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Napoleon Early Life (1769)
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in the island of Corsica. His father was part of the Italian noble but still wasn't paid well. He had eight sibling and the family struggled since they lived in such a poor country. At this moment Corsica was suffering because it had just been taken over the French. -
Military Start (1785-1789)
1785-1789, When he was young around the age of nine, he was sent to military school. The military school was very prestigious and was located in Paris. After several years of hard work Napoleon managed to graduate the school early and became a lieutenant of artillery. Once the Revolution started, Napoleon was motivated to join the army and fight with the French. -
Tension in France (1789)
1789, At this moment there was a lot of tension in France since the revolution had begun. The country was bankrupt and there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The revolution ended and KIng Louis had been defeated, but neighboring countries did not like this ideas. They would sent their troops to France to see if they were able to restore the monarchy. -
Napoleon's Rise (1795)
1795, Napoleon had won many battles against the neighboring country and this gave him a lot of power. Napoleon was now a lieutenant of great importance in France. He would fight against the people wanting to restore the monarchy since he was successful he was given power as a commander. Because of his he now had power over the Italian Troops and was able to defeat Italy and Austria. -
Napoleon Gets Defeated (1796-1799)
1796-1799 Napoleon had a navy battle with Egypt and sadly was defeated. This showed many people that even though Napoleon had a good army in land they did not have a good naval army. This was his first defeat but he managed to not get the news published in many news papers so her remained a hero. Once back from Egypt his friends had a proposal that he could not deny, his friend urged him to take the political power. -
Napoleon was “Constitutional” (1800)
1800 Napoleon held a plebiscite so the people could vote on whether they wanted to approve a new constitution. The people were desperate for a new form of government so they agreed and voted in favor of it. This gave Napoleon all the power as First Council. -
Napoleon is Crowned (1804)
1804 Napoleon had now decided to crown himself emperor of France. On December 1804 Napoleon walked down Notre Dame Cathedral while the Pope waited with a crown, ready to crown him. This symboled that Napoleon was now more powerful than the church -
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
This was the only MAJOR battle that Napoleon had ever lost, but this naval defeat was way more important than all their victories. This battle caused Napoleon to give up his plans of taking over Britain so he had to find another way of taking over his enemy across the English Channel. -
The Continental System (1806)
In November 1806, Napoleon put a blockade which was a forcible of closing ports. The blockade was placed to prevent trade and communication between Great Britain and the other European Nations. Napoleon named this policy the Continental System because it was assumed to make continental Europe more competent and to destroy Great Britain’s commercial and industrial economy. -
The Blockade (1806)
Napoleon’s blockade was not tight enough and was aided by the British and smugglers managed to bring goods from Britain to Europe. Blockade was ignored. Britain made own blockade and with their strong navy they were able to make it work and stopped neutral ships. They forced them to sail to a British port to be searched and taxed. American ships were among stopped ones and U.S. Congress declared war on Britain which lasted two years. -
The Peninsular War (1808)
Napoleon made a mistake which was an effort to get Portugal to accept the Continental System, he sent an invasion force through Spain. Spanish protested Napoleons action and decided to remove the Spanish king and placed his brother Joseph. This action outraged the Spanish and some of the Catholics were worried that Napoleon would attack the Church. Spanish saw how the French Revolution weakened the Catholic Church in France and they were scared that could happen to the Church in Spain. -
Guerillas (1808)
Bands of Spanish peasant fighters struck French armies in Spain but Napoleon was unable to beat them in open battle and they worked in small groups that surprised French troops and then ran into hiding. The British added to the French troubles by sending troops to aid the Spanish and Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this Peninsular War. This weakened the French Empire. -
Napoleon is Drowning in Power (1812)
By 1812 there were only a few countries free from Napoleon power. The other countries were known as Napoleon's puppets and would only do what he says. At this point, the French Empire was hudge but was very unstable. -
The Invasion of Russia (1812)
Napoleon made his biggest mistake in 1812. Alexander I had become Napoleon’s ally and the Russian czar refused to stop selling grain to Britain. French and Russian rulers suspected each other of having competing designs on Poland. Because of this disintegration in the alliance, Napoleon made the decision to invade Russia. -
Napoleon Suffers Defeat (1813-1814)
Napoleon was able to start a new army but the majority of his troops were not trained and were not ready for battle. Napoleon faced the allied armies of the European powers outside the German city of Leipzig in October 1813 and the allied forces easily defeated his inexperienced army and the French resistance crushed quickly. On January of 1814, the allied armies were moving steadily toward Paris. -
Entering France (March 1, 1815)
Louis XVI’s brother assumed the throne as Louis XVIII. The new king quickly became unpopular among the people the peasants because it was suspected of him of wanting to undo the Revolution’s land reforms. Louis’s troubles was all the encouragement Napoleon needed to try to regain power so he escaped from Elba and on March 1, 1815 he ended up in France. Crowds welcomed him on the march to Paris and in a few days he was emperor of France. -
Waterloo (June 18, 1815)
European allies quickly organized their armies and the British army, which was led by the Duke of Wellington, prepared for battle near the village of Waterloo that was in Belgium. On June 18, 1815, Napoleon attacked and the British army defended themselves all day. Later, the Prussian army arrived and together with the British, they attacked the French. Two days later, Napoleon’s extremely tired troops gave way and the British and Prussian forces ran after them from the field. -
Hundred Days (1821)
This defeat ended Napoleon’s last offer for power and it is called the Hundred Days. The British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena where he was exiled for six years, writing his memoirs. Napoleon died in 1821 of a stomach ailment, maybe cancer. Napoleon was a military genius and a brilliant administrator and his defeat opened the door for the freed European countries to be able to establish a new order.
