3. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE(15 AUGUST 1769 – 5 MAY
1821)
• WAS A FRENCH MILITARY AND POLITICAL LEADER WHO ROSE TO PROMINENCE
DURING THE LATTER STAGES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ITS
ASSOCIATED WARS IN EUROPE.
• NAPOLEON WAS BORN IN CORSICA IN A FAMILY OF NOBLE ITALIAN ANCESTRY
THAT HAD SETTLED IN CORSICA IN THE 16TH CENTURY. HE SPOKE FRENCH
WITH A HEAVY CORSICAN ACCENT. WELL-EDUCATED, HE ROSE TO
PROMINENCE UNDER THE FRENCH FIRST REPUBLIC AND LED SUCCESSFUL
CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION WHO SET
UP THE FIRST AND SECOND COALITIONS, MOST NOTABLY HIS CAMPAIGNS IN
ITALY.
4. NAPOLEONIC WARS
• THE NAPOLEONIC WARS (1803–1815) WERE A SERIES OF WARS BETWEEN NAPOLEON’S
FRENCH EMPIRE EMPIRE AND A SERIES OF OPPOSING COALITIONS LED BY GREAT
BRITAIN.
• AS A CONTINUATION OF THE WARS SPARKED BY THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789,
THEY REVOLUTIONIZED EUROPEAN ARMIES AND PLAYED OUT ON AN UNPRECEDENTED
SCALE, MAINLY OWING TO THE APPLICATION OF MODERN MASS CONSCPRITION.
• FRENCH POWER ROSE QUICKLY AS NAPOLEON'S ARMIES CONQUERED MUCH OF
EUROPE BUT COLLAPSED RAPIDLY AFTER FRANCE'S DISASTROUSINVASION OF RUSSIA
IN 1812. NAPOLEON WAS DEFEATED IN 1814; HE RETURNED AND WAS FINALLY
DEFEATED IN 1815 AT WATERLOO, AND ALL FRANCE'S GAINS WERE TAKEN AWAY BY THE
VICTORS.
5. FRENCHEMPIRE
• 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. 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.
Napoleon's coronation
6. REFORM’S
• 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 ORGANICS 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.
First remittance of the
Légion d'Honneur, 15
July 1804
7. PERSONALITY
• HISTORIANS AGREE THAT NAPOLEON'S REMARKABLE PERSONALITY WAS ONE KEY TO HIS
INFLUENCE. ALTHOUGH NOT PHYSICALLY IMPOSING, IN ONE-ON-ONE SITUATIONS HE TYPICALLY
HAD A HYPNOTIC IMPACT ON PEOPLE AND SEEMINGLY BENT THE STRONGEST LEADERS TO HIS
WILL. SECOND, HIS INTELLECTUAL POWERS WERE UNRIVALED. HE HAD A "PHOTOGRAPHIC
MEMORY" FOR FACTS, PEOPLE, EVENTS, NUMBERS, MILITARY UNITS, AND MAPS. HE DEVOURED
STATISTICAL INFORMATION AND REPORTS, MEMORIZED MAPS, AND HAD A PERFECT RECALL OF A
FANTASTIC STOCK OF INFORMATION.
8. MARRIAGESANDCHILDREN
• 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. 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.
Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine, Empress of the Frenc
Second marriag
9. MARRIAGESANDCHILDREN
• 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.[223]
• 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.
Napoleon's second wife, Marie-Louise,
Empress of the French
10. DEATHDEATH
• IN FEBRUARY 1821, NAPOLEON'S HEALTH BEGAN TO DETERIORATE RAPIDLY,
AND ON 3 MAY TWO BRITISH PHYSICIANS, WHO HAD RECENTLY ARRIVED,
ATTENDED ON HIM BUT COULD ONLY RECOMMEND PALLIATIVES. HE DIED TWO
DAYS LATER, AFTER CONFESSION, EXTREME UNCTION AND VIATICUM IN THE
PRESENCE OF FATHER ANGE VIGNALI. HIS LAST WORDS WERE, "FRANCE,
ARMÉE, TÊTE D'ARMÉE, JOSÉPHINE." ("FRANCE, ARMY, HEAD OF THE ARMY,
JOSÉPHINE.")