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Italian Campain
Bonaparte led his army forward into Italy. He was badly outnumbered. His 38,000 French soldiers faced 38,000 Austrians and their allies. Bonaparte's plan was to isolate the Austrians from their allies, then conquer each separately. -
Egyptian Campaign
The Egyptian campaign was used to threaten Britain's trade routes with its colony, India. In 1798, Napoleon's forces managed to sail past Admiral Nelson and the British fleet to land in Egypt. Napoleon's forces immediately won many battles, including the Battle of the Pyramids. -
Consulate
After Austria declared war in 1799, France returned to a war footing. With Napoleon and the republic’s best army engaged in the Egypt and Syria campaign, France suffered a series of reverses in Europe. As France’s military situation improved, the Jacobins feared a revival of the Royalist faction. When Napoleon returned to France in October, both factions hailed him as the country’s savior. -
Banque de France
Banque de France, national bank of France, created in 1800 to restore confidence in the French banking system after the financial upheavals of the revolutionary period. The headquarters are in Paris. -
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII that was signed in Paris, France. Under the concordat, Napoleon could select bishops and supervise church finances, in return for restoring the rights of the Catholic church in France. -
Consul for life
Napoleon proclaimed himself First Consul for Life. A new constitution of his own devising legislated a succession to rule for his son,even though he had not yet had any children,and he had taken the major steps in creating a new regime in his own image. -
Napoleonic Code
After years planning, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte enacts a new legal framework for France, known as the “Napoleonic Code.” The civil code gave France its first real set of laws concerning property, colonial affairs, the family and individual rights. -
Declared himself emperor
In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that he, conqueror of Europe, placed on his own head. -
Battle of Trafalgar
In a naval battle, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats the combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain.At sea, Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy were constantly ahead of Napoleon Bonaparte, who led France to preeminence on the European mainland. Nelson’s last and greatest victory against the French was the Battle of Trafalgar, which began after Nelson caught sight of a French-Spanish force of 33 ships. -
Abolished Holy Roman Empire
On August 1 the confederated states proclaimed their secession from the empire, and a week later, on August 6, 1806, Francis II announced that he was laying down the imperial crown. The Holy Roman Empire thus came officially to an end after a history of a thousand years. -
Continental System
The Continental System began with Napoleon's Berlin Decree, which banned British ships from entering European ports. Britain made an effort to undermine the Continental System by contracting out its shipments to neutral vessels. -
Resistance in Spain
Under the pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying Portugal, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. The Napoleonic Wars were fought between France and much of Europe between 1792 and 1815. During the first few weeks after their 1808 invasion of Spain, French forces captured Pamplona and Barcelona and on March 19 forced King Charles IV of Spain to abdicate. -
Invasion of Russia Starts
On September 14, the Grande Armée entered the ancient capital of Moscow, only to see it too become engulfed in flames. Most residents had already escaped the city, leaving behind vast quantities of hard liquor but little food. French troops drank and pillaged while Napoleon waited for Alexander to sue for peace. No offer ever came. With snow flurries having already fallen, Napoleon led his army out of Moscow on October 19, realizing that it could not survive the winter there. -
Invasion of Russia Ends
On September 14, the Grande Armée entered the ancient capital of Moscow, only to see it too become engulfed in flames. Most residents had already escaped the city, leaving behind vast quantities of hard liquor but little food. French troops drank and pillaged while Napoleon waited for Alexander to sue for peace. No offer ever came. With snow flurries having already fallen, Napoleon led his army out of Moscow on October 19, realizing that it could not survive the winter there. -
Battle of Nations at Leipzig
Leipzig was the biggest battle of the Napoleonic Wars.The armies of Russians, Prussians, Swedes, and Austrians brought 370,000 troops and 1,384 guns to the battlefield, whereas Napoleon’s strength stood at only 198,000 men with 717 guns. -
Abdication
On April 11, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. -
Hundred Days Start
The Hundred Days War, also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815. -
Hundred Days End
The Hundred Days War, also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815. -
Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium, marked the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon rose through the ranks of the French army during the French Revolution, seized control of the French government in 1799 and became emperor in 1804. Through a series of wars, he expanded his empire across Western and Central Europe. The Battle of Waterloo, in which Napoleon’s forces were defeated which marked the end of his reign and of France’s domination in Europe.