Napoleon

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For criticism see Criticism of Napoleon

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Napoleon I
Emperor of the French; King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Reign	20 March 1804 – 6 April 1814 1 March 1815 – 22 June 1815
Coronation	2 December 1804
Predecessor	French Consulate (Executive of the French First Republic, with Napoleon as First Consul); Previous ruling Monarch : Louis XVI as King of the French (died 1793)
Successor	Louis XVIII (de facto) Napoleon II (de jure)
Spouse	Joséphine de Beauharnais Marie Louise of Austria
Issue
Napoleon II of France
Full name
Napoleon Bonaparte
Imperial House	Bonaparte
Father	Carlo Buonaparte
Mother	Letizia Ramolino
Born	15 August 1769(1769-08-15) Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Died	5 May 1821 (aged 51) Longwood, Saint Helena
Burial	Les Invalides, Paris

Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte French pronunciation: [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt]; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.

Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence under the First French 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 he crowned himself Emperor of the French. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, he turned the armies of the French Empire against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories. He maintained France's sphere of influence by the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states.

The French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point 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 under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, though Sten Forshufvud and other scientists have since conjectured that he was poisoned with arsenic.

The conflict with the rest of Europe led to a period of total war across the continent; his campaigns are studied at military academies the world over. While considered a tyrant by his opponents, he is also remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative and judicial foundations for much of Western Europe.

Contents 1 Origins and education 2 Early career 2.1 Siege of Toulon 2.2 13 Vendémiaire 2.3 First Italian campaign 2.4 Egyptian expedition 3 Ruler of France 3.1 French Consulate 3.1.1 Temporary peace in Europe 3.1.2 Reforms 3.2 French Empire 3.2.1 War of the Third Coalition 3.2.2 War of the Fourth Coalition 3.2.3 Peninsular War 4 Titles 5 Notes 6 Citations 7 References 8 External links

Origins and education

Napoleon Bonaparte was born the second of seven children, in Casa Buonaparte in the town of Ajaccio, Corsica, on 15 August 1769, one year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa.^[1] He was initially named Napoleone di Buonaparte, but later adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte.Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many

The Corsican Buonapartes originated from minor Italian nobility, who had come to Corsica in the 16th century.^[3] 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, Maria Letizia Ramolino, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.^[4] He had an elder brother, Joseph; and younger siblings Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline and Jérôme. Napoleon was baptised Catholic just before his second birthday, on 21 July 1771 at Ajaccio Cathedral.^[5]

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.^[6] 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.^[7] He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell properly.^[8] Napoleon was teased by other students for his accent and applied himself to study.^[9]Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many 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."^[11]Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many 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.^[13] Instead, he trained to become an artillery officer and had to quickly complete the two-year course in one year when his father's death reduced his income.^[9] He was examined by the famed scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace, whom Napoleon later appointed to the Senate.^[14]

Early career

On graduation in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery regiment.^[7]Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many He served on garrison duty in Valence, Drôme and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, though he took nearly two years of 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."^[16]

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.^[17] 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.^[18] Bonaparte and his family had to flee to the French mainland in June 1793 due to the split with Paoli.^[19]

Siege of Toulon

Main article: Siege of Toulon

In July 1793, he published a pro-republican pamphlet, Le Souper de Beaucaire [Supper at Beaucaire], which gained him the admiration and support of Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of the Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. With the help of fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti, Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of Toulon. The city had risen against the republican government and was occupied by British troops.^[20] He identified a hill placing that allowed 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. His actions brought him to the attention of the Committee of Public Safety and he was given command of the artillery arm of France's Army of Italy.^[21] He also became engaged to Désirée Clary, his future sister-in-law, whose father was a rich Marseille trader.^[22]

13 Vendémiaire

Main article: 13 Vendémiaire

Following the fall of the Robespierres in the July 1794 Thermidorian Reaction, Bonaparte was imprisoned at the Fort Carré in Antibes in August 1794 for his association with the brothers. Although he was released after only ten days, he remained out of favour.^[23] 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 France's Vendée region. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general, and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting.^[24] 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.^[25] On 15 September he was removed from the list of generals in regular service; the reason given was his refusal to serve in the Vendée campaign. He now faced a desperate financial situation.^[26]

On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention after they were excluded from a new government, the Directory.^[27] 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 key to its defence.^[7] He ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat to seize large cannon and used them to repel the attackers on 5 October 1795—13 Vendémiaire An IV in the French Republican Calendar. 1,400 royalists died and the rest fled.^[27] He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of grapeshot" according to the 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle, in The French Revolution: A History.^[28]

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.^[19] 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.^[29]

First Italian campaign

Main article: 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, then drove them out of Lombardy.^[19] He was defeated at Caldiero by Austrian reinforcements, led by József Alvinczi, though he regained the initiative at the crucial Battle of the Bridge of Arcole and proceeded to subdue the Papal States.^[30] 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 that would be exploited by the Kingdom of Naples. Instead, in March 1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced it to negotiate peace.^[31] 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.^[32]

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."^[33] 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 cooperating forces at their hinge, swing round to fight one until it fled, then turn to face the other.^[34] In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons and 170 standards.^[35] The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 pitched battles due to superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.^[36]

During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He published two newspapers, ostensibly for the troops in his army, but widely circulated in France as well, and in May 1797, founded a third newspaper, Le Journal de Bonaparte et des hommes vertueux, which was published in Paris.^[37] Elections in mid-1797 gave the royalist party more power and alarmed the Directory.^[38] The royalists attacked Bonaparte for looting Italy and claimed he had overstepped his authority in dealings with the Austrians. Bonaparte sent General Pierre Augereau to Paris to lead a coup d'état and purge the royalists on 4 September—18 Fructidor. This left Barras and his Republican allies in control again, but dependent on Bonaparte who proceeded to peace negotiations with Austria. This negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Campo Formio, and Bonaparte returned to Paris in December as a hero, more popular than the Directors.^[39] He met with 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 England.^[19]

Egyptian expedition

Main article: French Invasion of Egypt (1798)

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.^[19] The Directory, though troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, agreed so the popular general would be absent from the centre of power.^[40]

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.^[41]

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, Prussian 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 a very important naval base with the loss of only three men.^[42]

General Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and on 1 July landed at Alexandria.^[19] In a largely unsuccessful effort to gain the support of the Egyptian population, Bonaparte issued proclamations that cast him as a liberator of the people from Ottoman oppression (Egypt was then a province of the Ottoman Empire), and praised the precepts of Islam. In a letter to a sheikh in August 1798, Napoleon wrote, "I hope...I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness."^[43] However, Bonaparte's secretary Bourienne wrote that his employer had no serious interest in Islam or any other religion beyond their political value.Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many

Bonaparte successfully fought the Battle of Chobrakit against the Mamluks, an old power in the Middle East. This helped the French plan their attack in the Battle of the Pyramids fought over a week later, about 6 km from the pyramids. General Bonaparte's forces were greatly outnumbered by the Mamluks' cavalry—20,000 against 60,000—but he formed hollow squares with supplies kept safely inside. 300 French and approximately 6,000 Egyptians were killed.^[45]

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 Sea was frustrated.^[46] His army had nonetheless succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.^[47] In early 1799, he moved the 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.^[48] 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.^[46] Men, women and children were robbed and murdered for three days.^[49]

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.^[46] To speed up the retreat, he ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned.^[50] His supporters have argued this decision was necessary given the continued harassment of stragglers by Ottoman forces and those left behind alive were indeed tortured and beheaded by the Ottomans. Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir.^[51]

Ruler of France

Main articles: 18 Brumaire and the Napoleonic Era

While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs through irregular delivery of newspapers and dispatches. He learnt France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition.^[52] 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.^[46] The army was left in the charge of Jean Baptiste Kléber.^[53] 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.^[52] 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.^[54] The Directory discussed Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak to punish him.^[52]

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 Bonaparte; 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.^[55] 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, Sièyes, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government.^[46]

French Consulate

Main articles: French Consulate and War of the Second Coalition

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.^[56] This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France and he took up residence at the Tuileries.^[46]

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.Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many The campaign began badly for the French due to strategic errors by Bonaparte; one force was left besieged at Genoa but managed to hold out and thereby occupy Austrian resources.^[58] This effort and French general Desaix's timely reinforcements, allowed Bonaparte to narrowly avoid defeat and triumph over the Austrians in June at the significant Battle of Marengo. 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.^[59]

Temporary peace in Europe

Main articles: Napoleon's invasion of the United Kingdom, Haitian Revolution, and Louisiana Purchase

Bonaparte set up a camp at Boulogne-sur-Mer to prepare for an invasion of Britain but both countries had become tired of war and signed the Treaty of Amiens in October 1801 and March 1802; this included the withdrawal of British troops from most colonial territories it had recently occupied.^[60] The peace was uneasy and short-lived; Britain failed to 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.^[61] The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803, and he reassembled the invasion camp at Boulogne.^[46]

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.^[62] 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.Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many 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 ($7.40 per km²).^[64]

Reforms

Bonaparte instituted lasting reforms, including centralised administration of the departments, higher education, a tax code, road and sewer systems and the Banque de France—the country's 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.^[41] In May 1802, he instituted the Légion d'Honneur, 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.^[65] 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.^[66] After this he was generally referred to as Napoleon rather than Bonaparte.^[15]

Napoleon's set of civil laws, the Code Civil—now 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.^[67] See Legacy.

French Empire

Main articles: First French Empire and Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon faced royalist and Jacobin plots as France's ruler, including the Conspiration des poignards [Daggers conspiracy] in October 1800 and the Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise two months later.^[68] 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 the 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.^[69]

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.^[70] Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris and then crowned Joséphine Empress. Claims he seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII during the ceremony—to avoid his subjugation to the authority of the pontiff—are apocryphal; the coronation procedure had been agreed in advance.Cite error 3; Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many 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. Ludwig van Beethoven, a long-time admirer and disappointed at this turn towards imperialism, scratched his dedication to Napoleon from his 3rd Symphony.^[70]

War of the Third Coalition

Main article: War of the Third Coalition

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. 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.^[71] 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.^[72]

Instead, he ordered the army stationed at Boulogne, his Grande Armée, to secretly march to Germany 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. 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.^[73]

Napoleon would go on to say that "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought."^[74] 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".^[75] Vincent Cronin disagrees, stating Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, that "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".^[76]

War of the Fourth Coalition

Main article: War of the Fourth Coalition

The Fourth Coalition was assembled the following year, and Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in October.^[77] He marched against advancing Russian armies through Poland, and was involved in the bloody stalemate of the Battle of Eylau on 6 February 1807.^[78]

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.^[79]

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.^[80]

Peninsular War

Main article: Peninsular War

Portugal did not comply with the Continental System so, in 1807, Napoleon invaded with the support of Spain. Under the pretext of a reinforcement of the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, Napoleon invaded Spain as well, replaced Charles IV with his brother Joseph and placed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat in Joseph's stead at Naples. This led to resistance from the Spanish army and civilians in the Dos de Mayo Uprising.^[81] 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.^[82] Before the Spanish population had been fully subdued, Austria again threatened war and Napoleon returned to France.^[83]

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.^[84] 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. ^[85] Following several allied victories, the war concluded after Napoleon's abdication in 1814.^[86]

Continued at Napoleon, part 2

Titles

Template:S-pre

Emperor Napoleon I of France House of Bonaparte
Political offices
Preceded by French Directory	Provisional Consul of France 11 November – 12 December 1799 Served alongside: Roger Ducos and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès	became Consul
New title Consulate created	First Consul of France 12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804 Served alongside: Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (Second Consul) Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance(Third Consul)	became Emperor
Regnal titles
Vacant French Revolution Title last held by Louis XVI of France as King of the French	Emperor of the French 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814	Succeeded by Louis XVIII of France as King of France and Navarre
Preceded by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor	King of Italy 26 May 1805 – 1814	Vacant Title next held by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Preceded by Louis XVIII of France as King of France and Navarre	Emperor of the French 1 March – 22 June 1815	Succeeded by Napoleon II of France
New title 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
New title Template:S-tul	Vacant Title next held by Napoleon II of France

Notes

Citations

References

Further reading

• Napoleon I of France bibliography

External links

• Napoleon Series
• International Napoleonic Society
• Napoleon at Find A Grave
• Napoleon 101, podcast by J. David Markham
• Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess Edward Winter
• Biography by the US Public Broadcasting Service
• The Constitution of the Consulate (in French) on Wikisource
• The Imperial Constitution (in French) on Wikisource
• Memoirs of Napoleon at Project Gutenberg
• John Holland Rose The Life of Napoleon I at Project Gutenberg
• J. G. Lockhart The History of Napoleon Buonaparte at Project Gutenberg
• William Milligan Sloane The Life of Napoleon I. at Project Gutenberg Vol. 1/4
• William Milligan Sloane The Life of Napoleon I. at Project Gutenberg Vol. 3/4

Template:Bonaparte family

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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	St. Helena

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