Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his <a href="/facts/Regnal_name/BQh3RG4Q">regnal name</a> Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the <a href="/facts/French_Revolution/PIkDlrC0">French Revolution</a> and led <a href="/facts/Military_career_of_Napoleon/FqYHhYRe">a series of military campaigns</a> across Europe during the <a href="/facts/French_Revolutionary_and_Napoleonic_Wars/70wQFNyB">French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars</a> from 1796 to 1815. He led the <a href="/facts/French_First_Republic/GpRHNfcm">French Republic</a> as <a href="/facts/French_Consulate/epRIRM2a">First Consul</a> from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the <a href="/facts/First_French_Empire/b16nSfY7">French Empire</a> as <a href="/facts/Emperor_of_the_French/5wlRrFSr">Emperor of the French</a> from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was <a href="/facts/King_of_Italy/SbGJEsxn">King</a> of <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Italy_(Napoleonic)/0p7KhAd8">Italy</a> from 1805 to 1814 and <a href="/facts/Protector_of_the_Confederation_of_the_Rhine/R82utJ8W">Protector</a> of the <a href="/facts/Confederation_of_the_Rhine/HsgHkdct">Confederation of the Rhine</a> from 1806 to 1813.
Born on the island of <a href="/facts/Corsica/6xJ6aREr">Corsica</a> to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the <a href="/facts/French_Royal_Army/aG0dMrrD">French Royal Army</a> in 1785. He supported the French Revolution in 1789 and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Toulon_(1793)/1eR5VuGr">siege of Toulon</a> in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on <a href="/facts/13_Vend%25C3%25A9miaire/hoaqkXoQ">13 Vendémiaire</a> in 1795. In 1796, Napoleon commanded <a href="/facts/Italian_campaign_of_1796%25E2%2580%25931797/dDgfz5fq">a military campaign</a> against the <a href="/facts/Habsburg_monarchy/ctwsV3TC">Austrians</a> and their Italian allies in the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_First_Coalition/JlLo1gdR">War of the First Coalition</a>, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an <a href="/facts/French_invasion_of_Egypt_and_Syria/eHgDYmmA">invasion of Egypt and Syria</a> in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power. In November 1799, Napoleon engineered the <a href="/facts/Coup_of_18_Brumaire/gmQ1BRd4">Coup of 18 Brumaire</a> against the <a href="/facts/French_Directory/wHeSvJdt">French Directory</a> and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Marengo/BxhdqcjL">Battle of Marengo</a> in 1800, which secured France's victory in the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Second_Coalition/ubDX0PVP">War of the Second Coalition</a>, and in 1803 he <a href="/facts/Louisiana_Purchase/9uI6F0Uz">sold the territory of Louisiana</a> to the United States. In December 1804, Napoleon <a href="/facts/Coronation_of_Napoleon/5KKqhd3y">crowned himself</a> Emperor of the French, further expanding his power.
The breakdown of the <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Amiens/yYJ4lSzs">Treaty of Amiens</a> led to the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Third_Coalition/NkeAu2MB">War of the Third Coalition</a> by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Austerlitz/GFfNjICH">Battle of Austerlitz</a>, which led to the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire/Bghw8y6e">dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire</a>. In the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Fourth_Coalition/QbuMcGJs">War of the Fourth Coalition</a>, Napoleon defeated <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Prussia/x796l7vx">Prussia</a> at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Jena%25E2%2580%2593Auerstedt/1BfbIpAP">Battle of Jena–Auerstedt</a> in 1806, marched his <a href="/facts/Grande_Arm%25C3%25A9e/5aqjSLYa">Grande Armée</a> into Eastern Europe, and defeated the <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russians</a> in 1807 at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Friedland/9SYFfjPo">Battle of Friedland</a>. Seeking to extend his <a href="/facts/Continental_System/a47RkBLy">trade embargo against Britain</a>, Napoleon invaded the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a> and installed his brother <a href="/facts/Joseph_Bonaparte/ECLveSKX">Joseph</a> as <a href="/facts/King_of_Spain/6raU7qTs">King of Spain</a> in 1808, provoking the <a href="/facts/Peninsular_War/7llD0qku">Peninsular War</a>. In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Fifth_Coalition/HbMra1zo">War of the Fifth Coalition</a>, in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Wagram/E2dEDyWu">Battle of Wagram</a>. In summer 1812, he launched <a href="/facts/French_invasion_of_Russia/EK8zjEhY">an invasion of Russia</a>, briefly <a href="/facts/French_occupation_of_Moscow/SAraFVa3">occupying Moscow</a> before conducting a catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Sixth_Coalition/xkzRjQzv">War of the Sixth Coalition</a>, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Leipzig/TGTMtacj">Battle of Leipzig</a>. The coalition <a href="/facts/Campaign_in_north-east_France_(1814)/c13ET3wQ">invaded France</a> and captured Paris, <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Fontainebleau_(1814)/4SWcIuyK">forcing Napoleon to abdicate</a> in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of <a href="/facts/Elba/BlY5Jby6">Elba</a> and restored the <a href="/facts/Bourbon_Restoration_in_France/hKbV35eL">Bourbons to power</a>. Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on a brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a <a href="/facts/Seventh_Coalition/F9GzzHEt">Seventh Coalition</a>, which defeated him at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Waterloo/jmATjc2f">Battle of Waterloo</a> in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of <a href="/facts/Saint_Helena/bRtmw20h">Saint Helena</a> in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51.
Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history, and <a href="/facts/Napoleonic_tactics/JfJaGXvB">Napoleonic tactics</a> are still studied at military schools worldwide. <a href="/facts/Legacy_of_Napoleon/EzvuS7Uz">His legacy</a> endures through the modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the <a href="/facts/Napoleonic_Code/We19lW8F">Napoleonic Code</a>. He established a system of public education, abolished the vestiges of <a href="/facts/Feudalism/WCK7l9gA">feudalism</a>, <a href="/facts/Napoleon_and_the_Jews/ezklA0zK">emancipated Jews</a> and other religious minorities, abolished the <a href="/facts/Spanish_Inquisition/gwfpY6du">Spanish Inquisition</a>, enacted the principle of <a href="/facts/Equality_before_the_law/cEe7W4rc">equality before the law</a> for an emerging middle class, and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities. His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of <a href="/facts/Nation_state/1T5FVEJP">nation states</a>. However, he is controversial because of his role in wars which devastated Europe, his <a href="/facts/Napoleonic_looting_of_art/CzuR93o6">looting of conquered territories</a>, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies <a href="/facts/Haitian_Revolution/hWeFnpBw">except for Haiti</a>, banned the entry of blacks and <a href="/facts/Mulatto/a7bbro4x">mulattos</a> into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility, and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.

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Napoleon