andrew Uffindell, ''Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars''. p. 15</ref> | |||
Although the ] had sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance, by ] tensions were again increasing between the two nations. Although Alexander and Napoleon had a friendly personal relationship since their first meeting in ], Alexander had been under strong pressure from the Russian aristocracy to break off the alliance with France. | |||
]}} receive the surrender of ] ] after the ] in October 1805.]] | |||
The first sign that the alliance was deteriorating was the easing of the application of the Continental System in Russia, angering Napoleon. By ], advisors to Alexander suggested the possibility of an invasion of the French Empire (and the recapture of Poland). | |||
Austrian commander ] had gathered most of the Austrian army at the fortress of ] in ]. Napoleon's army, however, moved quickly and outflanked the Austrian positions. After some minor engagements that culminated in the ], Mack surrendered. For just 2,000 French casualties, Napoleon had captured 60,000 Austrian soldiers through his army's rapid marching.<ref>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History''. p. 156.</ref> | |||
Large numbers of troops were deployed to the Polish borders (reaching over 300,000 out of the total Russian army strength of 410,000). After receiving the initial reports of Russian war preparations, Napoleon began expanding his ] to a massive force of over 450,000-600,000 men (despite already having over 300,000 men deployed in Iberia). Napoleon ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the vast Russian heartland, and prepared his forces for an offensive campaign. | |||
For the French, this spectacular victory on land was soured by the decisive victory that the Royal Navy attained at the ] on 21 October. After Trafalgar, the Royal Navy was never again seriously challenged by Napoleon's fleet.{{sfnp|Glover|1967|pp=233–252}} | |||
On ], ], ] commenced. | |||
French forces occupied ] in November, capturing 100,000 muskets, 500 cannons, and the intact bridges across the Danube.{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|p=407}} Napoleon then sent his army north in pursuit of the Allies. Tsar ] and Francis I decided to engage Napoleon in battle, despite reservations from some of their subordinates.<ref name=Warfare>{{cite book |author=Adrian Gilbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZoO7SIwMVIC&pg=PA133 |title=The Encyclopedia of Warfare: From Earliest Time to the Present Day |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-57958-216-6 |page=133 |access-date=11 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729052159/https://books.google.com/books?id=MZoO7SIwMVIC&pg=PA133 |archive-date=29 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon, in an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, termed the war the "Second Polish War" (the first Polish war being the liberation of Poland from Russia, Prussia and Austria). Polish patriots wanted the Russian part of partitioned Poland to be incorporated into the ] and a new Kingdom of Poland created, although this was rejected by Napoleon, who feared it would bring Prussia and Austria into the war against France. Napoleon also rejected requests to free the Russian ]s, fearing this might provoke a conservative reaction in his rear. | |||
], by E. Meissonier.]] | |||
The Russians under ] ingeniously avoided a decisive engagement which Napoleon longed for, preferring to retreat ever deeper into the heart of Russia. A brief attempt at resistance was offered at ] (]-]), but the Russians were defeated in a series of battles in the area and Napoleon resumed the advance. The Russians then repeatedly avoided battle with the ''Grande Armée'', although in a few cases only because Napoleon uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity presented itself. The Russians during their strategic retreat, used the ] tactic. They burned crops and slaughtered livestock so the French would have nothing to eat. Along with the hunger, the French also had to face the harsh Russian winter. | |||
], 1805.]] | |||
Criticized over his tentative strategy of continual retreat, Barclay was replaced by ], although he continued Barclay's strategy. Kutuzov eventually offered battle outside ] on ]. Losses were nearly even for both armies, with slightly more casualties on the Russian side, after what may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history - the ] (see article for comparisons to the first day of the ]). Although Napoleon was far from defeated, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major battle the French hoped would be decisive. After the battle, the Russian army withdrew, and retreated past Moscow. | |||
At the ], on 2 December, Napoleon deployed his army below the Pratzen Heights. He ordered his right wing to feign retreat, enticing the Allies to descend from the heights in pursuit. The French centre and left wing then captured the heights and caught the allies in a pincer movement. Thousands of Russian troops fled across a frozen lake to escape the trap and 100 to 2,000 of them drowned.<ref name=Warfare/>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=204-05}} About a third of the allied forces were killed, captured or wounded.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=18}} | |||
The Russians retreated and Napoleon was able to enter Moscow, assuming that the fall of Moscow would end the war and that Alexander I would negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city's military governor and commander-in-chief, ], rather than capitulating, Moscow was ]. Within the month, fearing loss of control back in France, Napoleon left Moscow. | |||
The disaster at Austerlitz led Austria to seek an armistice. By the subsequent Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December, Austria left the coalition, lost substantial territory to the ] and Bavaria, and was forced to pay an indemnity of 40 million francs. Alexander's army was granted safe passage back to Russia.<ref name="Schom2">{{harvp|Schom|1997|p=414}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=209}} | |||
The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat; the Army had begun as over 650,000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer than 40,000 crossed the ] (November 1812) to escape. In total French losses in the campaign were 570,000 against about 400,000 Russian casualties and several hundred thousand civilian deaths. | |||
Napoleon went on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought".<ref name="Schom2"/> ] suggests that Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz that he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one".<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=350}}</ref> ] disagrees, stating that Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".{{sfnp|Cronin|1994|p=344}} | |||
===The War of the Sixth Coalition=== | |||
] at ], before his exile to ]]] | |||
====Middle-Eastern alliances==== | |||
There was a lull in fighting over the winter of ]–] whilst both the Russians and the French recovered from their massive losses. A small Russian army harassed the French in Poland and eventually 30,000 French troops there withdrew to the German states to rejoin the expanding force there - numbering 130,000 with the reinforcements from Poland. This force continued to expand, with Napoleon aiming for a force of 400,000 French troops supported by a quarter of a million German troops. | |||
{{Main|Franco-Ottoman alliance|Franco-Persian alliance}} | |||
] in ], 27 April 1807, to sign the ]]] | |||
Napoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French presence in the Middle East in order to put pressure on Britain and Russia, possibly by forming an alliance with the ].<ref name=Watson>{{harvp|Watson|2003|pp=13–14}}</ref> In February 1806, Ottoman Emperor ] recognized Napoleon as ''Emperor''. He also opted for an alliance with France, calling France "our sincere and natural ally".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karsh |first1=Efraim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1E_SATQRKjoC&pg=PA13 |title=Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923 |last2=Karsh |first2=Inari |date=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00541-9 |pages=12 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040239/https://books.google.com/books?id=1E_SATQRKjoC&pg=PA13 |url-status=live}}</ref> That decision brought the Ottoman Empire into a losing war against Russia and Britain. A Franco-Persian alliance was formed between Napoleon and the ] of ]. It collapsed in 1807 when France and Russia formed an unexpected alliance.<ref name=Watson /> In the end, Napoleon made no effective alliances in the Middle East.{{sfnp|Sicker|2001|p=99}} | |||
====War of the Fourth Coalition and Tilsit==== | |||
Heartened by Napoleon's losses in Russia, Prussia soon rejoined the Coalition that now included Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal. Napoleon assumed command in Germany and soon inflicted a series of defeats on the Allies culminating in the ] on ]-], ] causing almost 100,000 casualties to the Coalition forces (the French sustaining only around 30,000). | |||
{{main|War of the Fourth Coalition}} | |||
] before the ], 14 October 1806]] | |||
Despite these initial successes, however, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon as ] and ] joined the Coalition. Eventually the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size at the ] (]-]) at ]. Some of the German states switched sides in the midst of the battle, further undermining the French position. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost both sides a combined total of over 120,000 casualties. | |||
After Austerlitz, Napoleon increased his political power in Europe. In 1806, he deposed the ] and installed his elder brother, Joseph, on the throne. He then made his younger brother, Louis, King of Holland.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=216-20}} He also established the ], a collection of German states intended to serve as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe. The creation of the confederation spelled the end of the ].<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael V. Leggiere |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |title=Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8061-8017-5 |page=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118001553/https://books.google.com/books?id=-gn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |archive-date=18 November 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
After this Napoleon withdrew in an orderly fashion back into France, but his army was now reduced to less than 100,000 against more than half a million Allied troops. The French were now surrounded (with British armies pressing from the south in addition to the Coalition forces moving in from the German states) and vastly outnumbered. The French armies could only delay an inevitable defeat. | |||
Napoleon's growing influence in Germany threatened the status of Prussia as a great power and in response ] decided on war with France. Prussia and Russia signed a new military alliance creating the fourth coalition against France. Prussia, however, committed a strategic blunder by declaring war when French troops were still in southern Germany and months before sufficient Russian troops could reach the front.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=224-25}} | |||
===Exile in Elba, Les Cent-Jours (The Hundred Days) and Waterloo=== | |||
] | |||
Paris was occupied on ] ]. At the urging of his ], Napoleon abdicated on ] in favour of his son. The ], however, demanded ] and Napoleon abdicated again, unconditionally, on ]. In the ] the victors exiled him to ], a small island in the ] 20 km off the coast of ]. | |||
Napoleon invaded Prussia with 180,000 troops, rapidly marching on the right bank of the ]. Upon learning the whereabouts of the Prussian army, the French swung westwards thus cutting the Prussians off from Berlin and the slowly approaching Russians. At the twin ], fought on 14 October, the French convincingly defeated the Prussians and inflicted heavy casualties. With several major commanders dead or incapacitated, the Prussian king proved incapable of effectively commanding the army, which quickly disintegrated.<ref name="Brooks-2000">Brooks 2000, p. 110</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=225-228}} | |||
In France, the royalists had taken over and restored ] to power. Separated from his wife and son (who had come under Austrian control), cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours that he was about to be banished to a remote island in the ], Napoleon escaped from Elba on ] ] and returned to the mainland on ] ]. ] sent the Fifth Regiment, led by Marshal ] who had formerly served under Napoleon in Russia, to meet him at Grenoble on ] ]. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within earshot of Ney's forces, shouted "Soldiers of the Fifth, you recognize me. If any man would shoot his emperor, he may do so now". Following a brief silence, the soldiers shouted "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to ]. He arrived on ], quickly raising a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000 and governed for a ]. | |||
In the following month, the French captured 140,000 soldiers and over 2,000 cannon. Despite their overwhelming defeat, the Prussians refused to negotiate with the French until the Russians had an opportunity to enter the fight.<ref name="Brooks-2000" />{{sfnp|Chandler|1966|pp=467–468}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=233-34}} | |||
Napoléon's final defeat came at the hands of the ] and ] at the ] in present-day ] on ] ]. | |||
Following his triumph, Napoleon imposed the first elements of the ] through the ] issued in November 1806. The Continental System, which prohibited European nations from trading with Britain, was widely violated throughout his reign.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=497}}</ref> | |||
Off the port of ], Napoléon made his formal surrender while on board ] on ] ]. | |||
]: Napoleon meeting with ] on a raft in the middle of the ], 7 July 1807]] | |||
==Exile in Saint Helena and death== | |||
] | |||
Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled by the British to the island of ] (2,800 km off the Bight of Guinea) from ] ]. Whilst there, with a small cadre of followers, he dictated his memoirs and criticized his captors. Sick for much his time on Saint Helena, Napoleon died, on ] ]. His last words were: "France, the Army, head of the Army, Josephine". | |||
In the next few months, Napoleon marched against the advancing Russian armies through Poland and fought a bloody stalemate at the ] in February 1807.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=370}}</ref> After a period of rest and consolidation on both sides, the war restarted in June with an initial struggle at ] that proved indecisive.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=243}} | |||
Napoleon had asked in his will to be buried on the banks of the ], but was buried on Saint Helena. In 1840, his remains were taken to France in the frigate ] and entombed in ], Paris. Hundreds of millions have visited his tomb since that date. | |||
On 14 June Napoleon obtained an overwhelming victory over the Russians at the ], inflicting casualties of up to 30% of the Russian army.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=244}} The scale of their defeat convinced the Russians to make peace with the French. The two emperors began peace negotiations on 25 June at the town of ] during a meeting on a raft floating in the middle of the ] which separated the French and Russian troops and their respective spheres of influence.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=245-47}} | |||
===Cause of death=== | |||
] | |||
The cause of Napoleon's death has been disputed on numerous occasions, and the controversy remains to this day. ], Napoleon's personal physician, gave stomach cancer as a reason for Napoleon's death in his death certificate. | |||
Napoleon offered Alexander relatively lenient terms—demanding that Russia join the Continental System, withdraw its forces from ] and ], and hand over the ] to France. In contrast, Prussia was treated harshly. It lost half its territory and population and underwent a two-year occupation costing it about 1.4 billion francs. From former Prussian territory, Napoleon created the ], ruled by his young brother Jérôme, and the ].{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|pp=458–461}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=247-50}} | |||
In 1955, the diaries of Louis Marchand, Napoléon's valet, appeared in print. He describes Napoléon in the months leading up to his death, and led many, most notably ] and ], to conclude that he had been killed by ] poisoning. Arsenic was at the time sometimes used as a poison as it was undetectable when administered over a long period of time. Arsenic was also used in some wallpaper, as a green pigment, and even in some patent medicines. It would also help to explain the reported preservation of his corpse. In ], Pascal Kintz, of the Strasbourg Forensic Institute in France, added credence to this claim with a study of arsenic levels found in a lock of Napoleon's hair preserved after his death: they were seven to thirty-eight times higher than normal. | |||
Prussia's humiliating treatment at Tilsit caused lasting resentment against France in that country. The treaty was also unpopular in Russia, putting pressure on Alexander to end the alliance with France. Nevertheless, the ] gave Napoleon a respite from war and allowed him to return to France, which he had not seen in over 300 days.{{sfnp|Roberts|2014|pp=458–461}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=251-53}} | |||
Cutting up hairs into short segments and analysing each segment individually provides a histogram of arsenic concentration in the body. This analysis on hair from Napoléon suggests that large but non-lethal doses were absorbed at random intervals. The arsenic severely weakened Napoléon and remained in his system. | |||
====Peninsular War and Erfurt==== | |||
More recent analysis on behalf of the magazine ''Science et Vie'' showed that similar concentrations of arsenic can be found in Napoleon's hair in samples taken from 1805, 1814 and 1821. The lead investigator, Ivan Ricordel (head of toxicology for the ]), stated that if arsenic had been the cause, Napoléon would have died years earlier. The group suggested that the most likely source in this case was a hair tonic. Prior to the discovery of ], arsenic was also a widely used, but ineffective, treatment for ]. This has led to speculation that Napoleon might have suffered from that disease. | |||
{{Main|Peninsular War}} | |||
], Napoleon's brother, as King of Spain (1808–1813)]] | |||
After Tilsit, Napoleon turned his attention to ], which was reluctant to strictly enforce the blockade against its traditional ally Britain.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=261-62}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Horne |first=Alistair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnI-yMnewzEC |title=How Far From Austerlitz? Napoleon 1805{{ndash}}1815 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-74328-540-4 |page=238 |author-link=Alistair Horne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=dnI-yMnewzEC |archive-date=25 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 17 October 1807, 24,000 French troops under General Junot crossed the Pyrenees with Spanish consent and headed towards Portugal to enforce the blockade.{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|p=197}} Junot occupied Lisbon in November, but the Portuguese royal family had already fled to Brazil with the Portuguese fleet.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=262-63}} | |||
The medical regime imposed on Napoleon by his doctors included treatment with antimony potassium tartrate, regular enemas and a 600 milligram dose of mercuric chloride to purge his intestines in the days immediately prior to his death. A group of researchers from the ] Medical Examiner's Department speculate that this treatment may have led to Napoleon's death by causing a serious potassium deficiency.{{ref|SanFrancisco}} | |||
In March 1808, a ] led to the abdication of the Spanish king ] in favour of his son ].{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|pp=198–199}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=264}} The following month, Napoleon summoned Carlos and Fernando to Bayonne where, in May, he forced them both to ] their claims to the Spanish throne. Napoleon then made his brother Joseph King of Spain.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=269-70}} | |||
In May, 2005 a team of Swiss physicians claimed that the reason for Napoleon's death was stomach ], which was also the cause of his father's death. From a multitude of forensic reports they derive that Napoleon at his death weighed approx. 76 kg (168 lb) while a year earlier he weighed approx. 91 kg (200 lb), confirming the autopsy result reported by Antommarchi. A team of physicians from the University of Monterspertoli led by Professor Biondi recently confirmed this. | |||
By then, there were 120,000 French troops garrisoned in the peninsula{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|p=199}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=267}} and widespread Spanish opposition to the occupation and the overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons. On 2 May, an ] against the French broke out in Madrid and spread throughout Spain in the following weeks. In the face of brutal French repression, the uprising developed into a sustained conflict.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=271-72, 275}} | |||
In October, 2005, a document was unearthed in ] that presented an account of the autopsy, which again seems to confirm Antommarchi's conclusion.{{ref|autopsy}} | |||
In July, Joseph travelled to Madrid where he was proclaimed King of Spain on the 24th. However, following news of a French defeat by regular Spanish forces at the ], Joseph fled Madrid several days later.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=276-78}} The following month, a British force landed in Portugal and, on the 21st, they defeated the French at ]. Under the ], the French evacuated Portugal.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=296}}{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=218}} | |||
==Marriages and children== | |||
Napoleon was married twice: | |||
]]] | |||
*] ] to ]. He formally adopted her son ] and cousin ] after assuming the throne to arrange "dynastic" marriages for them. He had her daughter ] marry his brother, ]. Though their marriage was unconventional, and both were known to have many affairs, they were ulimately devoted to each other and when Joséphine agreed to ] so he could remarry in the hopes of producing an heir, it was devastating for both. It was also the first under the Napoleonic Code. | |||
*] ] by ] to ] to legitimize the impending birth of their child, then in a ceremony on ]. They remained married until his death, although she did not join him in his exile. | |||
**Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (] ] – ] ]), King of Rome. Known as ] although he never ruled. Was later known as the Duke of Reichstadt. Did not have issue. | |||
The defeats at Bailén and Vimiero convinced Napoleon that he had to take command of the Iberian campaign. Before leaving for Spain, he attempted to strengthen the alliance with Russia and obtain a commitment from Alexander that Russia would declare war on Austria if she attacked France. At the ] in October 1808, Napoleon and Alexander reached an agreement that recognized the Russian conquest of ] and called upon Britain to cease its war against France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Engman |first=Max |title=Napoleon's Empire |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-349-56731-7 |editor-last=Planert |editor-first=Ute |pages=227–238 |chapter=Finland and the Napoleonic Empire |doi=10.1057/9781137455475_16 |via=Springer Link}}</ref> However, Alexander failed to provide a firm commitment to make war with Austria.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=286}}{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=118}} | |||
Acknowledged two illegitimate children, both of whom had issue: | |||
*], (] – ]), by Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne (] – ]). | |||
*], (] ] – ] ]), by ] (] – ]). | |||
]'', 4 December 1808]] | |||
May have had further illegitimate issue: | |||
* ], by Françoise-Marie LeRoy. | |||
* ], by Victoria Kraus. | |||
* ], by Countess ]. | |||
* ] (] ] – ] ]) whose mother remains unknown. | |||
On 6 November, Napoleon was in ] and took command of 240,000 French troops. After a series of victories over Anglo-Spanish forces, they retook Madrid on 4 December.{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|p=205}} Napoleon then pursued the retreating British forces who were eventually evacuated at ] in January 1809. Napoleon left for France on 17 January, leaving Joseph in command.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hope |first1=John |last2=Baird |first2=D. |date=28 January 1809 |title=Battle of Corunna |volume=15 |pages=91–94 |publisher=Cobbett's political register |issue=4 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/7d8a427252d63486 |url-status=live |access-date=23 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029223019/https://www.proquest.com/openview/7d8a427252d63486 |archive-date=29 October 2021}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=296-300}} | |||
==Legacy== | |||
Napoleon is credited with introducing the concept of the modern professional ] army to Europe, an innovation which other states eventually followed. He did not introduce many new concepts into the French military system, borrowing mostly from previous theorists and the implementations of preceding French governments, but he did expand or develop much of what was already in place. ] replaced divisions as the largest army units, artillery was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry once again became a crucial formation in French military doctrine. | |||
Napoleon never returned to Spain after the 1808 campaign. In April, the British sent another army to the peninsula under Arthur Wellesley, the future ]. British, Portuguese and Spanish regular forces engaged the French in a protracted series of conflicts. Meanwhile, a brutal guerrilla war engulfed much of the Spanish countryside, a conflict in which atrocities were committed by both sides.<ref name="Chandler-1966b">{{harvp|Chandler|1966|pp=659–660}}</ref>{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=218}} | |||
Napoleon's biggest influence in the military sphere was in the conduct of warfare. Weapons and technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century operational strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became infrequent to the point of near-irrelevance, a new emphasis towards the destruction, not just outmaneuvering, of enemy armies emerged, and invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts, thus introducing a plethora of strategic opportunities that made wars costlier and, just as importantly, more decisive. Defeat for a European power now meant much more than losing isolated enclaves; near-Carthaginian peaces intertwined whole national efforts, sociopolitical, economic, and militaristic, into gargantuan collisions that severely upset international conventions as understood at the time. It can be argued that Napoleon's initial success sowed the seeds for his downfall. Not used to such catastrophic defeats in the rigid power system of 18th century Europe, many nations found existence under the French yoke difficult, sparking revolts, wars, and general instability that plagued the continent until 1815. | |||
Napoleon later called the Peninsular campaign, "the unlucky war ruined me."{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=128}} It tied up some 300,000 French troops from 1808 to 1812. By 1814, the French had been driven from the peninsula, with over 150,000 casualties in the campaign.<ref name="Chandler-1966b" />{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=78-80}} | |||
In ], Napoleon is seen by some as having ended lawlessness and disorder in France, and that the ] also served to export the ] to the rest of Europe; the movements of national unification and the rise of the ], notably in ] and ], may have been precipitated by the Napoleonic rule of those areas. | |||
====War of the Fifth Coalition==== | |||
The ] was adopted throughout much of Europe and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Professor Dieter Langewiesche of the ] describes the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of ] society in ] by expanding the right to own property and breaking the back of ]. Langewiesche also credits Napoleon with reorganizing what had been the ] made up of more than 1,000 entities into a more streamlined network of 40 states providing the basis for the ] and the future unification of Germany under the ] in ]. | |||
{{Main|War of the Fifth Coalition}} | |||
]'' by ], 1836]] | |||
In ] Napoleon is traditionally given credit for discovering and proving ], although there is no specific evidence that he did so. The theorem states that if equilateral triangles are constructed on the sides of any triangle (all outward or all inward), the centres of those equilateral triangles themselves form an equilateral triangle. There has been discussion about the significance of the theorem.{{ref|www.mathpages.com.894}} | |||
The overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons caused alarm in Austria over Napoleon's ambitions while France's military difficulties in the Peninsular encouraged Austria to go to war.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=304-05}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gill |first=John H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQLoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 |title=The Battle of Znaim: Napoleon, the Habsburgs and the end of the War of 1809 |date=2020 |publisher=Greenhill Books |others=Austria, February 1809: The Die is Cast for War |isbn=978-1-78438-451-7 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040239/https://books.google.com/books?id=fQLoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the early morning of 10 April 1809, the Austrian army crossed the ] and invaded Bavaria. The Austrian advance, however, was disorganized and they were unable to defeat the Bavarian army before the French could concentrate their forces.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=306}} Napoleon arrived from Paris on the 17th to lead the French campaign. In the following ] he was slightly wounded in the heel but the Austrians were forced to retreat across the Danube. The French occupied Vienna on 13 May but most of the population had fled and the retreating army had destroyed all four bridges across the river.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=306-08}} | |||
On 21 May, the French attempted to cross the Danube, precipitating the ]. Both sides inflicted about 23,000 casualties on each other and the French were forced back.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=706}}</ref> The battle was reported in European capitals as a defeat for Napoleon and damaged his aura of invincibility.<ref>{{harvp|Chandler|1966|p=707}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=308-12}} | |||
Critics of Napoleon argue that his true legacy was a loss of status for France and many needless deaths: | |||
After six weeks of preparations, Napoleon made another attempt at crossing the Danube.{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|p=708}} In the ensuing ] (5–6 July) the Austrians were forced to retreat but the French and Austrians each suffered losses of 37,000 to 39,000 killed, wounded or captured.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=312-14}}{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|p=729}} The French caught up with the retreating Austrians at ] on 10 July, and the latter signed an ] on the 12th.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=314}} | |||
<blockquote>After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost. And it was all such a great waste, for when the self-proclaimed tête d'armée was done, France's "losses were permanent" and she "began to slip from her position as the leading power in Europe to second-class status—that was Bonaparte's true legacy."{{ref|www.claremont.org.895}}</blockquote> | |||
In August, a British force ] but lost 4,000 men, mainly to illness, before withdrawing in December.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|pp=285-86}} | |||
Nevertheless, many in the international community still admire the many accomplishments of the emperor as evidenced by the International Napoleonic Congress held in Dinard, France in July 2005 that included participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians, scholars from as far away as Israel and Russia, and a parade recreating the Grand Army. | |||
The ] in October 1809 was harsh for Austria which lost substantial territory and over three million subjects.{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|p=732}} France received ], ], and the Adriatic ports of Trieste and Fiume(Rijeka); the part of Poland annexed by Austria in the ] in 1795, known at the time as West Galicia, was given to the Polish-ruled ]; and the territory of the former Archbishopric of Salzburg went to Bavaria.{{sfnp|Fremont-Barnes|Fisher|2004|p=144}} Austria was required to pay an indemnity of 200 million francs and its army was reduced to 150,000 men.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=316}} | |||
Moreover, many probably wish Napoleon would have achieved his unrealized goal | |||
==== Consolidation of the Empire ==== | |||
<blockquote>‘to make it a law that only those lawyers and attorneys should receive fees who had won their cases. How much litigation would have been prevented by such a measure! For it is quite obvious that there is not a lawyer who, after a first look at the case, would not turn it down if it seemed doubtful. It need not be feared that a man who earns his living from his work might take on a case for the simple pleasure of hearing himself talk; yet even if he did, he would harm no one but himself. . . . I am convinced to this day that the idea is brilliant.’</blockquote> | |||
] at its greatest extent in 1812:{{Legend|#B284BE|French Empire}}{{Legend|#71A6D2|French ]s}}]] | |||
Napoleon's union with Joséphine had not produced a child, and he decided to secure the dynasty and strengthen its position in Europe by a strategic marriage into one of Europe's major royal houses. In November 1809, he announced his decision to divorce Joséphine and the marriage was annulled in January 1810.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=321-25}} Napoleon had already commenced negotiations for the marriage of Tsar Alexander's sister Anna, but the Tsar responded that she was too young. Napoleon then turned to Austria, and a marriage to the Austrian Emperor's daughter, Marie Louise, was quickly agreed.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=326-330}} | |||
==Misconceptions about Napoleon's height== | |||
Contrary to popular belief (perpetuated by the above-mentioned caricatures), Napoleon was not especially short. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in '''French''' feet. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in '''Imperial''' (British) feet, or 1.686 metres, making him slightly taller than an average Frenchman of the 19th century {{ref|www.napoleon.org.896}}. The metric system was introduced during his lifetime, so it was natural that he would be measured in feet and inches for much of his life. A French inch was 2.71 centimetres {{ref|www.historydata.com.897}}, an Imperial inch is 2.54 centimetres. In addition to this miscalculation, his nickname ''le petit caporal'' adds to the confusion, as non-francophones mistakenly take ''petit'' literally as meaning "small"; in fact, it is an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers. He also surrounded himself with soldiers, his elite guard, who were always six feet tall or taller. | |||
The marriage was formalized in a civil ceremony on 1 April and a religious service at the Louvre on the following day. The marriage to Marie Louise was widely seen as a shift in French policy towards stronger ties with Austria and away from the already strained relationship with Russia.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=328-30}} On 20 March 1811, Marie Louise gave birth to the heir apparent, ], King of Rome.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=334-41}} | |||
==See also== | |||
{{wikiquotepar|Napoleon Bonaparte}} | |||
{{commons|Napoleon}} | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ], for a list of Napoleon's Marshals | |||
* ] | |||
* ] (esp. as a by-word for mental ill health) | |||
* '']'' a film about the last years of Napoleon and the mystery of his death (French-English co-production) | |||
* ] | |||
* ], an assassination attempt | |||
With the annexation of the Papal states (May 1809, February 1810), Holland (July 1810) and the northern coastal regions of Westphalia (August 1810), mainland France further increased its territory. Napoleon now ruled about 40% of the European population either directly or indirectly through his satellite kingdoms.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=350-53}} | |||
==Sources== | |||
*{{cite web | title=Bonaparte (Napoléon Ier) | work=Insecula: L'encyclopedie des artes et de l'architecture | url=http://www.insecula.com/contact/A003985.html/ | accessdate = 25 September | accessyear=2003}} | |||
*<!-- This link was a reference but no longer exists. I've taken a shot at how to handl this can someone do better? - ] -->{{cite web | title=Napoleon | work=Napoleon Series | url=http://www.napoleonseries.org/index.cfm | accessdate = 10 February | accessyear=2004}} (Now a dead link; comparable material is at .) | |||
*{{cite web | title=Napoleon I of France | work=France.com | url=http://www.france.com/docs/364.html | accessdate = 20 February | accessyear=2005}} | |||
*{{cite book | author= Asprey, Robert | title=The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte | publisher= New York: Basic Books| year= 2000| id=ISBN 0-465-04879-X}} | |||
*{{cite book | author= Cronin, Vincent | title=Napoleon | publisher= London: HarperCollins | year=1994 | id=ISBN 0-00-637521-9}} | |||
*{{cite book | author= Durant, Will and Durant, Ariel | title=The Age of Napoleon | publisher= New York: Simon and Schuster | year = 1975 | id=ISBN 0-671-21988-X (PT. 11)}} | |||
*{{cite book | author= McLynn, Frank | title=Napoleon: A Biography | publisher=London: Pimlico | year=1998 | id=ISBN 0-7126-6247-2}} | |||
* {{cite book | author= Pope, Stephen | title=The Cassel Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars | publisher= Cassel | year=1999 | id=ISBN 0-304-35229-2}} | |||
* {{cite book | author= Schom, Alan | title= Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life | year= 1998 | publisher= Perennial | id=ISBN 0-06-092958-8}} | |||
* {{cite book | author= ] | title= 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow | year= 2004 | publisher= HarperCollins | id=ISBN 0-00-718489-1}} | |||
* Full texts of | |||
** (in ]) | |||
** (in French) | |||
**{{gutenberg|no=3567|name=Memoirs of Napoleon}} | |||
**{{gutenberg|no=14300|name=The Life of Napoleon I}} | |||
====Invasion of Russia==== | |||
==References== | |||
{{Main|French invasion of Russia}} | |||
<!-- How to add a footnote: | |||
Tsar Alexander saw the creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Napoleon's marriage alliance with Austria and the election of the French Marshal ] as Crown Prince of Sweden as attempts to contain Russia. In December 1810, Napoleon annexed the ] which Alexander considered an insult as his uncle was the duke. The Tsar responded by allowing neutral shipping into Russian ports and banning most French imports. Russia feared that Napoleon intended to restore the Kingdom of Poland while Napoleon suspected Russia of seeking an alliance with Britain against France.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=353-55}}<ref name="McLynn-1997">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=494–95}}</ref> | |||
NOTE: Footnotes in this article use names, not numbers. Please see ] for details. | |||
1) Assign your footnote a unique name, for example TheSun_Dec9. | |||
2) Add the macro {{ref|TheSun_Dec9}} to the body of the article, where you want the new footnote. | |||
3) Take note of the name of the footnote that immediately precedes yours in the article body. | |||
4) Add #{{Note|TheSun_Dec9}} to the list, immediately below the footnote you noted in step3. | |||
5) Multiple footnotes to the same reference: see ] that explains how to do that. | |||
NOTE: It is important to add footnotes in the right order in the list! Sources should be referenced in full in the Sources section, just above, so that short form citations can be used in these footnotes. --> | |||
] in September 1812'', by ] (1841)]] | |||
# {{note|McLynn31}}McLynn (1998), p. 31. | |||
# {{note|www.mathpages.com.894}} {{cite web | title=Napoleon's Theorem | url=http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath270/kmath270.htm | accessdate=2005-12-18 }} | |||
# {{note|www.claremont.org.895}} {{cite web | title=The Claremont Institute: The Little Tyrant, A review of ''Napoleon: A Penguin Life'', by Paul Johnson. | url=http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2003/hanson.html | accessdate=2005-12-18 }} The quoted passages within this text are from Johnson. | |||
# {{note|www.napoleon.org.896}} {{cite web | title=http://www.napoleon.org/en/essential_napoleon/faq/index.asp#ancre54 | url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/essential_napoleon/faq/index.asp#ancre54 | accessdate=2005-12-18 }} | |||
# {{note|www.historydata.com.897}} {{cite web | title=Historydata: miscellaneous | url=http://www.historydata.com/miscellaneous.html#linear measure | accessdate=2005-12-18 }} | |||
In late 1811, Napoleon began planning an invasion of Russia. A Franco-Prussian alliance signed in February 1812 forced Prussia to provide 20,000 troops for the invasion and, in March, Austria agreed to provide 30,000 men.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=358-61}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=501}} Napoleon's multinational ''grande armée'' comprised around 450,000 frontline troops of which about a third were native French speakers. Napoleon called the invasion the "Second Polish War," but he refused to guarantee an independent Poland for fear of alienating his Austrian and Prussian allies.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=361, 370-71}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=508}}{{sfnp|Esdaile|2007|pp=563-64}} | |||
==External links== | |||
* | |||
* in World History Database | |||
* - discussing the possibility of arsenic poisoning | |||
* | |||
* - Detailed biography of Napoleon | |||
* | |||
* - Concise history of the French Empire | |||
* - Acknowledging the extraordinary talents of the man who defined an age (1789-1821) and the remarkable men and women who peopled and shaped it, the Napoleon Series seeks to promote the continued, scholarly exploration of that age. | |||
On 24 June, Napoleon's troops began crossing the ] into ] with the aim of luring the Russians into one or two decisive battles.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=370}} The Russians retreated 320 kilometres east to the ] river and implemented a ], making it increasingly difficult for the French to forage food for themselves and their horses.{{sfnp|Harvey|2007|p=773}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=371-72}} On 18 August, Napoleon captured ] with the loss of 9,000 of his men, but the Russians were able to withdraw in good order.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=379-82}} | |||
==Organizations devoted to the study of Napoleon== | |||
The Russians, now commanded by Kutuzov, made a stand at ], outside Moscow, on 7 September. The battle resulted in 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French dead, wounded or captured, in one of the bloodiest days of battle in Europe up to that time.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=518}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=385}} The Russians withdrew overnight and Napoleon later stated, "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians worthy of being invincible".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ya9hFI4h28C&pg=PA48 |title=Command Failure in War: Psychology and Leadership |last2=Pois |first2=Robert |date=2004 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11093-0 |pages=48 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040239/https://books.google.com/books?id=1ya9hFI4h28C&pg=PA48 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* - Are you interested in the Napoleonic Wars and the Age of Napoleon? | |||
* - Society founded in 1983 to inform and provide its members with the means to share its knowledge and views about Napoleon and the Napoleonic Empire. | |||
]]] | |||
The Russians retreated to ], and Napoleon entered Moscow on 14 September. The following evening, the city was set on fire on the orders of its governor ]. Alexander, in ], refused to negotiate a peace, and after six weeks Napoleon's army evacuated Moscow.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=388-98}} | |||
After capturing ] with the loss of 4,000 to 10,000 men, Napoleon retreated towards Smolensk. The French were attacked by ] and peasants and suffered from the intense cold, disease and lack of food and water. Around 40,000 to 50,000 troops reached Smolensk on 9 November, a loss of about 60,000 in three weeks. Napoleon also heard that an ] by General Malet in Paris had only narrowly failed.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=400-407}} | |||
{{Start}} | |||
{{s-hou|]|15 August|1769|5 May|1821}} | |||
From Smolensk, Napoleon's army headed for Vilnius, where there was a French garrison of 20,000. In late November, under attack from all sides by Russian forces, the ''grande armée'' managed to cross the ] river on pontoon bridges in temperatures reaching {{convert|-40|C|F|abbr=on|disp=b|sigfig=2}}. On 5 December, shortly before arriving in Vilnius, Napoleon left his disintegrating army for Paris.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=410-19}} In the following weeks, the remnants of the ''grande armée'', about 75,000 troops, crossed the Nieman into allied territory. Russian military losses in the campaign were up to 300,000 and total military deaths from both sides were up to one million.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=425}} | |||
====War of the Sixth Coalition==== | |||
{{Main|War of the Sixth Coalition}} | |||
] at ], painting by ]]] | |||
The French, pursued by the Russians, withdrew from most of Poland and Prussia over the winter of 1812–13 while both sides rebuilt their forces.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=280-84}}</ref> Sweden and Prussia declared war on France in March 1813. In April, Napoleon assumed command of an army of 200,000 troops,<ref>{{Harvp|McLynn|1997|p=550}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|p=445}}</ref> and defeated the coalition at ] and ].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=445-46}}</ref> Britain formally joined the coalition in June followed by Austria in August,<ref>{{Harvard citation year brackets|Esdaile|2007|pp=600-602, 608}}</ref> but the allies were again defeated in the ] (August 1813).<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=565}}</ref> | |||
The coalition, however, had a growing advantage in infantry, cavalry, reserves and armaments. In the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the coalition was victorious at ] in October. Although coalition casualties were 54,000 men, the French lost 38,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 taken prisoner. Up to 50,000 more were lost to death, illness and desertion during the French retreat to the Rhine.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=453, 458-63}}</ref>{{sfnp|Chandler|1995|p=1020}} | |||
], by ]|left]] | |||
The ] were peace terms offered by the coalition in November 1813 under which Napoleon would remain emperor, but France would be reduced to its "natural frontiers." That meant that France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the west bank of the Rhine, while withdrawing from Spain, Holland, Italy and Germany. Napoleon did not accept the terms and the allies crossed the Rhine into French territory on 1 January 1814.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=465-69}}</ref> Wellington's British forces had already crossed the Pyrenees into south-western France.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|p=432-39}}</ref> | |||
In north-eastern France, Napoleon led about 70,000 troops against a coalition army of 200,000. After a defeat at ], the French won a series of victories in ] which induced the coalition to offer peace on the basis of France's 1791 frontiers. Napoleon, however, decided to fight on.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=475-78}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Esdaile|2007|pp=626-67}}</ref> | |||
After a series of battles in March, the allies forced Napoleon to retreat at the ] (20–21 March). The coalition then moved towards Paris, whose defence was under the command of Joseph Bonaparte.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=461-62, 487-88}}</ref> On 29 March, a coalition army of 200,000 began their attack on the Belleville and Montmartre heights. Empress Marie Louise fled Paris that evening with her son, the King of Rome. With an army of only 38,000 to defend the capital, Joseph authorized the French marshal ] to capitulate on 31 March. The following day, the allies accepted ] as head of a provisional government. On 2 April, the Senate deposed Napoleon.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=479-84}}</ref> | |||
Meanwhile, Napoleon was in Fontainebleau with an army of 40,000 to 60,000. He contemplated a march on Paris but, on 4 April, his senior commanders persuaded him to abdicate in favour of his son, with Marie Louise as regent.{{efn|There were actually three versions of the act written on 4 April 1814. The final signed version explicitly refers to "Napoleon II" as his successor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vial |first=Charles-Éloi |date=2014 |title=4, 6 et 11 avril 1814 : les trois actes d'abdication de Napoléon I er |url=http://www.cairn.info/revue-napoleonica-la-revue-2014-1-page-3.htm |journal=Napoleonica la Revue |language=fr |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi=10.3917/napo.141.0003 |issn=2100-0123 |access-date=6 December 2023 |archive-date=2 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702070435/https://www.cairn.info/revue-napoleonica-la-revue-2014-1-page-3.htm |url-status=live |doi-access=free}}</ref>}} Tsar Alexander, however, demanded an unconditional abdication and Napoleon reluctantly complied on 6 April.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prutsch |first=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4QbOh5jK3IC&pg=PA15 |title=Making Sense of Constitutional Monarchism in Post-Napoleonic France and Germany |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-137-29165-3 |pages=10–15 |access-date=2 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102012205/https://books.google.com/books?id=L4QbOh5jK3IC&pg=PA15 |archive-date=2 November 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=484-86}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gates|2003|page=259}}<ref>{{cite web |date=July 1814 |title=Napoleon's act of abdication |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222080420/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR |archive-date=22 December 2011 |access-date=28 August 2009 |publisher=Bulletin des lois de la Republique Française }}</ref> | |||
]]] | |||
In his farewell address to the soldiers of the ] on 20 April, Napoleon said:{{blockquote|"Soldiers of my Old Guard, I have come to bid you farewell. For twenty years you have accompanied me faithfully on the paths of honor and glory. ...With men like you, our cause was lost, but the war would have dragged on interminably, and it would have been a civil war. ... So I am sacrificing our interests to those of our country. ...Do not lament my fate; if I have agreed to live on, it is to serve our glory. I wish to write the history of the great deeds we have done together. Farewell, my children!"{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=97}}}} | |||
{{clear}} | |||
===Exile to Elba=== | |||
{{main|Principality of Elba}} | |||
] (1836)]] | |||
With the ] of 11 April 1814, the allies exiled Napoleon to ], an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, {{convert|10|km|0|abbr=on}} off the Tuscan coast, where they made him ]. The following night, Napoleon attempted suicide with poison he had carried after nearly being captured by the Russians during the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, however, and he survived to be exiled, while his wife and son took refuge in Austria.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pp=593–594}}</ref> He was conveyed to the island on ] and disembarked at ] on 4 May 1814. In the first few months on Elba, he drew up plans for administrative reforms, road and building works, and improvements to the island's mines and agriculture, but results were limited by lack of funds.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=597}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=500-03}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=513-15}}</ref> When Napoleon learned that Joséphine had died in France on 29 May, he was distraught and locked himself in his room for two days.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|p=507}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon understood that the French king ] was unpopular. Realizing that his wife and son would not be joining him in exile, 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 in the brig ] on 26 February 1815 with about 1,000 men and a flotilla of seven vessels.<ref name="Mclynn6042">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=604}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=514-16}}</ref> | |||
===Hundred Days=== | |||
{{Main|Hundred Days}} | |||
]'', by ], 1818]]On 1 March 1815, Napoleon and his followers landed on the French mainland at ] and headed for ] through the foothills of the Alps, taking the route now known as ].<ref name="Mclynn6042"/><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=522-23}}</ref> The 5th Regiment intercepted him just south of ] on 7 March. Napoleon approached the battalion alone and called to them, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish!" The soldiers responded with, "''Vive l'empereur!''" and joined Napoleon's men.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=605}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=525-26}}</ref> Six days later, 5,000 troops under ], who had boasted that he would bring Napoleon to Paris in an iron cage, also joined Napoleon.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=532-33}}</ref> | |||
On 13 March, the powers at the ] declared Napoleon an ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Congress of Vienna, the Hundred Days, and Napoleon's Exile on St. Helena |url=https://library.brown.edu/cds/napoleon/time7.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907033020/https://library.brown.edu/cds/napoleon/time7.html |archive-date=7 September 2023 |access-date=7 September 2023 |website=library.brown.edu}}</ref> Four days later, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia each pledged to put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=607}}</ref> Louis XVIII, however, fled Paris for Belgium in the early hours of 20 March after realizing that he did not have enough reliable troops to oppose Napoleon. Napoleon entered Paris that evening.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=537-38}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon appointed a government and introduced constitutional changes which were approved by plebiscite in May. A Chamber of Representatives was also indirectly elected that month on a highly restrictive property franchise.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=538-42}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=540-45, 562-64}}</ref> Napoleon's priority was to raise an army to face the coalition, but the law did not allow conscription and he was only able to raise about 300,000 men, mostly raw recruits and national guards.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=553-54}}</ref> | |||
On 12 June, Napoleon led about 124,000 men, known as the ], into Belgium, aiming to drive a wedge between Wellington's army of 112,000 British, German and Dutch troops and ]'s force of 130,000 Prussians and Saxons.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=544-46}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=573-74}}</ref> After engagements at the ] and ], Napoleon confronted Wellington at the ] on 18 June. Wellington's army withstood repeated attacks by the French until, late in the afternoon, Blücher's Prussians arrived in force on Napoleon's right flank. The coalition forces broke through Napoleon's lines, inflicting a devastating defeat.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=546-47}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon returned to Paris and found that the legislature had turned against him. Realizing that his position was untenable, ]. He left Paris three days later and settled at Joséphine's former palace in ].<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=551-56}}</ref> By 28 June, the Prussian army was at ], just north of Paris.<ref>{{Harvp|Broers|2022|pp=635}}</ref> | |||
When Napoleon heard that Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive, he fled to ], considering an escape to the United States. However, when he found that British ships were blockading the port, he surrendered to ] on {{HMS|Bellerophon|1786|6}} on 15 July 1815.<ref>{{Harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=556-62}}</ref>{{sfnp|Cordingly|2004|p=254}} | |||
==Exile on Saint Helena{{anchor|Custody of Napoleon Buonaparte Act 1816|Intercourse with Saint Helena Act 1816}}== | |||
{{Main|Napoleon I's exile to St. Helena}} | |||
]'', watercolour by Franz Josef Sandmann, {{circa|1820}}]] | |||
], Saint Helena, site of Napoleon's captivity]] | |||
Napoleon was held in British custody and transferred to the island of ] in the Atlantic Ocean, {{convert|1870|km|nmi|0|abbr=on}} from the west coast of Africa. Napoleon and 27 followers arrived at Jamestown, Saint Helena, in October 1815 on board ]. The prisoner was guarded by a garrison of 2,100 soldiers while a squadron of 10 ships continuously patrolled the waters to prevent escape.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=13-34}} In the following years, there were rumours of escape plots, but no serious attempts were made.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=71-74}} | |||
Napoleon stayed for two months at a pavilion in ] before he was moved to ], a 40-room wooden bungalow. The location and interior of the house were damp, windswept, rat-infested and unhealthy.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xa2qKbxgWAC&q=Longwood+House&pg=PA272 |last=Hibbert |first=Christopher |title=Napoleon's Women |date=2003 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-32499-0 |page=272 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227173032/https://books.google.com/books?id=9xa2qKbxgWAC&q=Longwood+House&pg=PA272#v=snippet&q=Longwood%20House&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=39-41, 90}} '']'' published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death. Napoleon often complained of his living conditions in letters to the island's governor, ],{{sfnp|Schom|1997|pp=769–770}} while his attendants complained of "colds, ]s, damp floors and poor provisions".<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2I-AQAAMAAJ&q=Longwood+House&pg=PA402 |title=Two Days at Saint Helena |journal=The Spirit of the English Magazines |publisher=] |date=1832 |page=402 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227173224/https://books.google.com/books?id=i2I-AQAAMAAJ&q=Longwood+House&pg=PA402#v=snippet&q=Longwood%20House&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon insisted on imperial formality. When he held a dinner party, men were expected to wear military dress and "women in evening gowns and gems. It was an explicit denial of the circumstances of his captivity".<ref>{{cite web |title=A Journey to St. Helena, Home of Napoleon's Last Days |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/journey-st-helen-home-napoleon-last-days-180971638/ |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303061019/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/journey-st-helen-home-napoleon-last-days-180971638/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=44-46, 64-67}} He formally received visitors, read, and dictated his memoirs and commentaries on military campaigns.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=43-44}} He studied English under ] for a few months but gave up as he was poor at languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleons-english-lessons/ |last=Hicks |first=Peter |title=Napoleon's English Lessons |website=Napoleon.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918214137/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleons-english-lessons/ |archive-date=18 September 2016 | url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|p=41}} | |||
Napoleon also circulated reports of poor treatment in the hope that public opinion would force the allies to revoke his exile on Saint Helena.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=64-67}} Under instructions from the British government, Lowe cut Napoleon's expenditure, refused to recognize him as a former emperor, and made his supporters sign a guarantee they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely.<ref name="Lowe2">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=642}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=64-67}} Accounts of the mistreatment led, in March 1817, to a debate in parliament and ]'s call for an inquiry.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|p=64}} | |||
{{Infobox UK legislation | |||
| short_title = Custody of Napoleon Buonaparte Act 1816 | |||
| type = Act | |||
| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom | |||
| long_title = An Act for the more effectually detaining in Custody Napoleon Buonaparté. | |||
| year = 1816 | |||
| citation = ]. c. 22 | |||
| introduced_commons = | |||
| introduced_lords = | |||
| territorial_extent = | |||
| royal_assent = 11 April 1816 | |||
| commencement = 11 April 1816 | |||
| expiry_date = | |||
| repeal_date = 5 August 1873 | |||
| amends = | |||
| replaces = | |||
| amendments = | |||
| repealing_legislation = ] | |||
| related_legislation = | |||
| status = Repealed | |||
| legislation_history = | |||
| theyworkforyou = | |||
| millbankhansard = | |||
| original_text = | |||
| revised_text = | |||
| use_new_UK-LEG = | |||
| UK-LEG_title = | |||
| collapsed = yes | |||
}} | |||
{{Infobox UK legislation | |||
| short_title = Intercourse with Saint Helena Act 1816 | |||
| type = Act | |||
| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom | |||
| long_title = An Act for regulating the Intercourse with the Island of Saint Helena, during the time Napoleon Buonaparté shall be detained there; and for indemnifying persons in the cases therein mentioned. | |||
| year = 1816 | |||
| citation = ]. c. 23 | |||
| introduced_commons = | |||
| introduced_lords = | |||
| territorial_extent = | |||
| royal_assent = 11 April 1816 | |||
| commencement = 11 April 1816 | |||
| expiry_date = | |||
| repeal_date = 5 August 1873 | |||
| amends = | |||
| replaces = | |||
| amendments = | |||
| repealing_legislation = ] | |||
| related_legislation = | |||
| status = Repealed | |||
| legislation_history = | |||
| theyworkforyou = | |||
| millbankhansard = | |||
| original_text = | |||
| revised_text = | |||
| use_new_UK-LEG = | |||
| UK-LEG_title = | |||
| collapsed = yes | |||
}} | |||
In mid-1817, Napoleon's health worsened. His physician, ], diagnosed chronic ] and warned Lowe that he could die from the poor climate and lack of exercise. Lowe thought O'Meara was exaggerating and dismissed him in July 1818.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=93-97}} | |||
In November 1818, the allies announced that Napoleon would remain a prisoner on Saint Helena for life. When he learnt the news, he became depressed and more isolated, spending longer periods in his rooms which further undermined his health.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=103-105}}{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pages=638–639}} A number of his entourage also left Saint Helena including Las Cases in December 1816, General Gaspard Gourgaud in March 1818 and ], who was possibly Napoleon's lover, in July 1819.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=82-89, 90-93}} | |||
In September 1819, two priests and a new physician, ], joined Napoleon's retinue.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|p=105}} | |||
===Death=== | |||
{{See also|Death mask of Napoleon|Retour des cendres|Napoleon's tomb}} | |||
] at {{lang|fr|]|italic=no}} in Paris]] | |||
Napoleon's health continued to worsen, and in March 1821 he was confined to bed. In April he wrote two wills declaring that he had been murdered by the British, that the Bourbons would fall and that his son would rule France. He left his fortune to 97 legatees and asked to be buried by the Seine.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=108-13}} | |||
On 3 May he was given the ] but could not take communion due to his illness.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|p=115}} He died on 5 May 1821 at age 51. His last words, variously recorded by those present, were either ''France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine'' ("France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine"),<ref name="McLynn6552">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=655}}</ref><ref>Roberts, ''Napoleon'' (2014) 799–801</ref> or ''qui recule''...''à la tête d'armée'' ("who retreats... at the head of the army"){{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=115, 282n82}} or "France, my son, the Army."{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=115, 282n82}} | |||
Antommarchi and the British wrote separate autopsy reports, each concluding that Napoleon had died of internal bleeding caused by ], the disease that had killed his father.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=120-23}}<ref name="Lugli-2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Lugli |first1=Alessandro |last2=Carneiro |first2=Fatima |display-authors=1 |date=4 March 2021 |title=The gastric disease of Napoleon Bonaparte: brief report for the bicentenary of Napoleon's death on St. Helena in 1821 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-021-03061-1 |journal=Virchows Archiv |volume=2021 |issue=479 |pages=1055–1060 |doi=10.1007/s00428-021-03061-1 |pmid=33661330 |pmc=8572813 |via=Springer |access-date=28 November 2023 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227173042/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00428-021-03061-1 |url-status=live}}</ref> A later theory, based on high concentrations of arsenic found in samples of Napoleon's hair, held that Napoleon had died of ]. However, subsequent studies also found high concentrations of arsenic in hair samples from Napoleon's childhood and from his son and Joséphine. Arsenic was widely used in medicines and products such as hair creams in the 19th century.<ref name="cullen1562">{{cite book |last=Cullen |first=William |title=Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac? |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-85404-363-7}}, pp. 148-61</ref>{{sfnp|Hindmarsh|Savory|2008|p=2092}} A 2021 study by an international team of gastrointestinal pathologists once again concluded that Napoleon died of stomach cancer.<ref name="Lugli-2021" /> | |||
Napoleon was buried with military honours in the ].{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=126-27}}<ref name="McLynn6552" /> Napoleon's heart and intestines were removed and sealed inside his coffin. ] was allegedly removed during the autopsy and sold and exhibited. In 1840, the British government gave ] permission to return Napoleon's remains to France. Napoleon's body was exhumed and found to be well preserved as it had been sealed in four coffins (two of metal and two of mahogany) and placed in a masonry tomb.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=141, 195-99}} On 15 December 1840, a ] was held in Paris with 700,000-1,000,000 attendees who lined the route of the funeral procession to the chapel of ]. The coffin was later placed in the cupola in St Jérôme's Chapel, where it remained until ], designed by ], was completed.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|pp=216-19, 225}} In 1861, during the reign of ], his remains were entombed in a ] in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2018|p=235}} | |||
==Religion== | |||
{{Further|Napoleon and the Catholic Church}} | |||
]s and 10 ].]] | |||
=== Religious beliefs === | |||
Napoleon was baptized in Ajaccio on 21 July 1771, and raised a Roman Catholic. He began to question his faith at age 13 while at Brienne.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=239-41}} Biographers have variously described him from that time as a ], a follower of Rousseau's "natural religion" or a believer in destiny. He consistently expressed his belief in a God or creator.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=236}} | |||
He understood the power of organized religion in social and political affairs, and later sought to use it to support his regime.<ref>{{cite web |title=L'Empire et le Saint-Siège |url=http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |publisher=Napoleon.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919124850/http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |archive-date=19 September 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=236-37}} His attitude to religion is often described as utilitarian.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=235}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=84}} In 1800 he stated, "it was by making myself a Catholic that I won the war in the Vendée, by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt, by making myself an ] that I turned men's hearts towards me in Italy. If I were to govern a nation of Jews I would rebuild the Temple of Solomon."{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=235}} | |||
Napoleon had a ] with Joséphine in 1796 and, at the pope's insistence, a private religious ceremony with her the day before his coronation as Emperor in 1804. This marriage was annulled by tribunals under Napoleon's control in January 1810.<ref>{{cite web |title=Napoleon's "divorce" |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ | website=Napoleon.org |archive-date=21 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071220/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In April 1810, Napoleon married Austrian princess Marie Louise in a Catholic ceremony. Napoleon was ] by the pope through the bull '']'' in 1809.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=248}} His will in 1821 stated, "I die in the Apostolical Roman religion, in the bosom of which I was born, more than fifty years since."{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=197}} | |||
Napoleon read the ] in translation and had an interest in ] and the ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Youssef |first=Ahmed |title=Napoléon et l'islam, l'anti-croisade |url=https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/napoleon-et-lislam-lanti-croisade/ |website=Napoleon.org |date=January 2023 |language=fr |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202073213/https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/napoleon-et-lislam-lanti-croisade/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He also defended ] ("a great man") against Voltaire's '']''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cases |first=Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné comte de Las |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XUuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA94 |title=Memoirs of the Life, Exile, and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon |date=1855 |publisher=Redfield}}</ref> | |||
===Concordat=== | |||
{{Further|Concordat of 1801}} | |||
]]] | |||
Seeking national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics, Napoleon and ] agreed to the ]. The agreement recognized the Catholic Church as the majority church of France and in return the Church recognized Napoleon's regime, undercutting much of the ground from royalists. The Concordat confirmed the seizure of Church lands and endowments during the revolution, but reintroduced state salaries for the clergy. The government also controlled the nomination of bishops for investiture by the pope. Bishops and other clergy were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the regime.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=244-45}}<ref>William Roberts (1999), "Napoleon, the Concordat of 1801, and Its Consequences". in by Frank J. Coppa, ed., ''Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler'', pp. 34–80.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aston |first=Nigel |url=http://archive.org/details/religionrevoluti0000asto_b5c4 |title=Religion and revolution in France, 1780-1804 |date=2000 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-8132-0976-0 |pages=279–315}}</ref> | |||
When the Concordat was published on 8 April 1802, Napoleon presented another set of laws called the ], which further increased state control over the French Church.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=244-45}} Similar arrangements were made with the Church in territories controlled by Napoleon, especially in Italy and Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aston |first=Nigel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7yVDUMVITkC |title=Christianity and Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1830 |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-46592-2 |pages=261–262 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040240/https://books.google.com/books?id=r7yVDUMVITkC |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
===Arrest of Pope Pius VII=== | |||
Napoleon progressively occupied and annexed the ] from 1805. When he annexed Rome in May 1809, the pope excommunicated him the following month. In July, French officials arrested the pope in the Vatican and exiled him to ]. In 1812 the pontiff was transferred to the ] in France.<ref>{{cite web |title=Napoleon and the Pope: From the Concordat to the Excommunication |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-and-the-pope-from-the-concordat-to-the-excommunication/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124005648/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-and-the-pope-from-the-concordat-to-the-excommunication/ |archive-date=24 January 2018 |access-date=23 January 2018}}</ref> In January 1813, Napoleon pressured the pope to sign a new "Concordat of Fontainebleau" which was soon repudiated by the pontiff. The pope was not released until 1814.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=248}} | |||
===Religious emancipation=== | |||
{{further|Napoleon and the Jews|Napoleon and Protestants}} | |||
In February 1795, the National Convention proclaimed religious equality for France's Protestant churches and other religions. In April 1802, Napoleon published laws increasing state control of Calvinist congregations and Lutheran directories, with their pastors to be paid by the state.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=242, 245}} With Napoleon's military victories, formal religious equality and civil rights for religious minorities spread to the conquered territories and ]s, although their implementation varied with the local authorities.<ref name="McLynn-1997a">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|pages=435–36}}</ref> | |||
The Jews of France had been granted full civil rights in September 1791 and religious equality in 1795. The revolutionary and Napoleonic regimes abolished Jewish ghettoes in the territories they conquered.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|pp=160-61}} Napoleon wished to assimilate Jews into French society and convened an assembly of Jewish notables in 1806 to that end. In 1807, he summoned a ] to adapt the law of Moses to those of the empire. An imperial decree of March 1808 organized Jewish worship into consistories, limited usury and encouraged Jews to adopt a family name, intermarriage, and civil marriage and divorce.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=38-40}}{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|pp=160-61}} Jews, however, were still subject to discrimination in many parts of the empire and satellite states.<ref name="McLynn-1997a" /> | |||
==Personality== | |||
] wrote in 1947, "It is impossible that two historians, especially two historians living in different periods, should see any historical personality in the same light."{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|p=15}} There is no dispute that Napoleon was ambitious, although commentators disagree on whether his ambition was mostly for his own power and glory or for the welfare of France.{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|pp=135-37, 198}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=18-19}}{{sfnp|Barnett|1997|pp=88-89}} Historians agree that Napoleon was highly intelligent with an excellent memory,{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=26}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=18}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=280-83}} and was a superior organizer who could work efficiently for long hours.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=18}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=280-81}} In battle, he could rapidly dictate a series of complex commands to his subordinates, keeping in mind where major units were expected to be at each future point.{{sfnp|Chandler|1966|loc="Introduction", pp. 3-36}} | |||
He was an inspiring leader who could obtain the best from his soldiers and subordinates.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|p=379ff}} ] said his presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 soldiers.<ref>{{cite book | first=Christopher | last=Hibbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbQIAQAAMAAJ |title=Wellington: A Personal History |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7382-0148-1 |page=171}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jack Coggins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8qaEDqjkv0C&pg=PA187 |title=Soldiers And Warriors: An Illustrated History |publisher=] |page=187 |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-486-45257-9 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110504/https://books.google.com/books?id=V8qaEDqjkv0C&pg=PA187#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> He could charm people when he needed to but could also publicly humiliate them and was known for his rages when his plans were frustrated.{{sfnp|Price|2014|p=8}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=18-19}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=279-80}}{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|pp=135-37}} Historian McLynn sees him as a ] with a cruel streak which he often inflicted on women, children and animals.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=277-79}} | |||
There is debate over whether Napoleon was an outsider who never felt at home in France or with other people.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=287}} ] said Napoleon saw others only as instruments and was cut off from feelings of admiration, sympathy or pity. Arthur Lévy replied that Napoleon genuinely loved Joséphine and often showed humanity and compassion to his enemies or those who had let him down. He had the normal middle class virtues and understood the common man.{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|pp=135-37, 175}} | |||
Similarly, historians are divided over whether Napoleon was consistently ruthless when his power was threatened or surprisingly indulgent in some cases. Those arguing for a ruthless personality point to episodes such as his violent suppression of revolts in France and conquered territories,{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|p=198}} his execution of the Duc d'Enghien and plotters against his rule,{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=52}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=16-17}} and his massacre of Turkish prisoners of war in Syria in 1799.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=279-80}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=39-40}} Others point to his mild treatment of disloyal subordinates such as ], Talleyrand and Fouché.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=279-80}} | |||
]]] | |||
Many historians see Napoleon as pragmatic and a realist, at least in the early years of his rule.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=12}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=286}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=573}} He was not driven by ideology and promoted capable men irrespective of their political and social background, as long as they were loyal.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=21}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|pp=573, 575-76}} As an expert in military matters, he valued technical expertise and listened to the advice of experts in other fields.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=21}} However, there is a consensus that once he dominated Europe he became more intolerant of other views and surrounded himself with "yes men".{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=56}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=582}} Towards the end of his reign he lost his realism and ability to compromise.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=19, 47}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=95-96}} | |||
Some historians talk of Napoleon's dual nature: a rationalist with a strong romantic streak.{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|p=20}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=287-91}} He took a team of scholars, artists and engineers with him to Egypt in order to scientifically study the country's culture and history, but at the same time was struck by romantic "orientalism". "I was full of dreams," he stated. "I saw myself founding a religion, marching into Asia, riding an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hand a new Koran that I would have composed to suit my need."{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=37-38}} | |||
Napoleon was superstitious. He believed in ]s, numerology, fate and lucky stars, and always asked of his generals: is he lucky?{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=288-89}} Dwyer states that Napoleon's victories at Austerlitz and Jena in 1805–06 left him even more certain of his destiny and invincibility.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2013|pp=175–176}}</ref> "I am of the race that founds empires", he once boasted, deeming himself an heir to the Ancient Romans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Geoffrey |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-349-08847-8 |title=The Napoleonic Empire |publisher=] | via=] |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-4039-4401-6 |page=125|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-08847-8 }}</ref> | |||
Various psychologists have attempted to explain Napoleon's personality. ] cited Napoleon to describe an ] in which short people adopt over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term '']''.<ref>{{Cite web | last=Hall | first=H.K. | year=2006 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260553327 | title=Perfectionism: A Hallmark Quality of World Class Performers, or a Psychological Impediment to Athletic Development? | pages=178–211 | publisher=Meyer & Meyer | location=]}}</ref> Adler, ] and ] ascribed his nervous energy to ].{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=285}} Harold T. Parker speculated that rivalry with his older brother and bullying when he moved to France led him to develop an inferiority complex which made him domineering.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Parker |first=Harold T. |date=1971 |title=The Formation of Napoleon's Personality: An Exploratory Essay |journal=French Historical Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=6–26 |doi=10.2307/286104 |jstor=286104}}</ref> | |||
==Appearance and image== | |||
{{Further|Cultural depictions of Napoleon|Uniforms of Napoleon}} | |||
], the regiment that often served as his personal escort, with a large ] and a ] gesture.]]In his youth, Bonaparte was consistently described as small and thin. Johann Ludwig Wurstemberger, who accompanied him in 1797 and 1798, noted that "Bonaparte was rather slight and emaciated-looking; his face, too, was very thin, with a dark complexion... his black, unpowdered hair hung down evenly over both shoulders", but that, despite his slight and unkempt appearance, "his looks and expression were earnest and powerful."{{sfnp|Kircheisen|1932|p=129}} | |||
English painter ], who met him in 1802, said Bonaparte's eyes were "lighter, and more of a grey, than I should have expected from his complexion", that "his person is below middle size", and that "his general aspect was milder than I had before thought it."<ref>The Fortnightly, Volume 114. Chapman and Hall, 1923. p. 836.</ref> | |||
In his later years Napoleon gained weight and had a sallow complexion. Novelist Paul de Kock, who saw him in 1811, called Napoleon "yellow, obese, and bloated".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seward |first=Desmond |author-link=Desmond Seward |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonsfamily0000sewa/page/124 |title=Napoleon's family |date=1986 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-297-78809-6 |page=124}}</ref> | |||
During the ], the British press depicted Napoleon as a dangerous ], poised to invade. A nursery rhyme warned children that he ate naughty people; the "]".{{sfnp|Roberts|2004|p=93}} He was mocked as a short-tempered small man and was nicknamed "Little Boney in a strong fit".<ref name="nationalpostBoney2">{{cite news |date=28 April 2016 |title=Greatest cartooning coup of all time: The Brit who convinced everyone Napoleon was short |newspaper=] |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/world/greatest-cartooning-coup-of-all-time-the-brit-who-convinced-everyone-napoleon-was-short |access-date=30 September 2017 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603212831/https://nationalpost.com/news/world/greatest-cartooning-coup-of-all-time-the-brit-who-convinced-everyone-napoleon-was-short |url-status=live}}</ref> In fact, at about 170 cm (5 ft 7 in), he was of average height.<ref>{{cite web |title=La taille de Napoléon |url=https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/la-taille-de-napoleon/ |access-date=15 July 2023 |website=napoleon.org |language=fr-FR |archive-date=4 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604091554/https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/la-taille-de-napoleon/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Was Napoleon Short? | Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/was-napoleon-short |access-date=20 August 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |archive-date=1 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901070919/https://www.britannica.com/story/was-napoleon-short |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
He is often portrayed wearing a large ] hat—sideways—with a ] gesture—a reference to the painting produced in 1812 by ].{{sfnp|Bordes|2007|p=118}} | |||
==Reforms== | |||
]'', by ] (1812)]]Napoleon instituted numerous reforms, many of which had a lasting influence on France, Europe and the world. He reformed the French administration, codified French law, implemented a new education system, and established the first French central bank, the ].{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=53-56}} He negotiated the ] with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the majority Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the ], which regulated public worship in France. He also implemented civil and religious equality for Protestants and Jews.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=37-40}} In May 1802, he instituted the ] to encourage civilian and military achievements. The order is still the highest decoration in France.{{sfnp|Blaufarb|2008|pp=101–10}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=49-51}} He introduced three French constitutions culminating in the reintroduction of a hereditary monarchy and nobility.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=29-35, 51-53}} | |||
=== Administration === | |||
Napoleon introduced a series of centralizing administrative reforms soon after taking power. In 1800, he established prefects appointed to run France's regional departments, sub-prefects to run districts and mayors to run towns. Local representative bodies were retained, but their powers were reduced and indirect elections with a high property qualification replaced direct elections.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=75-76}} Real power in the regions was now in the hands of the prefects who were judged by how they met the main priorities of Napoleon's government: efficient administration, law and order, stimulating the local economy, gathering votes for plebiscites, conscripting soldiers and provisioning the army.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=24-25}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=76}} | |||
An enduring reform was the foundation, in December 1799, of the ], an advisory body of experts which could also draft laws for submission to the legislative body. Napoleon drew many of his ministers and ambassadors from the council. It was the council which undertook the codification of French law.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=21-23}} | |||
After several attempts by revolutionary governments, Napoleon officially introduced the ] in France in 1801 and it was spread through western Europe by his armies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan |title=An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon's Europe |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |year=1984 |isbn=0-297-78394-7 |location=London |page=191}}</ref>{{sfnp|O'Connor|Robertson|2003}} The new system was unpopular in some circles, so in 1812 he introduced a compromise system in the retail trade called the '']'' (traditional units of measurement).<ref name="H&H2">{{cite web |last1=Hallock |first1=William |last2=Wade |first2=Herbert T |year=1906 |title=Outlines of the evolution of weights and measures and the metric system |url=https://archive.org/stream/outlinesofevolut00halluoft/outlinesofevolut00halluoft_djvu.txt |publisher=The Macmillan Company |pages=66–69 |location=London}}</ref> In December 1805, Napoleon abolished the Revolutionary calendar, with its ten-day week, which had been introduced in 1793.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=234}} | |||
===Napoleonic Code=== | |||
{{Main|Napoleonic Code}} | |||
]]] | |||
Napoleon's ], known from 1807 as the Napoleonic Code, was implemented in March 1804. It was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of ], the ''Second Consul''. Napoleon participated actively in the sessions of the ] that revised the drafts. The code introduced a clearly written and accessible set of national laws to replace the various regional and customary law systems that had operated in France.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=41}} | |||
The civil code entrenched the principles of equality before the law, religious toleration, secure property rights, equal inheritance for all legitimate children, and the abolition of the vestiges of feudalism. However, it also reduced the rights of women and children and severely restricted the grounds for divorce.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=27-28}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=577-78}} | |||
A criminal code was promulgated in 1808, and eventually seven codes of law were produced under Napoleon.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=43-44}} The Napoleonic code was carried by Napoleon's armies across Europe and influenced the law in many parts of the world. ] described it as, "the most effective agency for the propagation of the basic principles of the French Revolution."{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=28}} | |||
===Warfare=== | |||
{{Further|Napoleonic weaponry and warfare|Military career of Napoleon}} | |||
] unveiled by ] in 1858. Napoleon I strengthened the town's defences to prevent British naval incursions.]] | |||
In the field of ], Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as ], and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed what was already in place. He continued the Revolutionary policies of conscription and promotion based primarily on merit.<ref name="Archer">{{Cite book |last1=Archer |first1=Christon I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lfSwAEACAAJ |title=World History of Warfare |last2=Ferris |first2=John R. |last3=Herwig |first3=Holger H. |last4=Travers |first4=Timothy H. E. |date=2008 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-1941-0 |pages=380–404 |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110506/https://books.google.com.pe/books?id=0lfSwAEACAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=es&redir_esc=y |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Flynn|2001|p=16}} | |||
] replaced divisions as the largest army units, ] was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry returned as an important formation in French military doctrine. These methods are now referred to as essential features of Napoleonic warfare.<ref name="Archer" /> | |||
Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist ] as a genius in the art of war, and many historians rank him as a great military commander.<ref name="Archer" /> Wellington considered him the greatest military commander of all time,{{sfnp|Roberts|2004|p=272}} and ] called him "the greatest statesman and the ablest general of ancient or modern times".{{sfnp|Roberts|2001|p=59}} Cobban states that he showed his genius in moving troops quickly and concentrating them on strategic points.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|pp=46-47}} His principles were to keep his forces united, keep no weak point unguarded, seize important points quickly, and seize his chance.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=90}} Owen Connelly, however, states, "Napoleon's personal tactics defy analysis." He used his intuition, engaged his troops, and reacted to what developed.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=93-94}} | |||
Under Napoleon, the focus shifted towards destroying enemy armies rather than simply outmanoeuvering them. Wars became more costly and decisive as invasions of enemy territory occurred on larger fronts. The political cost of war also increased, as defeat for a European power now meant more than just losing isolated territories. Peace terms were often punitive, sometimes involving regime change, which intensified the trend towards ] since the Revolutionary era.<ref name="Archer" />{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=10-13}} | |||
===Education=== | |||
Napoleon's educational reforms laid the foundation of a modern system of secondary and tertiary education in France and throughout much of Europe.<ref>{{cite book |author=Clive Emsley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |title=Napoleon: Conquest, Reform and Reorganisation |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-61028-1 |page=52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018173545/https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |archive-date=18 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> He synthesized academic elements from the '']'', ], and ].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=L. Pearce |year=1956 |title=Science, Education and Napoleon I |journal=Isis |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=369–382 |doi=10.1086/348507 |jstor=226629 |s2cid=144112149 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/226629 |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-date=3 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203115348/https://www.jstor.org/stable/226629 |url-status=live}}</ref> His education laws of 1802 left most primary education in the hands of religious or communal schools which taught basic literacy and numeracy for a minority of the population.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=34}} He abolished the revolutionary central schools and replaced them with secondary schools and elite lycées where the curriculum was based on reading, writing, mathematics, Latin, natural history, classics, and ancient history.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=58-59}} | |||
He retained the revolutionary higher education system, with ''grandes écoles'' in professions including law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering and school teaching. He introduced ''grandes écoles'' in history and geography, but opposed one in literature because it was not vocational. He also founded the military academy of Saint Cyr.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=60}} He promoted the advanced centres, such as the ], that provided both military expertise and advanced research in science.<ref>Margaret Bradley (1975), " {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504023854/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00033797500200381 |date=4 May 2023}}". ''Annals of science'' (1975) 32#5 pp. 415–449.</ref> | |||
In 1808, he founded the Imperial University, a supervisory body with control over curriculum and discipline. The following year he introduced the baccalaureate.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=59}} The system was designed to produce the efficient bureaucrats, technicians, professionals and military officers that the Napoleonic state required. It outperformed its European counterparts, many of which borrowed from the French system.<ref>{{harvp|Roberts|2014|pp=278–281}}</ref> | |||
Female education, in contrast, was designed to be practical and religious, based on home science, the catechism, basic literacy and numeracy, and enough science to eradicate superstition.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=60-61}} | |||
=== Nobility and honours === | |||
In May 1802, Bonaparte created the Legion of Honour whose members would be military personnel and civilians with distinguished service to the state. The new institution was unpopular with republicans and the measure only passed by 14 votes to 10 in the Council of State.{{Sfnp|Conner|2004|p=49}} The Legion of Honour became an order of chivalry after the empire was proclaimed in 1804. In August 1806, Napoleon created an hereditary imperial nobility including princes, dukes, counts, barons and knights. Eventually the empire had over 3,000 nobles and more than 30,000 members of the Legion of Honour.{{Sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pp=358, 398-99}}{{Sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=50-51}} | |||
==Memory and evaluation== | |||
{{Main|Legacy of Napoleon}} | |||
===Criticism=== | |||
]'' by ], showing Spanish resisters being executed by French troops]] | |||
]]]There is debate over whether Napoleon was "an ] who laid the foundations of modern Europe" or "a ] who wrought greater misery than any man before the coming of Hitler".<ref>{{cite news |last=Hastings |first=Max |date=31 October 2014 |title=Everything is Owed to Glory |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-napoleon-a-life-by-andrew-roberts-1414788232 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113133508/http://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-napoleon-a-life-by-andrew-roberts-1414788232 |archive-date=13 November 2014}}</ref> He was compared to ] by ] in 1947,{{sfnp|Geyl|1949|pp=7-10}} and ] in 2005.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008b}}</ref> Most modern critics of Napoleon, however, reject the Hitler comparison, arguing that Napoleon did not commit genocide and did not engage in the mass murder and imprisonment of his political opponents.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|pp=666-67}}{{sfnp|Chandler|1973|p=xliii}} Nevertheless, ] and McLynn condemn his killing of 3,000–5,000 Turkish prisoners of war in Syria.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=39-40}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=280}} | |||
A number of historians have argued that his expansionist foreign policy was a major factor in the Napoleonic wars,{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|p=574}}<ref>Charles Esdaile (2008), ''Napoleon's Wars: An International History 1803–1815'', p. 39</ref> which cost six million lives and caused economic disruption for a generation.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Little Tyrant, A review of ''Napoleon: A Penguin Life''|publisher=The Claremont Institute|author=Hanson, Victor Davis|author-link=Victor Davis Hanson|year=2003|url=https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-little-tyrant/|access-date=16 October 2018|archive-date=24 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824130449/https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-little-tyrant/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=666}} McLynn and ] suggest that Napoleon's reputation as a military genius is exaggerated.{{sfnp|Barnett|1997|pp=41, 53, 75, 103}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=665}} Cobban and Susan P. Conner argue that Napoleon had insufficient regard for the lives of his soldiers and that his battle tactics led to excessive casualties.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=19}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=62, 105-07}} | |||
Critics also cite Napoleon's exploitation of conquered territories.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=665}} To finance his wars, Napoleon increased taxes and levies of troops from annexed territories and satellite states.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=81-82}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=29, 46}} He also introduced discriminatory tariff policies which promoted French trade at the expense of allies and satellite states.{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=52}} He institutionalized plunder: French museums contain art stolen by Napoleon's forces from across Europe. Artefacts were brought to the ] for a grand central museum; an example which would later be followed by others.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dodman |first=Benjamin |date=7 May 2021 |title='Glory of arms and art': Napoleonic plunder and the birth of national museums |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210507-glory-of-arms-and-art-napoleonic-plunder-and-the-birth-of-national-museums |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=] |archive-date=9 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109005739/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210507-glory-of-arms-and-art-napoleonic-plunder-and-the-birth-of-national-museums |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Many historians have criticized Napoleon's authoritarian rule, especially after 1807, which included censorship, the closure of independent newspapers, the bypassing of direct elections and representative government, the dismissal of judges showing independence, and the exile of critics of the regime.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|pp=574-76, 582-84}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=32-34}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=52}} Historians also blame Napoleon for reducing the civil rights of women, children and people of colour, and reintroducing the legal penalties of ] and confiscation of property.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|pp=578, 584}}{{sfnp|Conner|2004|pp=32-34}}{{sfnp|Cobban|1963|p=27-28}} His reintroduction of an hereditary monarchy and nobility remains controversial.{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=49}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2015a|pp=579-84}} His role in the ] and decision to reinstate slavery in France's colonies in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean adversely affect his reputation.<ref name="Repa22">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |last=Repa |first=Jan |date=2 December 2005 |title=Furore over Austerlitz ceremony | work=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420234710/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |archive-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56977769 | title=Napoleon's incendiary legacy divides France 200 years on | first=Lucy | last=Williamson | work=] | date=4 May 2021}}</ref> | |||
===Propaganda and memory=== | |||
{{Main|Napoleonic propaganda|Bonapartism}} | |||
]: the ex-emperor is riding a donkey backwards while holding a broken sword.]] | |||
Napoleon's use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his regime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship and control of the ], books, theatre, and art were part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing peace and stability to France. Propaganda focused on his role first as a general then as a civil leader and emperor. He fostered a relationship with artists, commissioning and controlling different forms of art to suit his propaganda goals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Forrest |first=A. |title=Propaganda and the Legitimation of Power in Napoleonic France |url=https://academic.oup.com/fh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/fh/18.4.426 |journal=French History |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=426–445 |date=1 December 2004 |doi=10.1093/fh/18.4.426 |issn=0269-1191 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110509/https://academic.oup.com/fh/article-abstract/18/4/426/591574?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Napoleonic propaganda survived his exile to Saint Helena. Las Cases, who was with Napoleon in exile, published '']'' in 1822, creating a legend of Napoleon as a liberal, visionary proponent of European unification, deposed by reactionary elements of the ''Ancien Régime''.{{sfnp|Price|2014|p=262}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=106}} Napoleon remained a central figure in the romantic art and literature of the 1820s and 1830s.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|p=107}} | |||
The Napoleonic legend played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815–1830. People from different walks of life and areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 Revolution.<ref name=Memory>{{Cite journal |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |author-link=Sudhir Hazareesingh |title=Memory and Political Imagination: The Legend of Napoleon Revisited |url=https://academic.oup.com/fh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/fh/18.4.463 |journal=French History |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=463–483 |doi=10.1093/fh/18.4.463 |issn=0269-1191 |date=2004 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110510/https://academic.oup.com/fh/article-abstract/18/4/463/591569?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live}}</ref> The defiance manifested itself in seditious materials, displaying the tricolour and rosettes. There were also subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations.<ref name=Memory /> | |||
Bell sees the return of Napoleon's remains to France in 1840 as an attempt by Louis-Phillipe to prop up his unpopular regime by associating it with Napoleon, and that the regime of Napoleon III was only possible due to the continued resonance of the Napoleonic legend.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=107-109}} | |||
Venita Datta argues that following the collapse of militaristic ] in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Writers and critics of the '']'' exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political and cultural ends.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/french-historical-studies/article/28/1/1/9475/L-appel-Au-Soldat-Visions-of-the-Napoleonic-Legend |last=Datta |first=Venita |title="L'appel Au Soldat": Visions of the Napoleonic Legend in Popular Culture of the Belle Epoque |journal=French Historical Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1215/00161071-28-1-1 |issn=0016-1071 |date=2005 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207104224/https://read.dukeupress.edu/french-historical-studies/article-abstract/28/1/1/9475/L-appel-Au-Soldat-Visions-of-the-Napoleonic-Legend?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
In the 21st century, Napoleon appears regularly in popular fiction, drama and advertising. Napoleon and his era remain major topics of historical research with a sharp increase in historical books, articles and symposia during the bicentenary years of 1999 to 2015.{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=109-12}}<ref>{{cite web |title=H-Net announcements 2004-08-12 - 2004-08-17 | url=https://arthist.net/archive/26563 | website=Arthist.net}}</ref><gallery widths="200" heights="200"> | |||
File:Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard - Jacques-Louis David - Google Cultural Institute.jpg|'']'', ] version by ] in 1805 | |||
File:Paul Delaroche - Napoleon Crossing the Alps - Google Art Project 2.jpg|'']'', ] version by ] in 1848 | |||
File:Moscow (1812). Napoleon leaves the Kremlin.jpg|Moscow (1812). ''Napoleon leaves the Kremlin'', part of the ], painting by ]. | |||
</gallery> | |||
===Long-term influence outside France=== | |||
{{Main|:Influence of the French Revolution}} | |||
] of Napoleon in the chamber of the ]]]Napoleon was responsible for spreading many of the values of the French Revolution to other countries, especially through the Napoleonic Code.{{sfnp|Grab|2017|p=2016ff}} After the fall of Napoleon, it continued to influence the law in western Europe and other parts of the world including Latin America, the Dominican Republic, Louisiana and Quebec.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lobingier |first=Charles Sumner |date=December 1918 |title=Napoleon and His Code |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1327640 |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=114–134 |doi=10.2307/1327640 |issn=0017-811X |jstor=1327640 |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210214854/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1327640 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon's regime abolished remnants of feudalism in the lands he conquered and in his satellite states. He liberalized ]s, ended ], abolished the ] of merchants and craftsmen to facilitate entrepreneurship, legalized divorce, closed the Jewish ]s and ended the ]. The power of church courts and religious authority was sharply reduced and ] was proclaimed for all men.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=R. R. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernw0000palm_l5v4/page/428 |title=A history of the modern world |date=1995 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-040826-5 |pages=428–429 |author-link=Robert Roswell Palmer}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon reorganized what had been the ], made up of about three hundred '']'', into a more streamlined forty-state ]; this helped promote the ] and the ] in 1871, as it sparked a new wave of ] that opposed the French intervention.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scheck |first=Raffael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QWqtAwAAQBAJ |title=Germany, 1871-1945: A Concise History |date=2008 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-1-84520-817-2 |pages=11–13 |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207104231/https://books.google.com/books?id=QWqtAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
The movement toward ] was similarly sparked by Napoleonic rule.<ref>{{cite book |last=Astarita |first=Tommaso |url=https://archive.org/details/betweensaltwater00tomm |title=Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of Southern Italy |date=2005 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=0-393-05864-6 |page=264ff}}</ref> These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Alter |first=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/unitydiversityin0000unse_f1p7 |title=Unity and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800 |date=2006 |publisher=] |isbn=0-19-726382-8 |editor1=T. C. W. Blanning |editor1-link=T. C. W. Blanning |pages=61–76 |editor2=Hagen Schulze |editor2-link=Hagen Schulze}}</ref> | |||
The Napoleonic invasion of Spain and ousting of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy had a significant effect on ]. Many local elites sought to rule in the name of ], whom they considered the legitimate monarch. Napoleon indirectly began the process of ] when the power vacuum was filled by local political leaders such as ] and ]. Such leaders embraced nationalistic sentiments influenced by French nationalism and led successful independence movements in Latin America.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Crisis of 1808 |url=https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/spanishsetting/pages/crisis.html |access-date=6 May 2021 |website=www.brown.edu |publisher=Brown University |archive-date=31 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731113614/https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/spanishsetting/pages/crisis.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>], ''Caudillos in Spanish America 1800–1850''. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992, pp. 402–403.</ref> | |||
Napoleon's reputation is generally favourable in Poland, which is the only country in the world to evoke him in its national anthem, ].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/napoleon-and-polish-identity |last=Nieuwazny |first=Andrzej |title=Napoleon and Polish Identity |website=www.historytoday.com |archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207104311/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/napoleon-and-polish-identity |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
== Children == | |||
] and her ], by ], 1813|upright=.85]] | |||
Napoleon married Joséphine in 1796, but the marriage produced no children.{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=320-21}} In 1806, he adopted his step-son, ] (1781–1824), and his second cousin, ] (1789–1860), and arranged dynastic marriages for them.{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=318-19}} | |||
Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise produced one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (]) (1811–1832), known from birth as the ]. When Napoleon abdicated in 1815 he named his son his successor as "Napoleon II", but the allies refused to recognize him. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of ] aged 21, with no children.{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=203}}<ref name="McLynn 1997, p.6632">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=663}}</ref> | |||
Napoleon acknowledged one illegitimate son: ] (1806–1881) by ].{{sfnp|Palmer|1984|p=105}}<ref name="m6302">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=630}}</ref> ] (1810–1868), the son of his Polish mistress ], was also widely known to be his child,{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|pp=320-21}} as DNA evidence has confirmed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lucotte |first1=Gérard |last2=Macé |first2=Jacques |last3=Hrechdakian |first3=Peter |name-list-style=amp |date=September 2013 |title=Reconstruction of the Lineage Y Chromosome Haplotype of Napoléon the First |url=http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/pdf/V220130935.pdf |url-status=live |journal=International Journal of Sciences |volume=2 |pages=127–139 |issn=2305-3925 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140406223823/http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/pdf/V220130935.pdf |archive-date=6 April 2014 |number=9}}</ref> He may have had further illegitimate offspring.<ref name="McLynn4232">{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=423}}</ref> | |||
==Titles== | |||
{{S-start}} | |||
{{s-off}} | {{s-off}} | ||
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{{s-ttl|title=]|years=] ]–] ]|alongside=<br>]<br>(Second Consul)<br>]<br>(Third Consul)}} | |||
| years = 13 December 1799 – 18 May 1804<br /><small>with ]<br />and ]</small> | |||
{{s-non|reason=] declared}} | |||
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| title = ]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kubben |first=Raymond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z76UjBOEU8cC&pg=PA276 |title=Franco-Batavian Relations in the Revolutionary Era, 1795-1803 |date=2011 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-18558-6 |page=276 |access-date=30 November 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040849/https://books.google.com/books?id=z76UjBOEU8cC&pg=PA276 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| years = 26 January 1802 – 18 May 1805<br /><small>with ] as Vicepresident</small> | |||
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| title = ]<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040846/https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/009808/2009-12-08/ |date=2 December 2023}}; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040847/https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/009798/2009-10-29/ |date=2 December 2023}}, '']''</ref> | |||
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| years = 19 February 1803 – 29 December 1813 | |||
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| title = ]<ref>]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Emsley |first=Clive |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GSPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 |title=Napoleonic Europe |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-89780-4 |pages=246–248 |access-date=30 November 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040849/https://books.google.com/books?id=6GSPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 |url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| years = 12 July 1806 – 4 November 1813<br /><small>with ] as ]</small> | |||
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| years = 11 April 1814 – 26 February 1815 | |||
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{{S-end}} | |||
== Arms == | |||
{{see also|Armorial of the First French Empire}} | |||
On becoming emperor, Napoleon adopted the ] as his arms.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boureau |first=Alain |title=L'aigle : chronique politique d'un emblème. |publisher=Éditions du Cerf |year=1985 |location=Paris|pages=204|chapter=Chp.VI "Un signe de ralliement : l'aigle étatique des États-Unis et de l'Empire français (1776-1804) L'aigle d'Amérique L'aigle de l'Empire français"}}</ref> | |||
{{multiple image | |||
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| background color = white | |||
| header_background = White | |||
| header = Imperial Arms of Napoleon | |||
| image1 = Arms of the French Empire.svg | |||
| alt1 = Arms of Napoleon | |||
| caption1 = Arms: ''Azure, an Eagle Or, head facing to the sinister, clutching in its talons a Thunderbolt Or.'' | |||
| website = | |||
| image2 = Imperial Coat of Arms of France (1804-1815).svg | |||
| alt2 = | |||
| caption2 = Achievement of Napoleon | |||
| footer_background = White | |||
| footer = '''Arms and Achievement of Napoleon'''<ref name="Neubecker">{{cite book | title = Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meanings | author = Ottfried Neubecker & J P Brooke-Little | year = 1980 | publisher = The Book Service Ltd | isbn = 978-0354044936 | page = 98 }}</ref>{{,}}<ref name="Louda">{{cite book |title = Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe |author = Jirí Louda & Michael MacLagan |year = 1999 |publisher = Little, Brown |isbn = 978-1856054690 | page = 125 }}</ref>{{,}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Normand|first=Charles|title=Armes et sceau de l'Empire français|location=Paris|year=1804|quote=*The Arms depicts a shield with a golden eagle in front of a blue background, within its talons clutching a thunderbolt. The shield is surrounded by Napoleon's red Imperial mantle, filled with golden bees. The shield is topped by the Imperial crown, which sits atop a golden Imperial helmet. Surrounding the shield is the chain and pendant of the Legion d'honneur. Crossed behind the shield are the Scepters of justice and mercy.|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8413215d/f1.zoom}}</ref>{{,}} | |||
<ref name="Lamarque21"></ref>{{,}}<ref></ref>{{,}}<ref> , Publié par Imprimerie impériale, 1809</ref>{{,}}<ref name="Roret1854">{{cite book | |||
|first=Nicolas | |||
|last=Roret | |||
|title=Nouveau manuel complet du blason ou code héraldique, archéologique et historique; avec un armorial de l'Empire, une généalogie de la dynastie impériale des Bonaparte jusqu'à nos jours, etc... | |||
|year=1854 | |||
|pages=340 | |||
|isbn= | |||
}}</ref> {{,}} <ref>{{cite book|first=Alain|last= Boureau|title=L'aigle : chronique politique d'un emblème.|location= Paris|publisher= Éditions du Cerf|year=1985}}</ref> | |||
}} | |||
==Notes== | |||
{{notelist|32em}} | |||
==References== | |||
{{reflist|22em}} | |||
=== Works cited === | |||
{{Main|Bibliography of Napoleon}} | |||
==== Biographical studies ==== | |||
{{Refbegin|32em|indent=yes}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Correlli | author-link = Correlli Barnett |title=Bonaparte |publisher=Wordsworth |date=1997 |isbn=1-8532-6678-7 |location=Ware |orig-date=1978}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Bell |first=David A. |author-link=David A. Bell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNeeCgAAQBAJ |title=Napoleon: A Concise Biography |publisher=] |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-1902-6271-6 |location=Oxford and New York |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110510/https://books.google.com/books?id=oNeeCgAAQBAJ |archive-date=7 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Blaufarb |first=Rafe |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonsymbolfo0000blau/page/100 |title=Napoleon: Symbol for an Age, A Brief History with Documents |publisher=Bedford |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-3124-3110-5}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Broers |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Broers |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/898153545 |title=Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny |publisher=] |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-5712-7345-4 |location=London |access-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227173211/https://search.worldcat.org/title/898153545 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Broers |first=Michael |title=Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire, 1811-1821 |publisher=Pegasus books |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-6393-6177-9 |location=New York}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=David |title=Napoleon |publisher=Leo Cooper |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-8505-2750-6}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Kircheisen |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Kirchner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cp4fAAAAMAAJ&q=%22earnest+and+powerful%22 |title=Napoleon |date=1932 |publisher=Harcourt Brace, & Co. |isbn=978-0-8369-6981-8 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040239/https://books.google.com/books?id=cp4fAAAAMAAJ&q=%22earnest+and+powerful%22 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Cronin |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Cronin |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleon0000cron_y3x1 |title=Napoleon |publisher=HarperCollins |date=1994 |isbn=978-0-0063-7521-0}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonpathtopo0000dwye |title=Napoleon: The Path to Power |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2008a |isbn=978-0-3001-3754-5 |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |title=Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815 |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-3002-1253-2}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Phillip |title=Napoleon: Passion, Death and Resurrection, 1815-1840 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-4088-9175-9 |location=Oxford}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Englund |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_q6b24_hXAC |title=Napoleon: A Political Life |publisher=Scribner |date=2010 |isbn=978-0-6740-1803-7 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040244/https://books.google.com/books?id=7_q6b24_hXAC |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Gueniffey |first=Patrice |author-link=Patrice Gueniffey |url=http://archive.org/details/bonaparte17691800000guen |title=Bonaparte: 1769–1802 |date=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-6743-6835-4 |orig-date=2013}}; 1008 pp.; vol 1 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019132636/https://www.amazon.com/Bonaparte-1769-1802-Patrice-Gueniffey/dp/0674368355 |date=19 October 2016}}; also {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323030605/https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/128469/reynolds-gueniffey-bonaparte-1769-1802 |date=23 March 2018}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |author-link=Martyn Lyons |title=Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=1994}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=McLynn |first=Frank |title=Napoleon: a Biography |publisher=Jonathan Cape |date=1997 |isbn=0-2240-4072-3 |location=London}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Munro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRaSBAAAQBAJ |title=Napoleon: The End of Glory |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-1996-6080-3 |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205215834/https://books.google.com/books/about/Napoleon.html?id=LRaSBAAAQBAJ |archive-date=5 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonlife0000robe |title=Napoleon: A Life |publisher=Penguin Group |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-6700-2532-9}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Zamoyski |first=Adam |title=Napoleon: The Man Behind The Myth |date=2018 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-0081-1607-1 |location=Great Britain}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
==== Historiography and memory ==== | |||
{{Refbegin|32em|indent=yes}} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |date=2008b |title=Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the French History Wars |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=110–122 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2008.260306}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Geyl |first=Pieter |title=Napoleon: For and Against |publisher=Jonathan Cape |date=1949 |location=London}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |url=http://archive.org/details/napoleonwellingt00robe |title=Napoleon and Wellington: the Battle of Waterloo and the Great commanders who fought it |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-2832-9}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
==== Specialty studies ==== | |||
{{Refbegin|32em|indent=yes}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Amini |first=Iradj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5IOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12 |title=Napoleon and Persia |publisher=Taylor & Francis |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-9342-1158-1}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Bordes |first=Philippe |url=https://archive.org/details/jacqueslouisdavi0000bord |title=Jacques-Louis David |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-3001-2346-3 |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=David |author-link=David G. Chandler |url=https://archive.org/details/campaignsofnapol00chan |title=The Campaigns of Napoleon |publisher=Scribner |date=1966 |isbn=978-0-0252-3660-8 |location=New York |oclc=740560411}} | |||
*{{cite book|last=Chandler|first=David G.|author-link=David G. Chandler|title=The Campaigns of Napoleon|location=New York|publisher=]|date=1995 |orig-year=1966 |isbn=0-02-523660-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/campaignsofnapol00chan}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=David |author-link=David G. Chandler |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleon0000chan |title=Napoleon |publisher=Saturday Review Press |date=1973 |isbn=978-0-8415-0254-3 |orig-date=1966 |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Cobban |first=Alfred | author-link = Alfred Cobban |title=A History of Modern France, Volume 2: 1799-1871 |publisher=Penguin Books |date=1963 |isbn=0-1402-0525-X |edition=2nd |location=London}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Connelly |first=Owen |url=https://archive.org/details/blunderingtoglor00conn_0 |title=Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-7425-5318-7 |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Conner |first=Susan P. |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofnapoleon0000conn |title=The Age of Napoleon |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=2004 |isbn=0-3133-2014-4 |location=Westport, Connecticut}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Cordingly |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/billyruffianbell0000cord |title=The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon |publisher=Bloomsbury |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-5823-4468-3 |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Phillip |title=The Oxford Handbook of the French Revolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2015a |isbn=978-0-1996-3974-8 |editor-last=Andress |editor-first=David |location=Oxford |chapter=Napoleon, the Revolution and the Empire}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Geoffrey |title=Religious change in Europe, 1650-1914: essays for John McManners |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1997a |isbn=0-1982-0596-1 |editor-last=Aston |editor-first=Nigel |location=Oxford |chapter=Religion according to Napoleon}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Esdaile |first=Charles J. |url=https://archive.org/details/peninsularwarnew00esda |title=The Peninsular War: A New History |publisher=Macmillan |date=2003 |isbn=978-1-4039-6231-7 |publication-date=2003 |ref=Esdaile |url-access=registration}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Esdaile |first=Charles |title=Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815 |publisher=Allen Lane |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-1419-0946-2 |location=London}} | |||
* {{cite book|isbn=978-0-313-31912-9|title=Conscription and democracy: The Draft in France, Great Britain, and the United States|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|first=George Q.|last=Flynn}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last1=Fremont-Barnes |first1=Gregory |url=http://archive.org/details/napoleonicwarsri0000frem |title=The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire |last2=Fisher |first2=Todd |publisher=Osprey |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-8417-6831-1}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Gates |first=David |title=The Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815 |publisher=Pimlico |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-7126-0719-3}} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=Glover |first=Richard |date=1967 |title=The French Fleet, 1807–1814; Britain's Problem; and Madison's Opportunity |journal=] |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=233–252 |doi=10.1086/240080 |s2cid=143376566}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Grab |first=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJJKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4039-3757-5 |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202040240/https://books.google.com/books?id=YJJKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Grab |first=Alexander |title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe |date=2003 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-0-3336-8275-3}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Harvey |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxhOPgAACAAJ |title=The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France, 1789-1815 |date=2007 |publisher=Robinson |isbn=978-1-8452-9635-3}} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last1=Hindmarsh |first1=J. Thomas |last2=Savory |first2=John |date=2008 |title=The Death of Napoleon, Cancer or Arsenic? |journal=Clinical Chemistry |volume=54 |issue=12 |page=2092 |doi=10.1373/clinchem.2008.117358 |doi-access=free}} | |||
* {{cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Measurement.html|title=The history of measurement|publisher=St Andrew's University|access-date=18 July 2008|year=2003|last1=O'Connor|first1=J|first2=E F|last2= Robertson}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdMZqhMzfpYC&pg=PR9 |title=Heavy Words Lightly Thrown |publisher=Granta |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-8620-7765-2 |access-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207105851/https://books.google.com/books?id=MdMZqhMzfpYC&pg=PR9 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Schom |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Schom |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonbonapart00scho |title=Napoleon Bonaparte |publisher=HarperCollins |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-0601-7214-5}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Watson |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4vrUbMK5eEC&pg=PA13 |title=Tricolor and crescent |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-2759-7470-1 |access-date=12 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207105804/https://books.google.com/books?id=o4vrUbMK5eEC&pg=PA13 |archive-date=7 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Sicker |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzMJys65u9wC&pg=PA99 |title=The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Greenwood |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-2759-6891-5 |page=99}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Wells |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000well |title=The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry |publisher=Penguin Books |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-1401-1813-1 |url-access=registration}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
== Further reading == | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Chesney |first=Charles |title=Waterloo Lectures:A Study Of The Campaign Of 1815 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-4286-4988-0}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Paul |title=Napoleon: A life |publisher=Penguin Books |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-6700-3078-1}} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |date=2015b |title='Citizen Emperor': Political Ritual, Popular Sovereignty and the Coronation of Napoleon I |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-229X.12089 |url-status=live |journal=History |volume=100 |issue=339 |pages=40–57 |doi=10.1111/1468-229X.12089 |issn=1468-229X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515151911/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-229X.12089 |archive-date=15 May 2021 |access-date=25 September 2020}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Lefebvre |first=Georges |author-link=Georges Lefebvre |url=http://archive.org/details/napoleonfrom18br00lefe |title=Napoleon, from 18 Brumaire to Tilsit, 1799-1807 |date=1969 |publisher=Columbia University Press}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Schroeder |first=Paul W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC |title=The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848 |publisher=Oxford U.P. |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-1982-0654-5 |pages=177–560 |access-date=1 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207105853/https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC |archive-date=7 December 2023 |url-status=live}} advanced diplomatic history of Napoleon and his era | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Talleyrand |first=Chares-Maurice de |author-link=Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28427/pg28427-images.html |title=Mémoires du Prince de Talleyrand |publisher=Henri Javal |date=1891 |volume=2 |location=Paris |pages=10–12 |language=fr |access-date=5 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207110527/https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28427/pg28427-images.html |archive-date=7 December 2023 |url-status=live}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Sister project links|auto=yes|b=European History/Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rise of Nationalism|d=yes}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:00, 24 December 2024
Emperor of the French (r. 1804–1814, 1815) "Napoleon Bonaparte" redirects here. For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation) and Napoleon Bonaparte (disambiguation).
Napoleon | |
---|---|
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, 1812 | |
Emperor of the French | |
1st reign | 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814 |
Successor | Louis XVIII |
2nd reign | 20 March – 22 June 1815 |
Successor | Louis XVIII |
First Consul of the French Republic | |
In office 13 December 1799 – 18 May 1804 | |
Born | Napoleone di Buonaparte (1769-08-15)15 August 1769 Ajaccio, Corsica, Kingdom of France |
Died | 5 May 1821(1821-05-05) (aged 51) Longwood, Saint Helena |
Burial | 15 December 1840 Les Invalides, Paris |
Spouses |
|
Issue more… | Napoleon II |
Signature |
620miles Rochefort18 Waterloo17 Elba16 Dizier15 Leipzig14 Berezina13 Borodino12 Wagram11 Somosierra10 Friedland9 Jena8 Austerlitz7 Marengo6 Cairo5 Malta4 Arcole3 Paris2 Toulon1 Rescale the fullscreen map to see Saint Helena.
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military officer and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of successful campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He was the leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then of the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815.
Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789, and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies in the War of the First Coalition, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power. In November 1799, Napoleon engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the Directory, and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, which secured France's victory in the War of the Second Coalition, and in 1803 sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States. In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power.
The breakdown of the Treaty of Amiens led to the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806, marched his Grande Armée into Eastern Europe, and defeated the Russians in 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. Seeking to extend his trade embargo against Britain, Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain in 1808, provoking the Peninsular War. In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition, in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the Battle of Wagram. In summer 1812, he launched an invasion of Russia, which ended in the catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power. Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on a brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51.
Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history and Napoleonic tactics are still studied at military schools worldwide. His legacy endures through the modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the Napoleonic Code. He established a system of public education, abolished the vestiges of feudalism, emancipated Jews and other religious minorities, abolished the Spanish Inquisition, enacted the principle of equality before the law for an emerging middle class, and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities. His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation states. However, he is controversial due to his role in wars which devastated Europe, his looting of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies except for Haiti, banned the entry of blacks and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility, and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.
Early life
Napoleon's family was of Italian origin. His paternal ancestors, the Buonapartes, descended from a minor Tuscan noble family who emigrated to Corsica in the 16th century and his maternal ancestors, the Ramolinos, descended from a noble family from Lombardy.
Napoleon's parents, Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino, lived in the Maison Bonaparte home in Ajaccio, where Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769. He had an elder brother, Joseph, and, later, six younger siblings: Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jérôme. Five more siblings were stillborn or did not survive infancy. Napoleon was baptized as a Catholic, under the name Napoleone di Buonaparte. In his youth, his name was also spelled as Nabulione, Nabulio, Napolionne, and Napulione.
Napoleon was born one year after the Republic of Genoa ceded Corsica to France. His father supported Pasquale Paoli during the Corsican war of independence against France. After the Corsican defeat at the Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769 and Paoli's exile in Britain, Carlo became friends with the French governor Charles Louis de Marbeuf, who became his patron and godfather to Napoleon. With Mabeuf's support, Carlo was named Corsican representative to the court of Louis XVI and Napoleon obtained a royal bursary to a military academy in France.
The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child. Later in life, Napoleon said, "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother." Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time.
In January 1779, at age 9, Napoleon moved to the French mainland and enrolled at a religious school in Autun to improve his French (his mother tongue was the Corsican dialect of Italian). Although he eventually became fluent in French, he spoke with a Corsican accent and his French spelling was poor.
In May, he transferred to the military academy at Brienne-le-Château where he was routinely bullied by his peers for his accent, birthplace, short stature, mannerisms, and poor French. He became reserved and melancholic, applying himself to reading. 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".
One story of Napoleon at the school is that he led junior students to victory against senior students in a snowball fight, which allegedly showed his leadership abilities. But the story was only told after Napoleon had become famous. In his later years at Brienne, Napoleon became an outspoken Corsican nationalist and admirer of Paoli.
In September 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the École militaire in Paris where he trained to become an artillery officer. He excelled at mathematics, and read widely in geography, history and literature. However, he was poor at French and German. His father's death in February 1785 cut the family income and forced him to complete the two-year course in one year. In September he was examined by the famed scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace and became the first Corsican to graduate from the École militaire.
Early career
Return to Corsica
Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery regiment. He served in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, but spent long periods of leave in Corsica which fed his Corsican nationalism. In September 1789, he returned to Corsica and promoted the French revolutionary cause. Paoli returned to the island in July 1790, but he had no sympathy for Bonaparte, as he deemed his father a traitor for having deserted the cause of Corsican independence.
Bonaparte plunged into a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He became a supporter of the Jacobins and joined the pro-French Corsican Republicans who opposed Paoli's policy and his aspirations to secede. He was given command over a battalion of Corsican volunteers and promoted to captain in the regular army in 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and a dispute between his volunteers and the French garrison in Ajaccio.
In February 1793, Bonaparte took part in the failed French expedition to Sardinia. Following allegations that Paoli had sabotaged the expedition and that his regime was corrupt and incompetent, the French National Convention outlawed him. In early June, Bonaparte and 400 French troops failed to capture Ajaccio from Corsican volunteers and the island was now controlled by Paoli's supporters. When Bonaparte learned that the Corsican assembly had condemned him and his family, the Buonapartes fled to Toulon on the French mainland.
Siege of Toulon
Main article: Siege of Toulon (1793)Bonaparte returned to his regiment in Nice and was made captain of a coastal battery. In July 1793, he published a pamphlet, Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire), demonstrating his support for the National Convention which was now heavily influenced by the Jacobins.
In September, with the help of his fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti, Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces sent to recapture the port of Toulon which was occupied by British and allied forces. He quickly increased the available artillery and proposed a plan to capture a hill fort where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the British to evacuate. The successful assault on the position on 16–17 December led to the capture of the city.
Toulon brought Bonaparte to the attention of powerful men including Augustin Robespierre, the younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre, a leading Jacobin. He was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of defences on the Mediterranean coast. In February 1794, he was made artillery commander of the Army of Italy and devised plans to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia.
The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the Second Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, and then advanced to seize Ormea in the mountains. From Ormea, it headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around Saorge. After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to determine the country's intentions towards France.
13 Vendémiaire
Main article: 13 VendémiaireAfter the Fall of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794, Bonaparte's association with leading Jacobins made him politically suspect to the new regime. He was arrested on 9 August but released two weeks later. He was asked to draw up plans to attack Italian positions as part of France's war with Austria and, in March 1795, he took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the Royal Navy.
From 1794, Bonaparte was in a romantic relationship with Désirée Clary whose sister Julie Clary had married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph. In April 1795, Bonaparte 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 the Vendée region. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting. During this period, he wrote the romantic novella Clisson et Eugénie, about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Clary.
In August, he obtained a position with the Bureau of Topography where he worked on military planning. On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for refusing to serve in the Vendée campaign. He sought a transfer to Constantinople to offer his services to Sultan Selim III. The request was eventually granted, but he never took up the post.
On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention. Paul Barras, a leader of the Thermidorian Reaction, knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and made him second in command of the forces defending the convention in the Tuileries Palace. Bonaparte had seen the massacre of the King's Swiss Guard during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792 there three years earlier and realized that artillery would be the key to its defence. He ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat, to seize cannons and Bonaparte deployed them in key positions. On 5 October 1795—13 Vendémiaire An IV in the French Republican calendar—he fired on the rebels with canister rounds (later called: "a whiff of grapeshot"). About 300 to 1,400 rebels died in the uprising.
Bonaparte's role in defeating the rebellion earned him and his family the patronage of the new government, the French Directory. On 26 October, he was promoted to commander of the Army of the Interior, and in January 1796 he was appointed head of the Army of Italy.
Within weeks of the Vendémiaire uprising, Bonaparte was romantically involved with Joséphine de Beauharnais, the former mistress of Barras. Josephine had been born in the French colonies in the Lesser Antilles, and her family owned slaves on sugar plantations The couple married on 9 March 1796 in a civil ceremony. Bonaparte now habitually styled himself "Napoleon Bonaparte" rather than using the Italian form "Napoleone di Buonaparte."
First Italian campaign
Main article: Italian Campaign of 1796-1797Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy. He went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia in Piedmont before their Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of victories during the Montenotte campaign, he knocked the Piedmontese out of the war in two weeks. The French then focused on the Austrians, laying siege to Mantua. The Austrians launched offensives against the French to break the siege, but Bonaparte defeated every relief effort, winning the Battle of Castiglione, the Battle of Bassano, the Battle of Arcole, and the Battle of Rivoli. The French triumph at Rivoli in January 1797 led to the collapse of the Austrian position in Italy. At Rivoli, Austria lost 43% of its soldiers dead, wounded or taken prisoner.
The French then invaded the heartlands of the House of Habsburg. French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen in 1796, but Charles withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning of Bonaparte's assault. In their first encounter, Bonaparte pushed Charles back and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning the Battle of Tarvis in March 1797. Alarmed by the French thrust that reached Leoben, about 100 km from Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace.
The preliminary peace of Leoben, signed on 18 April, gave France control of most of northern Italy and the Low Countries, and promised to partition the Republic of Venice with Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending 1,100 years of Venetian independence. He authorized the French to loot treasures such as the Horses of Saint Mark.
In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons, and 170 standards. The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 pitched battles through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics. Bonaparte extracted an estimated 45 million French pounds from Italy during the campaign, another 12 million pounds in precious metals and jewels, and more than 300 paintings and sculptures.
During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and one for circulation in France. The royalists attacked him for looting Italy and warned that he might become a dictator.
Bonaparte sent General Charles-Pierre Augereau to Paris to support a coup d'état that purged royalists from the legislative councils on 4 September—the Coup of 18 Fructidor. This left Barras and his republican allies in control again but more dependent upon Bonaparte who finalized peace terms with Austria by the Treaty of Campo Formio. Bonaparte returned to Paris on 5 December 1797 as a hero. He met Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, France's Foreign Minister, and took command of the Army of England for the planned invasion of Britain.
Egyptian expedition
Main article: French campaign in Egypt and SyriaAfter two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval strength was not yet sufficient to confront the British Royal Navy. He decided on a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its trade interests in India. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East and join forces with Tipu Sultan, the Sultan of Mysore, an enemy of the British. Bonaparte 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". The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to the Indian subcontinent.
In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with 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. En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached Hospitaller Malta on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the Knights Hospitaller. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.
Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at Alexandria on 1 July. He fought the Battle of Shubra Khit against the Mamluks, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practise their defensive tactic for the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July, about 24 km (15 mi) from the pyramids. Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the French army's morale.
On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson captured or destroyed all but two vessels of the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile, preventing Bonaparte from strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean. His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings. 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. The attack on Jaffa was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, so he ordered the garrison and some 1,500–5,000 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning. Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days.
Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men. 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly bubonic plague. He failed to reduce the fortress of Acre, so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. Bonaparte was alleged to have ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium to speed the retreat. Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir.
Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition. On 24 August 1799, fearing that the Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris. The army was left in the charge of Jean-Baptiste Kléber.
Ruler of France
Main article: Napoleonic era18 Brumaire
Main article: 18 BrumaireUnknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return from Egypt with his army to ward off a possible invasion of France, but these messages never arrived. By the time that he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular. Despite the failures in Egypt, Bonaparte returned to a hero's welcome. The Directory discussed Bonaparte's desertion but was too weak to punish him.
Bonaparte formed an alliance with Talleyrand and leading members of the Council of Five Hundred and Directory: Lucien Bonaparte, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, Roger Ducos and Joseph Fouché to overthrow the government. On 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire according to the revolutionary calendar), the conspirators launched a coup, and the following day, backed by grenadiers with fixed bayonets, forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory and appoint Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos provisional consuls.
French Consulate
Main articles: French Consulate and War of the Second CoalitionOn 15 December, Bonaparte introduced the Constitution of the Year VIII, under which three consuls were appointed for 10 years. Real power lay with Bonaparte as First Consul, and his preferred candidates Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun were appointed as second and third consuls who only had an advisory role. The constitution also established a Legislative Body and Tribunate which were selected from indirectly elected candidates, and a Senate and Council of State which were effectively nominated by the executive.
The new constitution was approved by plebiscite on 7 February 1800. The official count was over three million in favour and 1,562 against. Lucien, however, had doubled the count of the "yes" vote to give the false impression that a majority of those eligible to vote had approved the constitution.
Historians have variously described Bonaparte's new regime as "dictatorship by plebiscite," "absolutist rule decked out in the spirit of the age," and "soft despotism." Local and regional administration was reformed to concentrate power in the central government, censorship was introduced, and most opposition newspapers were closed down to stifle dissent. Royalist and regional revolts were dealt with by a combination of amnesties for those who lay down their arms and brutal repression of those who continued to resist. Bonaparte also improved state finances by securing loans under a promise to defend private property, raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol and salt, and extracting levies from France's satellite republics.
Bonaparte believed that the best way to secure his regime was by a victorious peace. In May 1800, he led an army across the Swiss Alps into Italy, aiming to surprise the Austrian armies that had reoccupied the peninsula when Bonaparte was still in Egypt. After a difficult crossing over the Alps, the French captured Milan on 2 June.
The French confronted an Austrian army under Michael von Melas at Marengo on 14 June. The Austrians fielded about 30,000 soldiers while Bonaparte commanded 24,000 troops. The Austrians' initial attack surprised the French who were gradually driven back. Late in the afternoon, however, a full division under Desaix arrived on the field and reversed the tide of the battle. The Austrian army fled leaving behind 14,000 casualties. The following day, the Austrians signed an armistice and agreed to abandon Northern Italy.
When peace negotiations with Austria stalled, Bonaparte reopened hostilities in November. A French army under General Moreau swept through Bavaria and scored an overwhelming victory over the Austrians at Hohenlinden in December. The Austrians capitulated and signed the Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801. The treaty reaffirmed and expanded earlier French gains at Campo Formio.
Bonaparte's triumph at Marengo increased his popularity and political authority. However, he still faced royalist plots and feared Jacobin influence, especially in the army. Several assassination plots, including the Conspiration des poignards (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and the Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise two months later, gave him a pretext to arrest about 100 suspected Jacobins and royalists, some of whom were shot and many others deported to penal colonies.
Temporary peace in Europe
See also: Haitian RevolutionAfter a decade of war, France and Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing the Revolutionary Wars to an end. Under the treaty, Britain agreed to withdraw from most of the colonies it had recently captured from France and her allies, and France agreed to evacuate Naples. In April, Bonaparte publicly celebrated the peace and his controversial Concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VII under which the Pope recognized Bonaparte's regime and the regime recognized Catholicism as the majority religion of France. In a further step towards national reconciliation (known as "fusion"), Bonaparte offered an amnesty to most émigrés who wished to return to France.
With Europe at peace and the economy recovering, Bonaparte became increasingly popular, both domestically and abroad. In May 1802, the Council of State recommended a new plebiscite asking the French people to make "Napoleon Bonaparte" Consul for life. (It was the first time his first name was officially used by the regime.) About 3.6 million voted "yes" and 8,374 "no." 40%-60% of eligible Frenchmen voted, the highest turnout for a plebiscite since the Revolution.
France had regained her overseas colonies under Amiens but did not control them all. The French National Convention had voted to abolish slavery in February 1794, but, in May 1802, Bonaparte reintroduced it in all the recovered colonies except Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe which were under the control of rebel generals. A French military expedition under Antoine Richepanse regained control of Guadeloupe and slavery was reintroduced there on 16 July.
Saint-Domingue was the most profitable of the colonies – a major source of sugar, coffee and indigo – but was under the control of the former slave Toussaint Louverture. Bonaparte sent the Saint-Domingue expedition under his brother-in-law General Leclerc to retake the colony and they landed there in February 1802 with 29,000 men. Although Toussaint was captured and sent to France in July, the expedition ultimately failed due to high rates of disease and a string of defeats against rebel commander Jean-Jacques Dessalines. In May 1803, Bonaparte acknowledged defeat, and the last 8,000 French troops left the island. The former slaves proclaimed the independent republic of Haiti in 1804.
As war with Britain again loomed in 1803, Bonaparte realized that his American colony of Louisiana would be difficult to defend. In need of funds, he agreed to the Louisiana Purchase with the United States, doubling the latter's size. The price was $15 million.
The peace with Britain was uneasy. 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. Neither of these territories were covered by Amiens, but they inflamed tensions significantly, as did Bonaparte's occupation of Holland and apparent ambitions in India. The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803. Bonaparte responded by reassembling the invasion camp at Boulogne and ordering the arrest of every British male between eighteen and sixty years old in France and its dependencies as a prisoner of war.
French Empire
Main article: First French Empire See also: Coronation of Napoleon I and Napoleonic WarsBonaparte becomes Napoleon I
In February 1804, Bonaparte's police made a series of arrests in relation to a royalist plot to kidnap or assassinate him that involved the British government, Moreau and an unnamed Bourbon prince. On the advice of his foreign minister, Talleyrand, Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of the Duke of Enghien, violating the sovereignty of Baden. The Duke was quickly executed after a secret military trial, even though there was no proof he had been involved in the plot. Enghien's kidnapping and execution infuriated royalists and monarchs throughout Europe, and drew a formal protest from Russia.
Following the royalist plot, Bonaparte's supporters convinced him that creating a hereditary regime would help secure it in case of his death, make it more acceptable to constitutional monarchists, and put it on the same footing as other European monarchies. On 18 May, the senate proclaimed Napoleon Emperor of the French and approved a new constitution. The following day, Napoleon appointed 18 of his leading generals Marshals of the Empire.
The hereditary empire was confirmed by a plebiscite in June. The official result showed 3.5 million voted "yes" and 2,569 voted "no". The yes count, however, was falsely inflated by 300,000 to 500,000 votes. The turnout, at 35%, was below the figure for the previous plebiscite. Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire refused to recognize Napoleon's new title. Austria, however, recognized Napoleon as Emperor of the French in return for his recognition of Francis I as Emperor of Austria.
Napoleon's coronation, with the participation of Pope Pius VII, took place at Notre Dame de Paris, on 2 December 1804. After having been anointed by the pope, Napoleon crowned himself with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. He then crowned Joséphine, who became only the second woman in French history, after Marie de' Medici, to be crowned and anointed. He then swore an oath to defend the territory of the Republic; to respect the Concordat, freedom of worship, political and civil liberty and the sale of nationalized lands; to raise no taxes except by law; to maintain the Legion of Honour; and to govern in the interests, wellbeing and the glory of the French people.
On 26 May, Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, at the Cathedral of Milan. Austria saw this as a provocation because of its own territorial interests in Italy. When Napoleon incorporated Genoa and Liguria into his empire, Austria formally protested against this violation of the Treaty of Lunéville.
War of the Third Coalition
Main article: War of the Third CoalitionBy September 1805, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Naples and the Ottoman Empire had joined Britain in a coalition against France.
In 1803 and 1804, Napoleon had assembled a force around Boulogne for an invasion of Britain. They never invaded, but the force formed the core of Napoleon's Grande Armée, created in August 1805. At the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven corps, artillery and cavalry reserves, and the élite Imperial Guard. By August 1805, the Grande Armée had grown to a force of 350,000 men, who were well equipped, well trained, and led by competent officers.
To facilitate the invasion, Napoleon planned to lure the Royal Navy from the English Channel by a diversionary attack on the British West Indies. However, the plan unravelled after the British victory at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in July 1805. French Admiral Villeneuve then retreated to Cádiz instead of linking up with French naval forces at Brest for an attack on the English Channel.
Facing a potential invasion from his continental enemies, Napoleon abandoned his invasion of England and sought to destroy the isolated Austrian armies in Southern Germany before their Russian ally could arrive in force. On 25 September, 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine on a front of 260 km (160 mi).
Austrian commander Karl Mack had gathered most of the Austrian army at the fortress of Ulm in Swabia. Napoleon's army, however, moved quickly and outflanked the Austrian positions. After some minor engagements that culminated in the Battle of Ulm, Mack surrendered. For just 2,000 French casualties, Napoleon had captured 60,000 Austrian soldiers through his army's rapid marching.
For the French, this spectacular victory on land was soured by the decisive victory that the Royal Navy attained at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October. After Trafalgar, the Royal Navy was never again seriously challenged by Napoleon's fleet.
French forces occupied Vienna in November, capturing 100,000 muskets, 500 cannons, and the intact bridges across the Danube. Napoleon then sent his army north in pursuit of the Allies. Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Francis I decided to engage Napoleon in battle, despite reservations from some of their subordinates.
At the Battle of Austerlitz, on 2 December, Napoleon deployed his army below the Pratzen Heights. He ordered his right wing to feign retreat, enticing the Allies to descend from the heights in pursuit. The French centre and left wing then captured the heights and caught the allies in a pincer movement. Thousands of Russian troops fled across a frozen lake to escape the trap and 100 to 2,000 of them drowned. About a third of the allied forces were killed, captured or wounded.
The disaster at Austerlitz led Austria to seek an armistice. By the subsequent Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December, Austria left the coalition, lost substantial territory to the Kingdom of Italy and Bavaria, and was forced to pay an indemnity of 40 million francs. Alexander's army was granted safe passage back to Russia.
Napoleon went on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought". Frank McLynn suggests that Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz that he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one". Vincent Cronin disagrees, stating that Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".
Middle-Eastern alliances
Main articles: Franco-Ottoman alliance and Franco-Persian allianceNapoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French presence in the Middle East in order to put pressure on Britain and Russia, possibly by forming an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. In February 1806, Ottoman Emperor Selim III recognized Napoleon as Emperor. He also opted for an alliance with France, calling France "our sincere and natural ally". That decision brought the Ottoman Empire into a losing war against Russia and Britain. A Franco-Persian alliance was formed between Napoleon and the Persian Empire of Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar. It collapsed in 1807 when France and Russia formed an unexpected alliance. In the end, Napoleon made no effective alliances in the Middle East.
War of the Fourth Coalition and Tilsit
Main article: War of the Fourth CoalitionAfter Austerlitz, Napoleon increased his political power in Europe. In 1806, he deposed the Bourbon king of Naples and installed his elder brother, Joseph, on the throne. He then made his younger brother, Louis, King of Holland. He also established the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended to serve as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe. The creation of the confederation spelled the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
Napoleon's growing influence in Germany threatened the status of Prussia as a great power and in response Frederick William III decided on war with France. Prussia and Russia signed a new military alliance creating the fourth coalition against France. Prussia, however, committed a strategic blunder by declaring war when French troops were still in southern Germany and months before sufficient Russian troops could reach the front.
Napoleon invaded Prussia with 180,000 troops, rapidly marching on the right bank of the River Saale. Upon learning the whereabouts of the Prussian army, the French swung westwards thus cutting the Prussians off from Berlin and the slowly approaching Russians. At the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt, fought on 14 October, the French convincingly defeated the Prussians and inflicted heavy casualties. With several major commanders dead or incapacitated, the Prussian king proved incapable of effectively commanding the army, which quickly disintegrated.
In the following month, the French captured 140,000 soldiers and over 2,000 cannon. Despite their overwhelming defeat, the Prussians refused to negotiate with the French until the Russians had an opportunity to enter the fight.
Following his triumph, Napoleon imposed the first elements of the Continental System through the Berlin Decree issued in November 1806. The Continental System, which prohibited European nations from trading with Britain, was widely violated throughout his reign.
In the next few months, Napoleon marched against the advancing Russian armies through Poland and fought a bloody stalemate at the Battle of Eylau in February 1807. After a period of rest and consolidation on both sides, the war restarted in June with an initial struggle at Heilsberg that proved indecisive.
On 14 June Napoleon obtained an overwhelming victory over the Russians at the Battle of Friedland, inflicting casualties of up to 30% of the Russian army. The scale of their defeat convinced the Russians to make peace with the French. The two emperors began peace negotiations on 25 June at the town of Tilsit during a meeting on a raft floating in the middle of the River Niemen which separated the French and Russian troops and their respective spheres of influence.
Napoleon offered Alexander relatively lenient terms—demanding that Russia join the Continental System, withdraw its forces from Wallachia and Moldavia, and hand over the Ionian Islands to France. In contrast, Prussia was treated harshly. It lost half its territory and population and underwent a two-year occupation costing it about 1.4 billion francs. From former Prussian territory, Napoleon created the Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by his young brother Jérôme, and the Duchy of Warsaw.
Prussia's humiliating treatment at Tilsit caused lasting resentment against France in that country. The treaty was also unpopular in Russia, putting pressure on Alexander to end the alliance with France. Nevertheless, the Treaties of Tilsit gave Napoleon a respite from war and allowed him to return to France, which he had not seen in over 300 days.
Peninsular War and Erfurt
Main article: Peninsular WarAfter Tilsit, Napoleon turned his attention to Portugal, which was reluctant to strictly enforce the blockade against its traditional ally Britain. On 17 October 1807, 24,000 French troops under General Junot crossed the Pyrenees with Spanish consent and headed towards Portugal to enforce the blockade. Junot occupied Lisbon in November, but the Portuguese royal family had already fled to Brazil with the Portuguese fleet.
In March 1808, a palace coup led to the abdication of the Spanish king Carlos IV in favour of his son Fernando VII. The following month, Napoleon summoned Carlos and Fernando to Bayonne where, in May, he forced them both to relinquish their claims to the Spanish throne. Napoleon then made his brother Joseph King of Spain.
By then, there were 120,000 French troops garrisoned in the peninsula and widespread Spanish opposition to the occupation and the overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons. On 2 May, an uprising against the French broke out in Madrid and spread throughout Spain in the following weeks. In the face of brutal French repression, the uprising developed into a sustained conflict.
In July, Joseph travelled to Madrid where he was proclaimed King of Spain on the 24th. However, following news of a French defeat by regular Spanish forces at the Battle of Bailén, Joseph fled Madrid several days later. The following month, a British force landed in Portugal and, on the 21st, they defeated the French at Vimiero. Under the Convention of Cintra, the French evacuated Portugal.
The defeats at Bailén and Vimiero convinced Napoleon that he had to take command of the Iberian campaign. Before leaving for Spain, he attempted to strengthen the alliance with Russia and obtain a commitment from Alexander that Russia would declare war on Austria if she attacked France. At the Congress of Erfurt in October 1808, Napoleon and Alexander reached an agreement that recognized the Russian conquest of Finland and called upon Britain to cease its war against France. However, Alexander failed to provide a firm commitment to make war with Austria.
On 6 November, Napoleon was in Vitoria and took command of 240,000 French troops. After a series of victories over Anglo-Spanish forces, they retook Madrid on 4 December. Napoleon then pursued the retreating British forces who were eventually evacuated at Corunna in January 1809. Napoleon left for France on 17 January, leaving Joseph in command.
Napoleon never returned to Spain after the 1808 campaign. In April, the British sent another army to the peninsula under Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. British, Portuguese and Spanish regular forces engaged the French in a protracted series of conflicts. Meanwhile, a brutal guerrilla war engulfed much of the Spanish countryside, a conflict in which atrocities were committed by both sides.
Napoleon later called the Peninsular campaign, "the unlucky war ruined me." It tied up some 300,000 French troops from 1808 to 1812. By 1814, the French had been driven from the peninsula, with over 150,000 casualties in the campaign.
War of the Fifth Coalition
Main article: War of the Fifth CoalitionThe overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons caused alarm in Austria over Napoleon's ambitions while France's military difficulties in the Peninsular encouraged Austria to go to war. In the early morning of 10 April 1809, the Austrian army crossed the Inn River and invaded Bavaria. The Austrian advance, however, was disorganized and they were unable to defeat the Bavarian army before the French could concentrate their forces. Napoleon arrived from Paris on the 17th to lead the French campaign. In the following Battle of Eckmühl he was slightly wounded in the heel but the Austrians were forced to retreat across the Danube. The French occupied Vienna on 13 May but most of the population had fled and the retreating army had destroyed all four bridges across the river.
On 21 May, the French attempted to cross the Danube, precipitating the Battle of Aspern-Essling. Both sides inflicted about 23,000 casualties on each other and the French were forced back. The battle was reported in European capitals as a defeat for Napoleon and damaged his aura of invincibility.
After six weeks of preparations, Napoleon made another attempt at crossing the Danube. In the ensuing Battle of Wagram (5–6 July) the Austrians were forced to retreat but the French and Austrians each suffered losses of 37,000 to 39,000 killed, wounded or captured. The French caught up with the retreating Austrians at Znaim on 10 July, and the latter signed an armistice on the 12th.
In August, a British force landed in Holland but lost 4,000 men, mainly to illness, before withdrawing in December.
The Treaty of Schönbrunn in October 1809 was harsh for Austria which lost substantial territory and over three million subjects. France received Carinthia, Carniola, and the Adriatic ports of Trieste and Fiume(Rijeka); the part of Poland annexed by Austria in the third partition in 1795, known at the time as West Galicia, was given to the Polish-ruled Duchy of Warsaw; and the territory of the former Archbishopric of Salzburg went to Bavaria. Austria was required to pay an indemnity of 200 million francs and its army was reduced to 150,000 men.
Consolidation of the Empire
Napoleon's union with Joséphine had not produced a child, and he decided to secure the dynasty and strengthen its position in Europe by a strategic marriage into one of Europe's major royal houses. In November 1809, he announced his decision to divorce Joséphine and the marriage was annulled in January 1810. Napoleon had already commenced negotiations for the marriage of Tsar Alexander's sister Anna, but the Tsar responded that she was too young. Napoleon then turned to Austria, and a marriage to the Austrian Emperor's daughter, Marie Louise, was quickly agreed.
The marriage was formalized in a civil ceremony on 1 April and a religious service at the Louvre on the following day. The marriage to Marie Louise was widely seen as a shift in French policy towards stronger ties with Austria and away from the already strained relationship with Russia. On 20 March 1811, Marie Louise gave birth to the heir apparent, François Charles Joseph Napoleon, King of Rome.
With the annexation of the Papal states (May 1809, February 1810), Holland (July 1810) and the northern coastal regions of Westphalia (August 1810), mainland France further increased its territory. Napoleon now ruled about 40% of the European population either directly or indirectly through his satellite kingdoms.
Invasion of Russia
Main article: French invasion of RussiaTsar Alexander saw the creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Napoleon's marriage alliance with Austria and the election of the French Marshal Bernadotte as Crown Prince of Sweden as attempts to contain Russia. In December 1810, Napoleon annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg which Alexander considered an insult as his uncle was the duke. The Tsar responded by allowing neutral shipping into Russian ports and banning most French imports. Russia feared that Napoleon intended to restore the Kingdom of Poland while Napoleon suspected Russia of seeking an alliance with Britain against France.
In late 1811, Napoleon began planning an invasion of Russia. A Franco-Prussian alliance signed in February 1812 forced Prussia to provide 20,000 troops for the invasion and, in March, Austria agreed to provide 30,000 men. Napoleon's multinational grande armée comprised around 450,000 frontline troops of which about a third were native French speakers. Napoleon called the invasion the "Second Polish War," but he refused to guarantee an independent Poland for fear of alienating his Austrian and Prussian allies.
On 24 June, Napoleon's troops began crossing the Nieman river into Russian Lithuania with the aim of luring the Russians into one or two decisive battles. The Russians retreated 320 kilometres east to the Dvina river and implemented a scorched earth policy, making it increasingly difficult for the French to forage food for themselves and their horses. On 18 August, Napoleon captured Smolensk with the loss of 9,000 of his men, but the Russians were able to withdraw in good order.
The Russians, now commanded by Kutuzov, made a stand at Borodino, outside Moscow, on 7 September. The battle resulted in 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French dead, wounded or captured, in one of the bloodiest days of battle in Europe up to that time. The Russians withdrew overnight and Napoleon later stated, "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians worthy of being invincible".
The Russians retreated to Tarutino, and Napoleon entered Moscow on 14 September. The following evening, the city was set on fire on the orders of its governor Feodor Rostopchin. Alexander, in St Petersburg, refused to negotiate a peace, and after six weeks Napoleon's army evacuated Moscow.
After capturing Maloyaroslavets with the loss of 4,000 to 10,000 men, Napoleon retreated towards Smolensk. The French were attacked by Cossacks and peasants and suffered from the intense cold, disease and lack of food and water. Around 40,000 to 50,000 troops reached Smolensk on 9 November, a loss of about 60,000 in three weeks. Napoleon also heard that an attempted coup by General Malet in Paris had only narrowly failed.
From Smolensk, Napoleon's army headed for Vilnius, where there was a French garrison of 20,000. In late November, under attack from all sides by Russian forces, the grande armée managed to cross the Berezina river on pontoon bridges in temperatures reaching −40 °C (−40 °F). On 5 December, shortly before arriving in Vilnius, Napoleon left his disintegrating army for Paris. In the following weeks, the remnants of the grande armée, about 75,000 troops, crossed the Nieman into allied territory. Russian military losses in the campaign were up to 300,000 and total military deaths from both sides were up to one million.
War of the Sixth Coalition
Main article: War of the Sixth CoalitionThe French, pursued by the Russians, withdrew from most of Poland and Prussia over the winter of 1812–13 while both sides rebuilt their forces. Sweden and Prussia declared war on France in March 1813. In April, Napoleon assumed command of an army of 200,000 troops, and defeated the coalition at Lützen and Bautzen. Britain formally joined the coalition in June followed by Austria in August, but the allies were again defeated in the Battle of Dresden (August 1813).
The coalition, however, had a growing advantage in infantry, cavalry, reserves and armaments. In the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, the coalition was victorious at Leipzig in October. Although coalition casualties were 54,000 men, the French lost 38,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 taken prisoner. Up to 50,000 more were lost to death, illness and desertion during the French retreat to the Rhine.
The Frankfurt proposals were peace terms offered by the coalition in November 1813 under which Napoleon would remain emperor, but France would be reduced to its "natural frontiers." That meant that France would retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the west bank of the Rhine, while withdrawing from Spain, Holland, Italy and Germany. Napoleon did not accept the terms and the allies crossed the Rhine into French territory on 1 January 1814. Wellington's British forces had already crossed the Pyrenees into south-western France.
In north-eastern France, Napoleon led about 70,000 troops against a coalition army of 200,000. After a defeat at La Rothière, the French won a series of victories in February which induced the coalition to offer peace on the basis of France's 1791 frontiers. Napoleon, however, decided to fight on.
After a series of battles in March, the allies forced Napoleon to retreat at the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (20–21 March). The coalition then moved towards Paris, whose defence was under the command of Joseph Bonaparte. On 29 March, a coalition army of 200,000 began their attack on the Belleville and Montmartre heights. Empress Marie Louise fled Paris that evening with her son, the King of Rome. With an army of only 38,000 to defend the capital, Joseph authorized the French marshal Auguste de Marmont to capitulate on 31 March. The following day, the allies accepted Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord as head of a provisional government. On 2 April, the Senate deposed Napoleon.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was in Fontainebleau with an army of 40,000 to 60,000. He contemplated a march on Paris but, on 4 April, his senior commanders persuaded him to abdicate in favour of his son, with Marie Louise as regent. Tsar Alexander, however, demanded an unconditional abdication and Napoleon reluctantly complied on 6 April.
In his farewell address to the soldiers of the Old Guard on 20 April, Napoleon said:
"Soldiers of my Old Guard, I have come to bid you farewell. For twenty years you have accompanied me faithfully on the paths of honor and glory. ...With men like you, our cause was lost, but the war would have dragged on interminably, and it would have been a civil war. ... So I am sacrificing our interests to those of our country. ...Do not lament my fate; if I have agreed to live on, it is to serve our glory. I wish to write the history of the great deeds we have done together. Farewell, my children!"
Exile to Elba
Main article: Principality of ElbaWith the Treaty of Fontainebleau of 11 April 1814, the allies exiled Napoleon to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 10 km (6 mi) off the Tuscan coast, where they made him sovereign. The following night, Napoleon attempted suicide with poison he had carried after nearly being captured by the Russians during the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, however, and he survived to be exiled, while his wife and son took refuge in Austria. He was conveyed to the island on HMS Undaunted and disembarked at Portoferraio on 4 May 1814. In the first few months on Elba, he drew up plans for administrative reforms, road and building works, and improvements to the island's mines and agriculture, but results were limited by lack of funds. When Napoleon learned that Joséphine had died in France on 29 May, he was distraught and locked himself in his room for two days.
Napoleon understood that the French king Louis XVIII was unpopular. Realizing that his wife and son would not be joining him in exile, 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 in the brig Inconstant on 26 February 1815 with about 1,000 men and a flotilla of seven vessels.
Hundred Days
Main article: Hundred DaysOn 1 March 1815, Napoleon and his followers landed on the French mainland at Golfe-Juan and headed for Grenoble through the foothills of the Alps, taking the route now known as Route Napoléon. The 5th Regiment intercepted him just south of Grenoble on 7 March. Napoleon approached the battalion alone and called to them, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish!" The soldiers responded with, "Vive l'empereur!" and joined Napoleon's men. Six days later, 5,000 troops under Michel Ney, who had boasted that he would bring Napoleon to Paris in an iron cage, also joined Napoleon.
On 13 March, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw. Four days later, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia each pledged to put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule. Louis XVIII, however, fled Paris for Belgium in the early hours of 20 March after realizing that he did not have enough reliable troops to oppose Napoleon. Napoleon entered Paris that evening.
Napoleon appointed a government and introduced constitutional changes which were approved by plebiscite in May. A Chamber of Representatives was also indirectly elected that month on a highly restrictive property franchise. Napoleon's priority was to raise an army to face the coalition, but the law did not allow conscription and he was only able to raise about 300,000 men, mostly raw recruits and national guards.
On 12 June, Napoleon led about 124,000 men, known as the Army of the North, into Belgium, aiming to drive a wedge between Wellington's army of 112,000 British, German and Dutch troops and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's force of 130,000 Prussians and Saxons. After engagements at the Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, Napoleon confronted Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June. Wellington's army withstood repeated attacks by the French until, late in the afternoon, Blücher's Prussians arrived in force on Napoleon's right flank. The coalition forces broke through Napoleon's lines, inflicting a devastating defeat.
Napoleon returned to Paris and found that the legislature had turned against him. Realizing that his position was untenable, he abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son. He left Paris three days later and settled at Joséphine's former palace in Château de Malmaison. By 28 June, the Prussian army was at Senlis, just north of Paris.
When Napoleon heard that Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive, he fled to Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, considering an escape to the United States. However, when he found that British ships were blockading the port, he surrendered to Frederick Lewis Maitland on HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815.
Exile on Saint Helena
Main article: Napoleon I's exile to St. HelenaNapoleon was held in British custody and transferred to the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870 km (1,010 nmi) from the west coast of Africa. Napoleon and 27 followers arrived at Jamestown, Saint Helena, in October 1815 on board HMS Northumberland. The prisoner was guarded by a garrison of 2,100 soldiers while a squadron of 10 ships continuously patrolled the waters to prevent escape. In the following years, there were rumours of escape plots, but no serious attempts were made.
Napoleon stayed for two months at a pavilion in Briars before he was moved to Longwood House, a 40-room wooden bungalow. The location and interior of the house were damp, windswept, rat-infested and unhealthy. The Times published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death. Napoleon often complained of his living conditions in letters to the island's governor, Hudson Lowe, while his attendants complained of "colds, catarrhs, damp floors and poor provisions".
Napoleon insisted on imperial formality. When he held a dinner party, men were expected to wear military dress and "women in evening gowns and gems. It was an explicit denial of the circumstances of his captivity". He formally received visitors, read, and dictated his memoirs and commentaries on military campaigns. He studied English under Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases for a few months but gave up as he was poor at languages.
Napoleon also circulated reports of poor treatment in the hope that public opinion would force the allies to revoke his exile on Saint Helena. Under instructions from the British government, Lowe cut Napoleon's expenditure, refused to recognize him as a former emperor, and made his supporters sign a guarantee they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely. Accounts of the mistreatment led, in March 1817, to a debate in parliament and Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland's call for an inquiry.
United Kingdom legislationCustody of Napoleon Buonaparte Act 1816 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
Long title | An Act for the more effectually detaining in Custody Napoleon Buonaparté. |
Citation | 56 Geo. 3. c. 22 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 11 April 1816 |
Commencement | 11 April 1816 |
Repealed | 5 August 1873 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1873 |
Status: Repealed |
Intercourse with Saint Helena Act 1816 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
Long title | An Act for regulating the Intercourse with the Island of Saint Helena, during the time Napoleon Buonaparté shall be detained there; and for indemnifying persons in the cases therein mentioned. |
Citation | 56 Geo. 3. c. 23 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 11 April 1816 |
Commencement | 11 April 1816 |
Repealed | 5 August 1873 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1873 |
Status: Repealed |
In mid-1817, Napoleon's health worsened. His physician, Barry O'Meara, diagnosed chronic hepatitis and warned Lowe that he could die from the poor climate and lack of exercise. Lowe thought O'Meara was exaggerating and dismissed him in July 1818.
In November 1818, the allies announced that Napoleon would remain a prisoner on Saint Helena for life. When he learnt the news, he became depressed and more isolated, spending longer periods in his rooms which further undermined his health. A number of his entourage also left Saint Helena including Las Cases in December 1816, General Gaspard Gourgaud in March 1818 and Albine de Montholon, who was possibly Napoleon's lover, in July 1819.
In September 1819, two priests and a new physician, François Carlo Antommarchi, joined Napoleon's retinue.
Death
See also: Death mask of Napoleon, Retour des cendres, and Napoleon's tombNapoleon's health continued to worsen, and in March 1821 he was confined to bed. In April he wrote two wills declaring that he had been murdered by the British, that the Bourbons would fall and that his son would rule France. He left his fortune to 97 legatees and asked to be buried by the Seine.
On 3 May he was given the last rites but could not take communion due to his illness. He died on 5 May 1821 at age 51. His last words, variously recorded by those present, were either France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine ("France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine"), or qui recule...à la tête d'armée ("who retreats... at the head of the army") or "France, my son, the Army."
Antommarchi and the British wrote separate autopsy reports, each concluding that Napoleon had died of internal bleeding caused by stomach cancer, the disease that had killed his father. A later theory, based on high concentrations of arsenic found in samples of Napoleon's hair, held that Napoleon had died of arsenic poisoning. However, subsequent studies also found high concentrations of arsenic in hair samples from Napoleon's childhood and from his son and Joséphine. Arsenic was widely used in medicines and products such as hair creams in the 19th century. A 2021 study by an international team of gastrointestinal pathologists once again concluded that Napoleon died of stomach cancer.
Napoleon was buried with military honours in the Valley of the Geraniums. Napoleon's heart and intestines were removed and sealed inside his coffin. Napoleon's penis was allegedly removed during the autopsy and sold and exhibited. In 1840, the British government gave Louis Philippe I permission to return Napoleon's remains to France. Napoleon's body was exhumed and found to be well preserved as it had been sealed in four coffins (two of metal and two of mahogany) and placed in a masonry tomb. On 15 December 1840, a state funeral was held in Paris with 700,000-1,000,000 attendees who lined the route of the funeral procession to the chapel of Les Invalides. The coffin was later placed in the cupola in St Jérôme's Chapel, where it remained until Napoleon's tomb, designed by Louis Visconti, was completed. In 1861, during the reign of Napoleon III, his remains were entombed in a sarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides.
Religion
Further information: Napoleon and the Catholic ChurchReligious beliefs
Napoleon was baptized in Ajaccio on 21 July 1771, and raised a Roman Catholic. He began to question his faith at age 13 while at Brienne. Biographers have variously described him from that time as a deist, a follower of Rousseau's "natural religion" or a believer in destiny. He consistently expressed his belief in a God or creator.
He understood the power of organized religion in social and political affairs, and later sought to use it to support his regime. His attitude to religion is often described as utilitarian. In 1800 he stated, "it was by making myself a Catholic that I won the war in the Vendée, by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt, by making myself an ultramontane that I turned men's hearts towards me in Italy. If I were to govern a nation of Jews I would rebuild the Temple of Solomon."
Napoleon had a civil marriage with Joséphine in 1796 and, at the pope's insistence, a private religious ceremony with her the day before his coronation as Emperor in 1804. This marriage was annulled by tribunals under Napoleon's control in January 1810. In April 1810, Napoleon married Austrian princess Marie Louise in a Catholic ceremony. Napoleon was excommunicated by the pope through the bull Quum memoranda in 1809. His will in 1821 stated, "I die in the Apostolical Roman religion, in the bosom of which I was born, more than fifty years since."
Napoleon read the Koran in translation and had an interest in Islam and the Orient. He also defended Muhammad ("a great man") against Voltaire's Mahomet.
Concordat
Further information: Concordat of 1801Seeking national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics, Napoleon and Pope Pius VII agreed to the Concordat of 1801. The agreement recognized the Catholic Church as the majority church of France and in return the Church recognized Napoleon's regime, undercutting much of the ground from royalists. The Concordat confirmed the seizure of Church lands and endowments during the revolution, but reintroduced state salaries for the clergy. The government also controlled the nomination of bishops for investiture by the pope. Bishops and other clergy were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the regime.
When the Concordat was published on 8 April 1802, Napoleon presented another set of laws called the Organic Articles, which further increased state control over the French Church. Similar arrangements were made with the Church in territories controlled by Napoleon, especially in Italy and Germany.
Arrest of Pope Pius VII
Napoleon progressively occupied and annexed the Papal States from 1805. When he annexed Rome in May 1809, the pope excommunicated him the following month. In July, French officials arrested the pope in the Vatican and exiled him to Savona. In 1812 the pontiff was transferred to the Palace of Fontainebleau in France. In January 1813, Napoleon pressured the pope to sign a new "Concordat of Fontainebleau" which was soon repudiated by the pontiff. The pope was not released until 1814.
Religious emancipation
Further information: Napoleon and the Jews and Napoleon and ProtestantsIn February 1795, the National Convention proclaimed religious equality for France's Protestant churches and other religions. In April 1802, Napoleon published laws increasing state control of Calvinist congregations and Lutheran directories, with their pastors to be paid by the state. With Napoleon's military victories, formal religious equality and civil rights for religious minorities spread to the conquered territories and satellite states, although their implementation varied with the local authorities.
The Jews of France had been granted full civil rights in September 1791 and religious equality in 1795. The revolutionary and Napoleonic regimes abolished Jewish ghettoes in the territories they conquered. Napoleon wished to assimilate Jews into French society and convened an assembly of Jewish notables in 1806 to that end. In 1807, he summoned a Sanhedrin to adapt the law of Moses to those of the empire. An imperial decree of March 1808 organized Jewish worship into consistories, limited usury and encouraged Jews to adopt a family name, intermarriage, and civil marriage and divorce. Jews, however, were still subject to discrimination in many parts of the empire and satellite states.
Personality
Pieter Geyl wrote in 1947, "It is impossible that two historians, especially two historians living in different periods, should see any historical personality in the same light." There is no dispute that Napoleon was ambitious, although commentators disagree on whether his ambition was mostly for his own power and glory or for the welfare of France. Historians agree that Napoleon was highly intelligent with an excellent memory, and was a superior organizer who could work efficiently for long hours. In battle, he could rapidly dictate a series of complex commands to his subordinates, keeping in mind where major units were expected to be at each future point.
He was an inspiring leader who could obtain the best from his soldiers and subordinates. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington said his presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 soldiers. He could charm people when he needed to but could also publicly humiliate them and was known for his rages when his plans were frustrated. Historian McLynn sees him as a misogynist with a cruel streak which he often inflicted on women, children and animals.
There is debate over whether Napoleon was an outsider who never felt at home in France or with other people. Hippolyte Taine said Napoleon saw others only as instruments and was cut off from feelings of admiration, sympathy or pity. Arthur Lévy replied that Napoleon genuinely loved Joséphine and often showed humanity and compassion to his enemies or those who had let him down. He had the normal middle class virtues and understood the common man.
Similarly, historians are divided over whether Napoleon was consistently ruthless when his power was threatened or surprisingly indulgent in some cases. Those arguing for a ruthless personality point to episodes such as his violent suppression of revolts in France and conquered territories, his execution of the Duc d'Enghien and plotters against his rule, and his massacre of Turkish prisoners of war in Syria in 1799. Others point to his mild treatment of disloyal subordinates such as Charles XIV John, Talleyrand and Fouché.
Many historians see Napoleon as pragmatic and a realist, at least in the early years of his rule. He was not driven by ideology and promoted capable men irrespective of their political and social background, as long as they were loyal. As an expert in military matters, he valued technical expertise and listened to the advice of experts in other fields. However, there is a consensus that once he dominated Europe he became more intolerant of other views and surrounded himself with "yes men". Towards the end of his reign he lost his realism and ability to compromise.
Some historians talk of Napoleon's dual nature: a rationalist with a strong romantic streak. He took a team of scholars, artists and engineers with him to Egypt in order to scientifically study the country's culture and history, but at the same time was struck by romantic "orientalism". "I was full of dreams," he stated. "I saw myself founding a religion, marching into Asia, riding an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hand a new Koran that I would have composed to suit my need."
Napoleon was superstitious. He believed in omens, numerology, fate and lucky stars, and always asked of his generals: is he lucky? Dwyer states that Napoleon's victories at Austerlitz and Jena in 1805–06 left him even more certain of his destiny and invincibility. "I am of the race that founds empires", he once boasted, deeming himself an heir to the Ancient Romans.
Various psychologists have attempted to explain Napoleon's personality. Alfred Adler cited Napoleon to describe an inferiority complex in which short people adopt over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term Napoleon complex. Adler, Erich Fromm and Wilhelm Reich ascribed his nervous energy to sexual dysfunction. Harold T. Parker speculated that rivalry with his older brother and bullying when he moved to France led him to develop an inferiority complex which made him domineering.
Appearance and image
Further information: Cultural depictions of Napoleon and Uniforms of NapoleonIn his youth, Bonaparte was consistently described as small and thin. Johann Ludwig Wurstemberger, who accompanied him in 1797 and 1798, noted that "Bonaparte was rather slight and emaciated-looking; his face, too, was very thin, with a dark complexion... his black, unpowdered hair hung down evenly over both shoulders", but that, despite his slight and unkempt appearance, "his looks and expression were earnest and powerful."
English painter Joseph Farington, who met him in 1802, said Bonaparte's eyes were "lighter, and more of a grey, than I should have expected from his complexion", that "his person is below middle size", and that "his general aspect was milder than I had before thought it."
In his later years Napoleon gained weight and had a sallow complexion. Novelist Paul de Kock, who saw him in 1811, called Napoleon "yellow, obese, and bloated".
During the Napoleonic Wars, the British press depicted Napoleon as a dangerous tyrant, poised to invade. A nursery rhyme warned children that he ate naughty people; the "bogeyman". He was mocked as a short-tempered small man and was nicknamed "Little Boney in a strong fit". In fact, at about 170 cm (5 ft 7 in), he was of average height.
He is often portrayed wearing a large bicorne hat—sideways—with a hand-in-waistcoat gesture—a reference to the painting produced in 1812 by Jacques-Louis David.
Reforms
Napoleon instituted numerous reforms, many of which had a lasting influence on France, Europe and the world. He reformed the French administration, codified French law, implemented a new education system, and established the first French central bank, the Banque de France. He negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the majority Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the Organic Articles, which regulated public worship in France. He also implemented civil and religious equality for Protestants and Jews. In May 1802, he instituted the Legion of Honour to encourage civilian and military achievements. The order is still the highest decoration in France. He introduced three French constitutions culminating in the reintroduction of a hereditary monarchy and nobility.
Administration
Napoleon introduced a series of centralizing administrative reforms soon after taking power. In 1800, he established prefects appointed to run France's regional departments, sub-prefects to run districts and mayors to run towns. Local representative bodies were retained, but their powers were reduced and indirect elections with a high property qualification replaced direct elections. Real power in the regions was now in the hands of the prefects who were judged by how they met the main priorities of Napoleon's government: efficient administration, law and order, stimulating the local economy, gathering votes for plebiscites, conscripting soldiers and provisioning the army.
An enduring reform was the foundation, in December 1799, of the Council of State, an advisory body of experts which could also draft laws for submission to the legislative body. Napoleon drew many of his ministers and ambassadors from the council. It was the council which undertook the codification of French law.
After several attempts by revolutionary governments, Napoleon officially introduced the metric system in France in 1801 and it was spread through western Europe by his armies. The new system was unpopular in some circles, so in 1812 he introduced a compromise system in the retail trade called the mesures usuelles (traditional units of measurement). In December 1805, Napoleon abolished the Revolutionary calendar, with its ten-day week, which had been introduced in 1793.
Napoleonic Code
Main article: Napoleonic CodeNapoleon's civil code of laws, known from 1807 as the Napoleonic Code, was implemented in March 1804. It was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, the Second Consul. Napoleon participated actively in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts. The code introduced a clearly written and accessible set of national laws to replace the various regional and customary law systems that had operated in France.
The civil code entrenched the principles of equality before the law, religious toleration, secure property rights, equal inheritance for all legitimate children, and the abolition of the vestiges of feudalism. However, it also reduced the rights of women and children and severely restricted the grounds for divorce.
A criminal code was promulgated in 1808, and eventually seven codes of law were produced under Napoleon. The Napoleonic code was carried by Napoleon's armies across Europe and influenced the law in many parts of the world. Alfred Cobban described it as, "the most effective agency for the propagation of the basic principles of the French Revolution."
Warfare
Further information: Napoleonic weaponry and warfare and Military career of NapoleonIn the field of military organization, Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert, and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed what was already in place. He continued the Revolutionary policies of conscription and promotion based primarily on merit.
Corps replaced divisions as the largest army units, mobile artillery was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry returned as an important formation in French military doctrine. These methods are now referred to as essential features of Napoleonic warfare.
Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist Carl von Clausewitz as a genius in the art of war, and many historians rank him as a great military commander. Wellington considered him the greatest military commander of all time, and Henry Vassall-Fox called him "the greatest statesman and the ablest general of ancient or modern times". Cobban states that he showed his genius in moving troops quickly and concentrating them on strategic points. His principles were to keep his forces united, keep no weak point unguarded, seize important points quickly, and seize his chance. Owen Connelly, however, states, "Napoleon's personal tactics defy analysis." He used his intuition, engaged his troops, and reacted to what developed.
Under Napoleon, the focus shifted towards destroying enemy armies rather than simply outmanoeuvering them. Wars became more costly and decisive as invasions of enemy territory occurred on larger fronts. The political cost of war also increased, as defeat for a European power now meant more than just losing isolated territories. Peace terms were often punitive, sometimes involving regime change, which intensified the trend towards total war since the Revolutionary era.
Education
Napoleon's educational reforms laid the foundation of a modern system of secondary and tertiary education in France and throughout much of Europe. He synthesized academic elements from the Ancien Régime, The Enlightenment, and the Revolution. His education laws of 1802 left most primary education in the hands of religious or communal schools which taught basic literacy and numeracy for a minority of the population. He abolished the revolutionary central schools and replaced them with secondary schools and elite lycées where the curriculum was based on reading, writing, mathematics, Latin, natural history, classics, and ancient history.
He retained the revolutionary higher education system, with grandes écoles in professions including law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering and school teaching. He introduced grandes écoles in history and geography, but opposed one in literature because it was not vocational. He also founded the military academy of Saint Cyr. He promoted the advanced centres, such as the École Polytechnique, that provided both military expertise and advanced research in science.
In 1808, he founded the Imperial University, a supervisory body with control over curriculum and discipline. The following year he introduced the baccalaureate. The system was designed to produce the efficient bureaucrats, technicians, professionals and military officers that the Napoleonic state required. It outperformed its European counterparts, many of which borrowed from the French system.
Female education, in contrast, was designed to be practical and religious, based on home science, the catechism, basic literacy and numeracy, and enough science to eradicate superstition.
Nobility and honours
In May 1802, Bonaparte created the Legion of Honour whose members would be military personnel and civilians with distinguished service to the state. The new institution was unpopular with republicans and the measure only passed by 14 votes to 10 in the Council of State. The Legion of Honour became an order of chivalry after the empire was proclaimed in 1804. In August 1806, Napoleon created an hereditary imperial nobility including princes, dukes, counts, barons and knights. Eventually the empire had over 3,000 nobles and more than 30,000 members of the Legion of Honour.
Memory and evaluation
Main article: Legacy of NapoleonCriticism
There is debate over whether Napoleon was "an enlightened despot who laid the foundations of modern Europe" or "a megalomaniac who wrought greater misery than any man before the coming of Hitler". He was compared to Adolf Hitler by Pieter Geyl in 1947, and Claude Ribbe in 2005. Most modern critics of Napoleon, however, reject the Hitler comparison, arguing that Napoleon did not commit genocide and did not engage in the mass murder and imprisonment of his political opponents. Nevertheless, David A. Bell and McLynn condemn his killing of 3,000–5,000 Turkish prisoners of war in Syria.
A number of historians have argued that his expansionist foreign policy was a major factor in the Napoleonic wars, which cost six million lives and caused economic disruption for a generation. McLynn and Correlli Barnett suggest that Napoleon's reputation as a military genius is exaggerated. Cobban and Susan P. Conner argue that Napoleon had insufficient regard for the lives of his soldiers and that his battle tactics led to excessive casualties.
Critics also cite Napoleon's exploitation of conquered territories. To finance his wars, Napoleon increased taxes and levies of troops from annexed territories and satellite states. He also introduced discriminatory tariff policies which promoted French trade at the expense of allies and satellite states. He institutionalized plunder: French museums contain art stolen by Napoleon's forces from across Europe. Artefacts were brought to the Musée du Louvre for a grand central museum; an example which would later be followed by others.
Many historians have criticized Napoleon's authoritarian rule, especially after 1807, which included censorship, the closure of independent newspapers, the bypassing of direct elections and representative government, the dismissal of judges showing independence, and the exile of critics of the regime. Historians also blame Napoleon for reducing the civil rights of women, children and people of colour, and reintroducing the legal penalties of civil death and confiscation of property. His reintroduction of an hereditary monarchy and nobility remains controversial. His role in the Haitian Revolution and decision to reinstate slavery in France's colonies in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean adversely affect his reputation.
Propaganda and memory
Main articles: Napoleonic propaganda and BonapartismNapoleon's use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his regime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship and control of the press, books, theatre, and art were part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing peace and stability to France. Propaganda focused on his role first as a general then as a civil leader and emperor. He fostered a relationship with artists, commissioning and controlling different forms of art to suit his propaganda goals.
Napoleonic propaganda survived his exile to Saint Helena. Las Cases, who was with Napoleon in exile, published The Memorial of Saint Helena in 1822, creating a legend of Napoleon as a liberal, visionary proponent of European unification, deposed by reactionary elements of the Ancien Régime. Napoleon remained a central figure in the romantic art and literature of the 1820s and 1830s.
The Napoleonic legend played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815–1830. People from different walks of life and areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 Revolution. The defiance manifested itself in seditious materials, displaying the tricolour and rosettes. There were also subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations.
Bell sees the return of Napoleon's remains to France in 1840 as an attempt by Louis-Phillipe to prop up his unpopular regime by associating it with Napoleon, and that the regime of Napoleon III was only possible due to the continued resonance of the Napoleonic legend.
Venita Datta argues that following the collapse of militaristic Boulangism in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Writers and critics of the Belle Époque exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political and cultural ends.
In the 21st century, Napoleon appears regularly in popular fiction, drama and advertising. Napoleon and his era remain major topics of historical research with a sharp increase in historical books, articles and symposia during the bicentenary years of 1999 to 2015.
- Napoleon Crossing the Alps, romantic version by Jacques-Louis David in 1805
- Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, realist version by Paul Delaroche in 1848
- Moscow (1812). Napoleon leaves the Kremlin, part of the French occupation of Moscow, painting by Maurice Orange.
Long-term influence outside France
Main article: Influence of the French RevolutionNapoleon was responsible for spreading many of the values of the French Revolution to other countries, especially through the Napoleonic Code. After the fall of Napoleon, it continued to influence the law in western Europe and other parts of the world including Latin America, the Dominican Republic, Louisiana and Quebec.
Napoleon's regime abolished remnants of feudalism in the lands he conquered and in his satellite states. He liberalized property laws, ended manorialism, abolished the guild of merchants and craftsmen to facilitate entrepreneurship, legalized divorce, closed the Jewish ghettos and ended the Spanish Inquisition. The power of church courts and religious authority was sharply reduced and equality before the law was proclaimed for all men.
Napoleon reorganized what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of about three hundred Kleinstaaterei, into a more streamlined forty-state Confederation of the Rhine; this helped promote the German Confederation and the unification of Germany in 1871, as it sparked a new wave of German nationalism that opposed the French intervention.
The movement toward Italian unification was similarly sparked by Napoleonic rule. These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the nation state.
The Napoleonic invasion of Spain and ousting of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy had a significant effect on Spanish America. Many local elites sought to rule in the name of Ferdinand VII of Spain, whom they considered the legitimate monarch. Napoleon indirectly began the process of Latin American independence when the power vacuum was filled by local political leaders such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. Such leaders embraced nationalistic sentiments influenced by French nationalism and led successful independence movements in Latin America.
Napoleon's reputation is generally favourable in Poland, which is the only country in the world to evoke him in its national anthem, Poland Is Not Yet Lost.
Children
Napoleon married Joséphine in 1796, but the marriage produced no children. In 1806, he adopted his step-son, Eugène de Beauharnais (1781–1824), and his second cousin, Stéphanie de Beauharnais (1789–1860), and arranged dynastic marriages for them.
Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise produced one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (Napoleon II) (1811–1832), known from birth as the King of Rome. When Napoleon abdicated in 1815 he named his son his successor as "Napoleon II", but the allies refused to recognize him. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children.
Napoleon acknowledged one illegitimate son: Charles Léon (1806–1881) by Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne. Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868), the son of his Polish mistress Maria Walewska, was also widely known to be his child, as DNA evidence has confirmed. He may have had further illegitimate offspring.
Titles
Political offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded byFrench Directory | First Consul of the French Republic 13 December 1799 – 18 May 1804 with Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun |
Succeeded byHimself as Emperor |
Preceded byCisalpine Directory | President of the Italian Republic 26 January 1802 – 18 May 1805 with Francesco Melzi d'Eril as Vicepresident |
Succeeded byHimself as King |
Preceded byHelvetic Assembly | Mediator of the Swiss Confederation 19 February 1803 – 29 December 1813 |
Succeeded bySwiss Restoration |
Preceded byHimself as First Consul Louis XVIII as King of France |
Emperor of the French as Napoleon I 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814 20 March – 22 June 1815 |
Succeeded byLouis XVIII as King of France |
Preceded byHimself as President | King of Italy 17 March 1805 – 6 April 1814 with Eugène de Beauharnais as Viceroy |
VacantTitle next held byVictor Emmanuel II in 1861 |
Preceded byFrancis II (Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) |
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine 12 July 1806 – 4 November 1813 with Karl von Dalberg as Prince-primate |
Succeeded byFrancis II (I) (Head of the German Confederation) |
Preceded byHimself as Emperor | Prince of Elba 11 April 1814 – 26 February 1815 |
Succeeded byHimself as Emperor |
Arms
See also: Armorial of the First French EmpireOn becoming emperor, Napoleon adopted the French Imperial Eagle as his arms.
Imperial Arms of NapoleonArms: Azure, an Eagle Or, head facing to the sinister, clutching in its talons a Thunderbolt Or.Achievement of NapoleonArms and Achievement of Napoleon · · · · · · ·Notes
- ^ As King of France
- English: /nəˈpoʊliən ˈboʊnəpɑːrt/ nə-POH-lee-ən BOH-nə-part; French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napɔleɔ̃ bɔnapaʁt].
- Italian: [napoleˈoːne di ˌbwɔnaˈparte]; Corsican: Napulione Buonaparte [napuliˈɔnɛ ˌbwɔnaˈbartɛ].
- Although the 1768 Treaty of Versailles formally ceded Corsica's rights, it remained un-incorporated during 1769 until it became one of the Provinces of France in 1770. Corsica would be legally integrated as a département in 1789.
- Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection between him and Napoleon's theorem.
- This is depicted in Bonaparte Crossing the Alps by Hippolyte Delaroche and in Jacques-Louis David's imperial Napoleon Crossing the Alps. He is less realistically portrayed on a charger in the latter work.
- There were actually three versions of the act written on 4 April 1814. The final signed version explicitly refers to "Napoleon II" as his successor.
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Works cited
Main article: Bibliography of NapoleonBiographical studies
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- Harvey, Robert (2007). The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France, 1789-1815. Robinson. ISBN 978-1-8452-9635-3.
- Hindmarsh, J. Thomas; Savory, John (2008). "The Death of Napoleon, Cancer or Arsenic?". Clinical Chemistry. 54 (12): 2092. doi:10.1373/clinchem.2008.117358.
- O'Connor, J; Robertson, E F (2003). "The history of measurement". St Andrew's University. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
- Roberts, Chris (2004). Heavy Words Lightly Thrown. Granta. ISBN 978-1-8620-7765-2. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- Schom, Alan (1997). Napoleon Bonaparte. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-0601-7214-5.
- Watson, William (2003). Tricolor and crescent. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-2759-7470-1. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
- Sicker, Martin (2001). The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Greenwood. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-2759-6891-5.
- Wells, David (1992). The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-1401-1813-1.
Further reading
- Chesney, Charles (2006). Waterloo Lectures:A Study Of The Campaign Of 1815. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4286-4988-0.
- Johnson, Paul (2002). Napoleon: A life. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-6700-3078-1.
- Dwyer, Philip (2015b). "'Citizen Emperor': Political Ritual, Popular Sovereignty and the Coronation of Napoleon I". History. 100 (339): 40–57. doi:10.1111/1468-229X.12089. ISSN 1468-229X. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- Lefebvre, Georges (1969). Napoleon, from 18 Brumaire to Tilsit, 1799-1807. Columbia University Press.
- Schroeder, Paul W. (1996). The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848. Oxford U.P. pp. 177–560. ISBN 978-0-1982-0654-5. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2015. advanced diplomatic history of Napoleon and his era
- Talleyrand, Chares-Maurice de (1891). Mémoires du Prince de Talleyrand (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Henri Javal. pp. 10–12. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
External links
- The Napoleonic Guide
- Napoleon Series
- International Napoleonic Society
- Biography by the US Public Broadcasting Service
- Daily tracking of Napoleon's location
- Works by Napoleon at Project Gutenberg
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