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Napoleon's Birth
Napoleon was born to Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Romolino Buonaparte in Ajaccio, France. -
Becoming and Officer in the French Army
When the Revolution broke out, Napoleon joined the army of the new government. When royalist rebels marched on the National Convention, a government official told Napoleon to defend them. Within minutes, the attackers fled in panic and Napoleon became the hero of the hour and the savior of the French republic. -
Military Campaign in Egypt and Syria
Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt in hopes of disrupting British trade with India. It did not work out, but he established a network of spies and censored the press, so he was able to hide his losses from his French admirers. -
Coup d’état
After the Directory lost control of the political situation on the confidence of the French people, Napoleon took action. His troops surrounded and drove most of the members out of the national legislature. The remaining members voted and dissolved the directory. -
Napoleonic Code
Napoleon made a new code of laws that embodied Enlightenment principles such as the equality of all citizens before the law, religious toleration, and the abolition of Feudalism. It took most newly gained rights away from women, and they could not exercise the rights of citizenship. Male heads of households regained complete control over their children and wives -
Napoleon's coronation
Napoleon decided to make himself Emperor and the French voters supported him. He walked down the aisle of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, to the pope. He took the crown from the pope’s hands and put it on his own head, signaling that he was more powerful than the Church -
The Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was the only major battle that Napoleon lost. Napoleon was more skilled in land warfare, but British commander Horatio Nelson was more skilled at sea. In the naval defeat, Nelson split the larger French fleet and captured many ships. This battle resulted in the supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years and it forced Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britain -
Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain
Napoleon sent an invasion force through Spain and the Spanish people protested this. Napoleon removed the King and put his brother, Joseph on the throne, making the Spanish people angrier. For 6 years, bands of Spanish peasant fighters attacked French armies in Spain. The British sent troops to aid SPain, and during this war, Napoleon lost 300,000 men -
The Battle of Wagram
Spanish resistance encouraged Austria to get revenge on Napoleon after a battle in 1805, when Napoleon crushed an Austro Russian army, but Napoleon triumphed again. Austria surrendered lands populated by more than three million subjects in a peace agreement following the battle. -
The Grand Empire
Napoleon had a good army on the battlefield and wanted to take his control further. By 1812, Napoleon had a grand empire that reached its extents. -
Invasion of Russia
Alexander I had become Napoleon’s ally, he refused to stop selling grain to Britain, which made Napoleon break their alliance and invade Russia. In June 1812, Napoleon and his army of more than 420,000 soldiers marched into Russia, but Russia just burned all their grain fields and livestock, so the enemy can’t have it. -
Battle of the Nations (Leipzig)
Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia formed a new alliance against Napoleon. Napoleon faced the armies outside of Leipzig in October 1813 and was defeated. -
Napoleon’s exile to Elba
April 1814 Napoleon accepted the terms of surrender and gave up his throne. The victors gave Napoleon a small pension and exiled him to Elba, a tiny island off the Italian coast. -
Napoleon’s return
Napoleon found out that King Louis was having trouble and thought it was the perfect opportunity to regain power. He escaped from Elba and went to Paris to find volunteers for his army. When he got there thousands of people joined his army and Napoleon was the emperor of France again. -
The Battle of Waterloo
On June 18, 1815, the British and Prussian armies met together in Waterloo, Belgium and attacked the French. Two days later the British and Prussian beat Napoleon’s troops. -
Napoleon’s exile to St. Helena
Napoleon was defeated June 20, 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. After that the Europeans exiled him to the island of St. Helena.
