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<!-- ARTICLE USES BRITISH SPELLING -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Infobox royalty|realm=france
|name=Napoleon I
|image=Napoleon in His Study.jpg
|imgw=250
|alt=Full length portrait of Napoleon in his forties, in high-ranking white and dark blue military dress uniform. 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=''[[The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries]]'', by [[Jacques-Louis David]], 1812
|succession= [[Emperor of the French]]
|reign=18 May 1804&nbsp;– 11 April 1814<br />20 March 1815&nbsp;– 22 June 1815
|coronation=2 December 1804
|cor-type=france
|full name=Napoleon Bonaparte
|predecessor=None <small>(himself as [[First Consul]] of the [[French First Republic]]; previous ruling monarch was [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]])</small>
|successor=[[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]] (''[[de jure]]'' in 1814)
|succession1= [[King of Italy]]
|reign1=17 March 1805&nbsp;– 11 April 1814
|coronation1=26 May 1805
|predecessor1=None <small>(himself as [[President of Italy|President]] of the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Italian Republic]]; previous ruling monarch was [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]]</small>)
|successor1=None <small>(kingdom disbanded, next king of Italy was [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II]]</small>)
|spouse=[[Joséphine de Beauharnais]]<br />[[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise of Austria]]
|issue=[[Napoleon II]]
|house=[[House of Bonaparte]]
|father=[[Carlo Buonaparte]]
|mother=[[Letizia Ramolino]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1769|8|15|df=yes}}
|birth_place=[[Ajaccio]], Corsica, France
|death_date={{Death date and age|1821|5|5|1769|8|15|df=yes}}
|death_place=[[Longwood, Saint Helena]]
|place of burial=[[Les Invalides]], Paris, France
|religion = Roman Catholicism (see [[Napoleon#Napoleon and religions|Napoleon and religions]])
|signature=Firma Napoleón Bonaparte.svg
|}}

'''Napoleon Bonaparte''' ({{lang-fr|Napoléon Bonaparte}} {{IPA-fr|napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt|}}) (15 August 1769&nbsp;– 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the [[French Revolution]].

As '''Napoleon I''', he was [[Emperor of the French]] from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the [[Napoleonic Code]], has been a major influence on many [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called [[Napoleonic Wars]]. He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an [[First French Empire|imperial monarchy]] which restored aspects of the deposed [[Ancien Régime in France|ancien régime]]. Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time.

Napoleon was born in [[Corsica]] to parents of [[Nobility of Italy|noble Genoese]] ancestry, and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. He rose to prominence under the [[French First Republic]] and led successful campaigns against the [[First Coalition|First]] and [[War of the Second Coalition|Second]] Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a ''[[18 Brumaire|coup d'état]]'' and installed himself as [[First Consul]]; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor. In the first decade of the 19th century, the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—involving every major European power.<ref name="Schom 1998">{{cite book|last=Schom|first=Alan|title=Napoleon Bonaparte|year=1998|publisher=HarperPerennial|location=New York|isbn=0-06-092-958-8|edition=1. HarperPerennial}}</ref>

After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French [[sphere of influence]] through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French [[client state]]s. Napoleon's campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world.<ref name="Schom 1998"/>

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

==Origins and education==
Napoleon Bonaparte was born the second of eight children in his family's ancestral home [[Casa Buonaparte]], located in the town of [[Ajaccio]], Corsica. He was born on 15 August 1769, one year after Corsica was transferred to France by the [[Republic of Genoa]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.6</ref> He was christened ''Napoleone di Buonaparte'', probably acquiring his first name from an uncle (though an older brother, [[Necronym|who did not survive infancy, was also named Napoleone]]). He was called by this name until his twenties, when he adopted the more French-sounding ''Napoléon Bonaparte''.<ref name=dwyerxv>Dwyer 2008, p.xv</ref>{{#tag:ref|His name was also spelled as ''Nabulione'', ''Nabulio'', ''Napolionne'', and ''Napulione''.<ref name=dwyerxv/>|group=note}}
[[File:1746 Carlo-04.JPG|thumb|left|upright|alt=Half-length portrait of a wigged middle-aged man with a well-to-do jacket. His left hand is tucked inside his waistcoat.|Napoleon's father [[Carlo Buonaparte]] was Corsica's representative to the court of [[Louis XVI of France]].]]

The Corsican Buonapartes originated from minor [[Nobility of Italy|Italian nobility]] of [[Lombards]] origin,<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/6808143/part_3/sins-of-the-fathers.thtml |title=The Popes: A History &#124; John Julius Norwich &#124; Review by The Spectator |publisher=Spectator.co.uk |date=26 March 2011 |accessdate=3 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=S24xTsCrBs6N-wbrnYmLDQ&ct=result&sqi=2&hl=no&id=IYIuAAAAMAAJ&dq=napoleon+%22lombard+origin%22&q=+%22lombard+origin%22#search_anchor |title=The women Bonapartes|publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=3 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zNNBAAAAIAAJ&q=napoleon+%22lombard+stock%22&dq=napoleon+%22lombard+stock%22&hl=no&ei=x20xTtiYHMiF-wbFoZ2RDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw |title=The other conquest |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=3 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aeVAPShsbTMC&pg=PA17&dq=napoleon+%22lombard+origin%22&hl=no&ei=9XMxTq2qLIzt-gbJrKXqDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=lombard&f=false |title=French Fortifications, 1715–1815|publisher=Books.google.com |date=30 November 2009 |accessdate=3 August 2011}}</ref> who had come to Corsica from [[Liguria]] in the 16th century.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.2</ref> DNA tests conducted in 2012 found that some of the family's ancestors were from the [[Caucasus]] region.<ref>{{cite web|author=lefigaro.fr |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/mon-figaro/2012/01/15/10001-20120115ARTFIG00193-selon-son-adnles-ancetres-de-napoleon-seraient-du-caucase.php |title=Le Figaro - Mon Figaro : Selon son ADN,les ancêtres de Napoléon seraient du Caucase! |publisher=Lefigaro.fr |date=2012-01-15 |accessdate=2012-02-20}}</ref> The actual study found haplogroup type E1b1c1* originating in Northern Africa circa 1200 BC.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jmbr/article/view/10609/ |title=Haplogroup of the Y Chromosome of Napoléon the First; Gerard Lucotte, Thierry Thomasset, Peter Hrechdakian; Journal of Molecular Biology Research |date=December 2011 |accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref> His father ''Nobile'' [[Carlo Buonaparte]], an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, [[Letizia Ramolino]], whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.<ref>Cronin 1994, p.20–21</ref>

He had an elder brother, [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]]; and younger siblings [[Lucien Bonaparte|Lucien]], [[Elisa Bonaparte|Elisa]], [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis]], [[Pauline Bonaparte|Pauline]], [[Caroline Bonaparte|Caroline]] and [[Jérôme Bonaparte|Jérôme]]. There were also two other children, a boy and girl, who were born before Joseph but died in infancy.<ref>Harvey, R. ''The War of Wars'', Robinson, 2006. p. 58-61.</ref> Napoleon was baptised as a Catholic just before his second birthday, on 21 July 1771 at [[Ajaccio Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/museums/files/Cathedral-Ajaccio.asp|title=Cathedral—Ajaccio|publisher=La Fondation Napoléon|accessdate=31 May 2008}}</ref>

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.<ref>Cronin 1994, p.27</ref> In January 1779, Napoleon was enrolled at a religious school in [[Autun]], mainland France, to learn French, and in May he was admitted to a [[military academy]] at [[Brienne-le-Château]].<ref name="rxvi"/> He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell properly.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.18</ref> Napoleon was teased by other students for his accent and applied himself to reading.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.29</ref>{{#tag:ref|At Brienne, Napoleon first met the champagne-maker [[Jean-Rémy Moët]]. They became friends, and Napoleon later frequently stayed at Moët's estate. Victorious French armies were known for their indulgence in [[sabrage]]: opening a champagne bottle with a [[sabre]].<ref>Kladstrup 2005, p.61–8</ref>|group=note}} 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."<ref>McLynn 1998, p.21</ref>{{#tag:ref|Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection between him and [[Napoleon's theorem]].<ref>Wells 1992, p.74</ref>|group=note}}

On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite ''[[École Militaire]]'' in Paris; this ended his naval ambition, which had led him to consider an application to the British [[Royal Navy]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.23</ref> Instead, he trained to become an artillery officer and when his father's death reduced his income, was forced to complete the two-year course in one year.<ref name=dwyer42>Dwyer 2008, p.42</ref> He was the first Corsican to graduate from the Ecole Militaire<ref name=dwyer42/> and was examined by the famed scientist [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]], whom Napoleon later appointed to the Senate.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.26</ref>

==Early career==
[[Image:Paoli.png|thumb|upright|right|alt=Head and shoulders portrait of a white-haired, portly, middle-aged man with a pinkish complexion, blue velvet coat and a ruffle|Nationalist Corsican leader [[Pasquale Paoli]], 1798 portrait by [[Richard Cosway]]]]
Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] a [[second lieutenant]] in ''La Fère'' artillery regiment.<ref name="rxvi"/>{{#tag:ref|He was mainly referred to as Bonaparte until he became First Consul for life.<ref name=m290/>|group=note}} He served on garrison duty in [[Valence, Drôme]] and [[Auxonne]] until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, though he took nearly two years' leave in Corsica and Paris during this period. A fervent Corsican nationalist, Bonaparte wrote to the Corsican leader [[Pasquale Paoli]] in May 1789: "As the nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me."<ref>McLynn 1998, p.37</ref>

He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle between royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He supported the revolutionary [[Jacobin]] faction, gained the rank of [[lieutenant colonel]] and command over a battalion of volunteers. After he had exceeded his leave of absence and led a riot against a French army in Corsica, he was somehow able to convince military authorities in Paris to promote him to captain in July 1792.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.55</ref>

He returned to Corsica once again and came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage a French assault on the [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinian]] island of [[La Maddalena]], where Bonaparte was one of the expedition leaders.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.61</ref> Bonaparte and his family had to flee to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split with Paoli.<ref name="rxviii">Roberts 2001, p.xviii</ref>

===Siege of Toulon (1793)===
{{Main|Siege of Toulon}}
In July 1793, he published a pro-republican pamphlet, ''[[Le souper de Beaucaire]]'' (Supper at [[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]]), which gained him the admiration and support of [[Augustin Robespierre]], younger brother of the Revolutionary leader [[Maximilien Robespierre]]. With the help of fellow Corsican [[Antoine Christophe Saliceti]], Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon. The city had risen against the [[French First Republic|republican government]] and was occupied by British troops.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.132</ref>

He adopted a plan to capture a hill that would allow republican guns to dominate the city's harbour and force the British ships to evacuate. The assault on the position, during which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to the capture of the city and his promotion to [[brigadier general (France)|brigadier general]] at the age of 24. His actions brought him to the attention of the [[Committee of Public Safety]], and he was put in charge of the artillery of France's [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.76</ref>

Whilst waiting for confirmation of this post, Napoleon spent time as inspector of coastal fortifications on the Mediterranean coast near Marseille. He devised plans for attacking the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] as part of France's campaign [[War of the First Coalition|against the First Coalition]].<ref name=Dwyer145>Dwyer 2008, p.145-9</ref> The commander of the Army of Italy, [[Pierre Jadart Dumerbion]] had seen too many generals executed for failing or for having the wrong political views. Therefore, he deferred to the powerful ''[[représentant en mission|représentants en mission]]'', Augustin Robespierre and Saliceti, who in turn were ready to listen to the freshly-promoted artillery general.<ref>Chandler 1973, p.30</ref>

Carrying out Bonaparte's plan in the [[Battle of Saorgio]] in April 1794, the French army advanced northeast along the [[Italian Riviera]] then turned north to seize [[Ormea]] in the mountains. From Ormea, they thrust west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around [[Saorge]]. As a result, the coastal towns of [[Oneglia]] and [[Loano]] as well as the strategic [[Col de Tende]] (Tenda Pass) fell into French hands.<ref>Boycott-Brown 2001, p.88-92</ref> Later, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to understand that country's intentions towards France.<ref name=Dwyer145/>

===13 Vendémiaire (1795)===
{{Main|13 Vendémiaire}}
[[Image:13Vendémiaire.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Etching of a street, there are a lot pockets of smoke due to a group of republican artillery firing on royalists across the street at the entrance to a building|''Journée du [[13 Vendémiaire]]''. Artillery fire in front of the ''[[Église Saint-Roch]]'', ''[[Rue Saint-Honoré]] in Paris'']]
Following the fall of the Robespierres in the July 1794 [[Thermidorian Reaction]], Bonaparte was put under [[house arrest]] at [[Nice]] for his association with the brothers.{{#tag:ref|Some histories state he was imprisoned at the ''[[Fort Carré]]'' in [[Antibes]] but there does not appear to be evidence for this.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.155</ref>|group=note}} He was released within two weeks and due to his technical skills was asked to draw-up plans to attack Italian positions in the context of France's war with Austria. He also took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the Royal Navy.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.157</ref>

Bonaparate became engaged to [[Désirée Clary]], whose sister, [[Julie Clary]], married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph; the Clarys were a wealthy merchant family from Marseilles.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.76 and 84</ref> In April 1795, he was assigned to the [[Army of the West (1793)|Army of the West]], which was engaged in the [[War in the Vendée]]—a civil war and royalist [[counter-revolution]] in Vendée, a region in west central France, on the Atlantic Ocean. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general&nbsp;– for which the army already had a full quota&nbsp;– and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.92</ref>

He was moved to the Bureau of [[Topography]] of the Committee of Public Safety and sought, unsuccessfully, to be transferred to [[Constantinople]] in order to offer his services to the [[Sultan]].<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.26</ref> During this period he wrote a romantic novella, ''[[Clisson et Eugénie]]'', about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Désirée.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.164</ref> On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for his refusal to serve in the Vendée campaign. He now faced a difficult financial situation and reduced career prospects.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.93</ref>

On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the [[National Convention]] after they were excluded from a new government, the [[French Directory|Directory]].<ref name=m96/> One of the leaders of the Thermidorian Reaction, [[Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras|Paul Barras]], knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and gave him command of the improvised forces in defence of the Convention in the [[Tuileries Palace]]. Bonaparte had witnessed the [[10 August (French Revolution)#Assault on the Tuileries|massacre of the King's Swiss Guard]] there three years earlier and realised artillery would be the key to its defence.<ref name="rxvi">Roberts 2001, p.xvi</ref>

He ordered a young cavalry officer, [[Joachim Murat]], to seize large cannons and used them to repel the attackers on 5 October 1795—''13 Vendémiaire An IV'' in the [[French Republican Calendar]]. One thousand four hundred royalists died, and the rest fled.<ref name=m96>McLynn 1998, p.96</ref> He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of [[grapeshot]]", according to the 19th century historian [[Thomas Carlyle]] in ''[[The French Revolution: A History]]''.<ref>Johnson 2002, p.27</ref>

The defeat of the Royalist insurrection extinguished the threat to the Convention and earned Bonaparte sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory; Murat would become his brother-in-law and one of his generals. Bonaparte was promoted to Commander of the Interior and given command of the Army of Italy.<ref name="rxviii"/> Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], whom he married on 9 March 1796 after he had broken off his engagement to Désirée Clary.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.102</ref>

===First Italian campaign (1796-97)===
{{Main|Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars}}
Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy and led it on a successful invasion of Italy. At the [[Battle of Lodi]] he defeated Austrian forces and drove them out of [[Lombardy]].<ref name="rxviii"/> He was defeated at [[Battle of Caldiero (1796)|Caldiero]] by Austrian reinforcements, led by [[József Alvinczi]], though Bonaparte regained the initiative at the crucial [[Battle of the Bridge of Arcole]] and proceeded to subdue the [[Papal States]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.129</ref>

Bonaparte argued against the wishes of Directory atheists to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope as he reasoned this would create a [[power vacuum]] which would be exploited by the [[Kingdom of Naples]]. Instead, in March 1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced it to [[suing for peace|negotiate peace]].<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.284-5</ref> The [[Treaty of Leoben]] gave France control of most of northern Italy and the [[Low Countries]], and a secret clause promised the [[Republic of Venice]] to Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending 1,100&nbsp;years of independence; he also authorised the French to loot treasures such as the [[Horses of Saint Mark]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.132</ref>

[[Image:1801 Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Three-quarter length depiction of Bonaparte, with black tunic and leather gloves, holding a standard and sword, turning backwards to look at his troops|''[[Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole]]'', by Baron [[Antoine-Jean Gros]], ([[circa|ca.]] 1801), [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris]]
His application of conventional military ideas to real-world situations effected his military triumphs, such as creative use of artillery as a mobile force to support his infantry. He referred to his tactics thus: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning. Look at Caesar; he fought the first like the last."<ref>McLynn 1998, p.145</ref>

He was adept at espionage and deception and could win battles by concealment of troop deployments and concentration of his forces on the 'hinge' of an enemy's weakened front. If he could not use his favourite [[Pincer movement|envelopment strategy]], he would take up the central position and attack two co-operating forces at their hinge, swing round to fight one until it fled, then turn to face the other.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.142</ref> In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons and 170 [[flag|standards]].<ref>Harvey 2006, p.179</ref> The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 pitched battles through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.135</ref>

During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics; he founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and another for circulation in France.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.306</ref> The royalists attacked Bonaparte for looting Italy and warned he might become a dictator.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.305</ref> Bonaparte sent General [[Pierre Augereau]] to Paris to lead a ''coup d'état'' and purge the royalists on 4 September — [[Coup of 18 Fructidor]]. This left Barras and his Republican allies in control again but dependent on Bonaparte who proceeded to peace negotiations with Austria. These negotiations resulted in the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]], and Bonaparte returned to Paris in December as a hero.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.322</ref> He met [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]], France's new Foreign Minister—who would later serve in the same capacity for Emperor Napoleon—and they began to prepare for an invasion of Britain.<ref name="rxviii"/>

===Egyptian expedition (1798–1801)===
{{Main|French Campaign in Egypt and Syria}}
[[Image:Jean-Léon Gérôme 003.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Person on a horse looks towards a giant statue of a head in the desert, with a blue sky|''Bonaparte Before the [[Great Sphinx of Giza|Sphinx]]'', (ca. 1868) by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Hearst Castle]]]]
After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided France's naval power was not yet strong enough to confront the Royal Navy in the [[English Channel]] and proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its [[Company rule in India#Trade|trade interests in India]].<ref name="rxviii"/> Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with a Muslim enemy of the British in India, [[Tipu Sultan]].<ref name=Watson/>

Napoleon assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions."<ref name=Amini>Amini 2000, p.12</ref> According to a February 1798 report by Talleyrand: "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from [[Suez]] to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English."<ref name=Amini/> The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to India.<ref>Dwyer 2008, pp.342</ref>

In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists: mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and [[geodesy|geodesists]] among them; their discoveries included the [[Rosetta Stone]], and their work was published in the ''[[Description de l'Égypte]]'' in 1809.<ref name=alder>Alder 2002</ref>

En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached [[Malta]] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. The two hundred Knights of French origin did not support the Grand Master, [[Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim]], who had succeeded a Frenchman, and made it clear they would not fight against their compatriots. Hompesch surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.175</ref>

[[Image:Francois-Louis-Joseph Watteau 001.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Cavalry battlescene with pyramids in background|''Battle of the Pyramids'', [[François-Louis-Joseph Watteau]], 1798–1799]]
General Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and on 1 July landed at [[Alexandria]].<ref name="rxviii"/> He fought the [[Battle of Shubra Khit]] against the [[Mamluk]]s, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practice their defensive tactic for the [[Battle of the Pyramids]] fought on 21 July, about 24&nbsp;km from the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]]. General Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry, but he formed hollow squares with supplies kept safely inside. 29 French<ref>McLynn 1998, p.179</ref> and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the morale of the French army.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.372</ref>

On 1 August, the British fleet under [[Horatio Nelson]] captured or destroyed all but two French vessels in the [[Battle of the Nile]], and Bonaparte's goal of a strengthened French position in the Mediterranean was frustrated.<ref name="rxx">Roberts 2001, p.xx</ref> His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.<ref>Dwyer 2008, pp.392</ref> In early 1799, he moved an army into the [[Wilayah|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]].<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.411-24</ref> The [[Siege of Jaffa|attack on Jaffa]] was particularly brutal: Bonaparte, on discovering many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on [[Parole#Prisoners of war|parole]], ordered the garrison and 1,400 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning to save bullets.<ref name="rxx"/> Men, women and children were robbed and murdered for three days.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.189</ref>

With his army weakened by disease—mostly [[bubonic plague]]—and poor supplies, Bonaparte was unable to [[Siege of Acre (1799)|reduce the fortress]] of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and returned to Egypt in May.<ref name="rxx"/> To speed up the retreat, he ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.193</ref> (However, British eyewitness accounts later showed that most of the men were still alive and had not been poisoned.) His supporters have argued this was necessary given the continued harassment of stragglers by Ottoman forces, and indeed those left behind alive were tortured and beheaded by the Ottomans. Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at [[Battle of Abukir (1799)|Abukir]].<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.442</ref>

==Ruler of France==
{{Main|18 Brumaire|Napoleonic era|l1=18 Brumaire|l2=the Napoleonic era}}
[[File:Bouchot - Le general Bonaparte au Conseil des Cinq-Cents.jpg|thumb|alt=Bonaparte in a simple general uniform in the middle of a scrum of red-robbed members of the Council of Five Hundred|General Bonaparte surrounded by members of the Council of Five Hundred during the [[18 Brumaire]] coup d'état, by [[François Bouchot]]]]

While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs through irregular delivery of newspapers and dispatches. He learned France had suffered a [[Campaigns of 1799 in the French Revolutionary Wars|series of defeats]] in the [[War of the Second Coalition]].<ref name=egyptreturn/> On 24 August 1799, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact he had received no explicit orders from Paris.<ref name="rxx"/> The army was left in the charge of [[Jean Baptiste Kléber]].<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.444</ref>

Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return to ward off possible invasions of French soil, but poor lines of communication meant the messages had failed to reach him.<ref name=egyptreturn>Connelly 2006, p.57</ref> By the time he reached Paris in October France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic was bankrupt, however, and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population.<ref>Dwyer 2008, p.455</ref> The Directory discussed Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak to punish him.<ref name=egyptreturn/>

Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, [[Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès]], for his support in a coup to overthrow the [[French Constitution of 1795|constitutional government]]. The leaders of the plot included his brother Lucien; the speaker of the [[Council of Five Hundred]], [[Roger Ducos]]; another Director, [[Joseph Fouché]]; and Talleyrand. On 9 November—18 Brumaire by the French Republican Calendar—Bonaparte was charged with the safety of the legislative councils, who were persuaded to remove to the [[Château de Saint-Cloud]], to the west of Paris, after a rumour of a Jacobin rebellion was spread by the plotters.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.215</ref> By the following day, the deputies had realised they faced an attempted coup. Faced with their remonstrations, Bonaparte led troops to seize control and disperse them, which left a [[rump legislature]] to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government.<ref name="rxx"/>

===French Consulate===
{{Main|French Consulate|War of the Second Coalition}}
[[Image:Napoleon4.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Portrait painting of a horse rearing-up at a 45-degree angle with a man sitting on it and pointing forwards with his right hand whilst holding onto the reins with his left|''[[Napoleon Crossing the Alps]]'' (1800), by [[Jacques-Louis David]]]]
Though Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmanoeuvred by Bonaparte, who drafted the [[Constitution of the Year VIII]] and secured his own election as [[First Consul]], and he took up residence at the Tuileries.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.224</ref> This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France.<ref name="rxx"/>

In 1800, Bonaparte and his troops crossed the Alps into Italy, where French forces had been almost completely driven out by the Austrians whilst he was in Egypt.{{#tag:ref|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 [[Horses in warfare|charger]] in the latter work.<ref>Chandler 2002, p.51</ref>|group=note}} The campaign began badly for the French after Bonaparte made strategic errors; one force was left [[Siege of Genoa (1800)|besieged at Genoa]] but managed to hold out and thereby occupy Austrian resources.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.235">McLynn 1998, p.235</ref> This effort, and French general [[Louis Desaix]]'s timely reinforcements, allowed Bonaparte narrowly to avoid defeat and to triumph over the Austrians in June at the significant [[Battle of Marengo]].<ref name="Schom 1997, p.302">Schom 1997, p.302</ref>

Bonaparte's brother Joseph led the peace negotiations in [[Lunéville]] and reported that Austria, emboldened by British support, would not recognise France's newly gained territory. As negotiations became increasingly fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general [[Jean Victor Marie Moreau|Moreau]] to strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to victory at [[Battle of Hohenlinden|Hohenlinden]]. As a result, the [[Treaty of Lunéville]] was signed in February 1801; the French gains of the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased.<ref name="Schom 1997, p.302"/>

====Temporary peace in Europe====
{{see also|Haitian Revolution}}
[[File:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Portrait de Napoléon Bonaparte en premier consul.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bonaparte, First Consul|Napoleon as First Consul of the Republic]], by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres]]]]

Both France and Britain had become tired of war and signed the [[Treaty of Amiens]] in October 1801 and March 1802. This called for the withdrawal of British troops from most colonial territories it had recently occupied.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.235"/> The peace was uneasy and short-lived. Britain did not evacuate Malta as promised and protested against Bonaparte's [[annexation]] of Piedmont and his [[Act of Mediation]], which established a new [[Swiss Confederation (Napoleonic)|Swiss Confederation]], though neither of these territories were covered by the treaty.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.265</ref> The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803, and he reassembled the invasion camp at Boulogne.<ref name="rxx"/>

Bonaparte faced a major setback and eventual defeat in the Haitian Revolution. By the [[Law of 20 May 1802]] Bonaparte re-established slavery in France's colonial possessions, where it had been banned following the Revolution.<ref>Jackson 2004, p.33</ref> Following a slave revolt, he [[Saint-Domingue expedition|sent an army]] to reconquer [[Saint-Domingue]] and establish a base. The force was, however, destroyed by [[yellow fever]] and fierce resistance led by Haitian generals [[Toussaint Louverture]] and [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]].{{#tag:ref|Claude Ribbe advances the thesis that the French used [[gas chamber]]s.<ref>Ribbe 2007</ref>|group=note}} Faced by imminent war against Britain and bankruptcy, he recognised French possessions on the mainland of North America would be indefensible and sold them to the United States—the [[Louisiana Purchase]]—for less than three cents per acre (7.4 cents per hectare).<ref>Connelly 2006, p.70</ref>


===French Empire===
{{Main|First French Empire}}
{{See also|Coronation of Napoleon I|Napoleonic Wars}}
[[File:Imperial Standard of Napoléon I.svg|thumb|left|200px|Imperial Standard of Napoleon I.]]
[[File:Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon edit.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Coronation of Napoleon I]] and [[Empress Josephine]]'' by [[Jacques-Louis David]],in 1804.]]
Napoleon faced royalist and Jacobin plots as France's ruler, including the ''[[Conspiration des poignards]]'' (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and the [[Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise]] (also known as the ''infernal machine'') two months later.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.243</ref> In January 1804, his police uncovered an assassination plot against him which involved Moreau and which was ostensibly sponsored by the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] former rulers of France. On the advice of Talleyrand, Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]], in violation of neighbouring [[Baden]]'s sovereignty. After a secret trial the Duke was executed, even though he had not been involved in the plot.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.296</ref>

Napoleon used the plot to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as emperor, as a Bourbon restoration would be more difficult if the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the constitution.<ref name=m297>McLynn 1998, p.297</ref> Napoleon [[Crown of Napoleon|crowned]] himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at [[Notre Dame de Paris]] and then crowned Joséphine Empress. [[Ludwig van Beethoven]], a long-time admirer, was disappointed at this turn towards imperialism and scratched his dedication to Napoleon from his [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|3rd Symphony]].<ref name=m297/> The story that Napoleon seized the crown out of the hands of [[Pope Pius VII]] during the ceremony to avoid his subjugation to the authority of the pontiff is [[apocrypha]]l; the coronation procedure had been agreed in advance.<ref group=note>Napoleon gave the pope a tiara following the ceremony, now referred to as the [[Napoleon Tiara]].</ref>

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

====War of the Third Coalition====
{{Main|War of the Third Coalition}}
[[File:Austerlitz-baron-Pascal.jpg|thumb|250px|Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by [[François Gérard]] 1805. The [[Battle of Austerlitz]], also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was Napoleon's greatest victory, where the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] effectively crushed the [[Third Coalition]].]]

Great Britain broke the Peace of Amiens and declared war on France in May 1803. Napoleon set up a camp at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]] to prepare for an [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invasion of Britain]]. By 1805, Britain had convinced Austria and Russia to join a Third Coalition against France. Napoleon knew the French fleet could not defeat the Royal Navy in a head-to-head battle and planned to lure it away from the English Channel.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.321">McLynn 1998, p.321</ref>

The [[French Navy]] would escape from the British blockades of Toulon and Brest and threaten to attack the West Indies, thus drawing off the British defence of the [[Western Approaches]], in the hope a Franco-Spanish fleet could take control of the channel long enough for French armies to cross from Boulogne and [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invade England]].<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.321"/> However, after defeat at the naval [[Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)|Battle of Cape Finisterre]] in July 1805 and [[Pierre-Charles Villeneuve|Admiral Villeneuve's]] retreat to Cadiz, invasion was never again a realistic option for Napoleon.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.332</ref>

As the Austrian army marched on [[Bavaria]], he called the invasion of Britain off and ordered the army stationed at Boulogne, his ''[[Grande Armée]]'', to march to Germany secretly in a [[turning movement]]—the [[Ulm Campaign]]. This encircled the Austrian forces about to attack France and severed their lines of communication. On 20 October 1805, the French captured 30,000 prisoners at [[Battle of Ulm|Ulm]], though the next day Britain's victory at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] meant the Royal Navy gained control of the seas.<ref name="Goetz 2005, p.301">Goetz 2005, p.301</ref>

Six weeks later, on the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]]. This ended the Third Coalition, and he commissioned the [[Arc de Triomphe]] to commemorate the victory. Austria had to concede territory; the [[Peace of Pressburg]] led to the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and creation of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] with Napoleon named as its ''[[Protector (title)|Protector]]''.<ref name="Goetz 2005, p.301"/>

Napoleon would go on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought."<ref>Schom 1997, p.414</ref> Frank McLynn suggests Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one".<ref>McLynn 1998, p.350</ref> [[Vincent Cronin]] disagrees, stating Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, that "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".<ref>Cronin 1994, p.344</ref>

====Middle-Eastern alliances====
{{Main|Franco-Ottoman alliance|Franco-Persian alliance}}
[[File:The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza Qazvini Finkenstein Castle 27 Avril 1807 by Francois Mulard.jpg|thumb|alt=A group of men, some wearing beards and turbans, are in a room with a large painting on the wall, they look towards a doorway wear a man in military uniform including white johphurs (Napoleon) looks back at them and has his right hand in his waistcoat.|The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini meets with Napoleon I at [[Finckenstein Palace]], 27 April 1807, by [[François Mulard]]]]

Even after the failed campaign in Egypt, Napoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French presence in the Middle East.<ref name=Watson>Watson 2003, p.13-14</ref> An alliance with Middle-Eastern powers would have the strategic advantage of pressuring Russia on its southern border. From 1803, Napoleon went to considerable lengths to try to convince the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia in the [[Balkans]] and join his anti-Russian coalition.<ref name=Karsh11>Karsh 2001, p.11</ref>

Napoleon sent General [[Horace Sebastiani]] as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire recover lost territories.<ref name=Karsh11/> In February 1806, following Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz and the ensuing dismemberment of the [[Habsburg Empire]], the Ottoman Emperor [[Selim III]] finally recognised Napoleon as Emperor, formally opting for an alliance with France ''"our sincere and natural ally"'', and war with Russia and England.<ref>Karsh 2001, p.12</ref>

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

====War of the Fourth Coalition====
{{Main|War of the Fourth Coalition}}
[[File:Tilsitz 1807.JPG|thumb|The [[Treaties of Tilsit]]: Napoleon meeting with [[Alexander I of Russia]] on a raft in the middle of the [[Neman River]].]]
The Fourth Coalition was assembled in 1806, and Napoleon defeated Prussia at the [[Battle of Jena-Auerstedt]] in October.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.356</ref> He marched against advancing Russian armies through Poland and was involved in the bloody stalemate of the [[Battle of Eylau]] on 6 February 1807.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.370</ref>

After a decisive victory at [[Battle of Friedland|Friedland]], he signed the [[Treaties of Tilsit]]; one with Tsar [[Alexander I of Russia]] which divided the continent between the two [[power in international relations|powers]]; the other with Prussia which stripped that country of half its territory. Napoleon placed [[puppet state|puppet rulers]] on the thrones of [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire|German states]], including his brother Jérôme as king of the new [[Kingdom of Westphalia]]. In the French-controlled part of Poland, he established the [[Duchy of Warsaw]] with King [[Frederick Augustus I of Saxony]] as ruler.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.426</ref>

With his [[Milan Decree|Milan]] and [[Berlin Decree]]s, Napoleon attempted to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain called the ''[[Continental System]]''. This act of economic warfare did not succeed, as it encouraged British merchants to smuggle into continental Europe, and Napoleon's exclusively land-based customs enforcers could not stop them.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.497</ref>

====Peninsular War====
{{Main|Peninsular War}}
[[File:Malasana y su hija - Eugenio Álvarez Dumont.jpg|thumb|[[Manuela Malasaña]] at the Dos de Mayo Uprising]]
Portugal did not comply with the [[Continental System]], so in 1807 Napoleon invaded with the support of Spain. Under the pretext of a reinforcement of the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, Napoleon invaded Spain as well, replaced [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] with his brother Joseph and placed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat in Joseph's stead at Naples. This led to resistance from the Spanish army and civilians in the [[Dos de Mayo Uprising]].<ref>Gates 2001, p.20</ref>

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

Following a French retreat from much of the country, Napoleon took command and defeated the [[Spanish Army]]. He retook Madrid, then outmanoeuvred a British army sent to support the Spanish and drove it to the coast.<ref>Chandler 1995, p.631</ref> Before the Spanish population had been fully subdued, Austria again threatened war, and Napoleon returned to France.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.408</ref>

The costly and often brutal Peninsular War continued in Napoleon's absence; in the second [[Siege of Saragossa (1809)|Siege of Saragossa]] most of the city was destroyed and over 50,000 people perished.<ref>Harvey 2006, p.631</ref> Although Napoleon left 300,000 of his finest troops to battle Spanish [[guerrilla]]s as well as British and Portuguese forces commanded by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington]], French control over the peninsula again deteriorated.<ref>Gates 2001, p.177</ref>

Following several allied victories, the war concluded after Napoleon's abdication in 1814.<ref>Gates 2001, p.467</ref> Napoleon later described the Peninsular War as central to his final defeat, writing in his memoirs "That unfortunate war destroyed me... All... my disasters are bound up in that fatal knot."<ref>Napoleon Bonaparte, Memorial de Sainte-Helene, Vol 1 (Paris: Garnier fretes, 1961 (1823), pp. 609–610</ref>

====War of the Fifth Coalition and remarriage====
{{Main|War of the Fifth Coalition}}
In April 1809, Austria abruptly broke its alliance with France, and Napoleon was forced to assume command of forces on the Danube and German fronts. After early successes, the French faced difficulties in crossing the [[Danube]] and suffered a defeat in May at the [[Battle of Aspern-Essling]] near [[Vienna]]. The Austrians failed to capitalise on the situation and allowed Napoleon's forces to regroup. He defeated the Austrians again at [[Battle of Wagram|Wagram]], and the [[Treaty of Schönbrunn]] was signed between Austria and France.<ref name="McLynn423"/>

Britain was the other member of the coalition. In addition to the [[Iberian Peninsula]], the British planned to open another front in mainland Europe. However, Napoleon was able to rush reinforcements to [[Antwerp]], owing to Britain's inadequately organised [[Walcheren Campaign]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.422</ref>

He concurrently annexed the Papal States because of the Church's refusal to support the Continental System; Pope Pius VII responded by [[excommunication|excommunicating]] the emperor. The pope was then abducted by Napoleon's officers, and though Napoleon had not ordered his abduction, he did not order Pius' release. The pope was moved throughout Napoleon's territories, sometimes while ill, and Napoleon sent delegations to pressure him on issues including agreement to a new concordat with France, which Pius refused. In 1810 Napoleon married [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria]], following his divorce of Joséphine; this further strained his relations with the Church, and thirteen cardinals were imprisoned for non-attendance at the marriage ceremony.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.470</ref> The pope remained confined for 5&nbsp;years and did not return to Rome until May 1814.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.433–5</ref>

[[File:Napoleoniceurope.png|thumb|alt=Map of Europe. French Empire shown as bigger than present day France as it included parts of present-day Netherlands and Italy.|[[First French Empire]] at its greatest extent in 1811{{legend|#000090|French Empire}}{{legend|#3340dd|French [[satellite state]]s}}{{legend|#5590ee|Allied states}}]]
Napoleon consented to the ascent to the Swedish throne of [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Bernadotte]], one of his marshals and a long-term rival of Napoleon's, in November 1810. Napoleon had indulged Bernadotte's indiscretions because he was married to his former fiancée Désirée Clary but came to regret sparing his life when Bernadotte later allied Sweden with France's enemies.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.472</ref>

====Invasion of Russia====
{{Main|French invasion of Russia}}
The [[Congress of Erfurt]] sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance, and the leaders had a friendly personal relationship after their first meeting at Tilsit in 1807.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.378</ref> By 1811, however, tensions had increased and Alexander was under pressure from the [[Russian nobility]] to break off the alliance. An early sign the relationship had deteriorated was the Russian's virtual abandonment of the Continental System, which led Napoleon to threaten Alexander with serious consequences if he formed an alliance with Britain.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.495</ref>

By 1812, advisers to Alexander suggested the possibility of an invasion of the French Empire and the recapture of Poland. On receipt of intelligence reports on Russia's war preparations, Napoleon expanded his ''Grande Armée'' to more than 450,000 men.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.507</ref> He ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the Russian heartland and prepared for an offensive campaign; on 23 June 1812 the invasion commenced.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.506</ref>

In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon termed the war the ''Second Polish War''—the ''First Polish War'' had been the [[Bar Confederation]] uprising by Polish nobles against Russia in 1768. Polish patriots wanted the Russian part of Poland to be joined with the Duchy of Warsaw and an independent Poland created. This was rejected by Napoleon, who stated he had promised his ally Austria this would not happen. Napoleon refused to [[manumission|manumit]] the Russian [[serf]]s because of concerns this might provoke a reaction in his army's rear. The serfs later committed atrocities against French soldiers during France's retreat.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.504—505</ref>

[[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|250px|''Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia'', a painting by [[Adolph Northen]].]]
The Russians avoided Napoleon's objective of a decisive engagement and instead retreated deeper into Russia. A brief attempt at resistance was made at [[Battle of Smolensk (1812)|Smolensk]] in August; the Russians were defeated in a series of battles, and Napoleon resumed his advance. The Russians again avoided battle, although in a few cases this was only achieved because Napoleon uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity arose. Owing to the Russian army's [[scorched earth]] tactics, the French found it increasingly difficult to forage food for themselves and their horses.<ref>Harvey 2006, p.773</ref>

The Russians eventually offered battle outside Moscow on 7 September: the [[Battle of Borodino]] resulted in approximately 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French dead, wounded or captured, and may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history up to that point in time.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.518</ref> Although the French had won, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major battle Napoleon had hoped would be decisive. Napoleon's own account was: "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible."<ref>Markham 1988, p.194</ref>

The Russian army withdrew and retreated past Moscow. Napoleon entered the city, assuming its fall would end the war and Alexander would negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city's governor [[Feodor Rostopchin]], rather than capitulation, Moscow was burned. After a month, concerned about loss of control back in France, Napoleon and his army left.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.522</ref>

The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat, including from the harshness of the [[Russian Winter]]. The Armée had begun as over 400,000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer than 40,000 crossed the [[Berezina River]] in November 1812.<ref>Markham 1988, p.190 and 199</ref> The Russians had lost 150,000 in battle and hundreds of thousands of civilians.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.541</ref>

====War of the Sixth Coalition====
{{Main|War of the Sixth Coalition}}
[[File:Montfort - Adieux de Napoleon a la Garde imperiale.jpg|thumb|''Adieux de Napoléon à la Garde impériale dans la cour du Cheval-Blanc du château de Fontainebleau.'' [Napoleon's farewell to the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]] in the White Horse courtyard of the [[Palace of Fontainebleau]]] - on 20 April 1814. By Antoine Alphonse Montfort, [[Palace of Versailles]] national museum.]]

There was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 while both the Russians and the French rebuilt their forces; Napoleon was then able to field 350,000 troops.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.549</ref> Heartened by France's loss in Russia, Prussia joined with Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal in a new coalition. Napoleon assumed command in Germany and inflicted a series of defeats on the Coalition culminating in the [[Battle of Dresden]] in August 1813.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.565</ref>

Despite these successes, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon, and the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size and lost at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost more than 90,000 casualties in total.<ref>Chandler 1995, p.1020</ref>

Napoleon withdrew back into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more than three times as many Allied troops.<ref>Fremont-Barnes 2004, p.14</ref> The French were surrounded: British armies pressed from the south, and other Coalition forces positioned to attack from the German states. Napoleon won a series of victories in the [[Six Days' Campaign]], though these were not significant enough to turn the tide; Paris was captured by the Coalition in March 1814.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.585</ref>

When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his marshals decided to mutiny.<ref>Gates 2003, p.259</ref> On 4 April, led by [[Michel Ney|Ney]], they confronted Napoleon. Napoleon asserted the army would follow him, and Ney replied the army would follow its generals. Napoleon had no choice but to abdicate. He did so in favour of his son; however, the Allies refused to accept this, and Napoleon was forced to abdicate unconditionally on 11 April.

====Exile to Elba====
[[Image:Napoleon's exile to Elba3.jpg|thumb|alt=Cartoon of Napoleon sitting back to front on a donkey with a broken sword and two soldiers in the background drumming|British etching from 1814 in celebration of Napoleon's first exile to Elba at the close of the War of the Sixth Coalition]]
{{Quote|''The Allied Powers having declared that Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to do in the interests of France.''<br />Done in the palace of Fontainebleau, 11 April 1814.|Act of abdication of Napoleon<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR|title=Napoleon's act of abdication|accessdate=28 August 2009|publisher=Bulletin des lois de la Republique Française}}</ref>}} In the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]], the victors exiled him to [[Elba]], an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, 20&nbsp;km off the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him to retain his title of emperor. Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill he had carried since a near-capture by Russians on the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, and he survived to be exiled while his wife and son took refuge in Austria.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.593-4</ref> In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, and issued decrees on modern agricultural methods.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.597</ref>

====Hundred Days====
{{Main|Hundred Days}}
[[File:Napoleon returned.jpg|thumb|Napoleon returned from Elba, by Karl Stenben, 19th century]]
[[File:Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG|thumb|[[Battle of Waterloo]], 1815&nbsp;– painting by [[William Sadler (painter)|William Sadler]]. The Battle of Waterloo Campaign was Napoleon's last. This defeat in the War of the Seventh Coalition put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his [[Hundred Days]]' return from exile.]]

Separated from his wife and son, who had come under Austrian control, cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815. He landed at [[Golfe-Juan]] on the French mainland, two days later.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.604</ref>

The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact [[Route Napoléon|just south]] of [[Grenoble]] on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."<ref>McLynn 1998, p.605</ref>

The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris; [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]] fled. On 13 March, the powers at the [[Congress of Vienna]] declared Napoleon an [[outlaw]], and four days later Great Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to each put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.607</ref>

Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now called the Hundred Days. By the start of June the armed forces available to him had reached 200,000, and he decided to go on the offensive to attempt to drive a wedge between the oncoming British and Prussian armies. The French Army of the North crossed the frontier into the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], in modern-day Belgium.<ref>Chesney 2006, p.35</ref>

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

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

Off the port of [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime]], after consideration of an escape to the United States, Napoleon formally demanded political asylum from the British [[Frederick Lewis Maitland (Royal Navy rear-admiral)|Captain Frederick Maitland]] on {{HMS|Bellerophon|1786|6}} on 15 July 1815.<ref>Cordingly 2004, p.254</ref>

==Exile on Saint Helena==
[[File:Napoleon sainthelene.jpg|thumb|250px|Napoleon on [[Saint Helena]].]]
Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to the island of [[Saint Helena]] in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870&nbsp;km from the west coast of Africa. In his first two months there, he lived in a pavilion on the ''[[Briars, Saint Helena|Briars]]'' estate, which belonged to a William Balcombe. Napoleon became friendly with his family, especially his younger daughter Lucia Elizabeth who later wrote ''Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon''.<ref>Balcombe 1845</ref> This friendship ended in 1818 when British authorities became suspicious that Balcombe had acted as an intermediary between Napoleon and Paris and dismissed him from the island.<ref>Thomson 1969, p.77–9</ref>

Napoleon moved to [[Longwood House]] in December 1815; it had fallen into disrepair, and the location was damp, windswept and unhealthy. ''[[The Times]]'' published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death, and he often complained of the living conditions in letters to the governor and his custodian, [[Hudson Lowe]].<ref>Schom 1997, p.769–770</ref>

With a small cadre of followers, Napoleon dictated his memoirs and criticised his captors—particularly Lowe. Lowe's treatment of Napoleon is regarded as poor by historians such as Frank McLynn.<ref name=Lowe>McLynn 1998, p.642</ref> Lowe exacerbated a difficult situation through measures including a reduction in Napoleon's expenditure, a rule that no gifts could be delivered to him if they mentioned his imperial status, and a document his supporters had to sign that guaranteed they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely.<ref name=Lowe/>

[[Image:16 Napoleons exole St Helena June1970.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Photo of a front garden and large brown building. French flag on a flagpole next to a small cannon.|[[Longwood House]], Saint Helena: site of Napoleon's captivity]]
In 1818, ''The Times'' reported a false rumour of Napoleon's escape and said the news had been greeted by spontaneous illuminations in London.{{#tag:ref|A custom in which householders place candles in street-facing windows to herald good news.<ref>Woodward 2005, p.51–9</ref>|group=note}} There was sympathy for him in the British Parliament: [[Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland|Lord Holland]] gave a speech which demanded the prisoner be treated with no unnecessary harshness.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.644</ref> Napoleon kept himself informed of the events through ''The Times'' and hoped for release in the event that Holland became prime minister. He also enjoyed the support of [[Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald|Lord Cochrane]], who was involved in Chile's and Brazil's struggle for independence and wanted to rescue Napoleon and help him set up a new empire in South America, a scheme frustrated by Napoleon's death in 1821.<ref>Macaulay 1986, p.141</ref>

There were other plots to rescue Napoleon from captivity including one from [[Texas]], where exiled soldiers from the ''Grande Armée'' wanted a resurrection of the Napoleonic Empire in America. There was even a plan to rescue him with a primitive [[submarine]].<ref>Wilkins 1972</ref> For [[Lord Byron]], Napoleon was the epitome of the Romantic hero, the persecuted, lonely and flawed genius. The news that Napoleon had taken up gardening at Longwood also appealed to more domestic British sensibilities.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.651</ref>

===Death===
{{See|Napoleon's Death Mask|Retour des cendres}}
Napoleon's illness began in September 1817. His personal physician, [[Barry O'Meara]], warned the authorities of his declining state of health mainly caused, according to him, to the pointless harsh treatments of the captive in the hands of his "gaoler", Sir ''Hudson Lowe'', which led Napoleon to confine himself for months in his damp and wretched habitation of ''Longwood''. O'Meara was also keeping a clandestine correspondence with a clerk at the Admiralty in London, knowing that his letters were read by higher authorities: he hoped, in such way, to rise alarm to the government, but to no avail<ref>Albert Benhamou, ''[http://www.inside-longwood.com Inside Longwood - Barry O'Meara's clandestine letters]'', 2012</ref>.
In February 1821, his health began to fail rapidly, and on 3 May two British physicians, who had recently arrived, attended on him but could only recommend palliatives.<ref name="McLynn655">McLynn 1998, p.655</ref> He died two days later, after confession, [[Anointing of the Sick (Catholic Church)|Extreme Unction]] and [[Viaticum]] in the presence of Father Ange Vignali.<ref name="McLynn655"/> His last words were, "France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine."("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.")<ref name="McLynn655"/>

Napoleon's original [[death mask]] was created around 6 May, though it is not clear which doctor created it.<ref>Wilson 1975, p.293–5</ref>{{#tag:ref|It was customary to cast a death mask or mold of a leader. Four genuine death masks of Napoleon are known to exist: one in [[The Cabildo]], a state museum located in New Orleans, one in a Liverpool museum, another in Havana and one in the library of the [[University of North Carolina]].<ref>Fulghum 2007</ref>|group=note}} In his will, he had asked to be buried on the banks of the [[Seine]], but the British governor said he should be buried on St. Helena, in the Valley of the Willows. Hudson Lowe insisted the inscription should read 'Napoleon Bonaparte'; [[Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon|Montholon]] and [[Henri Gatien Bertrand|Bertrand]] wanted the Imperial title 'Napoleon' as royalty were signed by their first names only. As a result the tomb was left nameless.<ref name="McLynn655"/>
[[Image:Tumba de Napoleon Bonaparte.jpg|thumb|alt=Photo of a large, shiny burgundy cuboid-shaped vessel raised on a dark green plinth. There are two female statues in the background either side of the vessel.|Napoleon's tomb at [[Les Invalides]]]]

In 1840, [[Louis Philippe I]] obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon's remains to France. The remains were transported aboard the frigate [[French ship Belle Poule (1828)|''Belle-Poule'']], which had been painted black for the occasion, and on 29 November she arrived in [[Cherbourg]]. The remains were transferred to the steamship ''Normandie'', which transported them to [[Le Havre]], up the Seine to [[Rouen]] and on to Paris.<ref name="Driskel 1993, p.168">Driskel 1993, p.168</ref>

On 15 December, a [[state funeral]] was held. The hearse proceeded from the Arc de Triomphe down the [[Champs-Élysées]], across the [[Place de la Concorde]] to the [[Les Invalides|''Esplanade des Invalides'']] and then to the cupola in St Jérôme's Chapel, where it stayed until the tomb designed by [[Louis Visconti]] was completed. In 1861, Napoleon's remains were entombed in a [[porphyry (geology)|porphyry]] sarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides.<ref name="Driskel 1993, p.168"/>

====Cause of death====
Napoleon's physician, [[François Carlo Antommarchi]], led the autopsy, which found the cause of death to be [[stomach cancer]]. Antommarchi did not, however, sign the official report.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.656</ref> Napoleon's father had died of stomach cancer though this was seemingly unknown at the time of the autopsy.<ref>Johnson 2002, p.180–1</ref> Antommarchi found evidence of a stomach ulcer, and it was the most convenient explanation for the British who wanted to avoid criticism over their care of the emperor.<ref name="McLynn655"/>

[[File:Napoleon sur son lit de mort Horace Vernet 1826.jpg|thumb|alt=Gold-framed portrait painting of a gaunt middle-aged man with receding hair and laurel wreath, lying eyes-closed on white pillow with a white blanket covering to his neck and a gold Jesus cross resting on his chest|''Napoléon sur son lit de mort'' (Napoleon on his death bed), by [[Horace Vernet]], 1826.]]
In 1955, the diaries of Napoleon's valet, Louis Marchand, appeared in print. His description of Napoleon in the months before his death led [[Sten Forshufvud]] to put forward other causes for his death, including deliberate [[arsenic poisoning]], in a 1961 paper in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref name=Cullen>Cullen 2008, p.146–48</ref> Arsenic was used as a poison during the era because it was undetectable when administered over a long period. Forshufvud, in a 1978 book with [[Ben Weider]], noted the emperor's body was found to be remarkably well-preserved when moved in 1840. Arsenic is a strong preservative, and therefore this supported the poisoning hypothesis. Forshufvud and Weider observed that Napoleon had attempted to quench abnormal thirst by drinking high levels of [[orgeat syrup]] that contained cyanide compounds in the almonds used for flavouring.<ref name=Cullen/>

They maintained that the [[potassium tartrate]] used in his treatment prevented his stomach from expellation of these compounds and that the thirst was a symptom of poisoning. Their hypothesis was that the [[calomel]] given to Napoleon became an overdose, which killed him and left behind extensive [[tissue (biology)|tissue]] damage.<ref name=Cullen/> A 2007 article stated the type of arsenic found in Napoleon's hair shafts was mineral type, the most toxic, and according to toxicologist Patrick Kintz, this supported the conclusion his death was murder.<ref name=cullen156>Cullen 2008, p.156</ref>

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

There have been modern studies which have supported the original autopsy finding.<ref name=cullen156/> Researchers, in a 2008 study, analysed samples of Napoleon's hair from throughout his life, and from his family and other contemporaries. All samples had high levels of arsenic, approximately 100 times higher than the current average. According to these researchers, Napoleon's body was already heavily contaminated with arsenic as a boy, and the high arsenic concentration in his hair was not caused by intentional poisoning; people were constantly exposed to arsenic from glues and dyes throughout their lives.{{#tag:ref|The body can tolerate large doses of arsenic if ingested regularly, and arsenic was a fashionable [[Panacea (medicine)|cure-all]].<ref>Cullen 2008, p.50</ref>|group=note}} 2007 and 2008 studies dismissed evidence of arsenic poisoning, and confirmed evidence of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer as the cause of death.<ref>Cullen 2008, p.161 and Hindmarsh et al 2008, p.2092</ref>

==Reforms==
Bonaparte instituted lasting reforms, including higher education, a [[tax code]], road and sewer systems, and established the [[Banque de France]] (central bank). He negotiated the [[Concordat of 1801]] with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the mostly Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the [[Organic Articles]], which regulated public worship in France. Later that year, Bonaparte became President of the French Academy of Sciences and appointed [[Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre]] its Permanent Secretary.<ref name=alder/>

In May 1802, he instituted the [[Legion of Honour]], a substitute for the old royalist decorations and [[chivalric order|orders of chivalry]], to encourage civilian and military achievements; the order is still the highest decoration in France.<ref>Blaufarb 2007, p.101–2</ref> His powers were increased by the [[Constitution of the Year X]] including: ''Article 1. The French people name, and the Senate proclaims Napoleon-Bonaparte First Consul for Life.''<ref>Edwards 1999, p.55</ref> After this he was generally referred to as Napoleon rather than Bonaparte.<ref name=m290>McLynn 1998, p.290</ref>

Napoleon's [[civil code|set of civil laws]], the ''Code Civil''—now often known as the [[Napoleonic Code]]—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 (France)|Council of State]] that revised the drafts. The development of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] legal system with its stress on clearly written and accessible law. Other codes were commissioned by Napoleon to codify criminal and commerce law; a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which enacted rules of [[due process]].<ref>McLynn 1998, 255</ref> See ''[[Napoleon#Legacy|Legacy]]''.

===Napoleonic Code===
{{Main|Napoleonic Code}}
[[Image:Code Civil 1804.png|thumb|upright|alt=Page of French writing|First page of the 1804 original edition of the [[civil code|Code Civil]]]]
The Napoleonic code was adopted throughout much of Europe, though only in the lands he conquered, and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Napoleon said: "My true glory is not to have won 40 battles...Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories.&nbsp;... But...what will live forever, is my Civil Code."<ref>Wanniski 1998, p.184</ref> The Code still has importance today in a quarter of the world's jurisdictions including in Europe, the Americas and Africa.<ref>Wood 2007, p.55</ref>

Dieter Langewiesche described the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of [[bourgeoisie|bourgeois society]] in Germany by the extension of the right to own property and an acceleration towards the end of [[feudalism]]. Napoleon reorganised what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of more than a thousand entities, into a more streamlined forty-state [[Confederation of the Rhine]]; this provided the basis for the [[German Confederation]] and the [[unification of Germany]] in 1871.<ref>Scheck 2008, Chapter: The Road to National Unification</ref>

The movement toward national unification in Italy was similarly precipitated by Napoleonic rule.<ref>Astarita 2005, p.264</ref> These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the [[nation state]].<ref>Alter 2006, p.61–76</ref>

===Metric system===
{{Main|History of the metric system|Mesures usuelles|Units of measurement in France}}
The official introduction of the metric system in September 1799 was unpopular in large sections of French society, and Napoleon's rule greatly aided adoption of the new standard across not only France but the French [[sphere of influence]]. Napoleon ultimately took a retrograde step in 1812 when he passed legislation to introduce the ''[[mesures usuelles]]'' (traditional units of measurement) for retail trade<ref name=H&H>{{cite web|url = http://www.archive.org/stream/outlinesofevolut00halluoft/outlinesofevolut00halluoft_djvu.txt|title = Outlines of the evolution of weights and measures and the metric system|first1 = William|last1 = Hallock|first2 = Herbert T|last2 = Wade|publisher = The Macmillan Company|year = 1906|pages = 66–69|location = London}}</ref>&nbsp;– a system of measure that resembled the pre-revolutionary units but were based on the kilogram and the metre; for example the ''livre metrique'' (metric pound) was 500&nbsp;g<ref name=historique>{{cite web|url =http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm
|title = Un historique du mètre|language = French|author = Denis Février
|publisher = Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie
|accessdate =10 March 2011}}</ref> instead of 489.5&nbsp;g&nbsp;– the value of the ''livre du roi'' (the king's pound).<ref>{{cite web
|title = Les poids et mesures sous l’Ancien Régime
|language = French
|trans_title = The weights and measures of the Ancien Régime
|url = http://www.histoire-genealogie.com/spip.php?article396
|author = Thierry Sabot
|date = 1 October 2000
|accessdate =10 February 2011
|publisher = histoire-genealogie}}</ref> Other units of measure were rounded in a similar manner. This however laid the foundations for the definitive introduction of the metric system across Europe in the middle of the 19th century.<ref>O'Connor 2003</ref>

==Napoleon and religions==
{{See|Napoleon and the Catholic Church}}

Napoleon's baptism was held in [[Ajaccio]] on 21 July 1771; he was piously raised and received a Christian education; however, his teachers failed to give faith to the young boy.<ref name="napoleon.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |title=L'Empire et le Saint-Siège |publisher=Napoleon.org |date= |accessdate=15 June 2011}}</ref> As an adult, Napoleon was described as a "[[deist]] with involuntary respect and fondness for Catholicism."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Revue_des_Deux_Mondes_-_1867_-_tome_71.djvu/386 |title=Revue des Deux Mondes&nbsp;– 1867&nbsp;– tome 71, p.386 |language={{fr icon}} |publisher=Fr.wikisource.org |date= |accessdate=15 June 2011}}</ref> He never believed in a living God; Napoleon's deity was an absent and distant God,<ref name="napoleon.org"/> but he pragmatically considered organised religions as key elements of [[social order]],<ref name="napoleon.org"/> and especially Catholicism, whose, according to him, "splendorous ceremonies and sublime moral better act over the imagination of the people than other religions".<ref name="napoleon.org"/>

Napoleon had a [[civil marriage]] with Joséphine de Beauharnais, without religious ceremony, on 9 March 1796. During the campaign in Egypt, Napoleon showed much tolerance towards religion for a revolutionary general, holding discussions with [[Ulama|Muslim scholar]]s and ordering religious celebrations, but [[Dominique Martin Dupuy|General Dupuy]], who accompanied Napoleon, revealed, shortly after [[Pope Pius VI]]'s death, the political reasons for such behaviour: "We are fooling Egyptians with our pretended interest for their religion; neither Bonaparte nor we believe in this religion more than we did in [[Pope Pius VI|Pius the Defunct]]'s one".{{#tag:ref|“Nous trompons les Égyptiens par notre simili attachement à leur religion, à laquelle Bonaparte et nous ne croyons pas plus qu'à celle de Pie le défunt.”<ref>[[Jacques Bainville]], Napoleon I, p.94</ref>|group=note}}

His religious opportunism is epitomized in his famous quote: "It is by making myself Catholic that I brought peace to [[Chouannerie|Brittany]] and [[War in the Vendée|Vendée]]. It is by making myself Italian that I won minds in Italy. It is by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt. If I governed a nation of Jews, I should reestablish the [[Temple of Solomon]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/ins/weider/c_peace.html |title=Napoleon: Man of Peace |publisher=Napoleon-series.org |date=1999-11-17 |accessdate=2011-11-04}}</ref>

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at [[Notre Dame de Paris]] with the benediction of [[Pope Pius VII]]. The 1 April 1810, Napoleon religiously married the Austrian princess [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise]]. In a private discussion with general [[Gaspard Gourgaud|Gourgaud]] during his exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon expressed [[Materialism|materialistic]] views on the origin of man,{{#tag:ref|"I think the matter that made man was slime, warmed by the sun and vivified by electric fluids. What are animals —an ox, for example— but organized matter? Well, when we see that our physical frame resembles theirs, may we not believe that we are only better organized matter... The most simple idea consists in worshiping the sun, which gives life to everything. I repeat, I think man was created in an atmosphere warmed by the sun, and that after a certain time this productive power ceased."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/talkofnapoleonat007678mbp#page/n311/mode/2up ''Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena']' (1903), pp. 270–271</ref>|group=note}} and doubted the [[divinity of Jesus]], stating that it is absurd to believe that [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], [[Muhammad]] and the [[Church of England|Anglicans]] should be [[Damnation|damned]] for not being Roman Catholics.{{#tag:ref|"I do not think Jesus Christ ever existed. I would believe in the Christian religion if it dated from the beginning of the world. That Socrates, Plato, the Mohammedan, and all the English should be damned is too absurd. Jesus was probably put to death, like many other fanatics who proclaimed themselves to be prophets or the expected Messiah. Every year there were many of these men."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/talkofnapoleonat007678mbp#page/n317/mode/2up ''Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena']' (1903), pp. 276–277</ref>|group=note}} However, Napoleon was [[Anointing of the Sick|anointed]] by a priest before his death.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=rlY2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA586&lpg=PA586&dq=napoleon+last+sacraments#v=onepage&q=napoleon%20last%20sacraments&f=false |title=Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, p. 586 |publisher=Google |accessdate=5 February 2011|year=1839}}</ref>

===Concordat===
{{See|Concordat of 1801}}
[[Image:FrenchChurchOathConcordat.jpg|thumb|250px|Leaders of the Catholic Church taking the civil oath required by [[Concordat of 1801|the Concordat]].]]
Seeking national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics, the Concordat of 1801 was signed on 15 July 1801 between Napoleon and [[Pope Pius VII]]. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status.

During the French Revolution, the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] had taken Church properties and issued the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]], which made the Church a department of the State, removing it from the authority of the [[Pope]]. This caused hostility among the [[Vendeans]] towards the change in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French government. Subsequent laws abolished the traditional [[Gregorian calendar]] and Christian holidays.

While the Concordat restored some ties to the papacy, it was largely in favor of the state; the balance of church-state relations had tilted firmly in Napoleon's favour. Now, Napoleon could win favor with the Catholics within France while also controlling Rome in a political sense. Napoleon once told his brother Lucien in April 1801, "Skillful conquerors have not got entangled with priests. They can both contain them and use them."<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521460271|last=Aston|first=Nigel|title=Christianity and Revolutionary Europe ''c.'' 1750–1830|year=2002}}</ref> As a part of the Concordat, he presented another set of laws called the [[Organic Articles]].

===Religious emancipation===
{{See|Napoleon and the Jews}}

Napoleon [[Jewish emancipation|emancipated Jews]], as well as Protestants in Catholic countries and Catholics in Protestant countries, from laws which restricted them to ghettos, and he expanded their rights to property, worship, and careers. Despite the anti-semitic reaction to Napoleon's policies from foreign governments and within France, he believed emancipation would benefit France by attracting Jews to the country given the restrictions they faced elsewhere.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.436</ref>

He stated, "I will never accept any proposals that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them."<ref>Schwarzfuchs 1979, p.50</ref> He was seen as so favourable to the Jews that the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] formally condemned him as "Antichrist and the Enemy of God".<ref>Cronin 1994, p.315</ref>

==Image==
{{See|Cultural depictions of Napoleon|Napoleonic propaganda}}
[[File:Statue aux invalides.jpg|thumb|upright|Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the [[Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale|Chasseur à Cheval]], with a large [[bicorne]] and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.]]
Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolises military genius and political power. [[Martin van Creveld]] described him as "the most competent human being who ever lived".<ref>{{cite book |title= Command in War|edition= |last= van Crevald|first= Martin|year= 1987|location= Massachusetts|publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn= 0674144414 |page= 64}}</ref> Since his death, many towns, streets, ships, and even cartoon characters have been named after him. He has been portrayed in hundreds of films and discussed in hundreds of thousands of books and articles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/|title=Napoleon Bonaparte (Character)|publisher=IMDB|accessdate=12 October 2008}} and Bell 2007, p.13</ref>

During the Napoleonic Wars he was taken seriously by the British press as a dangerous [[tyrant]], poised to invade. A [[nursery rhyme]] warned children that Bonaparte ravenously ate naughty people; the '[[bogeyman]]'.<ref>Roberts 2004, p.93</ref> The British Tory press sometimes depicted Napoleon as much smaller than average [[Human height|height]], and this image persists. Confusion about his height also results from the difference between the [[French units of measurement|French pouce]] and [[Imperial units|British inch]]—2.71 and 2.54&nbsp;cm respectively; he was about {{convert|1.7|m|ftin}} tall, average height for the period.{{#tag:ref|Napoleon's height was 5&nbsp;ft 2 French inches according to Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy and British sources put his height at 5&nbsp;foot and 7 British inches: both equivalent to 1.7&nbsp;m.<ref>Dunan 1963</ref> Napoleon surrounded himself with tall bodyguards and had a nickname of ''le petit caporal'' which was an affectionate term that reflected his reported camaraderie with his soldiers rather than his height.|group=note}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8243486.stm|title=Sarkozy height row grips France|publisher=BBC |date=8 September 2009|accessdate=13 September 2009}}</ref>

In 1908 psychologist [[Alfred Adler]] cited Napoleon to describe an [[inferiority complex]] in which short people adopt an over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term ''[[Napoleon complex]]''.<ref>Hall 2006, p.181</ref> The [[stock character]] of Napoleon is a comically short "petty tyrant" and this has become a cliché in popular culture. He is often portrayed wearing a large [[bicorne]] hat with a [[hand-in-waistcoat]] gesture—a reference to the 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David.<ref>Bordes 2007, p.118</ref>

==Legacy==
===Warfare===
{{See|Napoleonic weaponry and warfare|Military career of Napoleon Bonaparte}}
[[Image:Napoleon a Cherbourg bordercropped.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of a grey and phosphorous-coloured equestrian statue. Napoleon is seated on the horse, which is rearing up, he looks forward with his right hand raised and pointing forward; his left hand holds the reins.|Statue in [[Cherbourg-Octeville]] unveiled by Napoleon III in 1858. Napoleon I strengthened the town's defences to prevent British naval incursions.]]
In the field of [[military organisation]], Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as [[Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert]], and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed much of what was already in place. He continued the policy, which emerged from the Revolution, of promotion based primarily on merit.<ref name=Archer/>

[[Corps]] replaced divisions as the largest army units, [[Self-propelled artillery|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.<ref name=Archer>Archer et al 2002, p.397</ref> Though he consolidated the practice of modern [[conscription]] introduced by the Directory, one of the restored monarchy's first acts was to end it.<ref>Flynn 2001, p.16</ref>

His opponents learned from Napoleon's innovations. The increased importance of artillery after 1807 stemmed from his creation of a highly mobile artillery force, the growth in artillery numbers, and changes in artillery practices. As a result of these factors, Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defenses, now could use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line that was then exploited by supporting infantry and cavalry. McConachy rejects the alternative theory that growing reliance on artillery by the French army beginning in 1807 was an outgrowth of the declining quality of the French infantry and, later, France's inferiority in cavalry numbers.<ref>Bruce McConachy, "The Roots of Artillery Doctrine: Napoleonic Artillery Tactics Reconsidered," ''Journal of Military History'' 2001 65(3): 617-640. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2677528 in JSTOR]; [http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/McConachy.pdf online]</ref>
Weapons and other kinds of military technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century [[operational mobility]] underwent significant change.<ref>Archer et al 2002, p.383</ref>

Napoleon's biggest influence was in the conduct of warfare. [[Antoine-Henri Jomini]] explained Napoleon's methods in a widely used textbook that influenced all European and American armies.<ref>John Shy, "Jomini" in Peter Paret, ed. ''Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age'' (1986).</ref> Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist [[Carl von Clausewitz]] as a genius in the operational art of war, and historians rank him as a great military commander.<ref>Archer et al 2002, p.380</ref> Wellington, when asked who was the greatest general of the day, answered: "In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon."<ref>Roberts 2001, p.272</ref>

Napoleon suffered various military setbacks however: Aspern-Essling in 1809, Russia in 1812 and at Leipzig in 1813. He also had to abandon his forces in Egypt&nbsp;— the result of strategic defeat rather than any reverse in pitched battle. With the exception of two small scale battles in Italy, Napoleon was not defeated in a field battle without being heavily outnumbered.

Under Napoleon, a new emphasis towards the destruction, not just outmanoeuvring, of enemy armies emerged. Invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts which made wars costlier and more decisive. The political impact of war increased significantly; defeat for a European power meant more than the loss of isolated enclaves. Near-[[Carthaginian peace]]s intertwined whole national efforts, intensifying the Revolutionary phenomenon of total war.<ref>Archer et al 2002, p.404</ref>

===Bonapartism===
{{Main|Bonapartism}}
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. The term can refer to people who restored the French Empire under the [[House of Bonaparte]] including Napoleon's Corsican family and his nephew Louis. Napoleon left a Bonapartist dynasty which ruled France again; Louis became [[Napoleon III]], Emperor of the [[Second French Empire]] and was the first [[President of France]]. In a wider sense, Bonapartism refers to a broad centrist or center-right political movement that advocates the idea of a strong and [[centralized government|centralised state]], based on [[populism]].<ref>Outhwaite 2003 p.50</ref>

===Criticism===
[[Image:Buonaparte closing the farce of Egalité.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=Cartoon with many men fleeing over upturned tables as Bonaparte stands raising his hand towards them and his soldiers advance with bayonets|"''EXIT LIBERTÈ a la FRANCOIS ! or BUONAPARTE closing the Farce of Egalitè, at St. Cloud near Paris Nov.&nbsp;10th.&nbsp;1799''", British satirical depiction of the [[18 Brumaire|18 Brumaire coup d'état]], by [[James Gillray]].]]<!-- Do not correct text of caption, as it is the original under caricature-->
Napoleon ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary France.<ref>Abbott 2005,p.3</ref> He was, however, considered a tyrant and [[usurper]] by his opponents.<ref name=M666>McLynn 1998, p.666</ref>

His critics charge that he was not significantly troubled when faced with the prospect of war and death for thousands, turned his search for undisputed rule into a series of conflicts throughout Europe and ignored treaties and conventions alike. His role in the [[Haitian Revolution]] and decision to reinstate slavery in France's oversea colonies are controversial and have an impact on his reputation.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Repa |first=Jan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |title=Furore over Austerlitz ceremony|publisher=BBC |date=2 December 2005 |accessdate=5 April 2010}}</ref>

Napoleon institutionalised plunder of conquered territories: 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; his example would later serve as inspiration for more notorious imitators.<ref>Poulos 2000</ref> He was compared to [[Adolf Hitler]] most famously by the historian [[Pieter Geyl]] in 1947.<ref>Geyl 1947</ref> [[David G. Chandler]], historian of Napoleonic warfare, wrote that, "Nothing could be more degrading to the former and more flattering to the latter."<ref>Chandler 1973, p. xliii</ref>

Critics argue Napoleon's true legacy must reflect the loss of status for France and needless deaths brought by his rule: historian [[Victor Davis Hanson]] writes, "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17&nbsp;years of wars, perhaps [[Napoleonic Wars casualties|six million Europeans dead]], France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost."<ref>Hanson 2003</ref> McLynn notes that, "He can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of his wars.<ref name=M666/> However, [[Vincent Cronin]] replies that such criticism relies on the flawed premise that Napoleon was responsible for the wars which bear his name, when in fact France was the victim of a series of coalitions which aimed to destroy the ideals of the Revolution.<ref name=c342>Cronin 1994, pp.342–3</ref>

===Propaganda and memory===
Napoleon's masterful use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his regime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship, controlling every aspect of the press, books, theater, and art, was only part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing desperately wanted peace and stability to France. The propagandistic rhetoric changed in relation to events and the atmosphere of Napoleon's reign, focusing first on his role as a general in the army and identification as a soldier, and moving to his role as emperor and a civil leader. Specifically targeting his civilian audience, Napoleon fostered an important, though uneasy, relationship with the contemporary art community, taking an active role in commissioning and controlling all forms of art production to suit his propaganda goals.<ref>Alan Forrest, "Propaganda and the Legitimation of Power in Napoleonic France." French History, 2004 18(4): 426-445</ref>

The memory of Napoleon in Poland is highly favorable, for his support for independence and opposition to Russia, his legal code, the abolition of serfdom, and the introduction of modern middle class bureaucracies.<ref>Andrzej Nieuwazny, "Napoleon and Polish identity." ''History Today'', May 1998 v48 n5 pp. 50-55</ref>

Hazareesingh (2004) explores how Napoleon's image and memory is best understood when considered within its socio-political context. It played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815-30. People from all walks of life and all areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 revolution.<ref name="ReferenceA">Sudhir Hazareesingh, "Memory and Political Imagination: the Legend of Napoleon Revisited." ''French History,'' 2004 18(4): 463-483</ref>

Widespread rumors of Napoleon's return from St. Helena and Napoleon as an inspiration for patriotism, individual and collective liberties, and political mobilization manifested themselves in seditious materials, notably displaying the tricolor and rosettes, and subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations, and demonstrated the prevailing and successful goal of the varied supporters of Napoleon to constantly destabilize the Bourbon regime.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Datta (2005) shows that following the collapse of militaristic Boulangism in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Concentrating on two plays and two novels from the period - [[Victorien Sardou]]'s ''Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1893), [[Maurice Barrès]]'s ''Les Déracinés'' (1897), [[Edmond Rostand]]'s ''L'Aiglon'' (1900), and [[André de Lorde]] and [[Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau|Gyp]]'s ''Napoléonette'' (1913) Datta examines how writers and critics of the Belle Epoque exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political and cultural ends.<ref name="ReferenceB">Venita Datta, "'L'appel Au Soldat': Visions of the Napoleonic Legend in Popular Culture of the Belle Epoque." ''French Historical Studies'' 2005 28(1): 1-30</ref>

Reduced to a minor character, the new fictional Napoleon was not a world historical figure but an intimate one fashioned by each individual's needs and consumed as popular entertainment. In their attempts to represent the emperor as a figure of national unity, proponents and detractors of the Third Republic used the legend as a vehicle for exploring anxieties about gender and fears about the processes of democratization that accompanied this new era of mass politics and culture.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

International Napoleonic Congresses are held regularly and include participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians and scholars from different countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/presse_review/files/dinard_callforpapers.asp|title=Call for Papers: International Napoleonic Society, Fourth International Napoleonic Congress|accessdate=27 June 2008|publisher=La Fondation Napoléon}}</ref>

Slated for completion in 2014, the [[Napoleonland]] theme park near [[Montereau-Fault-Yonne]] on the site of Napoleon's victory at the [[Battle of Montereau]], will keep the emperor's memory alive with attractions detailing his life and accomplishments.

==Marriages and children==
{{double image|right|Emprjose.jpg|200|Marie Louise von Österreich Napoleon Zweite.jpg|200|Napoleon's first wife, [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]], Empress of the French|Napoleon's second wife, [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie-Louise]], Empress of the French|Napoleon's first wife, [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]], Empress of the French, painted by [[François Gérard]], 1801|''Empress Marie-Louise and the King of Rome'', by Joseph Franque, 1812. }}

Napoleon married [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]] in 1796, when he was 26; she was a 32-year-old widow whose first husband had been executed during the Revolution. Until she met Bonaparte, she had been known as 'Rose', a name which he disliked. He called her 'Joséphine' instead, and she went by this name henceforth. Bonaparte often sent her love letters while on his campaigns.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.117</ref> He formally adopted her son [[Eugène de Beauharnais|Eugène]] and cousin [[Stéphanie de Beauharnais|Stéphanie]] and arranged dynastic marriages for them. Joséphine had her daughter [[Hortense de Beauharnais|Hortense]] marry Napoleon's brother [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis]].<ref>McLynn 1998, p.271</ref>

Joséphine had lovers, including a [[Hussar]] lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles, during Napoleon's Italian campaign.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.118</ref> Napoleon learnt the full extent of her affair with Charles while in Egypt, and a letter he wrote to his brother Joseph regarding the subject was intercepted by the British. The letter appeared in the London and Paris presses, much to Napoleon's embarrassment. Napoleon had his own affairs too: during the Egyptian campaign he took Pauline Bellisle Foures, the wife of a junior officer, as his mistress. She became known as ''[[Cleopatra]]'' after the [[Ancient Egypt]]ian ruler.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.188</ref>{{#tag:ref|One night, during an illicit liaison with the actress Marguerite George, Napoleon had a major fit. This and other more minor attacks have led historians to debate whether he had epilepsy and, if so, to what extent.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.284</ref>|group=note}}

While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, possibly because of either the stresses of her imprisonment during the [[Reign of Terror]] or an abortion she may have had in her 20s.<ref>McLynn 1998, p.100</ref> Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir. In March 1810, he married [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise]], Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of [[Marie Antoinette]] by [[proxy marriage|proxy]]; thus he had married into a [[Family tree of the German monarchs|German royal and imperial family]].<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.663">McLynn 1998, p.663</ref>

They remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again. The couple had one child, [[Napoleon II|Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles]] (1811–1832), known from birth as the [[King of the Romans|King of Rome]]. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of [[tuberculosis]] aged 21, with no children.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.663"/>

Napoleon acknowledged two illegitimate children: [[Charles Léon]] (1806–1881) by [[Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne]],<ref name=m630>McLynn 1998, p.630</ref> and [[Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski]] (1810–1868) by Countess [[Marie Walewska]].<ref name=m630/> He may have had further unacknowledged illegitimate offspring as well, such as Karl Eugin von Mühlfeld by Victoria Kraus;<ref name="McLynn423">McLynn 1998, p.423</ref> [[Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte]] (1816–1910) by [[Albine de Montholon]]; and [[Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire]], whose mother remains unknown.<ref>Lowndes 1943</ref>

==Titles, styles, honours and arms==
{{Infobox manner of address
| type = Monarchical
| name = Napoleon I of France
| image = [[Image:Grandes Armes Impériales (1804-1815)2.svg|100px|]]
| reference = [[Imperial Majesty (style)|His Imperial Majesty]]
| spoken = Your Imperial Majesty
| alternative = My Lord
}}
{{Infobox manner of address
| type = Monarchical
| name = Napoleon I of Italy
| image = [[Image:Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Italy (1805-1814) (2).svg|100px|]]
| reference = [[His Royal Majesty]]
| spoken = Your Royal Majesty
| alternative = My Lord
}}

===Titles and styles===
*'''18 May 1804&nbsp;– 11 April 1814''': ''[[His Imperial Majesty]]'' The Emperor of the French
*'''17 March 1805&nbsp;– 11 April 1814''': ''[[His Imperial and Royal Majesty]]'' The Emperor of the French, King of Italy
*'''20 March 1815&nbsp;– 22 June 1815''': ''[[His Imperial Majesty]]'' The Emperor of the French

===Full titles===
===1804–1805===
[[Imperial Majesty (style)|His Imperial Majesty]] Napoleon I, [[By the Grace of God]] and the [[Constitution of France|Constitutions]] of the [[French First Republic|Republic]], [[Emperor of the French]].

===1805–1806===
[[Imperial and Royal Majesty|His Imperial and Royal Majesty]] Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, [[King of Italy|King]] of [[Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814)|Italy]].

===1806–1809===
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, [[Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine|Protector]] of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]].

===1809–1814===
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the [[Helvetic Confederation]].

===1815===
His Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French.

==Ancestry==
<center>
{{ahnentafel-compact5
|style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%
|border=1
|boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. ''' Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and King of Italy ''' <br /> (1769–1821)
|2= 2. [[Carlo Buonaparte|Carlo Maria Buonaparte]] <br /> (1746–1785)
|3= 3. [[Letizia Ramolino|Maria Letizia Ramolino]] <br /> (1750–1836)
|4= 4. [[Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte]] <br /> (1713–1763)
|5= 5. Maria Saveria Paravisini <br /> (1715–bef. 1750)
|6= 6. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino (1723–1755)
|7= 7. Angela Maria Pietrasanta (1725–1790)
|8= 8. [[Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte]] <br /> (1683–1720/60)
|9= 9. Maria Anna Tusoli <br /> (1690–1760)
|10= 10. Giuseppe Maria Paravisini
|11= 11. Maria Angela Salineri
|12= 12. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino
|13= 13. Angela Maria Peri
|14= 14. Giuseppe Maria Pietrasanta
|15= 15. Maria Josephine Malerba
|16= 16. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte <br /> (1663–1703)
|17= 17. Maria Colonna Bozzi <br /> (1668–1704)
|18= 18. Carlo Tusoli
|19= 19. Isabella
|20=
|21=
|22= 22. Angelo Agostino Salineri
|23= 23. Francetta Merezano
|24= 24. Giovanni Girolamo Ramolino <br /> (1645–?)
|25= 25. Maria Laetitia Boggiano
|26= 26. Andrea Peri <br /> (1669–?)
|27= 27. Maria Maddalena Colonna d'Istria
|28= 28. Giovanni Antonio Pietrasanta
|29=
|30=
|31=
}}</center>

==Titles==
{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Bonaparte]]|name=Emperor Napoleon I of France}}
{{s-break}}
{{S-off|}}
{{s-break}}
{{S-bef|before=[[French Directory]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Provisional Consul of France|years=11 November&nbsp;– 12 December 1799|alongside=<br />[[Roger Ducos]] and [[Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès]]}}
{{s-non|reason=Became [[French Consulate|Consul]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-new|reason=[[French Consulate|Consulate created]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=First Consul of France|years=12 December 1799&nbsp;– 18 May 1804|alongside=<br />[[Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès]] (Second Consul)<br />[[Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance|Charles-François Lebrun]] (Third Consul)}}
{{s-non|reason=Became [[First French Empire|Emperor]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{S-reg|}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|last=[[Louis XVI of France]]|reason=French Revolution|as=King of the French}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Emperor of the French]]|years=18 May 1804&nbsp;– 11 April 1814}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Louis XVIII of France]]|as=King of France and Navarre}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|last=[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]|as=last crowned monarch, 1530}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[King of Italy]]|years=17 March 1805&nbsp;– 11 April 1814}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{S-bef|before=Louis XVIII of France|as=King of France and Navarre}}
{{s-ttl|title=Emperor of the French|years=20 March&nbsp;– 22 June 1815}}
{{S-aft|after=Louis XVIII of France|as=King of France and Navarre <br />([[Napoleon II]] '''according to his will only''')}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-new|reason=State created}}
{{s-ttl|title=Protector of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]]|years=12 July 1806&nbsp;– 19 October 1813}}
{{s-non|reason=Rhine Confederation dissolved|reason2=successive ruler:<br />[[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor]]<br />as President of the [[German Confederation]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{S-pre|}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-tul|title=Emperor of the French|years=11 April 1814&nbsp;– 20 March 1815}}
{{s-vac|next=Napoleon II}}
{{S-end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note|30em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|14em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book|title=Life of Napoleon Bonaparte|last=Abbott|first=John|isbn=1417970634|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2005}}
* {{Cite book|first=Ken|last=Alder|title=The Measure of All Things—The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World|publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]|year=2002|isbn=074321675X}}
* {{Cite book|last=Alter|first=Peter|title=Unity and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800|editor=[[T. C. W. Blanning]] and [[Hagen Schulze]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=0197263828}}
* {{Cite book|title=Napoleon and Persia|first=Iradj|last=Amini|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=n5IOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12|year=2000|isbn=0934211582|publisher=Taylor & Francis}}
* {{Cite book|title=World History of Warfare|first=Christon I.|last=Archer|coauthors=John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2002|isbn=0803244231}}
* {{Cite book|title=Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of Southern Italy|last=Astarita|first=Tommaso|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=0393058646}}
* {{Cite book|year=1845|title=Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon|first=Lucia Elizabeth|last=Balcombe Abell|publisher=J. Murray|oclc=9123757}}
* {{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Pw5jup_LyHAC&lpg=PA212&dq=%22total%20war%22%20napoleon&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The First Total War|last=Bell|first=David|isbn=0618349650|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2007}}
* {{cite web|url=http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=10375|title=Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 3&nbsp;May 1808|publisher=New York University|accessdate=18 November 2008|year=2002|last=Bertman|first=Sandra}}
* {{Cite book|first=Rafe|last=Blaufarb|title=Napoleon: Symbol for an Age, A Brief History with Documents|year=2007|publisher=Bedford|isbn=0312431104}}
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* {{Cite book|last=Boycott-Brown|first=Martin|title=The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign|publisher=Cassell & Co|year=2001|isbn=0304353051}}
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* {{Cite book|title=The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon|first=David|last=Cordingly|year=2004|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=158234468X}}
* {{Cite book|first=Vincent|last=Cronin|authorlink=Vincent Cronin|title=Napoleon|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1994|isbn=0006375219}}
* {{Cite book|title=Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?|last=Cullen|first=William|year=2008|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|isbn=0854043632}}
* {{Cite book|title=As Befits a Legend|publisher=Kent State University Press|isbn=0873384849|last=Driskel|first=Paul|year=1993}}
* {{cite web|last=Dunan|first=Marcel|url=http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Taillenapo_RIN_89_oct1963_2006.asp|title=Napoleon's height|language=French|accessdate=11 January 2009|publisher=La Fondation Napoléon|year=1963}}
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* {{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/gallery/napo.html|title=Death Mask of Napoleon|accessdate=4 August 2008|publisher=University of North Carolina|last=Fulghum|first=Neil|year=2007}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gates|first=David|title=The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2001|isbn=0306810832}}
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* {{Cite book|title=1805: Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition|publisher=Greenhill Books|first=Robert|last=Goetz|year=2005|isbn=1853676446}}
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*{{Cite journal|journal=Clinical Chemistry|url=http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/reprint/54/12/2092 |title=The Death of Napoleon, Cancer or Arsenic?|last=Hindmarsh|first=J. Thomas|coauthors=John Savory|volume=54|page=2092 |doi=10.1373/clinchem.2008.117358 |publisher=American Association for Clinical Chemistry |year=2008 |accessdate=10 October 2010|issue=12}}
* {{Cite book|title=Race, Racism, and Science|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=1851094482|last=Jackson|first=John|year=2004}}
* {{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=P.|title=Napoleon: A life|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2002 |isbn=0670030783|url=http://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Penguin-Lives-Paul-Johnson/dp/0670030783/}}
* {{Cite book|first=Inari|last=Karsh|title=Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2001|isbn=0674005414|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UBilaKRKkC&pg=PA11}}
* {{Cite book|first=Don|coauthors=Petie Kladstrup|last=Kladstrup|title=Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times|publisher=William Morrow|isbn=0060737921|year=2005}}
* {{Cite book|first=Marie Adelaide Belloc|last=Lowndes|authorlink=Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes|title=Where Love And Friendship Dwelt|publisher=Macmillan|year=1943|oclc=67554055}}
* {{Cite book|title=Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798–1834|last=Macaulay|first=Neill|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1986|isbn=0822306816}}
* {{Cite book|last=Markham|first=Felix|title=Napoleon|publisher=Mass Market Paperback|year=1988|isbn=0451627989|url=http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10369968}}
* {{Cite book|first=Frank|last=McLynn|title=Napoleon|publisher=Pimlico|year=1998|isbn=0712662472|url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Napoleon-Frank-McLynn/dp/0712662472}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Measurement.html|title=The history of measurement|publisher=St Andrew's University|accessdate=18 July 2008|year=2003|last=O'Connor|first=J|coauthors=E F Robertson}}
* {{Cite book|year=2003|last=Outhwaite|first=William|isbn=0631221646|publisher=Blackwell|title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought}}
* {{Cite journal|publisher=HeinOnline|title=1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict|edition=vol 28|last=Poulos|first=Anthi|journal=International Journal of Legal Information|year=2000|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/ijli28&div=12&id=&page=}}
* {{Cite book|year=2007|title=[[The Crime of Napoleon|Napoleon's Crimes: A Blueprint for Hitler]]|publisher=Oneworld Publications|first=Claude|last=Ribbe|authorlink=Claude Ribbe|isbn=1851685332}}
* {{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|title=Napoleon and Wellington|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicholson|isbn=0297646079|year=2001}}
* {{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=MdMZqhMzfpYC&pg=PR9&dq=bogeyman+napoleon+nursery+%22bonaparte+will+pass%22#PPA93,M1|title=Heavy Words Lightly Thrown|publisher=Granta|isbn=1862077657|year=2004|last=Roberts|first=Chris}}
*{{Cite book|isbn=184520817X|first=Raffael|last=Scheck|publisher=Berg|title=Germany, 1871–1945: A Concise History|year=2008}}
*{{Cite book|last=Schom|first=Alan|authorlink=Alan Schom|title=Napoleon Bonaparte|year=1997|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780060172145}}
*{{Cite book|last=Schwarzfuchs|first=Simon|publisher=Routledge|year=1979|isbn=0197100236|title=Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030078b.htm|title=Balcombe, Alexander Beatson (1811–77)|publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography Online|last=Thomson|first=Kathleen|accessdate=27 May 2008|year=1969}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Way the World Works|last=Wanniski|first=Jude|publisher=Regnery Gateway|isbn=0895263440|year=1998}}
* {{Cite book|title=Tricolor and crescent|first=William|last=Watson|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=o4vrUbMK5eEC&pg=PA13|isbn= 0275974707|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|accessdate=12 June 2009|year=2003}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wells|first=David|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|isbn=0140118136|year=1992}}
* {{Cite book|title=Napoleon's Submarine|year=1972|last=Wilkins|first=William|isbn=0450010287|publisher=New English Library|origyear=1944}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Wilson|first=J|date=2 August 1975|title=Dr. Archibald Arnott: Surgeon to the 20th Foot and Physician to Napoleon|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|issue=vol.3|accessdate=7 June 2008|pmc=1674241|pmid=1097047|volume=3|pages=293–5|doi=10.1136/bmj.3.5978.293}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Philip|title=The Law and Practice of International Finance Series|publisher=Sweet & Maxwell|year=2007|isbn=1847032109}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=31103&amid=30222626|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080425054948/http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=31103&amid=30222626|archivedate=25 April 2008|title=Napoleon's Last Journey|publisher=History Today|accessdate=12 July 2008|last=Woodward|first=Chris|issue=7|year=2005|month=July}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Napoleon Bonaparte|b=European History/Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rise of Nationalism|s=Author:Napoleon Bonaparte}}
* [http://www.napoleonguide.com/index.htm The Napoleonic Guide]
* [http://www.napoleon-series.org/ Napoleon Series]
* [http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/ International Napoleonic Society]
* [http://napoleon.thepodcastnetwork.com/ Napoleon 101], podcast by J. David Markham
* [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/napoleon.html Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess] [[Edward Winter (chess historian)]]
* [http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html Biography] by the US [[Public Broadcasting Service]]
* [http://www.napoleonbonaparte.wikia.com/wiki/Napoleon_I Biography] on the Napoleon Bonaparte Wikia
*[http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/91435-1/Alan+Schom.aspx ''Booknotes'' interview with Alan Schom on ''Napoleon Bonaparte'', October 26, 1997.]
*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-n79-54933}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=3567|name=Memoirs of Napoleon}}
*{{Gutenberg|no=14300|name=The Life of Napoleon I|author=John Holland Rose|authorlink=John Holland Rose}}
*{{Gutenberg|no=17579|name=The History of Napoleon Buonaparte|author=John Gibson Lockhart|authorlink=John Gibson Lockhart}}
*{{Gutenberg|no=24360|name=The Life of Napoleon I.|author=William Milligan Sloane|authorlink=William Milligan Sloane}} Vol. 1/4
*{{Gutenberg|no=27289|name=The Life of Napoleon I.|author=William Milligan Sloane|authorlink=William Milligan Sloane}} Vol. 3/4
{{Normdaten|LCCN=n/79/54933}}
{{French Revolution navbox}}
{{Bonaparte family}}
{{Kings of france}}
{{German Confederations 1806-1871}}
{{French Pretenders}}
{{Heads of state of France}}
{{MarshalsNapoleon}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}
{{Good article}}

{{Persondata
|NAME=Bonaparte, Napoleon
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of Italy
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=French general and ruler
|DATE OF BIRTH=15 August 1769
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Ajaccio]], Corsica
|DATE OF DEATH=5 May 1821
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Saint Helena]]}}
[[Category:Napoleon| ]]
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1821 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century rulers in Europe]]
[[Category:19th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:Attempted assassination survivors]]
[[Category:Corsican politicians]]
[[Category:Culture heroes]]
[[Category:Deaths from stomach cancer]]
[[Category:First French Empire]]
[[Category:French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:French emperors]]
[[Category:French exiles]]
[[Category:French military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:French people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:House of Bonaparte]]
[[Category:Italian monarchs]]
[[Category:Kings of Italy]]
[[Category:Leaders who took power by coup]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Monarchs who abdicated]]
[[Category:Ousted heads of state]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church]]
[[Category:People from Ajaccio]]
[[Category:Princes of Andorra]]

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2012年4月4日 (三) 08:58的版本

Bold text

Template:Pp-semi

Napoleon I
Full length portrait of Napoleon in his forties, in high-ranking white and dark blue military dress uniform. 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.
Emperor of the French
統治18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814
20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815
france2 December 1804
前任None (himself as First Consul of the French First Republic; previous ruling monarch was Louis XVI)
繼任Louis XVIII (de jure in 1814)
King of Italy
統治17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814
加冕26 May 1805
前任None (himself as President of the Italian Republic; previous ruling monarch was Emperor Charles V)
繼任None (kingdom disbanded, next king of Italy was Victor Emmanuel II)
出生(1769-08-15)1769年8月15日
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
逝世1821年5月5日(1821歲—05—05)(51歲)
Longwood, Saint Helena
安葬
Les Invalides, Paris, France
配偶Joséphine de Beauharnais
Marie Louise of Austria
子嗣Napoleon II
全名
Napoleon Bonaparte
王朝House of Bonaparte
父親Carlo Buonaparte
母親Letizia Ramolino
宗教信仰Roman Catholicism (see Napoleon and religions)
簽名Napoleon I的签名

Napoleon Bonaparte (法語:Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt]) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.

As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars. He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy which restored aspects of the deposed ancien régime. Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time.

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

After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states. Napoleon's campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world.[1]

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

Origins and education

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

Half-length portrait of a wigged middle-aged man with a well-to-do jacket. His left hand is tucked inside his waistcoat.
Napoleon's father Carlo Buonaparte was Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI of France.

The Corsican Buonapartes originated from minor Italian nobility of Lombards origin,[4][5][6][7] who had come to Corsica from Liguria in the 16th century.[8] DNA tests conducted in 2012 found that some of the family's ancestors were from the Caucasus region.[9] The actual study found haplogroup type E1b1c1* originating in Northern Africa circa 1200 BC.[10] His father Nobile Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Letizia Ramolino, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.[11]

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

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

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

Early career

Head and shoulders portrait of a white-haired, portly, middle-aged man with a pinkish complexion, blue velvet coat and a ruffle
Nationalist Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli, 1798 portrait by Richard Cosway

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

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

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

Siege of Toulon (1793)

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

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

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

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

13 Vendémiaire (1795)

Etching of a street, there are a lot pockets of smoke due to a group of republican artillery firing on royalists across the street at the entrance to a building
Journée du 13 Vendémiaire. Artillery fire in front of the Église Saint-Roch, Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Italian campaign (1796-97)

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

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

Three-quarter length depiction of Bonaparte, with black tunic and leather gloves, holding a standard and sword, turning backwards to look at his troops
Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole, by Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, (ca. 1801), Musée du Louvre, Paris

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

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

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

Egyptian expedition (1798–1801)

Person on a horse looks towards a giant statue of a head in the desert, with a blue sky
Bonaparte Before the Sphinx, (ca. 1868) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Hearst Castle

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

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

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

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

Cavalry battlescene with pyramids in background
Battle of the Pyramids, François-Louis-Joseph Watteau, 1798–1799

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

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

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

Ruler of France

Bonaparte in a simple general uniform in the middle of a scrum of red-robbed members of the Council of Five Hundred
General Bonaparte surrounded by members of the Council of Five Hundred during the 18 Brumaire coup d'état, by François Bouchot

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

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

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

French Consulate

Portrait painting of a horse rearing-up at a 45-degree angle with a man sitting on it and pointing forwards with his right hand whilst holding onto the reins with his left
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800), by Jacques-Louis David

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

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

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

Temporary peace in Europe

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

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

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


French Empire

Imperial Standard of Napoleon I.
Coronation of Napoleon I and Empress Josephine by Jacques-Louis David,in 1804.

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

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

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

War of the Third Coalition

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

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

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

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

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

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

Middle-Eastern alliances

A group of men, some wearing beards and turbans, are in a room with a large painting on the wall, they look towards a doorway wear a man in military uniform including white johphurs (Napoleon) looks back at them and has his right hand in his waistcoat.
The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini meets with Napoleon I at Finckenstein Palace, 27 April 1807, by François Mulard

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

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

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

War of the Fourth Coalition

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

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

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

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

Peninsular War

Manuela Malasaña at the Dos de Mayo Uprising

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

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

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

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

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

War of the Fifth Coalition and remarriage

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

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

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

Map of Europe. French Empire shown as bigger than present day France as it included parts of present-day Netherlands and Italy.
First French Empire at its greatest extent in 1811
  French Empire
  French satellite states
  Allied states

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

Invasion of Russia

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

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

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

Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen.

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

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

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

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

War of the Sixth Coalition

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

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

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

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

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

Exile to Elba

Cartoon of Napoleon sitting back to front on a donkey with a broken sword and two soldiers in the background drumming
British etching from 1814 in celebration of Napoleon's first exile to Elba at the close of the War of the Sixth Coalition

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

——Act of abdication of Napoleon[123]

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

Hundred Days

Napoleon returned from Elba, by Karl Stenben, 19th century
Battle of Waterloo, 1815 – painting by William Sadler. The Battle of Waterloo Campaign was Napoleon's last. This defeat in the War of the Seventh Coalition put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days' return from exile.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off the port of Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, after consideration of an escape to the United States, Napoleon formally demanded political asylum from the British Captain Frederick Maitland on “Bellerophon”号1786 (6) on 15 July 1815.[130]

Exile on Saint Helena

Napoleon on Saint Helena.

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

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

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

Photo of a front garden and large brown building. French flag on a flagpole next to a small cannon.
Longwood House, Saint Helena: site of Napoleon's captivity

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

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

Death

Napoleon's illness began in September 1817. His personal physician, Barry O'Meara, warned the authorities of his declining state of health mainly caused, according to him, to the pointless harsh treatments of the captive in the hands of his "gaoler", Sir Hudson Lowe, which led Napoleon to confine himself for months in his damp and wretched habitation of Longwood. O'Meara was also keeping a clandestine correspondence with a clerk at the Admiralty in London, knowing that his letters were read by higher authorities: he hoped, in such way, to rise alarm to the government, but to no avail[140].

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

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

Photo of a large, shiny burgundy cuboid-shaped vessel raised on a dark green plinth. There are two female statues in the background either side of the vessel.
Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides

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

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

Cause of death

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

Gold-framed portrait painting of a gaunt middle-aged man with receding hair and laurel wreath, lying eyes-closed on white pillow with a white blanket covering to his neck and a gold Jesus cross resting on his chest
Napoléon sur son lit de mort (Napoleon on his death bed), by Horace Vernet, 1826.

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

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

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

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

Reforms

Bonaparte instituted lasting reforms, including higher education, a tax code, road and sewer systems, and established the Banque de France (central bank). He negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the mostly Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the Organic Articles, which regulated public worship in France. Later that year, Bonaparte became President of the French Academy of Sciences and appointed Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre its Permanent Secretary.[57]

In May 1802, he instituted the Legion of Honour, a substitute for the old royalist decorations and orders of chivalry, to encourage civilian and military achievements; the order is still the highest decoration in France.[151] His powers were increased by the Constitution of the Year X including: Article 1. The French people name, and the Senate proclaims Napoleon-Bonaparte First Consul for Life.[152] After this he was generally referred to as Napoleon rather than Bonaparte.[24]

Napoleon's set of civil laws, the Code Civil—now often known as the Napoleonic Code—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 development of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the civil law legal system with its stress on clearly written and accessible law. Other codes were commissioned by Napoleon to codify criminal and commerce law; a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which enacted rules of due process.[153] See Legacy.

Napoleonic Code

Page of French writing
First page of the 1804 original edition of the Code Civil

The Napoleonic code was adopted throughout much of Europe, though only in the lands he conquered, and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Napoleon said: "My true glory is not to have won 40 battles...Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. ... But...what will live forever, is my Civil Code."[154] The Code still has importance today in a quarter of the world's jurisdictions including in Europe, the Americas and Africa.[155]

Dieter Langewiesche described the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of bourgeois society in Germany by the extension of the right to own property and an acceleration towards the end of feudalism. Napoleon reorganised what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of more than a thousand entities, into a more streamlined forty-state Confederation of the Rhine; this provided the basis for the German Confederation and the unification of Germany in 1871.[156]

The movement toward national unification in Italy was similarly precipitated by Napoleonic rule.[157] These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the nation state.[158]

Metric system

The official introduction of the metric system in September 1799 was unpopular in large sections of French society, and Napoleon's rule greatly aided adoption of the new standard across not only France but the French sphere of influence. Napoleon ultimately took a retrograde step in 1812 when he passed legislation to introduce the mesures usuelles (traditional units of measurement) for retail trade[159] – a system of measure that resembled the pre-revolutionary units but were based on the kilogram and the metre; for example the livre metrique (metric pound) was 500 g[160] instead of 489.5 g – the value of the livre du roi (the king's pound).[161] Other units of measure were rounded in a similar manner. This however laid the foundations for the definitive introduction of the metric system across Europe in the middle of the 19th century.[162]

Napoleon and religions

Napoleon's baptism was held in Ajaccio on 21 July 1771; he was piously raised and received a Christian education; however, his teachers failed to give faith to the young boy.[163] As an adult, Napoleon was described as a "deist with involuntary respect and fondness for Catholicism."[164] He never believed in a living God; Napoleon's deity was an absent and distant God,[163] but he pragmatically considered organised religions as key elements of social order,[163] and especially Catholicism, whose, according to him, "splendorous ceremonies and sublime moral better act over the imagination of the people than other religions".[163]

Napoleon had a civil marriage with Joséphine de Beauharnais, without religious ceremony, on 9 March 1796. During the campaign in Egypt, Napoleon showed much tolerance towards religion for a revolutionary general, holding discussions with Muslim scholars and ordering religious celebrations, but General Dupuy, who accompanied Napoleon, revealed, shortly after Pope Pius VI's death, the political reasons for such behaviour: "We are fooling Egyptians with our pretended interest for their religion; neither Bonaparte nor we believe in this religion more than we did in Pius the Defunct's one".[note 12]

His religious opportunism is epitomized in his famous quote: "It is by making myself Catholic that I brought peace to Brittany and Vendée. It is by making myself Italian that I won minds in Italy. It is by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt. If I governed a nation of Jews, I should reestablish the Temple of Solomon."[166]

Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris with the benediction of Pope Pius VII. The 1 April 1810, Napoleon religiously married the Austrian princess Marie Louise. In a private discussion with general Gourgaud during his exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon expressed materialistic views on the origin of man,[note 13] and doubted the divinity of Jesus, stating that it is absurd to believe that Socrates, Plato, Muhammad and the Anglicans should be damned for not being Roman Catholics.[note 14] However, Napoleon was anointed by a priest before his death.[169]

Concordat

Leaders of the Catholic Church taking the civil oath required by the Concordat.

Seeking national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics, the Concordat of 1801 was signed on 15 July 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status.

During the French Revolution, the National Assembly had taken Church properties and issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which made the Church a department of the State, removing it from the authority of the Pope. This caused hostility among the Vendeans towards the change in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French government. Subsequent laws abolished the traditional Gregorian calendar and Christian holidays.

While the Concordat restored some ties to the papacy, it was largely in favor of the state; the balance of church-state relations had tilted firmly in Napoleon's favour. Now, Napoleon could win favor with the Catholics within France while also controlling Rome in a political sense. Napoleon once told his brother Lucien in April 1801, "Skillful conquerors have not got entangled with priests. They can both contain them and use them."[170] As a part of the Concordat, he presented another set of laws called the Organic Articles.

Religious emancipation

Napoleon emancipated Jews, as well as Protestants in Catholic countries and Catholics in Protestant countries, from laws which restricted them to ghettos, and he expanded their rights to property, worship, and careers. Despite the anti-semitic reaction to Napoleon's policies from foreign governments and within France, he believed emancipation would benefit France by attracting Jews to the country given the restrictions they faced elsewhere.[171]

He stated, "I will never accept any proposals that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them."[172] He was seen as so favourable to the Jews that the Russian Orthodox Church formally condemned him as "Antichrist and the Enemy of God".[173]

Image

Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.

Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolises military genius and political power. Martin van Creveld described him as "the most competent human being who ever lived".[174] Since his death, many towns, streets, ships, and even cartoon characters have been named after him. He has been portrayed in hundreds of films and discussed in hundreds of thousands of books and articles.[175]

During the Napoleonic Wars he was taken seriously by the British press as a dangerous tyrant, poised to invade. A nursery rhyme warned children that Bonaparte ravenously ate naughty people; the 'bogeyman'.[176] The British Tory press sometimes depicted Napoleon as much smaller than average height, and this image persists. Confusion about his height also results from the difference between the French pouce and British inch—2.71 and 2.54 cm respectively; he was about 1.7米(5英尺7英寸) tall, average height for the period.[note 15][178]

In 1908 psychologist Alfred Adler cited Napoleon to describe an inferiority complex in which short people adopt an over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term Napoleon complex.[179] The stock character of Napoleon is a comically short "petty tyrant" and this has become a cliché in popular culture. He is often portrayed wearing a large bicorne hat with a hand-in-waistcoat gesture—a reference to the 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David.[180]

Legacy

Warfare

Photo of a grey and phosphorous-coloured equestrian statue. Napoleon is seated on the horse, which is rearing up, he looks forward with his right hand raised and pointing forward; his left hand holds the reins.
Statue in Cherbourg-Octeville unveiled by Napoleon III in 1858. Napoleon I strengthened the town's defences to prevent British naval incursions.

In the field of military organisation, Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert, and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed much of what was already in place. He continued the policy, which emerged from the Revolution, of promotion based primarily on merit.[181]

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.[181] Though he consolidated the practice of modern conscription introduced by the Directory, one of the restored monarchy's first acts was to end it.[182]

His opponents learned from Napoleon's innovations. The increased importance of artillery after 1807 stemmed from his creation of a highly mobile artillery force, the growth in artillery numbers, and changes in artillery practices. As a result of these factors, Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defenses, now could use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line that was then exploited by supporting infantry and cavalry. McConachy rejects the alternative theory that growing reliance on artillery by the French army beginning in 1807 was an outgrowth of the declining quality of the French infantry and, later, France's inferiority in cavalry numbers.[183] Weapons and other kinds of military technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century operational mobility underwent significant change.[184]

Napoleon's biggest influence was in the conduct of warfare. Antoine-Henri Jomini explained Napoleon's methods in a widely used textbook that influenced all European and American armies.[185] Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist Carl von Clausewitz as a genius in the operational art of war, and historians rank him as a great military commander.[186] Wellington, when asked who was the greatest general of the day, answered: "In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon."[187]

Napoleon suffered various military setbacks however: Aspern-Essling in 1809, Russia in 1812 and at Leipzig in 1813. He also had to abandon his forces in Egypt — the result of strategic defeat rather than any reverse in pitched battle. With the exception of two small scale battles in Italy, Napoleon was not defeated in a field battle without being heavily outnumbered.

Under Napoleon, a new emphasis towards the destruction, not just outmanoeuvring, of enemy armies emerged. Invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts which made wars costlier and more decisive. The political impact of war increased significantly; defeat for a European power meant more than the loss of isolated enclaves. Near-Carthaginian peaces intertwined whole national efforts, intensifying the Revolutionary phenomenon of total war.[188]

Bonapartism

In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. The term can refer to people who restored the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte including Napoleon's Corsican family and his nephew Louis. Napoleon left a Bonapartist dynasty which ruled France again; Louis became Napoleon III, Emperor of the Second French Empire and was the first President of France. In a wider sense, Bonapartism refers to a broad centrist or center-right political movement that advocates the idea of a strong and centralised state, based on populism.[189]

Criticism

Cartoon with many men fleeing over upturned tables as Bonaparte stands raising his hand towards them and his soldiers advance with bayonets
"EXIT LIBERTÈ a la FRANCOIS ! or BUONAPARTE closing the Farce of Egalitè, at St. Cloud near Paris Nov. 10th. 1799", British satirical depiction of the 18 Brumaire coup d'état, by James Gillray.

Napoleon ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary France.[190] He was, however, considered a tyrant and usurper by his opponents.[191]

His critics charge that he was not significantly troubled when faced with the prospect of war and death for thousands, turned his search for undisputed rule into a series of conflicts throughout Europe and ignored treaties and conventions alike. His role in the Haitian Revolution and decision to reinstate slavery in France's oversea colonies are controversial and have an impact on his reputation.[192]

Napoleon institutionalised plunder of conquered territories: 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; his example would later serve as inspiration for more notorious imitators.[193] He was compared to Adolf Hitler most famously by the historian Pieter Geyl in 1947.[194] David G. Chandler, historian of Napoleonic warfare, wrote that, "Nothing could be more degrading to the former and more flattering to the latter."[195]

Critics argue Napoleon's true legacy must reflect the loss of status for France and needless deaths brought by his rule: historian Victor Davis Hanson writes, "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost."[196] McLynn notes that, "He can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of his wars.[191] However, Vincent Cronin replies that such criticism relies on the flawed premise that Napoleon was responsible for the wars which bear his name, when in fact France was the victim of a series of coalitions which aimed to destroy the ideals of the Revolution.[197]

Propaganda and memory

Napoleon's masterful use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his regime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship, controlling every aspect of the press, books, theater, and art, was only part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing desperately wanted peace and stability to France. The propagandistic rhetoric changed in relation to events and the atmosphere of Napoleon's reign, focusing first on his role as a general in the army and identification as a soldier, and moving to his role as emperor and a civil leader. Specifically targeting his civilian audience, Napoleon fostered an important, though uneasy, relationship with the contemporary art community, taking an active role in commissioning and controlling all forms of art production to suit his propaganda goals.[198]

The memory of Napoleon in Poland is highly favorable, for his support for independence and opposition to Russia, his legal code, the abolition of serfdom, and the introduction of modern middle class bureaucracies.[199]

Hazareesingh (2004) explores how Napoleon's image and memory is best understood when considered within its socio-political context. It played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815-30. People from all walks of life and all areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 revolution.[200]

Widespread rumors of Napoleon's return from St. Helena and Napoleon as an inspiration for patriotism, individual and collective liberties, and political mobilization manifested themselves in seditious materials, notably displaying the tricolor and rosettes, and subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations, and demonstrated the prevailing and successful goal of the varied supporters of Napoleon to constantly destabilize the Bourbon regime.[200]

Datta (2005) shows that following the collapse of militaristic Boulangism in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Concentrating on two plays and two novels from the period - Victorien Sardou's Madame Sans-Gêne (1893), Maurice Barrès's Les Déracinés (1897), Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon (1900), and André de Lorde and Gyp's Napoléonette (1913) Datta examines how writers and critics of the Belle Epoque exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political and cultural ends.[201]

Reduced to a minor character, the new fictional Napoleon was not a world historical figure but an intimate one fashioned by each individual's needs and consumed as popular entertainment. In their attempts to represent the emperor as a figure of national unity, proponents and detractors of the Third Republic used the legend as a vehicle for exploring anxieties about gender and fears about the processes of democratization that accompanied this new era of mass politics and culture.[201]

International Napoleonic Congresses are held regularly and include participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians and scholars from different countries.[202]

Slated for completion in 2014, the Napoleonland theme park near Montereau-Fault-Yonne on the site of Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Montereau, will keep the emperor's memory alive with attractions detailing his life and accomplishments.

Marriages and children

Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine, Empress of the French, painted by François Gérard, 1801
Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine, Empress of the French
Empress Marie-Louise and the King of Rome, by Joseph Franque, 1812.
Napoleon's second wife, Marie-Louise, Empress of the French

Napoleon married Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796, when he was 26; she was a 32-year-old widow whose first husband had been executed during the Revolution. Until she met Bonaparte, she had been known as 'Rose', a name which he disliked. He called her 'Joséphine' instead, and she went by this name henceforth. Bonaparte often sent her love letters while on his campaigns.[203] He formally adopted her son Eugène and cousin Stéphanie and arranged dynastic marriages for them. Joséphine had her daughter Hortense marry Napoleon's brother Louis.[204]

Joséphine had lovers, including a Hussar lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles, during Napoleon's Italian campaign.[205] Napoleon learnt the full extent of her affair with Charles while in Egypt, and a letter he wrote to his brother Joseph regarding the subject was intercepted by the British. The letter appeared in the London and Paris presses, much to Napoleon's embarrassment. Napoleon had his own affairs too: during the Egyptian campaign he took Pauline Bellisle Foures, the wife of a junior officer, as his mistress. She became known as Cleopatra after the Ancient Egyptian ruler.[206][note 16]

While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, possibly because of either the stresses of her imprisonment during the Reign of Terror or an abortion she may have had in her 20s.[208] Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir. In March 1810, he married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette by proxy; thus he had married into a German royal and imperial family.[209]

They remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again. The couple had one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (1811–1832), known from birth as the King of Rome. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children.[209]

Napoleon acknowledged two illegitimate children: Charles Léon (1806–1881) by Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne,[210] and Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868) by Countess Marie Walewska.[210] He may have had further unacknowledged illegitimate offspring as well, such as Karl Eugin von Mühlfeld by Victoria Kraus;[101] Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte (1816–1910) by Albine de Montholon; and Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire, whose mother remains unknown.[211]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Napoleon I of France
的Monarchical敬稱
參考敬稱His Imperial Majesty
語體敬稱Your Imperial Majesty
其他敬稱My Lord
Napoleon I of Italy
的Monarchical敬稱
File:Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Italy (1805-1814) (2).svg
參考敬稱His Royal Majesty
語體敬稱Your Royal Majesty
其他敬稱My Lord

Titles and styles

Full titles

1804–1805

His Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French.

1805–1806

His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, King of Italy.

1806–1809

His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.

1809–1814

His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation.

1815

His Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the French.

Ancestry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte
(1663–1703)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte
(1683–1720/60)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Maria Colonna Bozzi
(1668–1704)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte
(1713–1763)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18. Carlo Tusoli
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Maria Anna Tusoli
(1690–1760)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Isabella
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Carlo Maria Buonaparte
(1746–1785)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Giuseppe Maria Paravisini
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Maria Saveria Paravisini
(1715–bef. 1750)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22. Angelo Agostino Salineri
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11. Maria Angela Salineri
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23. Francetta Merezano
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and King of Italy
(1769–1821)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24. Giovanni Girolamo Ramolino
(1645–?)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25. Maria Laetitia Boggiano
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino (1723–1755)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26. Andrea Peri
(1669–?)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Angela Maria Peri
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27. Maria Maddalena Colonna d'Istria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Maria Letizia Ramolino
(1750–1836)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28. Giovanni Antonio Pietrasanta
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Giuseppe Maria Pietrasanta
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7. Angela Maria Pietrasanta (1725–1790)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Maria Josephine Malerba
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Titles

Emperor Napoleon I of France
官衔
前任者:
French Directory
Provisional Consul of France
11 November – 12 December 1799

Roger Ducos and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès
同時在任
Became Consul
新頭銜
First Consul of France
12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804

Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (Second Consul)
Charles-François Lebrun (Third Consul)
同時在任
Became Emperor
統治者頭銜
空缺
French Revolution
上一位持有相同頭銜者:
Louis XVI of France
為King of the French
Emperor of the French
18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814
繼任者:
Louis XVIII of France
為King of France and Navarre
空缺
上一位持有相同頭銜者:
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
為last crowned monarch, 1530
King of Italy
17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814
空缺
下一位持有相同頭銜者:
Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy
前任者:
Louis XVIII of France
為King of France and Navarre
Emperor of the French
20 March – 22 June 1815
繼任者:
Louis XVIII of France
為King of France and Navarre
(Napoleon II
according to his will only)
新頭銜
State created
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine
12 July 1806 – 19 October 1813
Rhine Confederation dissolved
successive ruler:
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
as President of the German Confederation
王位覬覦者
新頭銜 — 名义上的 —
Emperor of the French
11 April 1814 – 20 March 1815
空缺
下一位持有相同頭銜者:
Napoleon II

Notes

  1. ^ His name was also spelled as Nabulione, Nabulio, Napolionne, and Napulione.[3]
  2. ^ At Brienne, Napoleon first met the champagne-maker Jean-Rémy Moët. They became friends, and Napoleon later frequently stayed at Moët's estate. Victorious French armies were known for their indulgence in sabrage: opening a champagne bottle with a sabre.[18]
  3. ^ Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection between him and Napoleon's theorem.[20]
  4. ^ He was mainly referred to as Bonaparte until he became First Consul for life.[24]
  5. ^ Some histories state he was imprisoned at the Fort Carré in Antibes but there does not appear to be evidence for this.[34]
  6. ^ 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.[72]
  7. ^ Claude Ribbe advances the thesis that the French used gas chambers.[77]
  8. ^ Napoleon gave the pope a tiara following the ceremony, now referred to as the Napoleon Tiara.
  9. ^ A custom in which householders place candles in street-facing windows to herald good news.[135]
  10. ^ It was customary to cast a death mask or mold of a leader. Four genuine death masks of Napoleon are known to exist: one in The Cabildo, a state museum located in New Orleans, one in a Liverpool museum, another in Havana and one in the library of the University of North Carolina.[143]
  11. ^ The body can tolerate large doses of arsenic if ingested regularly, and arsenic was a fashionable cure-all.[149]
  12. ^ “Nous trompons les Égyptiens par notre simili attachement à leur religion, à laquelle Bonaparte et nous ne croyons pas plus qu'à celle de Pie le défunt.”[165]
  13. ^ "I think the matter that made man was slime, warmed by the sun and vivified by electric fluids. What are animals —an ox, for example— but organized matter? Well, when we see that our physical frame resembles theirs, may we not believe that we are only better organized matter... The most simple idea consists in worshiping the sun, which gives life to everything. I repeat, I think man was created in an atmosphere warmed by the sun, and that after a certain time this productive power ceased."[167]
  14. ^ "I do not think Jesus Christ ever existed. I would believe in the Christian religion if it dated from the beginning of the world. That Socrates, Plato, the Mohammedan, and all the English should be damned is too absurd. Jesus was probably put to death, like many other fanatics who proclaimed themselves to be prophets or the expected Messiah. Every year there were many of these men."[168]
  15. ^ Napoleon's height was 5 ft 2 French inches according to Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy and British sources put his height at 5 foot and 7 British inches: both equivalent to 1.7 m.[177] Napoleon surrounded himself with tall bodyguards and had a nickname of le petit caporal which was an affectionate term that reflected his reported camaraderie with his soldiers rather than his height.
  16. ^ One night, during an illicit liaison with the actress Marguerite George, Napoleon had a major fit. This and other more minor attacks have led historians to debate whether he had epilepsy and, if so, to what extent.[207]

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References

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