The Age of Napoleon

Italian Campaign

1796

Napoleon was appointed commander in 1796. He was sent to try and move the Austrians away from the Rhine front. This proved successful through Napoleon’s good sense of direction and discipline.

Egyptian Campaign

1798

This campaign was to defend French trade routes. The campaign ended in failure with Napoleon’s fleet being destroyed. Although it was a failure it gave Napoleon an insane amount of popularity.

Consulate

Nov 9, 1799

Because of a very brutal coup d’etat which Napoleon was apart of this group overthrew the French Directory. This led to Napoleon gaining control of the consulate and overall his reign of power.

Banque de France

Jan 18, 1800

Napoleon created the Banque de France to focus on economics because of the strong recession it had during the French Revolution. It also discounted trade bills because of issuing notes payable to the bearer in sight.

Concordat of 1801

Jul 15, 1801

This agreement is where Napoleon and Pope Prius VII had their famous power struggle. The Pope originally came there to crown Napoleon but when he found out Josephine and Napoleon’s marriage history he almost refused to. In the end he agreed after Napoleon and Josephine got “married” again but Napoleon ended up crowning himself and Josephine instead.

Consul For Life

1802

Napoleon proclaims himself the First Consul for Life. A new constitution had been made solely for Napoleon and his son, Napoleon’s had no children at this time. It made it so his son would succeed him and he also made himself a whole new regime too.

Napoleonic Code

Mar 21, 1804

The Napoleonic Code was a French civil code that gave the people of France the right to property and defined the concept of equality. It was smooth based on the three ideals of the French Revolution.

Napoleon declared Self-Emperor

May 18, 1804

On May 18th, Napoleon declared himself emperor and made Josephine, his wife, empress this led him being crowned emperor during his coronation ceremony in December. This was an extremely lavish ceremony.

Battle of Trafalgar

Oct 21, 1805

This battle was the one that completely destroyed Napoleon’s plans to conquer Britain. It also proved how strong Britain’s naval fleet was with it having the superior training and equipment to win the battle. This battle wounded Napoleon’s pride greatly.

Abolished The Holy Roman Empire

Aug 6, 1806

This was very historical because the Holy Roman Empire had survived for over a thousand years. Napoleon made the Confederation of Rhine which was group of German states to replace the Holy Roman Empire in a way. Francis II also laid down the imperial crown. All of these actions marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire.

Continental System

Nov 21, 1806

The Continental System was a blockade designed to stop the British by destroying the British commerce. It ended trade between Britain and France in its entirety. Napoleon made it as an attack on the British and for France to start building its own industry.

Resistance in Spain

May 2, 1808

This was an uprising in Madrid from Spain that was suppressed at first although completely surprising Napoleon, he hadn’t expected resistance. Later through more uprisings began when French military power began to weaken. This started the Peninsular War or as Napoleon called it “The Spanish Ulcer”.

Invasion of Russia

Jun 24, 1812

This invasion was started so Napoleon could force Russia back into the Continental System blockade. It was also to liberate Poland from being attacked by Russia. This was altogether a disaster as Russia lost more than 200,000 people and The French lost over 70,000 in a single battle.

Battle of Nations at Leipzig

Oct 16, 1813

This was where Napoleon was truly defeated. This also led to French Power being destroyed as well. Napoleon had 185,000 troops going against 320,000 troops from literally everyone else. His armies were forced to withdraw to the Elbe River. In the end Napoleon was stopped at the Elster River and this ended the Napoleonic Wars.

Hundred Days

Mar 20, 1815

This is the day Napoleon arrived at France after escaping exile on Elba and the date of the return of Louis XVIII. Less than a year later Napoleon had an army of 1,500 men and marched onto Paris with them. He then made many liberal changes to the imperial constitution and gained more allies. Britain, Prussia, and Russia caught wind of this and began more battles which ultimately led to the Battle of Waterloo.

Battle of Waterloo

Jun 18, 1815

This battle marked the actual, FINAL, defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon suffered the defeat by the Duke of Wellington. This battle is one of the most significant because of the legacy Napoleon led and it’s ultimate end being marked during this battle.

Abdication

Jun 22, 1815

Days after the Battle of Waterloo, which marked Napoleon’s grand defeat, Napoleon tried to abdicate for his son Napoleon II. This was denied by Britain, Prussia, and Russia since they knew he would be controlling the strings behind the child who was way too young to rule. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena where he died years later in 1821.