Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in Corsica and studied in a military academy in Paris. After the French Revolution began, he returned to Corsica but was exiled due to political rivalries. In Paris, Napoleon helped defeat revolts and was given command of an army, defeating the Austrians in Italy. However, after unsuccessful campaigns in Egypt and returning to find France in chaos, Napoleon staged a coup and became the ruler of France as First Consul. He later crowned himself Emperor but his attempts to defeat European powers through war eventually led to his defeat and exile.

1. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Gorka Seoane. 4º ESO 2009-10.
IES FRAY PEDRO DE URBINA

2. The beginning of the emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in 1769, son of Carlo Bonaparte
and Maria Letizia Ramolino.
His family was part of the local bourgeoisie, then in Paris Napoleon
studied in the militar academy. When the revolution started, he returned
to Corsica, but his rivality with a nationalist representant forced the exile
of Napoleon.

3. The Campaigns
In Paris, Bonaparte
finished with some revolts
against the Convention;
after that, he received an
army to march to Italy,
there Napoleon defeated
the Austrian army and he
got Lombardy for France
and two Papal states.
In Egypt Napoleon
defeated the English army
in the pyramids battle and
the Ottoman army; after
that, Bonaparte took the
control of Egypt and some
Ottoman cities as Acre.

4. Napoleon takes the power
The army in Egypt was left in charge
of Jean Baptiste Kléber. 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. 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 for the
French population.The Directory discussed
Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak
to punish him.
In Paris Napoleon and Sieyes were decided
to prepare a coup d’etat. At the beginning,
the new consul would be Sieyes but
Napoleon was faster and he took the
power, and he proclaimed himself consul
forerver, it made Napoleon the most
powerful person in France.
During the consulate Napoleon tried to
restore the order, lost during the revolution,
fighting against the Austrian army in
Lombardy and selling the Louisiana to solve
the bankrupt.

5. Napoleon’s Empire
To consolidate his charge of
consul, Napoleon decided to
change the consulate to an
hereditary empire, to avoid
conspirations, and Napoleon
proclamed himself emperor of
France.

6. Napoleon against Europe
Napoleon wanted to defeat England, he
needed the sea control to invade England,
so he asked Spain to figth against England,
but the two naval armies were defeated in
Trafalgar battle. After that, Napoleon forgot
his rivality with England and he decided to
invade Europe, he conquered the Naples
Kingdom, finishing with the United Provinces
and founding the Holland Kingdom and the
Rihne Confederation.
Prusia and Russia attacked the
Confederation but Napoleon defeated the
two armies, so he expanded the empire with
Westfalia and some Prusian’s territories, and
he had the main harbours of Europe under
his control.
The biggest expansion of the empire was in
1810 with an alliance with Austria and the
support of the Irilic Provinces, Bremen,
Lubeck and all the Papal States.

7. Independence War
Napoleon wanted to isolate England from Europe and
the only country loyal to England was Portugal, so he
decided to attack Portugal.
To attack Portugal he had to pass through Spain, and he
made an alliance with Spain, but Napoleon decided to
include Spain in his empire, and Jose, his brother, was
proclaimed king of Spain. The people didn’t accept the
new king, and the war against Napoleon was official.
In that war, Napoleon put his best troops, but he had to
figth with another countries and he withdrew the army
from Spain where he lost part of his army, and at the end
Jose was deposed.

8. The Russian Campaign
Napoleon was angry with the Tzar because he didn’t make the
maritime blockade against England, so he decided to invade Russia
the 23th of June of 1812.
The Russian army decided to go back and avoid the figth, Napoleon
won some battles but when he arrived to Moscow, the city was
burned and he must return to France with the problem of the
Russian winter.
Napoleon started this campaign with 670.000 soldiers, only 40.000
returned to France.

9. The end of the empire
After the defeat with Russia,
Russia, Austria, Sweden, Spain,
Portugal and the United Kingdom
created an alliance against
Napoleon.
In Leipzig, Napoleon fougth
against the alliance, that doubled
the French army, and Napoleon
was defeated, losing 120000
soldiers. With an army of
100.000, France couldn’t resist
the attacks of the alliance.
After that defeat, Napoleon was
exiled to Elba island.

10. But Napoleon returned to Paris
where he prepared an army of
200.000 soldiers to fight
against England, Prussia and
Holland in the Belgian
campaign, but Napoleon was
defeated in the battle of
Waterloo.
Finally, Napoleon was exiled to
the Saint Helena island, where
he died in 1821 at the age of
51 years old.