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Birth
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corisca -
Napoleon Becomes General
After defeating the British at the Battle of Toulons, Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general of the French army. This gave Napoleon more power and authority, setting him up for greatness. -
Campaign in Italy
Napoleon and his army crossed the Alps and attacked Italy. This resulted in many victories and more respect/popularity for Napoleon from the French people. -
Campaign in Egypt
Napoleon invaded Egypt in an attempt to mess up British trade with India and protect French trade interests. This conquest wasn't nearly as successful as the campaign in Italy, but Napoleon managed to keep that out of the public's knowledge, and so he was respected even more which also led to him obtaining political power. -
Concordat with Church
Because many peasants and members of the clergy wanted to restore the Church to its original position (before the Revolution), Napoleon signed an agreement with Pope Pius VII. This gave Napoleon support from most of the French people and the Church. -
Napoleonic Code
The Napoleonic Code was a system of laws which Napoleon believed was his greatest work. It eliminated many injustices and gave France a uniform set of laws. However, it took away some rights acquired in the Revolution and even restored slavery. -
Napoleon Becomes Emperor
Napoleon decided he wanted to be emperor and obtain even more power. Because he was already popular with the majority of French people, the voters supported him. This led Napoleon to seek more power and strive to take over all of Europe. -
Battle of Trafalgar
This was a naval war against commander Horatio Nelson which Napoleon lost trying to create a European empire. Britain was the only thing in his way, and this forced Napoleon to give up trying to invade Britain and ensured that Britain was the superior force for the next 100 years. -
The Continental System
Napoleon closed many trading ports which cut off communication with Great Britain and other European countries. This was meant to make France more self-sufficient and make Great Britain's economy suffer, but it didn't have as much of an impact on the British because they set up their own blockade which was even better than Napoleon's (because of their superior navy) and many French citizens ignored the blockade altogether. -
Peninsular War
Napoleon sent military force into Spain to get them to accept the Continental System and replaced the Spanish king with his brother. This brought fear and anger to the Spanish people because they didn't want Spain's church to be weakened like France's church, and so groups of peasant fighters attacked the French army continuously, and over time France lost over 300,000 troops with these small attacks (weakened the French Empire) -
Campaign in Russia
The Russian czar wouldn't stop trading with Britain and Russia and France had competing designs for Poland, so Napoleon invaded Russia. He marched into Russia with more than 420,000 troops, but the Russian army pulled back and burned all their crops behind them. This successfully starved the French, and with the Russian winter nearing, the French army also had to battle the cold. Seeing this weakness, the Russian army attacked France and at the end of it, only 10,000 French troops could fight. -
Defeat at Battle of Leipzig
Seeing Napoleon's army has been greatly weakened, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Britain all allied against France. Napoleon's army wasn't ready for war, but they had to fight outside of the German city of Leipzig. Napoleon's army was defeated. The allied forces soon closed in on Paris (France's capital) and paraded. The generals refused to fight any longer, and so Napoleon had to surrender and give up the throne. -
Elba
After Napoleon gave up the throne, he was exiled to Elba. Louis XVI took the throne, but was disliked because they suspected that he would want to undo the progress of the Revolution. Napoleon leaned about this and knew he had to go back to France. He escaped and was greeted happily by the French people, and within days he was the emperor once again. -
Waterloo
With news of Napoleon's return, the European allies put together their armies and the British army readied for battle near Waterloo. Napoleon attacked, but the British army stood its ground for a day. Then, the Prussian army attacked (joining the British). After two days, Napoleon's troops were defeated. This ended Napoleon's last bid for power -
St. Helena
After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, he was exiled much farther away to St. Helena (a remote island in the South Atlantic). This confirmed that he would never rise to power again. -
Napoleon's Death
After spending 6 years in St. Helena, Napoleon had died from a stomach illness.
