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'''Napoléon Bonaparte''' [Born '''Napoleone di Buonaparte''']; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the [[French Revolution]] and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was [[Emperor of the French]] as '''Napoleon I''' from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the [[Hundred Days]]. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a [[First French Empire|large empire]] that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.<ref name="Roberts, Andrew 2014">Roberts, Andrew. ''Napoleon: A Life''. Penguin Group, 2014, Introduction.</ref>

He was born in Corsica to a relatively modest Italian family from minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The [[French Directory]] eventually gave him command of the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]] after he suppressed the [[13 Vendémiaire]] revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars|first military campaign]] against the Austrians and the Italian monarchs aligned with the Habsburgs—winning virtually every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year while establishing "[[sister republic]]s" with local support, and becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a [[French campaign in Egypt and Syria|military expedition to Egypt]] that served as a springboard to political power. He orchestrated a [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|coup in November 1799]] and became [[French Consulate|First Consul]] of the Republic. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, Napoleon turned his attention to France's colonies. He sold the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, and he attempted to restore slavery to the French Caribbean colonies. However, while he was successful in restoring slavery in the eastern Caribbean, Napoleon failed in his attempts to subdue [[Saint-Domingue]], and the colony that France once proudly boasted of as the "Pearl of the Antilles" became independent as [[Haiti]] in 1804. Napoleon's ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a [[War of the Third Coalition|Third Coalition]] by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the [[Ulm Campaign]] and a historic triumph over the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Austrian Empire]] at the [[Battle of Austerlitz]] which led to the [[dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire]]. In 1806, the [[War of the Fourth Coalition|Fourth Coalition]] took up arms against him because [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt|battles of Jena and Auerstedt]], then marched his ''[[Grande Armée]]'' deep into [[Eastern Europe]] and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the [[Battle of Friedland]]. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the [[Treaties of Tilsit]] in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high-water mark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during the [[War of the Fifth Coalition]], but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the [[Battle of Wagram]] in July.

Napoleon then [[Napoleonic invasion of Iberia|occupied the Iberian Peninsula]], hoping to extend the [[Continental System]] and choke off British trade with the European mainland, and declared his brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]] the [[King of Spain]] in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The [[Peninsular War]] lasted six years, featured extensive [[guerrilla warfare]], and ended in victory for the Allies against Napoleon. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. The Russians were unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade and routinely violated the Continental System, enticing Napoleon into another war. The French launched a major [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]] in the summer of 1812. The campaign destroyed Russian cities, but did not yield the decisive victory Napoleon wanted. It resulted in the collapse of the ''Grande Armée'' and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]] against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the [[Battle of Leipzig]] in October 1813, but his tactical victory at the minor [[Battle of Hanau]] allowed retreat onto French soil. The Allies then [[1814 campaign in France|invaded France]] and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of [[Elba]] off the coast of [[Tuscany]], and the [[Bourbon dynasty]] was [[Bourbon Restoration|restored to power]]. Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a [[War of the Seventh Coalition|Seventh Coalition]] which defeated him at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in June. The British exiled him to the remote island of [[Saint Helena]] in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51.

Napoleon's influence on the modern world brought liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the [[Low Countries]], [[Switzerland]], and large parts of modern [[Italy]] and [[Germany]]. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe. His [[Napoleonic Code]] has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]] states: "The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the [[fall of the Roman Empire]]".<ref>Andrew Roberts, ''Napoleon: A Life'' (2014), p. xxxiii.</ref>

== Early life ==
The ancestors of Napoleon descended from minor [[Nobility of Italy|Italian nobility]] of [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] origin who had come to [[Corsica]] from [[Liguria]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=2}}</ref> Napoleon boasted of his Italian heritage saying "I am of the race that founds empires", and he referred to himself as "more Italian or Tuscan than Corsican".<ref>{{cite book |last= Gueniffey |first=Patrice |title= Bonaparte|url=https://books.google.it/books/about/Bonaparte.html?id=OqlKCAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y|location= |publisher=Harvard University Press |page= 22}}</ref> His parents [[Carlo Buonaparte|Carlo Maria di Buonaparte]] and [[Letizia Ramolino|Maria Letizia Ramolino]] maintained an ancestral home called "[[Casa Buonaparte]]" in [[Ajaccio]]. Napoleon was born there on 15 August 1769, their fourth child and third son. A boy and girl were born first but died in infancy. He had an elder brother, [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]], and younger siblings [[Lucien Bonaparte|Lucien]], [[Elisa Bonaparte|Elisa]], [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis]], [[Pauline Bonaparte|Pauline]], [[Caroline Bonaparte|Caroline]], and [[Jérôme Bonaparte|Jérôme]]. Napoleon was baptised as a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref name=":22">{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|loc=ch 1}}</ref> Although he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte,<ref name=":12">{{Cite news|url=http://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-should-know-about-napoleon|title=6 Things You Should Know About Napoleon|work=History.com|access-date=23 January 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701085527/http://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-should-know-about-napoleon|archivedate=1 July 2017}}</ref> he changed his name to ''Napoléon Bonaparte'' when he was 27 in 1796 upon his first marriage.{{Efn|The first known record of him signing his name as Bonaparte was when he was 27 (in 1796).

Napoleon was born the same year the [[Republic of Genoa]], a former [[Medieval commune|commune]] of [[Italy]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Genoa-Italy |title=Genoa-Italy |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |accessdate=16 February 2018 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730100152/https://www.britannica.com/place/Genoa-Italy |archivedate=30 July 2017  }}</ref> transferred Corsica to France.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=6}}</ref> The state sold [[Westphalian sovereignty|sovereign rights]] a year before his birth in 1768, and the island was [[French conquest of Corsica|conquered]] by France during the year of his birth and formally incorporated as a [[Provinces of France|province]] in 1770, after [[History of Corsica#Renaissance|500 years under Genoese rule]] and [[Corsican Republic|14 years of independence]].{{Efn|Although the [[Treaty of Versailles (1768)|1768 Treaty of Versailles]] formally ceded Corsica's rights, it remained un-incorporated during 1769<ref name=autogenerated2 /> until it became a [[Provinces of France|province of France]] in 1770.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=20}}</ref> Corsica would be legally integrated as a [[Departments of France|département]] in 1789.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Corsica|title=Corsica {{!}} History, Geography, & Points of Interest|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=23 January 2018|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128091618/https://www.britannica.com/place/Corsica|archivedate=28 November 2017}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=rjVBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT88&lpg=PT88&dq=when+did+corsica+become+a+province+of+france#v=onepage&q=corsica&f=false|title=Napoleon: A Life|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|date=2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0698176287|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=rjVBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT88&lpg=PT88&dq=when+did+corsica+become+a+province+of+france&source=bl&ots=oWTHdIwAPY&sig=hbKQhN16tpcIX6TUxDky9j2zk8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje9r7_1e7YAhUBZKwKHbiHCwYQ6AEImgEwFA#v=onepage&q=corsica&f=false|archivedate=25 February 2018}}</ref>}} Napoleon's parents fought against the French to maintain independence even when Maria was pregnant with him. His father was an attorney who went on to be named Corsica's representative to the court of [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] in 1777.<ref name="auto">Cronin 1994, pp. 20–21</ref>

The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.<ref name="auto"/> Later in life Napoleon stated, "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=fcYZlz0ezQUC&pg=PA385&dq=%22The+future+destiny+of+the+child+is+always+the+work+of+the+mother%22#v=onepage&q=%22The%20future%20destiny%20of%20the%20child%20is%20always%20the%20work%20of%20the%20mother%22&f=false
|title=The Child and Childhood in Folk Thought: (The Child in Primative Culture), p. 385|last=Chamberlain|first=Alexander|date=1896|publisher=MacMillan|language=en}}</ref> Napoleon's maternal grandmother had married into the Swiss [[Faesch|Fesch]] family in her second marriage, and Napoleon's uncle, the cardinal [[Joseph Fesch]], would fulfill a role as protector of the Bonaparte family for some years. Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time.<ref>Cronin 1994, p. 27</ref>

When he turned 9 years old,<ref name=":4">{{Citation|last=International School History|title=Napoleon's Rise to Power|date=8 February 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LquhSEdVfK8|accessdate=29 January 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508034915/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LquhSEdVfK8|archivedate=8 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=9Uay5jAhXZIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=napoleon+bonaparte+early+life#v=onepage&q=napoleon%20bonaparte%20early%20life&f=false|title=Napoleon: A Life|last=Johnson|first=Paul|date=2006|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0143037453|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=9Uay5jAhXZIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=napoleon+bonaparte+early+life&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPx926zIPZAhUMXKwKHYwkAS0Q6AEINzAD#v=onepage&q=napoleon%20bonaparte%20early%20life&f=false|archivedate=25 February 2018}}</ref> he moved to [[Metropolitan France|the French mainland]] and enrolled at a religious school in [[Autun]] in January 1779. In May, he transferred with a scholarship to a [[military academy]] at [[Brienne-le-Château]].<ref name="rxvi" /> In his youth he was an outspoken [[Corsican nationalism|Corsican nationalist]] and supported the state's independence from France.<ref name=":4" /> Like many Corsicans, Napoleon spoke and read [[Corsican language|Corsican]] (as his mother tongue) and [[Italian language|Italian]] (as the official language of Corsica).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Napoleon.html?id=rjVBAwAAQBAJ|title=Napoleon: A Life|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|date=4 November 2011|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780698176287|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=k5UaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=napoleon+first+language#v=onepage&q=napoleon%20first%20language&f=false|title=Napoleon and Russia|last=Adams|first=Michael|date=2014|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0826442123|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=k5UaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=napoleon+first+language&source=bl&ots=PamWY4kGMy&sig=VuNbNGwd5Ik99D6herWxslPhJCg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXjp-6jOvYAhUCOKwKHe0dDso4ChDoAQg1MAI#v=onepage&q=napoleon%20first%20language&f=false|archivedate=25 February 2018}}</ref> He began learning [[French language|French]] in school at around age 10.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=rjVBAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Napoleon:+A+Life#v=onepage&q=Napoleon:%20A%20Life&f=false|title=Napoleon: A Life|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|date= 2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0698176287|pages=11|language=en|quote=...having mastered [basic] French in April 1779, four months shy of his 10th birthday...}}</ref> Although he became fluent in French, he spoke with a distinctive Corsican accent and never learned how to spell French correctly.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=18}}</ref>

Napoleon was routinely bullied by his peers for his accent, birthplace, short stature, mannerisms and inability to speak French quickly.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Parker|first=Harold T.|date=1971|title=The Formation of Napoleon's Personality: An Exploratory Essay|jstor=286104|journal=French Historical Studies|volume=7|issue=1|pages=6–26|doi=10.2307/286104}}</ref> Bonaparte became reserved and melancholy applying himself to reading. An examiner observed that Napoleon "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography&nbsp;... This boy would make an excellent sailor".{{Efn|Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection between him and [[Napoleon's theorem]].<ref>Wells 1992, p. 74</ref>}}<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=21}}</ref> In early adulthood, he briefly intended to become a writer; he authored a history of Corsica and a romantic [[novella]].<ref name=":4" />

On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the ''[[École Militaire]]'' in Paris. He trained to become an artillery officer and, when his father's death reduced his income, was forced to complete the two-year course in one year.<ref name="dwyer42">{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=42}}</ref> He was the first Corsican to graduate from the ''École Militaire''.<ref name=dwyer42 /> He was examined by the famed scientist [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=26}}</ref>

== Early career ==
[[File:Napoleon - 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, as lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of Corsican [[National Guard (France)|Republican volunteers]]. Portrait by [[Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux]]]]

Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] a [[second lieutenant]] in [[Régiment de La Fère (1765)|''La Fère'' artillery regiment]].{{Efn|He was mainly referred to as Bonaparte until he became First Consul for life.<ref name=m290 />}}<ref name="rxvi" /> He served in [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] and [[Auxonne]] until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, and took nearly two years' leave in Corsica and Paris during this period. At this time, he was a fervent [[Corsican nationalist]], and wrote to Corsican leader [[Pasquale Paoli]] in May 1789, "As the nation was perishing I was born. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited on to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was the first to strike me".<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=37}}</ref>

He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He was a supporter of the republican [[Jacobin]] movement, organizing clubs in Corsica,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmCdv91zPS0C&pg=PA131|page=131|title=Napoleon: A Biographical Companion|author=David Nicholls|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=1999|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=PmCdv91zPS0C&pg=PA131|archivedate=25 February 2018|isbn=978-0874369571}}</ref> and was given command over a battalion of volunteers. He was promoted to captain in the regular army in July 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and leading a riot against French troops.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=55}}</ref>

He came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage the Corsican contribution to the ''[[Expédition de Sardaigne]]'', by preventing a French assault on the [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinian]] island of [[La Maddalena]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=61}}</ref> Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split with Paoli.<ref name="rxviii">Roberts 2001, p. xviii</ref>

=== Siege of Toulon ===
{{Main|Siege of Toulon}}
[[File:Napoleon à Toulon par Edouard Detaille.jpg|thumb|upright|Bonaparte at the [[Siege of Toulon]]]]

In July 1793, Bonaparte published a pro-republican pamphlet entitled ''[[Le souper de Beaucaire]]'' (Supper at [[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]]) which gained him the support of [[Augustin Robespierre]], younger brother of the Revolutionary leader [[Maximilien Robespierre]]. With the help of his fellow Corsican [[Antoine Christophe Saliceti]], Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the Siege of Toulon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=132}}</ref>

He adopted a plan to capture a hill where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the British to evacuate. The assault on the position led to the capture of the city, but during it Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh. He was promoted to [[brigadier general (France)|brigadier general]] at the age of 24. Catching the attention of the [[Committee of Public Safety]], he was put in charge of the artillery of France's [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=76}}</ref>

Napoleon spent time as inspector of coastal fortifications on the Mediterranean coast near [[Marseille]] while he was waiting for confirmation of the Army of Italy post. He devised plans for attacking the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]] as part of France's campaign [[War of the First Coalition|against the First Coalition]]. Augustin Robespierre and Saliceti were ready to listen to the freshly promoted artillery general.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1973|p=30}}</ref>

The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the [[Battle of Saorgio]] in April 1794, and then advanced to seize [[Ormea]] in the mountains. From Ormea, they headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around [[Saorge]]. After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the [[Republic of Genoa]] to determine that country's intentions towards France.<ref>Patrice Gueniffey, ''Bonaparte: 1769–1802'' (Harvard UP, 2015), pp. 137–59.</ref>

=== 13 Vendémiaire ===
{{Main|13 Vendémiaire}}
Some contemporaries alleged that Bonaparte was put under [[house arrest]] at [[Nice]] for his association with the Robespierres following their fall in the [[Thermidorian Reaction]] in July 1794, but Napoleon's secretary [[Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne|Bourrienne]] disputed the allegation in his memoirs. According to Bourrienne, jealousy was responsible, between the Army of the Alps and the Army of Italy (with whom Napoleon was seconded at the time).<ref>Bourrienne, ''Memoirs of Napoleon'', p. 39</ref> Bonaparte dispatched an impassioned defence in a letter to the commissar Saliceti, and he was subsequently acquitted of any wrongdoing.<ref>Bourrienne, ''Memoirs of Napoleon'', p. 38</ref> He was released within two weeks and, due to his technical skills, was asked to draw up plans to attack Italian positions in the context of France's war with Austria. He also took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the British Royal Navy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=157}}</ref>

By 1795, Bonaparte had become engaged to [[Désirée Clary]], daughter of [[François Clary]]. Désirée's sister [[Julie Clary]] had married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|pp=76, 84}}</ref> In April 1795, he was assigned to the [[Army of the West (1793)|Army of the West]], which was engaged in the [[War in the Vendée]]—a civil war and royalist [[counter-revolution]] in Vendée, a region in west central France on the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general—for which the army already had a full quota—and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=92}}</ref>

[[File:13Vendémiaire.jpg|thumb|alt=Etching of a street, there are many pockets of smoke due to a group of republican artillery firing on royalists across the street at the entrance to a building|''Journée du [[13 Vendémiaire]]'', artillery fire in front of the ''[[Church of Saint-Roch, Paris]]'', ''[[Rue Saint-Honoré]]'']]

He was moved to the Bureau of [[Topography]] of the Committee of Public Safety and sought unsuccessfully to be transferred to [[Constantinople]] in order to offer his services to the [[Selim III|Sultan]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=26}}</ref> During this period, he wrote the romantic novella ''[[Clisson et Eugénie]]'', about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Désirée.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=164}}</ref> On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for his refusal to serve in the Vendée campaign. He faced a difficult financial situation and reduced career prospects.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=93}}</ref>

On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the [[National Convention]].<ref name=m96 /> [[Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras|Paul Barras]], a leader of the Thermidorian Reaction, knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and gave him command of the improvised forces in defence of the Convention in the [[Tuileries Palace]]. Napoleon had seen the [[10 August (French Revolution)#Assault on the Tuileries|massacre of the King's Swiss Guard]] there three years earlier and realized that artillery would be the key to its defence.<ref name="rxvi">Roberts 2001, p. xvi</ref>

He ordered a young cavalry officer named [[Joachim Murat]] to seize large [[cannon]]s and used them to repel the attackers on 5 October 1795—''13 Vendémiaire An IV'' in the [[French Republican Calendar]]; 1,400 royalists died and the rest fled.<ref name=m96>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=96}}</ref> He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of [[grapeshot]]", according to 19th-century historian [[Thomas Carlyle]] in ''[[The French Revolution: A History]]''.<ref>Johnson 2002, p. 27</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPMNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The works of Thomas Carlyle – The French Revolution, vol. III, book 3.VII|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320102238/https://books.google.com/books?id=qPMNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false|archivedate=20 March 2015|last1=Carlyle|first1=Thomas|year=1896}}</ref>

The defeat of the royalist insurrection extinguished the threat to the Convention and earned Bonaparte sudden fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new government, the [[French Directory|Directory]]. Murat married one of Napoleon's sisters, becoming his brother-in-law; he also served under Napoleon as one of his generals. Bonaparte was promoted to Commander of the Interior and given command of the Army of Italy.<ref name="rxviii" />

Within weeks, he was romantically involved with [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], the former mistress of Barras. The couple married on 9 March 1796 in a civil ceremony.<ref>Englund (2010) pp. 92–94</ref>

=== First Italian campaign ===
{{Main|Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars}}
[[File:1801 Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A three-quarter-length depiction of Bonaparte, with black tunic and leather gloves, holding a standard and sword, turning backwards to look at his troops|''[[Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole]]'', by Baron [[Antoine-Jean Gros]], ([[circa|c.]] 1801), [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris]]

Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy. He immediately went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the forces of [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Piedmont]] before their Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of rapid victories during the [[Montenotte Campaign]], he knocked Piedmont out of the war in two weeks. The French then focused on the Austrians for the remainder of the war, the highlight of which became the protracted [[Siege of Mantua (1796–97)|struggle for Mantua]]. The Austrians launched a series of offensives against the French to break the siege, but Napoleon defeated every relief effort, scoring victories at the battles of [[Battle of Castiglione|Castiglione]], [[Battle of Bassano|Bassano]], [[Battle of Arcole|Arcole]], and [[Battle of Rivoli|Rivoli]]. The decisive French triumph at Rivoli in January 1797 led to the collapse of the Austrian position in Italy. At Rivoli, the Austrians lost up to 14,000 men while the French lost about 5,000.{{sfn|Bell|2015|p=29}}

The next phase of the campaign featured the French invasion of the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] heartlands. French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by the [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]] in 1796, but the Archduke withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning about Napoleon's assault. In the first encounter between the two commanders, Napoleon pushed back his opponent and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning at the [[Battle of Tarvis (1797)|Battle of Tarvis]] in March 1797. The Austrians were alarmed by the French thrust that reached all the way to [[Leoben]], about 100&nbsp;km from Vienna, and finally decided to sue for peace.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|pp=284–85}}</ref> The [[Treaty of Leoben]], followed by the more comprehensive [[Treaty of Campo Formio]], gave France control of most of northern Italy and the [[Low Countries]], and a secret clause promised the [[Republic of Venice]] to Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender, ending 1,100 years of independence. He also authorized the French to loot treasures such as the [[Horses of Saint Mark]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=132}}</ref>

[[File:Bonaparte reçoit les prisonniers sur le champ de bataille, 1797.jpg|thumb|Bonaparte during the Italian campaign in 1797]]
His application of conventional military ideas to real-world situations enabled his military triumphs, such as creative use of artillery as a mobile force to support his infantry. He stated later in life:{{When|date=August 2016}} "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning. Look at Caesar; he fought the first like the last".<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=145}}</ref>

Bonaparte could win battles by concealment of troop deployments and concentration of his forces on the "hinge" of an enemy's weakened front. If he could not use his favourite [[Pincer movement|envelopment strategy]], he would take up the central position and attack two co-operating forces at their hinge, swing round to fight one until it fled, then turn to face the other.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=142}}</ref> In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons, and 170 [[flag|standards]].<ref>Harvey 2006, p. 179</ref> The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 [[pitched battle]]s through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=135}}</ref>

During the campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and another for circulation in France.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=306}}</ref> The royalists attacked Bonaparte for looting Italy and warned that he might become a dictator.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=305}}</ref> Napoleon's forces extracted an estimated $45 million in funds from Italy during their campaign there, another $12 million in precious metals and jewels. His forces also confiscated more than three-hundred priceless paintings and sculptures.{{sfn|Bell|2015|p=30}}

Bonaparte sent General [[Pierre Augereau]] to Paris to lead a ''[[coup d'état]]'' and purge the royalists on 4 September—[[Coup of 18 Fructidor]]. This left Barras and his Republican allies in control again but dependent on Bonaparte, who proceeded to peace negotiations with Austria. These negotiations resulted in the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]], and Bonaparte returned to Paris in December as a hero.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=322}}</ref> He met [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]], France's new Foreign Minister—who served in the same capacity for Emperor Napoleon—and they began to prepare for an invasion of Britain.<ref name="rxviii" />

=== Egyptian expedition ===
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}}
[[File:Bonaparte ante la Esfinge, por Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg|thumb|alt=Person on a horse looks towards a giant statue of a head in the desert, with a blue sky|''[[Bonaparte Before the Sphinx]]'', (c. 1868) by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Hearst Castle]]]]
[[File:Louis-François Baron Lejeune 001.jpg|thumb|alt=Cavalry battlescene with pyramids in background|''Battle of the Pyramids'' on 21 July 1798 by [[Louis-François, Baron Lejeune]], 1808]]

After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval power was not yet strong enough to confront the British Royal Navy. He decided on a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its [[Company rule in India#Trade|trade interests in India]].<ref name="rxviii" /> Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, linking with [[Tipu Sultan]], the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Sultan of Mysore]] and an enemy of the British in India.<ref name=Watson /> Napoleon assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions".<ref name=Amini>Amini 2000, p. 12</ref> The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to India.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=342}}</ref>

In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, and [[geodesy|geodesists]] among them. Their discoveries included the [[Rosetta Stone]], and their work was published in the ''[[Description de l'Égypte]]'' in 1809.<ref>Englund (2010) pp. 127–28</ref>

En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached [[Malta]] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. Grand Master [[Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim]] surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=175}}</ref>

General Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at [[Alexandria]] on 1 July.<ref name="rxviii" /> He fought the [[Battle of Shubra Khit]] against the [[Mamluk]]s, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practise their defensive tactic for the [[Battle of the Pyramids]], fought on 21 July, about {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]]. General Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=179}}</ref> and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the morale of the French army.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=372}}</ref>

On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under [[Horatio Nelson|Sir Horatio Nelson]] captured or destroyed all but two French vessels in the [[Battle of the Nile]], defeating Bonaparte's goal to strengthen the French position in the Mediterranean.<ref name="rxx">Roberts 2001, p. xx</ref> His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=392}}</ref> In early 1799, he moved an army into the [[Wilayah|Ottoman province]] of Damascus (Syria and [[Galilee]]). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of [[Arish]], [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Jaffa]], and [[Haifa]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|pp=411–24}}</ref> The [[Siege of Jaffa|attack on Jaffa]] was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on [[Prisoners of war parole|parole]], so he ordered the garrison and 1,400 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning to save bullets.<ref name="rxx" /> Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=189}}</ref>

Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men; 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly [[bubonic plague]]. He failed to [[Siege of Acre (1799)|reduce the fortress]] of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. To speed up the retreat, Bonaparte ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium; the number who died remains disputed, ranging from a low of 30 to a high of 580. He also brought out 1,000 wounded men.<ref>Gueniffey, ''Bonaparte: 1769–1802'' pp. 500–02.</ref> Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an [[Battle of Abukir (1799)|Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=442}}</ref>

== Ruler of France ==
{{Main|Coup of 18 Brumaire|Napoleonic era|l1=18 Brumaire|l2=Napoleonic era}}
[[File:Bouchot - Le general Bonaparte au Conseil des Cinq-Cents.jpg|thumb|alt=Bonaparte in a simple general uniform in the middle of a scrum of red-robbed members of the Council of Five Hundred|General Bonaparte surrounded by members of the Council of Five Hundred during the Coup of 18 Brumaire, by [[François Bouchot]]]]

While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a [[Campaigns of 1799 in the French Revolutionary Wars|series of defeats]] in the [[War of the Second Coalition]].<ref name=egyptreturn /> On 24 August 1799, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris.<ref name="rxx" /> The army was left in the charge of [[Jean Baptiste Kléber]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=444}}</ref>

Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return to ward off possible invasions of French soil, but poor lines of communication prevented the delivery of these messages.<ref name=egyptreturn>Connelly 2006, p. 57</ref> By the time that he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2008|p=455}}</ref> The Directory discussed Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak to punish him.<ref name=egyptreturn />

Despite the failures in Egypt, Napoleon returned to a hero's welcome. He drew together an alliance with director [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès]], his brother Lucien, speaker of the [[Council of Five Hundred]] [[Roger Ducos]], director [[Joseph Fouché]], and Talleyrand, and they overthrew the Directory by a [[coup d'état]] on 9 November 1799 ("the 18th Brumaire" according to the revolutionary calendar), closing down the Council of Five Hundred. Napoleon became "first consul" for ten years, with two consuls appointed by him who had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new "[[Constitution of the Year VIII]]", originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role, but rewritten by Napoleon, and accepted by direct popular vote (3,000,000 in favour, 1,567 opposed). The constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.<ref>François Furet, ''The French Revolution, 1770–1814'' (1996), p. 212</ref><ref>Georges Lefebvre, ''Napoleon from 18 Brumaire to Tilsit 1799–1807'' (1969), pp. 60–68</ref>

=== French Consulate ===
{{Main|French Consulate|War of the Second Coalition}}
[[File:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Portrait de Napoléon Bonaparte en premier consul.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Bonaparte, First Consul]]'', by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]]. Posing [[Hand-in-waistcoat|the hand inside the waistcoat]] was often used in portraits of rulers to indicate calm and stable leadership.]]

Napoleon established a political system that historian [[Martyn Lyons]] called "dictatorship by plebiscite".<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 111">{{Harvnb|Lyons|1994|p=111}}</ref> Worried by the democratic forces unleashed by the Revolution, but unwilling to ignore them entirely, Napoleon resorted to regular electoral consultations with the French people on his road to imperial power.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 111"/> He drafted the [[Constitution of the Year VIII]] and secured his own election as [[First Consul]], taking up residence at the Tuileries. The constitution was approved in [[1800 French constitutional referendum|a rigged plebiscite]] held the following January, with 99.94 percent officially listed as voting "yes".<ref>Lefebvre, ''Napoleon from 18 Brumaire to Tilsit 1799–1807'' (1969), pp. 71–92</ref>

Napoleon's brother, Lucien, had falsified the returns to show that 3 million people had participated in the plebiscite. The real number was 1.5 million.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 111"/> Political observers at the time assumed the eligible French voting public numbered about 5 million people, so the regime artificially doubled the participation rate to indicate popular enthusiasm for the Consulate.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 111"/> In the first few months of the Consulate, with war in Europe still raging and internal instability still plaguing the country, Napoleon's grip on power remained very tenuous.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=sHoMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=August+1802+referendum+napoleon#v=onepage&q=August%201802%20referendum%20napoleon&f=false|title=A Brief History of Europe from 1789–1815|last=Holt|first=Lucius Hudson|last2=Chilton|first2=Alexander Wheeler|date=1919|publisher=Macmillan|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504162817/https://books.google.com/books?id=sHoMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=August+1802+referendum+napoleon&ct=result#v=onepage&q=August%201802%20referendum%20napoleon&f=false|archivedate=4 May 2016}}</ref>

In the spring of 1800, Napoleon and his troops crossed the Swiss Alps into Italy, aiming to surprise the Austrian armies that had reoccupied the peninsula when Napoleon was still in Egypt.{{Efn|This is depicted in ''[[Bonaparte Crossing the Alps]]'' by [[Hippolyte Delaroche]] and in Jacques-Louis David's imperial ''Napoleon Crossing the Alps''. He is less realistically portrayed on a [[Horses in warfare|charger]] in the latter work.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|2002|p=51}}</ref>}} After a difficult crossing over the Alps, the French army entered the plains of Northern Italy virtually unopposed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|pp=279–81}}</ref> While one French army approached from the north, the Austrians were busy with another stationed in [[Genoa]], which was [[Siege of Genoa (1800)|besieged]] by a substantial force. The fierce resistance of this French army, under [[André Masséna]], gave the northern force some time to carry out their operations with little interference.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.235">{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=235}}</ref>

[[File:Jean-Simon Berthelemy (circle) Napoleon in the Battle of Maringo.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Marengo]] was Napoleon's first great victory as head of state.]]

After spending several days looking for each other, the two armies collided at the [[Battle of Marengo]] on 14 June. [[Michael von Melas|General Melas]] had a numerical advantage, fielding about 30,000 Austrian soldiers while Napoleon commanded 24,000 French troops.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=292}}</ref> The battle began favourably for the Austrians as their initial attack surprised the French and gradually drove them back. Melas stated that he had won the battle and retired to his headquarters around 3 pm, leaving his subordinates in charge of pursuing the French.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=293}}</ref> The French lines never broke during their tactical retreat. Napoleon constantly rode out among the troops urging them to stand and fight.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, p. 296">{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=296}}</ref>

Late in the afternoon, a full division under [[Louis Desaix|Desaix]] arrived on the field and reversed the tide of the battle. A series of artillery barrages and cavalry charges decimated the Austrian army, which fled over the [[Bormida (river)|Bormida River]] back to [[Alessandria]], leaving behind 14,000 casualties.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, p. 296"/> The following day, the Austrian army agreed to abandon Northern Italy once more with the [[Convention of Alessandria]], which granted them safe passage to friendly soil in exchange for their fortresses throughout the region.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, p. 296"/>

Although critics have blamed Napoleon for several tactical mistakes preceding the battle, they have also praised his audacity for selecting a risky campaign strategy, choosing to invade the Italian peninsula from the north when the vast majority of French invasions came from the west, near or along the coastline.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, pp. 298-304">{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|pp=298–304}}</ref> As Chandler points out, Napoleon spent almost a year getting the Austrians out of Italy in his first campaign. In 1800, it took him only a month to achieve the same goal.<ref name="Chandler, David 1966, pp. 298-304"/> German strategist and field marshal [[Alfred von Schlieffen]] concluded that "Bonaparte did not annihilate his enemy but eliminated him and rendered him harmless" while "[attaining] the object of the campaign: the conquest of North Italy".<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=301}}</ref>

Napoleon's triumph at Marengo secured his political authority and boosted his popularity back home, but it did not lead to an immediate peace. Bonaparte's brother, Joseph, led the complex negotiations in [[Lunéville]] and reported that Austria, emboldened by British support, would not acknowledge the new territory that France had acquired. As negotiations became increasingly fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general [[Jean Victor Marie Moreau|Moreau]] to strike Austria once more. Moreau and the French swept through [[Bavaria]] and scored an overwhelming victory at [[Battle of Hohenlinden|Hohenlinden]] in December 1800. As a result, the Austrians capitulated and signed the [[Treaty of Lunéville]] in February 1801. The treaty reaffirmed and expanded earlier French gains at [[Treaty of Campo Formio|Campo Formio]].<ref name="Schom 1997, p.302">{{Harvnb|Schom|1997|p=302}}</ref>

==== Temporary peace in Europe ====
{{See also|Haitian Revolution}}
After a decade of constant warfare, France and Britain signed the [[Treaty of Amiens]] in March 1802, bringing the Revolutionary Wars to an end. Amiens called for the withdrawal of British troops from recently conquered colonial territories as well as for assurances to curtail the expansionary goals of the French Republic.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.235" /> With Europe at peace and the economy recovering, Napoleon's popularity soared to its highest levels under the Consulate, both domestically and abroad.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, pp. 111-4">{{Harvnb|Lyons|1994|pp=111–14}}</ref> In a [[1802 French constitutional referendum|new plebiscite]] during the spring of 1802, the French public came out in huge numbers to approve a constitution that made the Consulate permanent, essentially elevating Napoleon to dictator for life.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, pp. 111-4"/>

Whereas the plebiscite two years earlier had brought out 1.5 million people to the polls, the new referendum enticed 3.6 million to go and vote (72 percent of all eligible voters).<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 113">{{Harvnb|Lyons|1994|p=113}}</ref> There was no secret ballot in 1802 and few people wanted to openly defy the regime. The constitution gained approval with over 99% of the vote.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 113"/> His broad powers were spelled out in the new constitution: ''Article 1. The French people name, and the Senate proclaims Napoleon-Bonaparte First Consul for Life.''<ref>Edwards 1999, p. 55</ref> After 1802, he was generally referred to as Napoleon rather than Bonaparte.<ref name=m290>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=290}}</ref>

[[File:Louisiana Purchase.png|thumb|The 1803 [[Louisiana Purchase]] totalled {{convert|827,987|sqmi|km2|abbr=off|order=flip}}, doubling the size of the United States.]]
The brief peace in Europe allowed Napoleon to focus on the French colonies abroad. [[Saint-Domingue]] had managed to acquire a high level of political autonomy during the Revolutionary Wars, with [[Toussaint Louverture]] installing himself as de facto dictator by 1801. Napoleon saw his chance to recuperate the formerly wealthy colony when he signed the Treaty of Amiens. In the 1780s, Saint-Domingue had been France's wealthiest colony, producing more sugar than all the British West Indies colonies put together. However, during the Revolution, the National Convention voted to abolish slavery in February 1794.<ref>James, C. L. R. ''The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution'', [1963] (Penguin Books, 2001), pp. 141-2.</ref> Under the terms of Amiens, Napoleon agreed to appease British demands by not abolishing slavery in any colonies where the 1794 decree had never been implemented. However, the 1794 decree was only implemented in Saint-Domingue, [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Guyane]], and was a dead letter in [[Senegal]], [[Mauritius]], [[Réunion|Reunion]] and [[Martinique]], the last of which had been conquered by the British, who maintained the institution of slavery on that Caribbean island.<ref>Sue Peabody, ''French Emancipation'' https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0253.xml Accessed 27 October 2019.</ref>

In [[Guadeloupe]], the 1794 law abolished slavery, and it was violently enforced by [[Victor Hugues]] against opposition from slaveholders. However, when slavery was reinstated in 1802, there was a slave revolt by [[Louis Delgres]].<ref>{{cite web |title=May 10th 1802, "The last cry of innocence and despair" |url=https://www.herodote.net/10_mai_1802-evenement-18020510.php |website=herodote |accessdate=6 December 2019 |language=French}}</ref> The resulting [[Law of 20 May 1802|Law of 20 May]] had the express purpose of reinstating slavery in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, and restored slavery throughout the French Empire and its Caribbean colonies for another half a century, while the French trans-Atlantic slave trade continued for another twenty years.<ref>Roberts, Andrew. ''Napoleon: A Life''. Penguin Group, 2014, p. 301</ref><ref name="clrjames">{{cite book |title=[[The Black Jacobins]] |last=James |first=C. L. R. |authorlink= C. L. R. James|year=1963|origyear=1938|edition=2nd|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=|pages=45-55|oclc=362702}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-slavery-idUSL1561464920070322 |title=CHRONOLOGY-Who banned slavery when? |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=March 22, 2007 |website=Reuters |publisher=Thomson Reuters |access-date=27 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/antislavery_01.shtml |title=British Anti-slavery |last=Oldfield |first= Dr John |date=February 17, 2011 |website=BBC History |publisher=BBC |access-date=27 October 2019 |quote=}}</ref><ref>Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', (Edison: Castle Books, 2005) pages 78–79.</ref>

Napoleon sent [[Saint-Domingue expedition|an expedition]] under his brother-in-law [[Charles Leclerc (general)|General Leclerc]] to reassert control over [[Saint-Domingue]]. Although the French managed to capture Toussaint Louverture, the expedition failed when high rates of disease crippled the French army, and [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]] won a string of victories, first against Leclerc, and when he died from yellow fever, then against [[Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau]], whom Napoleon sent to relieve Leclerc with another 20,000 men. In May 1803, Napoleon acknowledged defeat, and the last 8,000 French troops left the island and the slaves proclaimed an independent republic that they called [[Haïti]] in 1804. In the process, Dessalines became arguably the most successful military commander in the struggle against Napoleonic France.<ref>Christer Petley, ''White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 182.</ref><ref>Roberts, Andrew. ''Napoleon: A Life''. Penguin Group, 2014, p. 303</ref> Seeing the failure of his colonial efforts, Napoleon decided in 1803 to [[Louisiana Purchase|sell]] the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, instantly doubling the size of the U.S. The selling price in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] was less than three cents per acre, a total of $15 million.<ref name="Roberts, Andrew 2014" /><ref>Connelly 2006, p. 70</ref>

The peace with Britain proved to be uneasy and controversial.<ref>R.B. Mowat, ''The Diplomacy of Napoleon'' (1924) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.80819 is a survey online]; for a recent advanced diplomatic history, see Paul W. Schroeder, ''The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848'' (Oxford U.P. 1996) pp. 177–560</ref> Britain did not evacuate Malta as promised and protested against Bonaparte's [[annexation]] of Piedmont and his [[Act of Mediation]], which established a new [[Swiss Confederation (Napoleonic)|Swiss Confederation]]. Neither of these territories were covered by Amiens, but they inflamed tensions significantly.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=265}}</ref> The dispute culminated in a declaration of war by Britain in May 1803; Napoleon responded by reassembling the invasion camp at Boulogne.<ref name="rxx" />

=== French Empire ===
{{Main|First French Empire}}
{{See also|Coronation of Napoleon I|Napoleonic Wars}}
[[File:Jacques-Louis David - The Coronation of Napoleon (1805-1807).jpg|thumb|alt=Colored painting depicting Napoleon crowning his wife inside of a cathedral |''[[The Coronation of Napoleon]]'' by [[Jacques-Louis David]] (1804)]]

During the Consulate, Napoleon faced several royalist and Jacobin [[Assassination Attempts on Napoleon Bonaparte|assassination plots]], including the ''[[Conspiration des poignards]]'' (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and the [[Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise]] (also known as the ''Infernal Machine'') two months later.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=243}}</ref> In January 1804, his police uncovered an assassination plot against him that involved Moreau and which was ostensibly sponsored by the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] family, the former rulers of France. On the advice of Talleyrand, Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of the [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien|Duke of Enghien]], violating the sovereignty of [[Baden]]. The Duke was quickly executed after a secret military trial, even though he had not been involved in the plot.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=296}}</ref> Enghien's execution infuriated royal courts throughout Europe, becoming one of the contributing political factors for the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars.

To expand his power, Napoleon used these [[Assassination Attempts on Napoleon Bonaparte|assassination plots]] to justify the creation of an imperial system based on the Roman model. He believed that a Bourbon restoration would be more difficult if his family's succession was entrenched in the constitution.<ref name=m297>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=297}}</ref> Launching yet [[1804 French constitutional referendum|another referendum]], Napoleon was elected as ''Emperor of the French'' by a tally exceeding 99%.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 113"/> As with the Life Consulate two years earlier, this referendum produced heavy participation, bringing out almost 3.6 million voters to the polls.<ref name="Lyons, Martyn 1994, p. 113"/>

A keen observer of Bonaparte's rise to absolute power, [[Madame de Rémusat]], explains that "men worn out by the turmoil of the Revolution […] looked for the domination of an able ruler" and that "people believed quite sincerely that Bonaparte, whether as consul or emperor, would exert his authority and save [them] from the perils of anarchy.<ref>De Rémusat, Claire Elisabeth, ''Memoirs of Madame De Rémusat, 1802–1808 Volume 1'', HardPress Publishing, 2012, 542 pp., {{ISBN|978-1290517478}}.</ref>"
[[File:La salle du Trône (Château de Fontainebleau).jpg|thumb|Napoleon's throne room at Fontainebleau]]

Napoleon's coronation, officiated by [[Pope Pius VII]], took place at [[Notre Dame de Paris]], on 2 December 1804. Two separate crowns were brought for the ceremony: a golden laurel wreath recalling the Roman Empire and a replica of Charlemagne's crown.<ref name="AndrewRoberts2">Roberts, Andrew. ''Napoleon: A Life''. Penguin Group, 2014, p. 355.</ref> Napoleon entered the ceremony wearing the laurel wreath and kept it on his head throughout the proceedings.<ref name="AndrewRoberts2"/> For the official coronation, he raised the Charlemagne crown over his own head in a symbolic gesture, but never placed it on top because he was already wearing the golden wreath.<ref name="AndrewRoberts2"/> Instead he placed the crown on [[Empress Joséphine|Josephine's]] head, the event commemorated in the officially sanctioned painting by [[Jacques-Louis David]].<ref name="AndrewRoberts2"/> Napoleon was also crowned [[King of Italy]], with the [[Iron Crown of Lombardy]], at the [[Milan Cathedral|Cathedral of Milan]] on 26 May 1805. He created eighteen [[Marshal of France|Marshals of the Empire]] from among his top generals to secure the allegiance of the army on 18 May 1804, the official start of the Empire.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

==== War of the Third Coalition ====
{{Main|War of the Third Coalition}}
[[File:Ulm capitulation.jpg|thumb|alt=Colored painting depicting Napoleon receiving the surrender of the Austrian generals, with the opposing armies and the city of Ulm in the background |Napoleon and the ''[[Grande Armée]]'' receive the surrender of [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] [[Karl Mack von Leiberich|General Mack]] after the [[Battle of Ulm]] in October 1805. The decisive finale of the [[Ulm Campaign]] raised the tally of captured Austrian soldiers to 60,000. With the Austrian army destroyed, [[Vienna]] would fall to the French in November.]]

Great Britain had broken the Peace of Amiens by declaring war on France in May 1803.<ref>Paul W. Schroeder, ''The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848'' (1996) pp. 231–86</ref> In December 1804, an Anglo-Swedish agreement became the first step towards the creation of the Third Coalition. By April 1805, Britain had also signed an alliance with Russia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=328}}. Meanwhile, French territorial rearrangements in Germany occurred without Russian consultation and Napoleon's annexations in the [[Po River|Po valley]] increasingly strained relations between the two.</ref> Austria had been defeated by France twice in recent memory and wanted revenge, so it joined the coalition a few months later.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=331}}</ref>

Before the formation of the Third Coalition, Napoleon had assembled an invasion force, the ''Armée d'Angleterre'', around six camps at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] in Northern France. He intended to use this invasion force to strike at England. They never invaded, but Napoleon's troops received careful and invaluable training for future military operations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=323}}</ref> The men at Boulogne formed the core for what Napoleon later called ''La Grande Armée''. At the start, this French army had about 200,000 men organized into seven [[corps]], which were large field units that contained 36–40 [[cannon]]s each and were capable of independent action until other corps could come to the rescue.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=332}}</ref>

A single corps properly situated in a strong defensive position could survive at least a day without support, giving the ''Grande Armée'' countless strategic and tactical options on every campaign. On top of these forces, Napoleon created a [[cavalry]] reserve of 22,000 organized into two [[cuirassier]] [[Division (military)|divisions]], four mounted [[dragoon]] divisions, one division of dismounted dragoons, and one of light cavalry, all supported by 24 [[artillery]] pieces.<ref name="Chandler p. 333">{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=333}}</ref> By 1805, the ''Grande Armée'' had grown to a force of 350,000 men,<ref name="Chandler p. 333" /> who were well equipped, well trained, and led by competent officers.<ref>Michael J. Hughes, ''Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée: Motivation, Military Culture, and Masculinity in the French Army, 1800–1808'' (NYU Press, 2012).</ref>

Napoleon knew that the French fleet could not defeat the Royal Navy in a head-to-head battle, so he planned to lure it away from the English Channel through diversionary tactics.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.321">{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=321}}</ref> The main strategic idea involved the [[French Navy]] escaping from the British blockades of [[Toulon]] and [[Brest, France|Brest]] and threatening to attack the West Indies. In the face of this attack, it was hoped, the British would weaken their defence of the [[Western Approaches]] by sending ships to the Caribbean, allowing a combined Franco-Spanish fleet to take control of the channel long enough for French armies to cross and [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invade]].<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.321" /> However, the plan unravelled after the British victory at the [[Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)|Battle of Cape Finisterre]] in July 1805. French [[Pierre-Charles Villeneuve|Admiral Villeneuve]] then retreated to [[Cádiz]] instead of linking up with French naval forces at Brest for an attack on the [[English Channel]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=332}}</ref>

By August 1805, Napoleon had realized that the strategic situation had changed fundamentally. Facing a potential invasion from his continental enemies, he decided to strike first and turned his army's sights from the English Channel to the [[Rhine]]. His basic objective was to destroy the isolated Austrian armies in Southern Germany before their Russian allies could arrive. On 25 September, after great secrecy and feverish marching, 200,000 French troops began to cross the Rhine on a front of {{convert|260|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History''. p. 108</ref><ref>Andrew Uffindell, ''Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars''. p. 15</ref>

Austrian commander [[Karl Mack]] had gathered the greater part of the Austrian army at the fortress of [[Ulm]] in [[Swabia]]. Napoleon swung his forces to the southeast and the ''Grande Armée'' performed an elaborate wheeling movement that outflanked the Austrian positions. The [[Ulm Campaign|Ulm Maneuver]] completely surprised General Mack, who belatedly understood that his army had been cut off. After some minor engagements that culminated in the [[Battle of Ulm]], Mack finally surrendered after realizing that there was no way to break out of the French encirclement. For just 2,000 French casualties, Napoleon had managed to capture a total of 60,000 Austrian soldiers through his army's rapid marching.<ref>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History''. p. 156.</ref>

The [[Ulm Campaign]] is generally regarded as a strategic masterpiece and was influential in the development of the [[Schlieffen Plan]] in the late 19th century.<ref>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History''. p. 156. "It is a historical cliché to compare the Schlieffen Plan with [[Hannibal]]'s tactical envelopment at [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]] (216 BC); Schlieffen owed more to Napoleon's strategic maneuver on Ulm (1805)".</ref> For the French, this spectacular victory on land was soured by the decisive victory that the Royal Navy attained at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] on 21 October. After Trafalgar, Britain had total domination of the seas for the duration of the Napoleonic Wars.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

[[File:Austerlitz-baron-Pascal.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by [[François Gérard]] 1805. The [[Battle of Austerlitz]], also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's many victories, where the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] defeated the [[Third Coalition]].]]
Following the Ulm Campaign, French forces managed to capture [[Vienna]] in November. The fall of Vienna provided the French a huge bounty as they captured 100,000 muskets, 500 cannons, and the intact bridges across the [[Danube River|Danube]].<ref>David G. Chandler, ''The Campaigns of Napoleon''. p. 407</ref> At this critical juncture, both [[Alexander I of Russia|Tsar Alexander I]] and [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Francis II]] decided to engage Napoleon in battle, despite reservations from some of their subordinates. Napoleon sent his army north in pursuit of the Allies, but then ordered his forces to retreat so that he could feign a grave weakness.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book|author=Adrian Gilbert|title=The Encyclopedia of Warfare: From Earliest Time to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZoO7SIwMVIC&pg=PA133|accessdate=11 July 2014|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-57958-216-6|page=133|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729052159/https://books.google.com/books?id=MZoO7SIwMVIC&pg=PA133|archivedate=29 July 2014}}</ref>

Desperate to lure the Allies into battle, Napoleon gave every indication in the days preceding the engagement that the French army was in a pitiful state, even abandoning the dominant Pratzen Heights near the village of Austerlitz. At the [[Battle of Austerlitz]], in [[Moravia]] on 2 December, he deployed the French army below the Pratzen Heights and deliberately weakened his right flank, enticing the Allies to launch a major assault there in the hopes of rolling up the whole French line. A forced march from Vienna by [[Louis-Nicolas Davout|Marshal Davout]] and his [[III Corps (Grande Armée)|III Corps]] plugged the gap left by Napoleon just in time.<ref name="auto1"/>

Meanwhile, the heavy Allied deployment against the French right flank weakened their center on the Pratzen Heights, which was viciously attacked by the [[IV Corps (Grande Armée)|IV Corps]] of [[Jean-de-Dieu Soult|Marshal Soult]]. With the Allied center demolished, the French swept through both enemy flanks and sent the Allies fleeing chaotically, capturing thousands of prisoners in the process. The battle is often seen as a tactical masterpiece because of the near-perfect execution of a calibrated but dangerous plan—of the same stature as [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]], the celebrated triumph by [[Hannibal]] some 2,000 years before.<ref name="auto1"/>

The Allied disaster at Austerlitz significantly shook the faith of Emperor Francis in the British-led war effort. France and Austria agreed to an armistice immediately and the Treaty of Pressburg followed shortly after on 26 December. Pressburg took Austria out of both the war and the Coalition while reinforcing the earlier treaties of [[Treaty of Campo Formio|Campo Formio]] and of [[Treaty of Lunéville|Lunéville]] between the two powers. The treaty confirmed the Austrian loss of lands to France in [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Italy]] and [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]], and lands in Germany to Napoleon's German allies. It also imposed an indemnity of 40 million francs on the defeated Habsburgs and allowed the fleeing Russian troops free passage through hostile territories and back to their home soil. Napoleon went on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought".<ref>Schom 1997, p. 414</ref> Frank McLynn suggests that Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz that he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one".<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=350}}</ref> [[Vincent Cronin]] disagrees, stating that Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".<ref>Cronin 1994, p. 344</ref>

==== Middle-Eastern alliances ====
{{Main|Franco-Ottoman alliance|Franco-Persian alliance}}
[[File:The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza Qazvini Finkenstein Castle 27 Avril 1807 by Francois Mulard.jpg|thumb|The Iranian envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini meeting with Napoleon I at the [[Finckenstein Palace]] in [[West Prussia]], 27 April 1807, to sign the [[Treaty of Finckenstein]]]]
Napoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French presence in the Middle East in order to put pressure on Britain and Russia, and perhaps form an alliance with the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=Watson>Watson 2003, pp. 13–14</ref> In February 1806, Ottoman Emperor [[Selim III]] recognised Napoleon as ''Emperor''. He also opted for an alliance with France, calling France "our sincere and natural ally".<ref>Karsh 2001, p. 12</ref> That decision brought the Ottoman Empire into a losing war against Russia and Britain. A Franco-Persian alliance was also formed between Napoleon and the [[Qajar dynasty|Persian Empire]] of [[Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar]]. It collapsed in 1807, when France and Russia themselves formed an unexpected alliance.<ref name=Watson /> In the end, Napoleon had made no effective alliances in the Middle East.{{sfn|Sicker|2001|p=99}}

==== War of the Fourth Coalition and Tilsit ====
{{Main|War of the Fourth Coalition}}
After Austerlitz, Napoleon established the [[Confederation of the Rhine]] in 1806. A collection of German states intended to serve as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe, the creation of the Confederation spelled the end of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and significantly alarmed the Prussians. The brazen reorganization of German territory by the French risked threatening Prussian influence in the region, if not eliminating it outright. War fever in Berlin rose steadily throughout the summer of 1806. At the insistence of his court, especially his wife [[Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Queen Louise]], [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]] decided to challenge the French domination of Central Europe by going to war.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael V. Leggiere|title=Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2015|page=9|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118001553/https://books.google.com/books?id=-gn5CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|archivedate=18 November 2016|isbn=978-0806180175}}</ref>

[[File:Iena.jpg|thumb|Napoleon reviewing the [[French Imperial Guard|Imperial Guard]] before the [[Battle of Jena]]]]

The initial military manoeuvres began in September 1806. In a letter to [[Jean-de-Dieu Soult|Marshal Soult]] detailing the plan for the campaign, Napoleon described the essential features of Napoleonic warfare and introduced the phrase ''le bataillon-carré'' ("square battalion").<ref name="Chandler 1966, p. 467-8">Chandler 1966, pp. 467–68</ref> In the ''bataillon-carré'' system, the various corps of the ''Grande Armée'' would march uniformly together in close supporting distance.<ref name="Chandler 1966, p. 467-8" /> If any single corps was attacked, the others could quickly spring into action and arrive to help.<ref name="auto2">Brooks 2000, p. 110</ref>

Napoleon invaded Prussia with 180,000 troops, rapidly marching on the right bank of the [[Saale|River Saale]]. As in previous campaigns, his fundamental objective was to destroy one opponent before reinforcements from another could tip the balance of the war. Upon learning the whereabouts of the Prussian army, the French swung westwards and crossed the Saale with overwhelming force. At the twin [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt|battles of Jena and Auerstedt]], fought on 14 October, the French convincingly defeated the Prussians and inflicted heavy casualties. With several major commanders dead or incapacitated, the Prussian king proved incapable of effectively commanding the army, which began to quickly disintegrate.<ref name="auto2"/>

In a vaunted pursuit that epitomized the "peak of Napoleonic warfare", according to historian Richard Brooks,<ref name="auto2"/> the French managed to capture 140,000 soldiers, over 2,000 cannons and hundreds of ammunition wagons, all in a single month. Historian David Chandler wrote of the Prussian forces: "Never has the morale of any army been more completely shattered".<ref name="Chandler 1966, p. 467-8" /> Despite their overwhelming defeat, the Prussians refused to negotiate with the French until the Russians had an opportunity to enter the fight.

[[File:Tilsitz 1807.JPG|thumb|The [[Treaties of Tilsit]]: Napoleon meeting with [[Alexander I of Russia]] on a raft in the middle of the [[Neman River]]]]

Following his triumph, Napoleon imposed the first elements of the Continental System through the [[Berlin Decree]] issued in November 1806. The Continental System, which prohibited European nations from trading with Britain, was widely violated throughout his reign.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=497}}</ref><ref>Jacques Godechot et al. ''Napoleonic Era in Europe'' (1971) pp. 126–39</ref> In the next few months, Napoleon marched against the advancing Russian armies through Poland and was involved in the bloody stalemate at the [[Battle of Eylau]] in February 1807.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=370}}</ref> After a period of rest and consolidation on both sides, the war restarted in June with an initial struggle at [[Battle of Heilsberg|Heilsberg]] that proved indecisive.<ref name="auto3">{{cite book|author=August Fournier|title=Napoleon I.: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZ8fAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA459|year=1911|page=459|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118001638/https://books.google.com/books?id=jZ8fAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA459|archivedate=18 November 2016}}</ref>

On 14 June Napoleon obtained an overwhelming victory over the Russians at the [[Battle of Friedland]], wiping out the majority of the Russian army in a very bloody struggle. The scale of their defeat convinced the Russians to make peace with the French. On 19 June, Tsar Alexander sent an envoy to seek an armistice with Napoleon. The latter assured the envoy that the [[Vistula River]] represented the natural borders between French and Russian influence in Europe. On that basis, the two emperors began peace negotiations at the town of [[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Tilsit]] after meeting on an iconic raft on the [[Neman (river)|River Niemen]]. The very first thing Alexander said to Napoleon was probably well-calibrated: "I hate the English as much as you do".<ref name="auto3"/>

Alexander faced pressure from his brother, [[Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia|Duke Constantine]], to make peace with Napoleon. Given the victory he had just achieved, the French emperor offered the Russians relatively lenient terms—demanding that Russia join the Continental System, withdraw its forces from [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]], and hand over the [[Ionian Islands]] to France.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pages=458–59}} By contrast, Napoleon dictated very harsh peace terms for Prussia, despite the ceaseless exhortations of [[Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Queen Louise]]. Wiping out half of Prussian territories from the map, Napoleon created a new kingdom of {{convert|1100|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} called [[Kingdom of Westphalia|Westphalia]] and appointed his young brother Jérôme as its monarch. Prussia's humiliating treatment at Tilsit caused a deep and bitter antagonism which festered as the [[Napoleonic era]] progressed. Moreover, Alexander's pretensions at friendship with Napoleon led the latter to seriously misjudge the true intentions of his Russian counterpart, who would violate numerous provisions of the treaty in the next few years. Despite these problems, the [[Treaties of Tilsit]] at last gave Napoleon a respite from war and allowed him to return to France, which he had not seen in over 300 days.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pages=459–61}}

==== Peninsular War and Erfurt ====
{{Main|Peninsular War}}
The settlements at Tilsit gave Napoleon time to organize his empire. One of his major objectives became enforcing the Continental System against the British. He decided to focus his attention on the [[Kingdom of Portugal]], which consistently violated his trade prohibitions. After defeat in the [[War of the Oranges]] in 1801, Portugal adopted a double-sided policy. At first, [[John VI of Portugal|John VI]] agreed to close his ports to British trade. The situation changed dramatically after the Franco-Spanish defeat at Trafalgar; John grew bolder and officially resumed diplomatic and trade relations with Britain.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

[[File:Joseph-Bonaparte.jpg|thumb|[[Joseph Bonaparte]], Napoleon's brother, as King of Spain]]

Unhappy with this change of policy by the Portuguese government, Napoleon negotiated a [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807)|secret treaty]] with [[Charles IV of Spain]] and sent an army to invade Portugal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Horne |first=Alistair |author-link=Alistair Horne |title=How Far From Austerlitz? Napoleon 1805{{ndash}}1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnI-yMnewzEC |year=1997 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-1743285404 |page=238 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225135113/https://books.google.com/books?id=dnI-yMnewzEC |archivedate=25 February 2018  }}</ref> On 17 October 1807, 24,000 French troops under [[Jean-Andoche Junot|General Junot]] crossed the [[Pyrenees]] with [[Kingdom of Spain|Spanish]] cooperation and headed towards Portugal to enforce Napoleon's orders.<ref>Todd Fisher & Gregory Fremont-Barnes, ''The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire''. p. 197.</ref> This attack was the first step in what would eventually become the Peninsular War, a six-year struggle that significantly sapped French strength. Throughout the winter of 1808, French agents became increasingly involved in Spanish internal affairs, attempting to incite discord between members of the [[House of Bourbon|Spanish royal family]]. On 16 February 1808, secret French machinations finally materialized when Napoleon announced that he would intervene to mediate between the rival political factions in the country.<ref>Fisher & Fremont-Barnes pp. 198–99.</ref>

[[Joachim Murat|Marshal Murat]] led 120,000 troops into Spain. The French arrived in [[Madrid]] on 24 March,<ref>Fisher & Fremont-Barnes p. 199.</ref> where wild riots against the occupation erupted just a few weeks later. Napoleon appointed his brother, [[Joseph Bonaparte]], as the new King of Spain in the summer of 1808. The appointment enraged a heavily religious and conservative Spanish population. Resistance to French aggression soon spread throughout Spain. The shocking French defeat at the [[Battle of Bailén]] in July gave hope to Napoleon's enemies and partly persuaded the French emperor to intervene in person.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

Before going to Iberia, Napoleon decided to address several lingering issues with the Russians. At the [[Congress of Erfurt]] in October 1808, Napoleon hoped to keep Russia on his side during the upcoming struggle in Spain and during any potential conflict against Austria. The two sides reached an agreement, the Erfurt Convention, that called upon Britain to cease its war against France, that recognized the Russian conquest of [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]] from [[Kingdom of Sweden (1721–1809)|Sweden]], and that affirmed Russian support for France in a possible war against Austria "to the best of its ability".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/diplomatic/c_erfurt.html |title=The Erfurt Convention 1808 |publisher=Napoleon-series.org |accessdate=22 April 2013 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021094131/http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/diplomatic/c_erfurt.html |archivedate=21 October 2013  }}</ref>

Napoleon then returned to France and prepared for war. The ''Grande Armée'', under the Emperor's personal command, rapidly crossed the [[Ebro]] River in November 1808 and inflicted a series of crushing defeats against the Spanish forces. After clearing the last Spanish force guarding the capital at [[Battle of Somosierra|Somosierra]], Napoleon entered Madrid on 4 December with 80,000 troops.<ref>Fisher & Fremont-Barnes p. 205.</ref> He then unleashed his soldiers against [[John Moore (British soldier)|Moore]] and the British forces. The British were swiftly driven to the coast, and they withdrew from Spain entirely after a last stand at the [[Battle of Corunna]] in January 1809.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

[[File:Antoine-Jean Gros - Capitulation de Madrid, le 4 décembre 1808.jpg|thumb|Napoleon accepting the surrender of [[Madrid]], 4 December 1808]]
Napoleon would end up leaving Iberia in order to deal with the Austrians in Central Europe, but the Peninsular War continued on long after his absence. He never returned to Spain after the 1808 campaign. Several months after Corunna, the British sent another army to the peninsula under the future [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. The war then settled into a complex and asymmetric strategic deadlock where all sides struggled to gain the upper hand. The highlight of the conflict became the brutal ''[[guerrilla warfare]]'' that engulfed much of the Spanish countryside. Both sides committed the worst atrocities of the Napoleonic Wars during this phase of the conflict.<ref name="auto4">{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|pp=659–60}}</ref>

The vicious guerrilla fighting in Spain, largely absent from the French campaigns in Central Europe, severely disrupted the French lines of supply and communication. Although France maintained roughly 300,000 troops in Iberia during the Peninsular War, the vast majority were tied down to garrison duty and to intelligence operations.<ref name="auto4"/> The French were never able to concentrate all of their forces effectively, prolonging the war until events elsewhere in Europe finally turned the tide in favour of the Allies. After the invasion of Russia in 1812, the number of French troops in Spain vastly declined as Napoleon needed reinforcements to conserve his strategic position in Europe. By 1814, after scores of battles and sieges throughout Iberia, the Allies had managed to push the French out of the peninsula.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

The impact of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and ousting of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy in favour of his brother Joseph had an enormous impact on the [[Spanish empire]]. In [[Hispanic America|Spanish America]] many local elites formed juntas and set up mechanisms to rule in the name of [[Ferdinand VII of Spain]], whom they considered the legitimate Spanish monarch. The outbreak of the [[Spanish American wars of independence]] in most of the empire was a result of Napoleon's destabilizing actions in Spain and led to the rise of [[Strongman (politics)|strongmen]] in the wake of these wars.<ref>[[John Lynch (historian)|John Lynch]], ''Caudillos in Spanish America 1800–1850''. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1992, pp. 402–03.</ref>

==== War of the Fifth Coalition and Marie Louise ====
{{Main|War of the Fifth Coalition}}
[[File:Napoleon Wagram.jpg|thumb|Napoleon at the [[Battle of Wagram]], painted by [[Horace Vernet]]]]

After four years on the sidelines, Austria sought another war with France to avenge its recent defeats. Austria could not count on Russian support because the latter was at war with [[Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)|Britain]], [[Finnish War|Sweden]], and the [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)|Ottoman Empire]] in 1809. [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William]] of Prussia initially promised to help the Austrians, but reneged before conflict began.<ref name="Fisher & Fremont-Barnes p. 106">Fisher & Fremont-Barnes, p. 106.</ref> A report from the Austrian finance minister suggested that the treasury would run out of money by the middle of 1809 if the large army that the Austrians had formed since the Third Coalition remained mobilized.<ref name="Fisher & Fremont-Barnes p. 106" /> Although [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]] warned that the Austrians were not ready for another showdown with Napoleon, a stance that landed him in the so-called "peace party", he did not want to see the army demobilized either.<ref name="Fisher & Fremont-Barnes p. 106" /> On 8 February 1809, the advocates for war finally succeeded when the Imperial Government secretly decided on another confrontation against the French.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

In the early morning of 10 April, leading elements of the Austrian army crossed the [[Inn River]] and invaded Bavaria. The early Austrian attack surprised the French; Napoleon himself was still in Paris when he heard about the invasion. He arrived at [[Donauwörth]] on the 17th to find the ''Grande Armée'' in a dangerous position, with its two wings separated by {{convert|75|mi|km|sigfig=2|order=flip|abbr=on}} and joined together by a thin cordon of Bavarian troops. Charles pressed the left wing of the French army and hurled his men towards the III Corps of Marshal Davout. In response, Napoleon came up with a plan to cut off the Austrians in the celebrated ''Landshut Maneuver''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=690}}</ref> He realigned the axis of his army and marched his soldiers towards the town of [[Eckmühl]]. The French scored a convincing win in the resulting [[Battle of Eckmühl]], forcing Charles to withdraw his forces over the [[Danube]] and into [[Bohemia]]. On 13 May, Vienna fell for the second time in four years, although the war continued since most of the Austrian army had survived the initial engagements in Southern Germany.

[[File:Wigand-Entry of Napoleon in Schönbrunn.jpg|thumb|The entry of Napoleon in [[Schönbrunn Palace|Schönbrunn]], Vienna]]
By 17 May, the main Austrian army under Charles had arrived on the Marchfeld. Charles kept the bulk of his troops several kilometres away from the river bank in hopes of concentrating them at the point where Napoleon decided to cross. On 21 May, the French made their first major effort to cross the Danube, precipitating the [[Battle of Aspern-Essling]]. The Austrians enjoyed a comfortable numerical superiority over the French throughout the battle. On the first day, Charles disposed of 110,000 soldiers against only 31,000 commanded by Napoleon.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=701}}</ref> By the second day, reinforcements had boosted French numbers up to 70,000.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=705}}</ref>

The battle was characterized by a vicious back-and-forth struggle for the two villages of Aspern and Essling, the focal points of the French bridgehead. By the end of the fighting, the French had lost Aspern but still controlled Essling. A sustained Austrian artillery bombardment eventually convinced Napoleon to withdraw his forces back onto Lobau Island. Both sides inflicted about 23,000 casualties on each other.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=706}}</ref> It was the first defeat Napoleon suffered in a major set-piece battle, and it caused excitement throughout many parts of Europe because it proved that he could be beaten on the battlefield.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|1966|p=707}}</ref>

After the setback at Aspern-Essling, Napoleon took more than six weeks in planning and preparing for contingencies before he made another attempt at crossing the Danube.<ref name="David G. Chandler p. 708">David G. Chandler, ''The Campaigns of Napoleon''. p. 708</ref> From 30 June to the early days of July, the French recrossed the Danube in strength, with more than 180,000 troops marching across the Marchfeld towards the Austrians.<ref name="David G. Chandler p. 708" /> Charles received the French with 150,000 of his own men.<ref>David G. Chandler, ''The Campaigns of Napoleon''. p. 720</ref> In the ensuing [[Battle of Wagram]], which also lasted two days, Napoleon commanded his forces in what was the largest battle of his career up until then. Napoleon finished off the battle with a concentrated central thrust that punctured a hole in the Austrian army and forced Charles to retreat. Austrian losses were very heavy, reaching well over 40,000 casualties.<ref>David G. Chandler, ''The Campaigns of Napoleon''. p. 729</ref> The French were too exhausted to pursue the Austrians immediately, but Napoleon eventually caught up with Charles at [[Znojmo|Znaim]] and the latter signed an [[Armistice of Znaim|armistice]] on 12 July.

[[File:French Empire (1812).svg|thumb|alt=Map of Europe. French Empire shown as bigger than present day France as it included parts of present-day Netherlands and Italy.|The [[First French Empire|French Empire]] at its greatest extent in 1812{{Legend|#008000|French Empire}}{{Legend|#49C946|French [[satellite state]]s}}]]

In the [[Kingdom of Holland]], the British launched the [[Walcheren Campaign]] to open up a second front in the war and to relieve the pressure on the Austrians. The British army only landed at [[Walcheren]] on 30 July, by which point the Austrians had already been defeated. The Walcheren Campaign was characterized by little fighting but heavy casualties thanks to the popularly dubbed "[[Walcheren Fever]]". Over 4000 British troops were lost in a bungled campaign, and the rest withdrew in December 1809.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/c_walcheren.html|title=The British Expeditionary Force to Walcheren: 1809|publisher=napoleon-series.org|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718144402/http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/c_walcheren.html|archivedate=18 July 2011}}</ref> The main strategic result from the campaign became the delayed political settlement between the French and the Austrians. Emperor Francis wanted to wait and see how the British performed in their theatre before entering into negotiations with Napoleon. Once it became apparent that the British were going nowhere, the Austrians agreed to peace talks.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

The resulting [[Treaty of Schönbrunn]] in October 1809 was the harshest that France had imposed on Austria in recent memory. [[Klemens Wenzel von Metternich|Metternich]] and Archduke Charles had the preservation of the [[Austrian Empire|Habsburg Empire]] as their fundamental goal, and to this end they succeeded by making Napoleon seek more modest goals in return for promises of friendship between the two powers.<ref name="Todd Fisher p. 144">Todd Fisher & Gregory Fremont-Barnes, ''The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire''. p. 144.</ref> Nevertheless, while most of the hereditary lands remained a part of the Habsburg realm, France received [[Carinthia (province)|Carinthia]], [[Carniola]], and the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] ports, while [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]] was given to the [[Duchy of Warsaw|Poles]] and the [[Salzburg]] area of the [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]] went to the [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavarians]].<ref name="Todd Fisher p. 144" /> Austria lost over three million subjects, about one-fifth of her total population, as a result of these territorial changes.<ref>David G. Chandler, ''The Campaigns of Napoleon''. p. 732.</ref> Although fighting in Iberia continued, the War of the Fifth Coalition would be the last major conflict on the European continent for the next three years.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

Napoleon turned his focus to domestic affairs after the war. [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Empress Joséphine]] had still not given birth to a child from Napoleon, who became worried about the future of his empire following his death. Desperate for a legitimate heir, Napoleon divorced Joséphine on 10 January 1810 and started looking for a new wife. Hoping to cement the recent alliance with Austria through a family connection, Napoleon married the [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma]], daughter of [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]], who was 18 years old at the time. On 20 March 1811, Marie Louise gave birth to a baby boy, whom Napoleon made heir apparent and bestowed the title of ''[[King of the Romans|King of Rome]]''. His son never actually ruled the empire, but historians still refer to him as ''[[Napoleon II]]''.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

==== Invasion of Russia ====
{{Main|French invasion of Russia}}
In 1808, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander met at the [[Congress of Erfurt]] to preserve the Russo-French alliance. The leaders had a friendly personal relationship after their first meeting at Tilsit in 1807.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=378}}</ref> By 1811, however, tensions had increased and Alexander was under pressure from the [[Russian nobility]] to break off the alliance.{{Citation needed|date=February 2019}} A major strain on the relationship between the two nations became the regular violations of the Continental System by the Russians, which led Napoleon to threaten Alexander with serious consequences if he formed an alliance with Britain.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=495}}</ref>

[[File:Napoleon in burning Moscow - Adam Albrecht (1841).jpg|thumb|Napoleon watching the [[Fire of Moscow (1812)|fire of Moscow]] in September 1812]]
[[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|''Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia'', painting by [[Adolph Northen]]]]

By 1812, advisers to Alexander suggested the possibility of an invasion of the French Empire and the recapture of Poland. On receipt of intelligence reports on Russia's war preparations, Napoleon expanded his ''Grande Armée'' to more than 450,000 men.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=507}}</ref> He ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the Russian heartland and prepared for an offensive campaign; on 24 June 1812 the invasion commenced.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=506}}</ref>

In an attempt to gain increased support from Polish nationalists and patriots, Napoleon termed the war the ''Second Polish War''—the ''First Polish War'' had been the [[Bar Confederation]] uprising by Polish nobles against Russia in 1768. Polish patriots wanted the Russian part of Poland to be joined with the Duchy of Warsaw and an independent Poland created. This was rejected by Napoleon, who stated he had promised his ally Austria this would not happen. Napoleon refused to [[manumission|manumit]] the Russian [[serf]]s because of concerns this might provoke a reaction in his army's rear. The serfs later committed atrocities against French soldiers during France's retreat.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|pp=504–05}}</ref>

The Russians avoided Napoleon's objective of a decisive engagement and instead retreated deeper into Russia. A brief attempt at resistance was made at [[Battle of Smolensk (1812)|Smolensk]] in August; the Russians were defeated in a series of battles, and Napoleon resumed his advance. The Russians again avoided battle, although in a few cases this was only achieved because Napoleon uncharacteristically hesitated to attack when the opportunity arose. Owing to the Russian army's [[scorched earth]] tactics, the French found it increasingly difficult to forage food for themselves and their horses.<ref>Harvey 2006, p. 773</ref>

The Russians eventually offered battle outside Moscow on 7 September: the [[Battle of Borodino]] resulted in approximately 44,000 Russian and 35,000 French dead, wounded or captured, and may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history up to that point in time.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=518}}</ref> Although the French had won, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major battle Napoleon had hoped would be decisive. Napoleon's own account was: "The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible".<ref>Markham 1988, p. 194</ref>

The Russian army withdrew and retreated past Moscow. Napoleon entered the city, assuming its fall would end the war and Alexander would negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city's governor [[Feodor Rostopchin]], rather than capitulation, Moscow was burned. After five weeks, Napoleon and his army left. In early November Napoleon got concerned about loss of control back in France after the [[Malet coup of 1812]]. His army walked through snow up to their knees, and nearly 10,000 men and horses froze to death on the night of 8/9 November alone. After the [[Battle of Berezina]] Napoleon managed to escape but had to abandon much of the remaining artillery and baggage train. On 5 December, shortly before arriving in Vilnius, Napoleon left the army in a sledge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon-1812.nl/english.php|title=Napoleon1812|work=napoleon-1812.nl|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213205204/http://napoleon-1812.nl/english.php|archivedate=13 February 2016}}</ref>

The French suffered in the course of a ruinous retreat, including from the harshness of the [[Russian Winter]]. The Armée had begun as over 400,000 frontline troops, with fewer than 40,000 crossing the [[Berezina River]] in November 1812.<ref>Markham 1988, pp. 190, 199</ref> The Russians had lost 150,000 in battle and hundreds of thousands of civilians.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=541}}</ref>

==== War of the Sixth Coalition ====
{{Main|War of the Sixth Coalition}}
[[File:Montfort - Adieux de Napoleon a la Garde imperiale.jpg|thumb|Napoleon's farewell to his Imperial Guard, 20 April 1814]]

There was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 while both the Russians and the French rebuilt their forces; Napoleon was able to field 350,000 troops.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=549}}</ref> Heartened by France's loss in Russia, Prussia joined with Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal in a new coalition. Napoleon assumed command in Germany and inflicted a series of defeats on the Coalition culminating in the [[Battle of Dresden]] in August 1813.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=565}}</ref>

Despite these successes, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon, and the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size and lost at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]. This was by far the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and cost more than 90,000 casualties in total.<ref>Chandler 1995, p. 1020</ref>

The Allies offered peace terms in the [[Frankfurt proposals]] in November 1813. Napoleon would remain as Emperor of France, but it would be reduced to its "natural frontiers". That meant that France could retain control of Belgium, Savoy and the Rhineland (the west bank of the Rhine River), while giving up control of all the rest, including all of Spain and the Netherlands, and most of Italy and Germany. Metternich told Napoleon these were the best terms the Allies were likely to offer; after further victories, the terms would be harsher and harsher. Metternich's motivation was to maintain France as a balance against Russian threats, while ending the highly destabilizing series of wars.<ref name="J. P. Riley 2013 206">{{cite book|last= Riley|first=J.P.|title=Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beq3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA206|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=206|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923141136/https://books.google.com/books?id=beq3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA206|archivedate=23 September 2015|isbn=978-1136321351}}</ref>

Napoleon, expecting to win the war, delayed too long and lost this opportunity; by December the Allies had withdrawn the offer. When his back was to the wall in 1814 he tried to reopen peace negotiations on the basis of accepting the Frankfurt proposals. The Allies now had new, harsher terms that included the retreat of France to its 1791 boundaries, which meant the loss of Belgium. Napoleon would remain Emperor, however he rejected the term. The British wanted Napoleon permanently removed, and they prevailed, but Napoleon adamantly refused.<ref name="J. P. Riley 2013 206" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Leggiere|title=The Fall of Napoleon: Volume 1, The Allied Invasion of France, 1813–1814|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eqo5XbXgCYcC&pg=PA53|year=2007|pages=53–54|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921020338/https://books.google.com/books?id=Eqo5XbXgCYcC&pg=PA53|archivedate=21 September 2015|isbn=978-0521875424}}</ref>

[[File:DelarocheNapoleon.jpg|thumb|Napoleon after his abdication in Fontainebleau, 4 April 1814, by [[Paul Delaroche]]]]

Napoleon withdrew back into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and little cavalry; he faced more than three times as many Allied troops.<ref>Fremont-Barnes 2004, p. 14</ref> The French were surrounded: British armies pressed from the south, and other Coalition forces positioned to attack from the German states. Napoleon won a series of victories in the [[Six Days' Campaign]], though these were not significant enough to turn the tide. The leaders of Paris surrendered to the Coalition in March 1814.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=585}}</ref>

On 1 April, Alexander addressed the [[Sénat conservateur]]. Long docile to Napoleon, under Talleyrand's prodding it had turned against him. Alexander told the Sénat that the Allies were fighting against Napoleon, not France, and they were prepared to offer honourable peace terms if Napoleon were removed from power. The next day, the Sénat passed the [[Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur]] ("Emperor's Demise Act"), which declared Napoleon deposed. Napoleon had advanced as far as [[Fontainebleau]] when he learned that Paris was lost. When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his senior officers and marshals mutinied.{{sfn|Gates|2003|page=259}}

On 4 April, led by [[Michel Ney|Ney]], they confronted Napoleon. Napoleon asserted the army would follow him, and Ney replied the army would follow its generals. While the ordinary soldiers and regimental officers wanted to fight on, without any senior officers or marshals any prospective invasion of Paris would have been impossible. Bowing to the inevitable, on 4 April Napoleon abdicated in favour of his son, with Marie Louise as regent. However, the Allies refused to accept this under prodding from Alexander, who feared that Napoleon might find an excuse to retake the throne.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lieven|first=Dominic|title=Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAWbz1iPIfoC&pg=PT611|year=2010|publisher=Penguin|pages=484–85|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320111819/https://books.google.com/books?id=BAWbz1iPIfoC&pg=PT611|archivedate=20 March 2015|isbn=978-1101429389}}</ref> Napoleon was then forced to announce his unconditional abdication only two days later.

==== Exile to Elba ====
[[File:Beaume - Napoléon Ier quittant l'île d'Elbe - 1836.jpg|thumb|Napoleon leaving [[Elba]] on 26 February 1815]]

{{Quote|The Allied Powers having declared that Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to do in the interests of France.<br />Done in the palace of Fontainebleau, 11 April 1814.|Act of abdication of Napoleon<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR|title=Napoleon's act of abdication|accessdate=28 August 2009|publisher=Bulletin des lois de la Republique Française|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222080420/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4861135.pleinepage.f57.langFR|archivedate=22 December 2011|df=dmy-all|date=July 1814}}</ref>}}

In the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]], the Allies exiled Napoleon to [[Elba]], an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, {{convert|20|km|0|abbr=on}} off the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him to retain the title of ''Emperor''. Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill he had carried after nearly being captured by the Russians during the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, however, and he survived to be exiled, while his wife and son took refuge in Austria.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|pp=593–94}}</ref> 

He was conveyed to the island on [[HMS Undaunted (1807)]] by Captain [[Thomas Ussher]], he arrived at Portoferraio on 30 May 1814. In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army, developed the iron mines, oversaw the construction of new roads, issued decrees on modern agricultural methods, and overhauled the island's legal and educational system.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=597}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://time.com/3714089/napoleon-exile-history/|title=Why Napoleon Probably Should Have Just Stayed in Exile the First Time|first=Jennifer|last=Latson|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625010107/http://time.com/3714089/napoleon-exile-history/|archivedate=25 June 2016}}</ref>

A few months into his exile, Napoleon learned that his ex-wife Josephine had died in France. He was devastated by the news, locking himself in his room and refusing to leave for two days.<ref name="pbs.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_josephine/newlife/page_1.html|title=PBS – Napoleon: Napoleon and Josephine|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821213718/http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/n_josephine/newlife/page_1.html|archivedate=21 August 2017}}</ref>

==== Hundred Days ====
{{Main|Hundred Days}}
[[File:Retour de Napoleon d' Isle d'Elbe, by Charles de Steuben.jpg|thumb|Napoleon's return from Elba, by [[Charles de Steuben]]]]

Separated from his wife and son, who had returned to Austria, cut off from the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and aware of rumours he was about to be banished to a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean,<ref name=Mclynn604 /> Napoleon escaped from Elba, in the [[brig]] [[French brig Inconstant (1811)|''Inconstant'']] on 26 February 1815 with 700 men.<ref name=Mclynn604 /> Two days later, he landed on the French mainland at [[Golfe-Juan]] and started heading north.<ref name=Mclynn604>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=604}}</ref>

The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact [[Route Napoléon|just south]] of [[Grenoble]] on 7 March 1815. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range, shouted to the soldiers, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish".<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=605}}</ref> The soldiers quickly responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" Ney, who had boasted to the restored Bourbon king, [[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]], that he would bring Napoleon to Paris in an iron cage, affectionately kissed his former emperor and forgot his oath of allegiance to the Bourbon monarch. The two then marched together towards Paris with a growing army. The unpopular Louis XVIII fled to Belgium after realizing he had little political support. On 13 March, the powers at the [[Congress of Vienna]] declared Napoleon an [[outlaw]]. Four days later, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia each pledged to put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=607}}</ref>

Napoleon arrived in Paris on 20 March and governed for a period now called the Hundred Days. By the start of June the armed forces available to him had reached 200,000, and he decided to go on the offensive to attempt to drive a wedge between the oncoming British and Prussian armies. The [[French Army of the North]] crossed the frontier into the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], in modern-day Belgium.<ref>Chesney 2006, p. 35</ref>

Napoleon's forces fought two Coalition armies, commanded by the British [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] and the Prussian [[Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher|Prince Blücher]], at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] on 18 June 1815. Wellington's army withstood repeated attacks by the French and drove them from the field while the Prussians arrived in force and broke through Napoleon's right flank.

Napoleon returned to Paris and found that both the legislature and the people had turned against him. Realizing his position was untenable, [[Abdication of Napoleon, 1815|he abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son]]. He left Paris three days later and settled at Josephine's former palace in [[Château de Malmaison|Malmaison]] (on the western bank of the [[Seine]] about {{convert|17|km|mi}} west of Paris). Even as Napoleon travelled to Paris, the Coalition forces swept through France (arriving in the vicinity of Paris on 29 June), with the stated intent of restoring Louis XVIII to the French throne.

When Napoleon heard that Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive, he fled to [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime|Rochefort]], considering an escape to the United States. British ships were blocking every port. Napoleon surrendered to [[Frederick Lewis Maitland (Royal Navy officer)|Captain Frederick Maitland]] on {{HMS|Bellerophon|1786|6}} on 15 July 1815.<ref>Cordingly 2004, p. 254</ref>

== Exile on Saint Helena ==
[[File:Napoleon sainthelene.jpg|thumb|Napoleon on Saint Helena, watercolor by Franz Josef Sandmann]]
[[File:Longwood House (16311222817).jpg|thumb|alt=Photo of a front garden and large brown building. French flag on a flagpole next to a small cannon.|Longwood House, Saint Helena, site of Napoleon's captivity]]

The British kept Napoleon on the island of [[Saint Helena]] in the Atlantic Ocean, {{convert|1870|km|0|abbr=on}} from the west coast of Africa. They also took the precaution of sending a garrison of soldiers to uninhabited [[Ascension Island]], which lay between St. Helena and Europe.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Nicolls' outpost : a War of 1812 fort at Chattahoochee, Florida
|first=Dale
|last=Cox
|publisher=Old Kitchen Books
|year=2015
|isbn=978-0692379363|page=87}}</ref>

Napoleon was moved to [[Longwood House]] on Saint Helena in December 1815; it had fallen into disrepair, and the location was damp, windswept and unhealthy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hibbert|first1=Christopher|title=Napoleon's Women|date=2003|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0393324990|page=272|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xa2qKbxgWAC&pg=PA272&dq=Longwood+House|accessdate=5 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Napoleon's moulds|journal=New Scientist|date=28 October 1982|page=257|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5gNPz8j_HYC&pg=PA257&dq=Longwood+House|language=en|last1=Information|first1=Reed Business}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death. Napoleon often complained of the living conditions in letters to the governor and his custodian, [[Hudson Lowe]],<ref>Schom 1997, pp. 769–70</ref> while his attendants complained of "colds, [[catarrh]]s, damp floors and poor provisions."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Two Days at Saint Helena|date=1832|publisher=Monroe and Francis|location=The Spirit of the English Magazines|page=402|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2I-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA402&dq=Longwood+House|accessdate=5 April 2018|language=en}}</ref> It has been speculated by modern scientists that his later illness arose from arsenic poisoning caused by [[Scheele's Green|copper arsenite]] in the wallpaper at Longwood House.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=David|title=The Singular Case of Napoleon's Wallpaper|journal=New Scientist|date=14 October 1982|page=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bklpWKpfp0C&pg=PA101|language=en}}</ref>

With a small cadre of followers, Napoleon dictated his memoirs and grumbled about conditions. Lowe cut Napoleon's expenditure, ruled that no gifts were allowed if they mentioned his imperial status, and made his supporters sign a guarantee they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely.<ref name=Lowe>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=642}}</ref>

While in exile, Napoleon wrote a book about [[Julius Caesar]], one of his great heroes.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Caesars-Wars-First-Ever-Translation-ebook/dp/B076ZVK49R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=chronicles+of+caesars+wars&qid=1511472764&sr=8-1|title=Chronicles of Caesar's Wars: The First-Ever Translation|last=I|first=Napoleon|last2=Marchand|first2=Louis Joseph|date=29 October 2017|publisher=Clio Books|edition=1|language=English|translator-last=Barzani|translator-first=Arshan|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203115923/https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Caesars-Wars-First-Ever-Translation-ebook/dp/B076ZVK49R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=chronicles+of+caesars+wars&qid=1511472764&sr=8-1|archivedate=3 December 2017}}</ref> He also studied English under the tutelage of [[Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases|Count Emmanuel de Las Cases]] with the main aim of being able to read English newspapers and books, as access to French newspapers and books was heavily restricted to him on Saint Helena.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hicks|first1=Peter|title=Napoleon's English Lessons|url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleons-english-lessons/|website=Napoleon.org|accessdate=24 March 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918214137/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleons-english-lessons/|archivedate=18 September 2016}}</ref>

There were rumours of plots and even of his escape, but in reality no serious attempts were made.<ref>Wilkins 1972</ref> For English poet [[Lord Byron]], Napoleon was the epitome of the Romantic hero, the persecuted, lonely, and flawed genius.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=651}}</ref>

=== Death ===
{{Further|Death mask of Napoleon|Retour des cendres}}
[[File:Napoleon Death Mask.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Bronze death mask of Napoleon I, modelled in 1821, cast in 1833]]

Napoleon's personal physician, [[Barry O'Meara]], warned London that his declining state of health was mainly caused by the harsh treatment. Napoleon confined himself for months on end in his damp and wretched habitation of Longwood.<ref>Albert Benhamou, ''[http://www.inside-longwood.com/ Inside Longwood – Barry O'Meara's clandestine letters] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211020132/http://www.inside-longwood.com/ |date=11 December 2012 }}'', 2012</ref>

In February 1821, Napoleon's health began to deteriorate rapidly, and he reconciled with the Catholic Church. He died on 5 May 1821, after confession, [[Anointing of the Sick (Catholic Church)|Extreme Unction]] and [[Viaticum]] in the presence of Father Ange Vignali. His last words were, ''France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine'' ("France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine").<ref name="McLynn655">{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=655}}</ref><ref>Roberts, ''Napoleon '' (2014) 799–801</ref>

Napoleon's original [[death mask]] was created around 6 May, although it is not clear which doctor created it.{{Efn|It was customary to cast a death mask of a leader. At least four genuine death masks of Napoleon are known to exist: one in [[The Cabildo]] in New Orleans, one in a Liverpool museum, another in Havana and one in the library of the [[University of North Carolina]].<ref>Fulghum 2007</ref>}}<ref>Wilson 1975, pp. 293–95</ref> In his will, he had asked to be buried on the banks of the Seine, but the British governor said he should be buried on Saint Helena, in the Valley of the Willows.<ref name="McLynn655"/>

[[File:Napoleone Bonaparte's Tomb.jpg|thumb|Napoleon's tomb at [[Les Invalides]]]]

In 1840, [[Louis Philippe I]] obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon's remains to France. On 15 December 1840, a [[state funeral]] was held. The hearse proceeded from the Arc de Triomphe down the [[Champs-Élysées]], across the [[Place de la Concorde]] to the [[Les Invalides|Esplanade des Invalides]] and then to the cupola in St Jérôme's Chapel, where it remained until the tomb designed by [[Louis Visconti]] was completed.

In 1861, Napoleon's remains were entombed in a [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry stone]] [[sarcophagus]] in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides.<ref>Driskel 1993, p. 168</ref>

==== Cause of death ====
The cause of his death has been debated. Napoleon's physician, [[François Carlo Antommarchi]], led the autopsy, which found the cause of death to be [[stomach cancer]]. Antommarchi did not sign the official report.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=656}}</ref> Napoleon's father had died of stomach cancer, although this was apparently unknown at the time of the autopsy.<ref>Johnson 2002, pp. 180–81</ref> Antommarchi found evidence of a stomach ulcer; this was the most convenient explanation for the British, who wanted to avoid criticism over their care of Napoleon.<ref name="McLynn655" />

[[File:Napoleon sur son lit de mort Horace Vernet 1826.jpg|thumb|alt=Gold-framed portrait painting of a gaunt middle-aged man with receding hair and laurel wreath, lying eyes-closed on white pillow with a white blanket covering to his neck and a gold Jesus cross resting on his chest|''Napoleon on His Death Bed'', by [[Horace Vernet]], 1826]]
In 1955, the diaries of Napoleon's valet, Louis Marchand, were published. His description of Napoleon in the months before his death led [[Sten Forshufvud]] in a 1961 paper in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' to put forward other causes for his death, including deliberate [[arsenic poisoning]].<ref name=Cullen>Cullen 2008, pp. 146–48</ref> Arsenic was used as a poison during the era because it was undetectable when administered over a long period. Furthermore, in a 1978 book with [[Ben Weider]], Forshufvud noted that Napoleon's body was found to be well preserved when moved in 1840. Arsenic is a strong preservative, and therefore this supported the poisoning hypothesis. Forshufvud and Weider observed that Napoleon had attempted to quench abnormal thirst by drinking large amounts of [[orgeat syrup]] that contained cyanide compounds in the almonds used for flavouring.<ref name=Cullen />

They maintained that the [[potassium tartrate]] used in his treatment prevented his stomach from expelling these compounds and that his thirst was a symptom of the poison. Their hypothesis was that the [[calomel]] given to Napoleon became an overdose, which killed him and left extensive [[tissue (biology)|tissue]] damage behind.<ref name=Cullen /> According to a 2007 article, the type of arsenic found in Napoleon's hair shafts was mineral, the most toxic, and according to toxicologist Patrick Kintz, this supported the conclusion that he was murdered.<ref name=cullen156>Cullen 2008, p. 156</ref>

There have been modern studies that have supported the original autopsy finding.<ref name=cullen156 /> In a 2008 study, researchers analysed samples of Napoleon's hair from throughout his life, as well as samples from his family and other contemporaries. All samples had high levels of arsenic, approximately 100 times higher than the current average. According to these researchers, Napoleon's body was already heavily contaminated with arsenic as a boy, and the high arsenic concentration in his hair was not caused by intentional poisoning; people were constantly exposed to arsenic from glues and dyes throughout their lives.{{Efn|The body can tolerate large doses of arsenic if ingested regularly, and arsenic was a fashionable [[Panacea (medicine)|cure-all]].<ref>Cullen 2008, p. 50</ref>}} Studies published in 2007 and 2008 dismissed evidence of arsenic poisoning, and confirmed evidence of [[peptic ulcer]] and [[gastric cancer]] as the cause of death.<ref>Cullen 2008, p. 161, and Hindmarsh et al. 2008, p. 2092</ref>

== Religion ==
{{Further|Napoleon and the Catholic Church}}
[[File:France dioceses 1801.svg|thumb|right|Reorganisation of the religious geography: France is divided into 59 [[diocese]]s and 10 [[ecclesiastical provinces]].]]

Napoleon was baptised in [[Ajaccio]] on 21 July 1771. He was raised as a Catholic but never developed much faith.<ref name="napoleon.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |title=L'Empire et le Saint-Siège |publisher=Napoleon.org |accessdate=15 June 2011 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919124850/http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |archivedate=19 September 2011  }}</ref> As an adult, Napoleon was a [[Deism|deist]], believing in an absent and distant God. However, he had a keen appreciation of the power of organized religion in social and political affairs, and he paid a great deal of attention to bending it to his purposes. He noted the influence of Catholicism's rituals and splendors.<ref name="napoleon.org" />

Napoleon had a [[civil marriage]] with Joséphine de Beauharnais, without religious ceremony. Napoleon was crowned Emperor on 2 December 1804 at [[Notre-Dame de Paris]] in a ceremony presided over by [[Pope Pius VII]]. On the eve of the coronation ceremony, and at the insistence of Pope Pius VII, a private religious wedding ceremony of Napoleon and Joséphine was celebrated. Cardinal Fesch performed the wedding.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ |title=Napoleon's "divorce" |accessdate=20 January 2018 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071220/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ |archivedate=21 January 2018  }}</ref> This marriage was annulled by tribunals under Napoleon's control in January 1810. On 1 April 1810, Napoleon married the Austrian princess [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise]] in a Catholic ceremony. Napoleon was excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but later reconciled with the Church before his death in 1821.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholictextbookproject.com/this-day-in-history/this-day-in-history-31/|title=catholictextbookproject.com|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521021813/https://www.catholictextbookproject.com/this-day-in-history/this-day-in-history-31/|archive-date=21 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Concordat ===
{{Further|Concordat of 1801}}
[[File:FrenchChurchOathConcordat.jpg|thumb|Leaders of the Catholic Church taking the civil oath required by [[Concordat of 1801|the Concordat]]]]
Seeking national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics, the Concordat of 1801 was signed on 15 July 1801 between Napoleon and [[Pope Pius VII]]. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status. The hostility of devout Catholics against the state had now largely been resolved. The Concordat did not restore the vast church lands and endowments that had been seized during the revolution and sold off. As a part of the Concordat, Napoleon presented another set of laws called the [[Organic Articles]].<ref>William Roberts, "Napoleon, the Concordat of 1801, and Its Consequences". in by Frank J. Coppa, ed., ''Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler'' (1999) pp. 34–80.</ref><ref>Nigel Aston, ''Religion and revolution in France, 1780–1804'' ([[Catholic University of America Press]], 2000) pp. 279–315</ref>

While the Concordat restored much power to the [[pope|papacy]], the balance of church–state relations had tilted firmly in Napoleon's favour. He selected the bishops and supervised church finances. Napoleon and the Pope both found the Concordat useful. Similar arrangements were made with the Church in territories controlled by Napoleon, especially Italy and Germany.<ref>Nigel Aston, ''Christianity and revolutionary Europe, 1750–1830'' ([[Cambridge University Press]], 2002) pp. 261–62.</ref> Now, Napoleon could win favour with the Catholics while also controlling Rome in a political sense. Napoleon said in April 1801, "Skillful conquerors have not got entangled with priests. They can both contain them and use them". French children were issued a catechism that taught them to love and respect Napoleon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Luis Granados|title=Damned Good Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9Vsms3huxgC&pg=PT182|year=2012|publisher=Humanist Press|pages=182–83|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922000725/https://books.google.com/books?id=T9Vsms3huxgC&pg=PT182|archivedate=22 September 2015|isbn=978-0931779244}}</ref>

===Arrest of Pope Pius VII===
In 1809, under Napoleon's orders, [[Pope Pius VII]] was placed under arrest in Italy, and in 1812 the prisoner Pontiff was transferred to France, being held in the Palace of Fontainebleau.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/13/theater/when-napoleon-captured-the-pope.html?pagewanted=all |title=When Napoleon Captured the Pope |accessdate=30 January 2018 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071235/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/13/theater/when-napoleon-captured-the-pope.html?pagewanted=all |archivedate=21 January 2018  |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 December 1981 }}</ref> Because the arrest was made in a clandestine manner, some sources<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-and-the-pope-from-the-concordat-to-the-excommunication/ |title=Napoleon and the Pope: From the Concordat to the Excommunication |accessdate=23 January 2018 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124005648/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-and-the-pope-from-the-concordat-to-the-excommunication/ |archivedate=24 January 2018  }}</ref><ref name=autogenerated3 /> describe it as a kidnapping. The Pope was only released in 1814 when the Allies invaded France. In January 1813, Napoleon personally forced the Pope to sign a humiliating "Concordat of Fontainebleau".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/concordat-fontainebleau |title=Archived copy |accessdate=20 January 2018 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121072115/http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/concordat-fontainebleau |archivedate=21 January 2018  }}</ref> The 1813 document was later repudiated by the Pontiff.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pius-VII |title=Pius VII &#124; pope |accessdate=6 May 2017 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502161627/http://www.britannica.com/biography/Pius-VII |archivedate=2 May 2016  }}</ref>

=== Religious emancipation ===
{{Further|Napoleon and the Jews|Napoleon and Protestants}}
Napoleon [[Jewish emancipation|emancipated Jews]], as well as Protestants in Catholic countries and Catholics in Protestant countries, from laws which restricted them to [[ghetto]]s, and he expanded their rights to property, worship, and careers. Despite the antisemitic reaction to Napoleon's policies from foreign governments and within France, he believed emancipation would benefit France by attracting Jews to the country given the restrictions they faced elsewhere.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=436}}</ref>

In 1806 an assembly of Jewish notables was gathered by Napoleon to discuss 12 questions broadly dealing with the relations between Jews and Christians, as well as other issues dealing with the Jewish ability to integrate into French society. Later, after the questions were answered in a satisfactory way according to the Emperor, a "[[Grand Sanhedrin|great Sanhedrin]]" was brought together to transform the answers into decisions that would form the basis of the future status of the Jews in France and the rest of the empire Napoleon was building.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/this-day-in-jewish-history/.premium-1.573141|title=This Day in Jewish History / The Sanhedrin of Paris Convenes at the Behest of Napoleon|last=Green|first=David B.|date=9 February 2014|work=Haaretz|access-date=21 November 2017|language=en|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041659/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/this-day-in-jewish-history/.premium-1.573141|archivedate=1 December 2017}}</ref>

He stated, "I will never accept any proposals that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them".<ref>Schwarzfuchs 1979, p. 50</ref> He was seen as so favourable to the Jews that the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] formally condemned him as "[[Antichrist]] and the Enemy of God".<ref>Cronin 1994, p. 315</ref>

One year after the final meeting of the Sanhedrin, on 17 March 1808, Napoleon placed the Jews on probation. Several new laws restricting the citizenship the Jews had been offered 17 years previously were instituted at that time. However, despite pressure from leaders of a number of Christian communities to refrain from granting Jews emancipation, within one year of the issue of the new restrictions, they were once again lifted in response to the appeal of Jews from all over France.<ref name=":0" />

== Personality ==
[[File:Napoleon visiting the Tribunat (Palais Royal) in 1807.jpg|thumb|Napoleon visiting the Palais Royal for the opening of the 8th session of the Tribunat in 1807, by [[Merry-Joseph Blondel]] ]]
Historians emphasize the strength of the ambition that took Napoleon from an obscure village to command of most of Europe.<ref>Pieter Geyl, ''Napoleon, For and Against'' (1982)</ref> In-depth academic studies about [[Napoleon#origins and education|his early life]] conclude that up until age 2, he had a "gentle [[disposition]]".<ref name=":2" /> His older brother, [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]], frequently received their mother's attention which made Napoleon more assertive and approval-driven. During his early schooling years he would be harshly bullied by classmates for his Corsican identity and control of the French language. To withstand the stress he became domineering, eventually developing an [[inferiority complex]].<ref name=":2" />

George F. E. Rudé stresses his "rare combination of will, intellect and physical vigour".<ref>{{cite book|last=George F.E. Rudé|title=The French Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1pMIbvzKckC&pg=PA128|year=1988|publisher=Grove Weidenfeld|page=128|isbn=978-0-8021-3272-7|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926052742/https://books.google.com/books?id=f1pMIbvzKckC&pg=PA128|archivedate=26 September 2015}}</ref> In one-on-one situations he typically had a hypnotic effect on people, seemingly bending the strongest leaders to his will.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jack Coggins|title=Soldiers And Warriors: An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/?id=V8qaEDqjkv0C&pg=PA187|year=1966|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|page=187|isbn=978-0-486-45257-9}}</ref> He understood military technology, but was not an innovator in that regard.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sally Waller|title=France in Revolution, 1776–1830|url=https://books.google.com/?id=d0KywNq8wJgC&pg=PA188|year=2002|publisher=Heinemann|page=188|isbn=978-0-435-32732-3}}</ref> He was an innovator in using the financial, bureaucratic, and diplomatic resources of France. He could rapidly dictate a series of complex commands to his subordinates, keeping in mind where major units were expected to be at each future point, and like a chess master, "seeing" the best plays moves ahead.<ref name="See David Chandler 1975">See David Chandler, "General Introduction" to his ''The Campaigns of Napoleon: The Mind and Method of History's Greatest Soldier '' (1975).</ref>

Napoleon maintained strict, efficient work habits, prioritizing what needed to be done. He cheated at cards, but repaid the losses; he had to win at everything he attempted.<ref>Roberts, ''Napoleon: A Life '' (2014) pp. 470–73</ref> He kept relays of staff and secretaries at work. Unlike many generals, Napoleon did not examine history to ask what [[Hannibal]] or [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] or anyone else did in a similar situation. Critics said he won many battles simply because of luck; Napoleon responded, "Give me lucky generals", arguing that "luck" comes to leaders who recognize opportunity, and seize it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregory R. Copley|title=The Art of Victory: Strategies for Personal Success and Global Survival in a Changing World|url=https://books.google.com/?id=tM0Zjzok8nsC&pg=PA97|year=2007|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=97|isbn=978-1-4165-2478-6}}</ref> Dwyer states that Napoleon's victories at Austerlitz and Jena in 1805–06 heightened his sense of self-grandiosity, leaving him even more certain of his destiny and invincibility.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dwyer|2013|pp=175–76}}</ref>

In terms of influence on events, it was more than Napoleon's personality that took effect. He reorganized France itself to supply the men and money needed for wars.<ref>J. M. Thompson, ''Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall'' (1954), p. 285</ref> He inspired his men—[[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|the Duke of Wellington]] said his presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 soldiers, for he inspired confidence from privates to field marshals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Hibbert|title=Wellington: A Personal History|url=https://books.google.com/?id=Ni8Mc1b1ygAC&pg=PA171|year=1999|publisher=Da Capo Press|page=171|isbn=978-0-7382-0148-1}}</ref> He also unnerved the enemy. At the [[Battle of Auerstadt]] in 1806, King [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] outnumbered the French by 63,000 to 27,000; however, when he was told, mistakenly, that Napoleon was in command, he ordered a hasty retreat that turned into a rout.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=357}}</ref> The force of his personality neutralized material difficulties as his soldiers fought with the confidence that with Napoleon in charge they would surely win.<ref>Steven Englund, ''Napoleon: A Political Life'' (2004), pp. 379ff</ref>

== Image ==
{{Further|Cultural depictions of Napoleon}}
[[File:Napoleon in 1806.PNG|thumb|upright|Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the [[Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale|Chasseur à Cheval of the Imperial Guard]], the regiment that often served as his personal escort, with a large [[bicorne]] and a [[hand-in-waistcoat]] gesture.]]

Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolizes military genius and political power. [[Martin van Creveld]] described him as "the most competent human being who ever lived".<ref>{{cite book |title= Command in War|edition= |last= van Crevald|first= Martin|year= 1987|location= Massachusetts|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn= 978-0-674-14441-5 |page= 64}}</ref> Since his death, many towns, streets, ships, and even cartoon characters have been named after him. He has been portrayed in hundreds of films and discussed in hundreds of thousands of books and articles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/|title=Napoleon Bonaparte (Character)|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=12 October 2008|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206233457/http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/|archivedate=6 December 2008}} and Bell 2007, p. 13</ref>

When met in person, many of his contemporaries were surprised by his apparently unremarkable physical appearance in contrast to his significant deeds and reputation, especially in his youth, when he was consistently described as small and thin. Joseph Farington, who observed Napoleon personally in 1802, commented that "Samuel Rogers stood a little way from me and&nbsp;... seemed to be disappointed in the look of [Napoleon's] countenance [face] and said it was that of a little Italian." Farington said Napoleon's eyes were "lighter, and more of a grey, than I should have expected from his complexion", that "His person is below middle size", and that "his general aspect was milder than I had before thought it."<ref>The Fortnightly, Volume 114. Chapman and Hall, 1923. p. 836.</ref>

A personal friend of Napoleon's said that when he first met him in [[Brienne-le-Château]] as a young man, Napoleon was only notable "for the dark color of his complexion, for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style of his conversation"; he also said that Napoleon was personally a serious and somber man: "his conversation bore the appearance of ill-humor, and he was certainly not very amiable."<ref>Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne. "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte." Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889. Vol. 1, p. 7.</ref> Johann Ludwig Wurstemberger, who accompanied Napoleon from Camp Fornio in 1797 and on the Swiss campaign of 1798, noted that "Bonaparte was rather slight and emaciated-looking; his face, too, was very thin, with a dark complexion&nbsp;... his black, unpowdered hair hung down evenly over both shoulders", but that, despite his slight and unkempt appearance, "His looks and expression were earnest and powerful."<ref>Kircheisen, F. M. ''Napoleon'' New York : Harcourt, Brace, 1932</ref>

[[Denis Davydov]] met him personally and considered him remarkably average in appearance: "His face was slightly swarthy, with regular features. His nose was not very large, but straight, with a slight, hardly noticeable bend. The hair on his head was dark reddish-blond; his eyebrows and eyelashes were much darker than the colour of his hair, and his blue eyes, set off by the almost black lashes, gave him a most pleasing expression&nbsp;... The man I saw was of short stature, just over five feet tall, rather heavy although he was only 37 years old."<ref>Davydov, Denis. ''In the Service of the Tsar Against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davydov, 1806–1814''. Translation by Gregory Troubetzkoy. Greenhill Books, 1999. p. 64.</ref>

During the Napoleonic Wars he was taken seriously by the British press as a dangerous [[tyrant]], poised to invade. Napoleon was mocked in British newspapers as a short tempered small man and he was nicknamed "Little Boney in a strong fit".<ref name="nationalpostBoney">{{cite news
| url=https://nationalpost.com/news/world/greatest-cartooning-coup-of-all-time-the-brit-who-convinced-everyone-napoleon-was-short
| title=Greatest cartooning coup of all time: The Brit who convinced everyone Napoleon was short
| date=28 April 2016
| newspaper=[[National Post]]
| accessdate=30 September 2017}}</ref> A nursery rhyme warned children that Bonaparte ravenously ate naughty people; the "[[bogeyman]]".<ref>Roberts 2004, p. 93</ref> At {{convert|5|ft|2|in|m|order=flip}}, he was the height of an average French male but short for an aristocrat or officer (part of why he was assigned to the artillery, since at the time the infantry and cavalry required more commanding figures).<ref name="Owen Connelly 2006 7">{{cite book|author=Owen Connelly|title=Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Pzu7_QhfU8C&pg=PA7|year=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=7|isbn=978-0742553187}}</ref>  It is possible he was taller at {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} due to the difference in the French measurement of inches.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.entitymag.com/napoleons-height-history/|title=The Myth of Napoleon's Height: How a Single Image Can Change History|date=13 February 2017|work=Entity|access-date=4 January 2018|language=en-US|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105233545/https://www.entitymag.com/napoleons-height-history/|archivedate=5 January 2018}}</ref>

Some historians believe that the reason for the mistake about his size at death came from use of an obsolete old French yardstick (a French foot equals 33&nbsp;cm, while an English foot equals 30.47&nbsp;cm).<ref name="Owen Connelly 2006 7"/> Napoleon was a champion of the metric system and had no use for the old yardsticks. It is more likely that he was {{convert|5|ft|2|in|m|order=flip|abbr=on}}, the height he was measured at on St. Helena (a British island), since he would have most likely been measured with an English yardstick rather than a yardstick of the Old French Regime.<ref name="Owen Connelly 2006 7"/> Napoleon surrounded himself with tall bodyguards and was affectionately nicknamed ''le petit caporal'' (the little corporal), reflecting his reported camaraderie with his soldiers rather than his height.

When he became First Consul and later Emperor, Napoleon eschewed his general's uniform and habitually wore the green colonel uniform (non-Hussar) of a colonel of the [[Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale|Chasseur à Cheval of the Imperial Guard]], the regiment that served as his personal escort many times, with a large [[bicorne]]. He also habitually wore (usually on Sundays) the blue uniform of a colonel of the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]] Foot Grenadiers (blue with white facings and red cuffs). He also wore his [[Légion d'honneur]] star, medal and ribbon, and the [[Order of the Iron Crown]] decorations, white French-style [[culotte]]s and white stockings. This was in contrast to the complex uniforms with many decorations of his [[Marshal of the Empire|marshals]] and those around him.

In his later years he gained quite a bit of weight and had a complexion considered pale or sallow, something contemporaries took note of. Novelist Paul de Kock, who saw him in 1811 on the balcony of the Tuileries, called Napoleon "yellow, obese, and bloated".<ref>Seward, Desmond. ''Napoleon's Family''. New York: Viking, 1986.</ref> A British captain who met him in 1815 stated "I felt very much disappointed, as I believe everyone else did, in his appearance&nbsp;... He is fat, rather what we call pot-bellied, and although his leg is well shaped, it is rather clumsy&nbsp;... He is very sallow, with light grey eyes, and rather thin, greasy-looking brown hair, and altogether a very nasty, priestlike-looking fellow."<ref>The Bookman, Vol. 29, p. 304. Diary of Capt. Ross, commander of the Northumberland.</ref>

The [[stock character]] of Napoleon is a comically short "petty tyrant" and this has become a cliché in popular culture. He is often portrayed wearing a large [[bicorne]] hat with a [[hand-in-waistcoat]] gesture—a reference to the painting produced in 1812 by Jacques-Louis David.{{sfn|Bordes|2007|p=118}} In 1908 [[Alfred Adler]], a psychologist, cited Napoleon to describe an [[inferiority complex]] in which short people adopt an over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term ''[[Napoleon complex]]''.<ref>Hall 2006, p. 181</ref>

== Reforms ==
[[File:Debret - Premiere distribution des decorations de la Legion d'honneur.jpg|thumb|right|First remittance of the Légion d'Honneur, 15 July 1804, at [[Les Invalides|Saint-Louis des Invalides]], by [[Jean-Baptiste Debret]] (1812)]]

Napoleon instituted various reforms, such as higher education, a [[tax code]], road and sewer systems, and established the [[Banque de France]], the first central bank in French history. He negotiated the [[Concordat of 1801]] with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the mostly Catholic population to his regime. It was presented alongside the [[Organic Articles]], which regulated public worship in France. He dissolved the [[Holy Roman Empire]] prior to [[German Unification]] later in the 19th century. The sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States doubled the size of the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|McGraw-Hill's, US History|2012|pp=112–13}}</ref>

In May 1802, he instituted the [[Legion of Honour]], a substitute for the old royalist decorations and [[chivalric order|orders of chivalry]], to encourage civilian and military achievements; the order is still the highest decoration in France.<ref>Blaufarb 2007, pp. 101–02</ref>

=== Napoleonic Code ===
{{Main|Napoleonic Code}}
[[File:Code Civil 1804.png|thumb|alt=Page of French writing|First page of the 1804 original edition of the [[civil code|Code Civil]]]]

Napoleon's [[civil code|set of civil laws]], the ''Code Civil''—now often known as the Napoleonic Code—was prepared by committees of legal experts under the supervision of [[Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès]], the ''Second Consul''. Napoleon participated actively in the sessions of the [[Council of State (France)|Council of State]] that revised the drafts. The development of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] legal system with its stress on clearly written and accessible law. Other codes ("[[Les cinq codes]]") were commissioned by Napoleon to codify criminal and commerce law; a Code of Criminal Instruction was published, which enacted rules of [[due process]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=255}}</ref>

The Napoleonic code was adopted throughout much of Continental Europe, though only in the lands he conquered, and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Napoleon said: "My true glory is not to have won forty battles&nbsp;... Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories.&nbsp;... But&nbsp;... what will live forever, is my Civil Code".<ref>{{cite book|author=Bernard Schwartz|title=The Code Napoleon and the Common-law World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xeZBvbdN2IC&pg=PA7|year=1998|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange|page=7|isbn=978-1-886363-59-5|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923115525/https://books.google.com/books?id=_xeZBvbdN2IC&pg=PA7|archivedate=23 September 2015}}</ref> The Code influences a quarter of the world's jurisdictions such as that of in Continental Europe, the Americas and Africa.<ref>Wood 2007, p. 55</ref>

Dieter Langewiesche described the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of [[bourgeoisie|bourgeois society]] in Germany by the extension of the right to own property and an acceleration towards the end of [[feudalism]]. Napoleon reorganized what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of more than a thousand entities, {{Quantify|date=August 2016}} into a more streamlined forty-state [[Confederation of the Rhine]]; this helped promote the [[German Confederation]] and the [[unification of Germany]] in 1871.<ref>Scheck 2008, Chapter: The Road to National Unification</ref>

The movement toward national unification in Italy was similarly precipitated by Napoleonic rule.<ref>Astarita 2005, p. 264</ref> These changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the [[nation state]].<ref>Alter 2006, pp. 61–76</ref>

Napoleon implemented a wide array of liberal reforms in France and across Continental Europe, especially in Italy and Germany, as summarized by British historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]]:

{{quote|The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire.<ref>Andrew Roberts, ''Napoleon: A Life'' (2014) p. xxxiii</ref>}}

Napoleon directly overthrew remnants of feudalism in much of western Continental Europe. He liberalized [[property law]]s, ended [[Manorialism|seigneurial dues]], abolished the [[guild]] of merchants and craftsmen to facilitate entrepreneurship, legalized divorce, closed the [[Ghetto|Jewish ghettos]] and made Jews equal to everyone else. The [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition]] ended as did the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The power of church courts and religious authority was sharply reduced and [[Equality before the law|equality under the law]] was proclaimed for all men.<ref>Robert R. Palmer and Joel Colton, ''A History of the Modern World'' (New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), pp. 428–29</ref>

=== Warfare ===
{{Further|Napoleonic weaponry and warfare|Military career of Napoleon Bonaparte}}
[[File:Napoleon a Cherbourg bordercropped.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of a grey and phosphorous-coloured equestrian statue. Napoleon is seated on the horse, which is rearing up, he looks forward with his right hand raised and pointing forward; his left hand holds the reins.|Statue in [[Cherbourg-Octeville]] unveiled by Napoleon III in 1858. Napoleon I strengthened the town's defences to prevent British naval incursions.]]

In the field of [[military organization]], Napoleon borrowed from previous theorists such as [[Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert]], and from the reforms of preceding French governments, and then developed much of what was already in place. He continued the policy, which emerged from the Revolution, of promotion based primarily on merit.<ref name=Archer />

[[Corps]] replaced divisions as the largest army units, [[Self-propelled artillery|mobile artillery]] was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid and cavalry returned as an important formation in French military doctrine. These methods are now referred to as essential features of Napoleonic warfare.<ref name=Archer>Archer et al. 2002, p. 397</ref> Though he consolidated the practice of modern [[conscription]] introduced by the Directory, one of the restored monarchy's first acts was to end it.

His opponents learned from Napoleon's innovations. The increased importance of artillery after 1807 stemmed from his creation of a highly mobile artillery force, the growth in artillery numbers, and changes in artillery practices. As a result of these factors, Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defences, now could use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line that was then exploited by supporting infantry and cavalry. McConachy rejects the alternative theory that growing reliance on artillery by the French army beginning in 1807 was an outgrowth of the declining quality of the French infantry and, later, France's inferiority in cavalry numbers.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/McConachy.pdf |url-status=live |jstor=2677528 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119131512/http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/McConachy.pdf |archive-date=19 January 2012|title=The Roots of Artillery Doctrine: Napoleonic Artillery Tactics Reconsidered |journal=The Journal of Military History |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=617–640 |last1=McConachy |first1=Bruce |year=2001 |doi=10.2307/2677528 }}</ref> Weapons and other kinds of military technology remained static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th-century [[operational mobility]] underwent change.<ref>Archer et al. 2002, p. 383</ref>

Napoleon's biggest influence was in the conduct of warfare. [[Antoine-Henri Jomini]] explained Napoleon's methods in a widely used textbook that influenced all European and American armies.<ref>John Shy, "Jomini" in Peter Paret, ed. ''Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age'' (1986).</ref> Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist [[Carl von Clausewitz]] as a genius in the operational art of war, and historians rank him as a great military commander.<ref>Archer et al. 2002, p. 380</ref> Wellington, when asked who was the greatest general of the day, answered: "In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon".<ref>Roberts 2001, p. 272</ref>

Under Napoleon, a new emphasis towards the destruction, not just outmanoeuvring, of enemy armies emerged. Invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts which made wars costlier and more decisive. The political effect of war increased; defeat for a European power meant more than the loss of isolated enclaves. Near-[[Carthaginian peace]]s intertwined whole national efforts, intensifying the Revolutionary phenomenon of total war.<ref>Archer et al. 2002, p. 404</ref>

=== Metric system ===
{{Main|History of the metric system|Mesures usuelles|Units of measurement in France}}
{{Css Image Crop|Image = France 1803-04-A 20 Francs.jpg|bSize = 410|cWidth = 200|cHeight = 200|oTop = 5|oLeft = 6|Location = right|Description = Depicted as [[French Consulate|First Consul]] on the 1803 20 gold [[Napoléon (coin)|Napoléon]] gold coin}}

The official introduction of the metric system in September 1799 was unpopular in large sections of French society. Napoleon's rule greatly aided adoption of the new standard not only across France but also across the French [[sphere of influence]]. Napoleon took a retrograde step in 1812 when he passed legislation to introduce the ''[[mesures usuelles]]'' (traditional units of measurement) for retail trade,<ref name=H&H>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/outlinesofevolut00halluoft/outlinesofevolut00halluoft_djvu.txt|title=Outlines of the evolution of weights and measures and the metric system|first1=William|last1=Hallock|first2=Herbert T|last2=Wade|publisher=The Macmillan Company|year=1906|pages=66–69|location=London}}</ref> a system of measure that resembled the pre-revolutionary units but were based on the kilogram and the metre; for example, the ''livre metrique'' (metric pound) was 500&nbsp;g,<ref name=historique>{{cite web|url=http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm|title=Un historique du mètre|language=French|author=Denis Février|publisher=Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie|accessdate=10 March 2011|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228185545/http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm|archivedate=28 February 2011}}</ref> in contrast to the value of the ''livre du roi'' (the king's pound), 489.5&nbsp;g.<ref>{{cite web|title=Les poids et mesures sous l'Ancien Régime|language=French|trans-title=The weights and measures of the Ancien Régime|url=http://www.histoire-genealogie.com/spip.php?article396|author=Thierry Sabot|date=1 October 2000|accessdate=10 February 2011|publisher=histoire-genealogie|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205154531/http://www.histoire-genealogie.com/spip.php?article396|archivedate=5 December 2010}}</ref> Other units of measure were rounded in a similar manner prior to the definitive introduction of the metric system across parts of Europe in the middle of the 19th century.<ref>O'Connor 2003</ref>

=== Education ===
Napoleon's educational reforms laid the foundation of a modern system of education in France and throughout much of Europe.<ref>{{cite book|author=Clive Emsley|title=Napoleon: Conquest, Reform and Reorganisation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|page=52|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018173545/https://books.google.com/books?id=L7sbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|archivedate=18 October 2015|isbn=978-1317610281}}</ref> Napoleon synthesized the best academic elements from the ''Ancien Régime'', [[The Enlightenment]], and the Revolution, with the aim of establishing a stable, well-educated and prosperous society. He made French the only official language. He left some primary education in the hands of religious orders, but he offered public support to secondary education. Napoleon founded a number of state secondary schools (''[[Secondary education in France#Lycée|lycées]]'') designed to produce a standardized education that was uniform across France.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite journal |jstor = 226629|title = Science, Education and Napoleon I|journal = Isis|volume = 47|issue = 4|pages = 369–382|last1 = Williams|first1 = L. Pearce|year = 1956|doi = 10.1086/348507}}</ref>

All students were taught the sciences along with modern and classical languages. Unlike the system during the ''Ancien Régime'', religious topics did not dominate the curriculum, although they were present with the teachers from the clergy. Napoleon hoped to use religion to produce social stability.<ref name="auto5"/> He gave special attention to the advanced centers, such as the École Polytechnique, that provided both military expertise and state-of-the-art research in science.<ref>Margaret Bradley, "Scientific education versus military training: the influence of Napoleon Bonaparte on the École Polytechnique". ''Annals of science'' (1975) 32#5 pp. 415–49.</ref> Napoleon made some of the first efforts at establishing a system of secular and public education. {{When|date=August 2016}} The system featured scholarships and strict discipline, with the result being a French educational system that outperformed its European counterparts, many of which borrowed from the French system.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roberts|2014|pp=278–81}}</ref>

== Memory and evaluation ==

=== Criticism ===
[[File:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo - 1814.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Third of May 1808]]'' by [[Francisco Goya]], showing Spanish resisters being executed by French troops]]

In the political realm, historians debate whether Napoleon was "an enlightened despot who laid the foundations of modern Europe" or "a megalomaniac who wrought greater misery than any man before the coming of Hitler".<ref>{{cite news | first=Max | last=Hastings | title=Everything is Owed to Glory | url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-napoleon-a-life-by-andrew-roberts-1414788232 | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=31 October 2014 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113133508/http://online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-napoleon-a-life-by-andrew-roberts-1414788232 |archivedate=13 November 2014 }}</ref> Many historians have concluded that he had grandiose foreign policy ambitions. The Continental powers as late as 1808 were willing to give him nearly all of his gains and titles, but some scholars maintain he was overly aggressive and pushed for too much, until his empire collapsed.<ref>Charles Esdaile, ''Napoleon's Wars: An International History 1803–1815'' (2008), p. 39</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Colin S. Gray|title=War, Peace and International Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulRtsANRIK8C&pg=PA47|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|page=47|isbn=978-1-134-16951-1|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320104445/https://books.google.com/books?id=ulRtsANRIK8C&pg=PA47|archivedate=20 March 2015}}</ref>

Napoleon ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary France.<ref>Abbott 2005, p. 3</ref> He was considered a tyrant and [[usurper]] by his opponents.<ref name=M666>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=666}}</ref> His critics {{Who|date=August 2016}} charge that he was not troubled when faced with the prospect of war and death for thousands, turned his search for undisputed rule into a series of conflicts throughout Europe and ignored treaties and conventions alike. His role in the [[Haitian Revolution]] and decision to reinstate slavery in France's overseas colonies are controversial and affect his reputation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Repa |first=Jan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |title=Furore over Austerlitz ceremony |publisher=BBC |date=2 December 2005 |accessdate=5 April 2010 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420234710/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4491668.stm |archivedate=20 April 2010  }}</ref>

Napoleon institutionalized plunder of conquered territories: French museums contain art stolen by Napoleon's forces from across Europe. Artefacts were brought to the [[Musée du Louvre]] for a grand central museum; his example would later serve as inspiration for more notorious imitators.<ref>Poulos 2000</ref> He was compared to [[Adolf Hitler]] by the historian [[Pieter Geyl]] in 1947,<ref>Geyl 1947</ref> and [[Claude Ribbe]] in 2005.<ref>Philip Dwyer, "Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the French History Wars", ''French Politics, Culture & Society'' (2008) 26#3. pp. 110–22. [http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2%2fdV0%2bnjisfk5Ie42eqLtaashd%2ff7Ebj3u2L8ravSq2otEewpq9Lnq64SrewsFCet8s%2b8ujfhvHX4Yzn5eyB4rOrSbSptUmyqLdMt5zqeezdu33snOJ6u97neaTq33%2b7t8w%2b3%2bS7S7Ovs0mxp7Q%2b5OXwhd%2fqu4ji3MSN6uLSffbq&hid=4207 online]</ref> [[David G. Chandler]], a historian of Napoleonic warfare, wrote in 1973 that, "Nothing could be more degrading to the former [Napoleon] and more flattering to the latter [Hitler]. The comparison is odious. On the whole Napoleon was inspired by a noble dream, wholly dissimilar from Hitler's&nbsp;... Napoleon left great and lasting testimonies to his genius—in codes of law and national identities which survive to the present day. Adolf Hitler left nothing but destruction."<ref>Chandler 1973, p. xliii</ref>

Critics argue Napoleon's true legacy must reflect the loss of status for France and needless deaths brought by his rule: historian [[Victor Davis Hanson]] writes, "After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps [[Napoleonic Wars casualties|six million Europeans dead]], France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost."<ref>Hanson 2003</ref> McLynn states that, "He can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of his wars."<ref name="M666" /> [[Vincent Cronin]] replies that such criticism relies on the flawed premise that Napoleon was responsible for the wars which bear his name, when in fact France was the victim of a series of coalitions which aimed to destroy the ideals of the Revolution.

British military historian [[Correlli Barnett]] calls him "a social misfit" who exploited France for his personal megalomaniac goals. He says Napoleon's reputation is exaggerated.<ref>Correlli Barnett, ''Bonaparte'' (1978)</ref> French scholar [[Jean Tulard]] provided an influential account of his image as a saviour.<ref>Jean Tulard, ''Napoleon: The Myth of the Saviour'' (1984)</ref> Louis Bergeron has praised the numerous changes he made to French society, especially regarding the law as well as education.<ref>See {{cite book|author=Bergeron, Louis |title=France Under Napoleon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqe1UU6OiIUC&pg=PR9|year=1981|publisher=Princeton U.P.|isbn=978-0691007892}}</ref> His greatest failure was the Russian invasion. Many historians have blamed Napoleon's poor planning, but Russian scholars instead emphasize the Russian response, noting the notorious winter weather was just as hard on the defenders.<ref>See [[Dominic Lieven]], "Review article: Russia and the defeat of Napoleon." ''Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History'' (2006) 7#2 pp.&nbsp;283–308.</ref>

The large and growing historiography in French, English, Russian, Spanish and other languages has been summarized and evaluated by numerous scholars.<ref>Robert S. Alexander, ''Napoleon'' (Oxford University Press, 2001), examines major debates among historians.</ref><ref>E.A. Arnold, "English Language Napoleonic Historiography, 1973–1998: Thoughts and Considerations". [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89107724353#view=1up;seq=301 ''Proceedings-Western Society for French History'', Vol. 26] (2000). pp.&nbsp;283–94.</ref><ref>John Dunne, "Recent Napoleonic Historiography: 'Poor Relation' Makes Good?" ''French History'' (2004) 18#4 pp.&nbsp;484–91.</ref>

=== Propaganda and memory ===
{{Main|Napoleonic propaganda}}

Napoleon's use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his régime, and established his image for posterity. Strict censorship, controlling aspects of the press, books, theatre, and art, was part of his propaganda scheme, aimed at portraying him as bringing desperately wanted peace and stability to France. The propagandistic rhetoric changed in relation to events and to the atmosphere of Napoleon's reign, focusing first on his role as a general in the army and identification as a soldier, and moving to his role as emperor and a civil leader. Specifically targeting his civilian audience, Napoleon fostered a relationship with the contemporary art community, taking an active role in commissioning and controlling different forms of art production to suit his propaganda goals.

In England, Russia and across Europe—though not in France—Napoleon was a popular topic of caricature.<ref>Hubert N.B. Richardson, ''A Dictionary of Napoleon and His Times'' (1921) [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnapo00rich online free] pp. 101–06.</ref><ref>Mark, Bryant, "Broadsides against Boney." ''History Today'' 60.1 (2010): 52+</ref><ref>Mark Bryant, ''Napoleonic Wars in Cartoons'' (Grub Street, 2009).</ref>

Hazareesingh (2004) explores how Napoleon's image and memory are best understood. They played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon restoration monarchy in 1815–1830. People from different walks of life and areas of France, particularly Napoleonic veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 revolution.<ref name="ReferenceA">Sudhir Hazareesingh, "Memory and Political Imagination: the Legend of Napoleon Revisited". ''French History'', 2004 18(4): 463–83</ref>

Widespread rumours of Napoleon's return from St. Helena and Napoleon as an inspiration for patriotism, individual and collective liberties, and political mobilization manifested themselves in seditious materials, displaying the tricolor and rosettes. There were also subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations—they demonstrated the prevailing and successful goal of the varied supporters of Napoleon to constantly destabilize the Bourbon regime.

Reduced to a minor character, the new fictional Napoleon became not a world historical figure but an intimate one, fashioned by individuals' needs and consumed as popular entertainment. In their attempts to represent the emperor as a figure of national unity, proponents and detractors of the Third Republic used the legend as a vehicle for exploring anxieties about gender and fears about the processes of democratization that accompanied this new era of mass politics and culture.<ref name="ReferenceB" />

International Napoleonic Congresses take place regularly, with participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians and scholars from different countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/presse_review/files/dinard_callforpapers.asp |title=Call for Papers: International Napoleonic Society, Fourth International Napoleonic Congress |accessdate=27 June 2008 |publisher=La Fondation Napoléon |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108025218/http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/presse_review/files/dinard_callforpapers.asp |archivedate=8 January 2009}}</ref> In January 2012, the [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] of [[Montereau-Fault-Yonne]], near Paris—the site of a [[Battle of Montereau|late victory]] of Napoleon—proposed development of [[Napoleonland|Napoleon's Bivouac]], a commemorative theme park at a projected cost of 200 million euros.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon.org/en%5Creading_room%5Carticles%5Cfiles%5C480813.asp |title=A New Napoleonic Campaign for Montereau |first=Ottavi |last=Laurent |publisher=Foundation Napoleon |date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929024236/http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/480813.asp |archivedate=29 September 2013}}</ref>

=== Long-term influence outside France ===
{{Main|:Influence of the French Revolution}}
[[File:Napoleon on the Capitol.jpg|thumb|upright|[[commons:Bas-reliefs in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives|Bas-relief]] of Napoleon I in the chamber of the [[United States House of Representatives]]]]
Napoleon was responsible for spreading the values of the French Revolution to other countries, especially in legal reform and the abolition of serfdom.<ref>Alexander Grab, ''Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe'' (Macmillan, 2003), country by country analysis</ref>

After the fall of Napoleon, not only was the Napoleonic Code retained by conquered countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Italy and Germany, but has been used as the basis of certain parts of law outside Europe including the Dominican Republic, the US state of Louisiana and the Canadian province of Quebec.

Napoleon could be considered one of the founders of modern Germany. After dissolving the [[Holy Roman Empire]], he reduced the number of German states from 300 to less than 50, prior to [[Unification of Germany|German Unification]]. A byproduct of the French occupation was a strong development in [[German nationalism]]. Napoleon also significantly aided the United States when he agreed to [[Louisiana Purchase|sell]] the territory of Louisiana for 15 million dollars during the presidency of [[Thomas Jefferson]]. That territory almost doubled the size of the United States, adding the equivalent of 13 states to the Union.<ref>{{Harvnb|McGRAW-HILL's, US History|2012|pp=112–13}}</ref>

== Marriages and children ==
Napoleon married [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]] in 1796, when he was 26; she was a 32-year-old widow whose first husband had been executed during the Revolution. Five days after [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine's]] first husband's death, the Reign of Terror initiator Maximilien de Robespierre was executed, and, with the help of high-placed friends, [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]] was freed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography of Joesephine de Beauharnais |url=https://www.biography.com/people/jos%C3%A9phine-de-beauharnais-9358328}}</ref> Until she met Bonaparte, she had been known as "Rose", a name which he disliked. He called her "Joséphine" instead, and she went by this name henceforth. Bonaparte often sent her love letters while on his campaigns.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=117}}</ref> He formally adopted her son [[Eugène de Beauharnais|Eugène]] and second cousin (via marriage) [[Stéphanie de Beauharnais|Stéphanie]] and arranged dynastic marriages for them. Joséphine had her daughter [[Hortense de Beauharnais|Hortense]] marry Napoleon's brother [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis]].<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=271}}</ref>

Joséphine had lovers, such as [[Hippolyte Charles|Lieutenant Hippolyte Charles]], during Napoleon's Italian campaign.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=118}}</ref> Napoleon learnt of that affair and a letter he wrote about it was intercepted by the British and published widely, to embarrass Napoleon. Napoleon had his own affairs too: during the Egyptian campaign he took [[Pauline Fourès|Pauline Bellisle Fourès]], the wife of a junior officer, as his mistress. She became known as "Cleopatra".{{Efn|One night, during an illicit liaison with the actress Marguerite George, Napoleon had a major fit. This and other more minor attacks have led historians to debate whether he had epilepsy and, if so, to what extent.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=284}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=188}}</ref>

While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, possibly because of either the stresses of her imprisonment during the [[Reign of Terror]] or an abortion she may have had in her twenties.<ref>{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=100}}</ref> Napoleon chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir. Despite his divorce from Josephine, Napoleon showed his dedication to her for the rest of his life. When he heard the news of her death while on exile in Elba, he locked himself in his room and would not come out for two full days.<ref name="pbs.org"/> Her name would also be his final word on his deathbed in 1821.

On 11 March 1810 by [[proxy marriage|proxy]], he married the 19-year-old [[Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma|Marie Louise]], Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of [[Marie Antoinette]]. Thus he had married into a [[Family tree of the German monarchs|German royal and imperial family]].<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.663">{{Harvnb|McLynn|1998|p=663}}</ref> Louise was less than happy with the arrangement, at least at first, stating: "Just to see the man would be the worst form of torture". Her great-aunt had been executed in France, while Napoleon had fought numerous campaigns against Austria all throughout his military career. However, she seemed to warm up to him over time. After her wedding, she wrote to her father: "He loves me very much. I respond to his love sincerely. There is something very fetching and very eager about him that is impossible to resist".<ref name="pbs.org"/>

Napoleon and Marie Louise remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again. The couple had one child, [[Napoleon II|Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles]] (1811–1832), known from birth as the [[King of the Romans|King of Rome]]. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of [[tuberculosis]] aged 21, with no children.<ref name="McLynn 1998, p.663" />

Napoleon acknowledged one illegitimate son: [[Charles Léon]] (1806–1881) by [[Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne]]. [[Alexandre Colonna-Walewski]] (1810–1868), the son of his mistress [[Maria Walewska]], although acknowledged by Walewska's husband, was also widely known to be his child, and the DNA of his direct male descendant has been used to help confirm Napoleon's 

He may have had further unacknowledged illegitimate offspring as well, such as [[Eugen Megerle von Mühlfeld]] by [[Emilie Victoria Kraus von Wolfsberg|Emilie Victoria Kraus]] and [[Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte]] (1816–1907) by [[Albine de Montholon]].

== References ==

=== Biographical studies ===
* {{cite book|title=Life of Napoleon Bonaparte|last=Abbott|first=John|isbn=978-1-4179-7063-6|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2005}}
* {{cite book|last=Bell|first=David A.|title=Napoleon: A Concise Biography|place=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-026271-6|ref=harv}}  only 140pp; by a scholar
* {{cite book|first=Rafe|last=Blaufarb|title=Napoleon: Symbol for an Age, A Brief History with Documents|year=2007|publisher=Bedford|isbn=978-0-312-43110-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Chandler|first=David|title=Napoleon|publisher=Leo Cooper|year=2002|isbn=978-0-85052-750-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|first=Vincent|last=Cronin|authorlink=Vincent Cronin|title=Napoleon|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1994|isbn=978-0-00-637521-0}}
* {{cite book|first=Philip |last=Dwyer |title=Napoleon: The Path to Power |publisher= Yale University Press |year= 2008 |asin= B00280LN5G |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book|first=Philip |last=Dwyer |title=Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power |publisher=Yale University Press|year= 2013 |asin= B00GGSG3W4 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book|author=Englund, Steven |title=Napoleon: A Political Life|isbn=978-0-674-01803-7|year=2010|publisher=Scribner}}
* Gueniffey, Patrice. ''Bonaparte: 1769–1802'' (Harvard UP, 2015, French edition 2013); 1008 pp.; vol 1 of most comprehensive recent scholarly biography by leading French specialist; less emphasis on battles and campaigns [https://www.amazon.com/Bonaparte-1769-1802-Patrice-Gueniffey/dp/0674368355/ excerpt]; also [https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/128469/reynolds-gueniffey-bonaparte-1769-1802 online review]
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Paul|title=Napoleon: A life|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2002 |isbn=978-0-670-03078-1}}; 200 pp.; quite hostile
* {{cite book|author=Lefebvre, Georges |title=Napoleon from 18 Brumaire to Tilsit, 1799–1807|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwNoAAAAMAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Columbia University Press}} influential wide-ranging history
** {{cite book|author=Lefebvre, Georges |title=Napoleon: from Tilsit to Waterloo, 1807–1815|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTwJAQAAIAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Columbia University Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Lyons |first=Martyn |authorlink=Martyn Lyons |year=1994 |title=Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn= |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book|last=Markham |first=Felix |title=Napoleon |publisher=Mentor |year=1963 |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10369968}}; 303 pp.; short biography by an Oxford scholar [https://www.questia.com/library/1446436/napoleon online]
* {{cite book|first=Frank |last=McLynn |authorlink=Frank McLynn |title=Napoleon |publisher= [[Pimlico (publishing imprint)|Pimlico]] |year= 1998 |isbn= 978-0-7126-6247-5 |id= {{ASIN|0712662472|country=uk}} |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|title=Napoleon: A Life|year=2014|publisher=Penguin Group|isbn=978-0-670-02532-9|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|author=Thompson, J.M.|title=Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2uTaPHPnZ8C|year=1951|publisher=Oxford U.P.}}, 412 pp.; by an Oxford scholar

===Primary sources===
* {{cite book|last=Gourgaud |first=Gaspard |others=Translated from the French by [[Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer]] |title=Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena |url= https://archive.org/stream/talkofnapoleonat007678mbp |year=1903 |origyear= 1899 |location= Chicago |publisher= A.C. McClurg |ref= harv }}

=== Specialty studies ===
* {{cite book|first=Ken|last=Alder|title=The Measure of All Things – The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World|publisher=Free Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7432-1675-3|url=https://archive.org/details/measureofallthin00alde}}
* {{cite book|last=Alter|first=Peter|title=Unity and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800|editor=[[T. C. W. Blanning]] and [[Hagen Schulze]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-19-726382-2}}
* {{cite book|title=Napoleon and Persia|first=Iradj|last=Amini|url=https://books.google.com/?id=n5IOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12|year=2000|isbn=978-0-934211-58-1|publisher=Taylor & Francis}}
* {{cite book|title=World History of Warfare|first=Christon I.|last=Archer|first2=John R.|last2=Ferris|first3=Holger H.|last3=Herwig|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8032-4423-8|url=https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryofwa00arch}}
* {{cite book|title=Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of Southern Italy|last=Astarita|first=Tommaso|year=2005|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-05864-2|url=https://archive.org/details/betweensaltwater00tomm}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=Pw5jup_LyHAC&lpg=PA212|title=The First Total War|last=Bell|first=David|isbn=978-0-618-34965-4|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2007}}
* {{cite book|last=Bordes|first=Philippe|title=Jacques-Louis David|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12346-3|year=2007|ref=harv|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jacqueslouisdavi0000bord}}
* {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Brooks|title=Atlas of World Military History|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7607-2025-7}}
* {{cite book |last= Chandler |first= David |authorlink= David G. Chandler |title= The Campaigns of Napoleon |location= New York |publisher= Scribner |year= 1966 |isbn= 978-0025236608 |oclc= 740560411 |ref= harv |url= https://archive.org/details/campaignsofnapol00chan }}
* {{cite book|last= Chandler |first= David |authorlink= David G. Chandler |title= The Campaigns of Napoleon |year= 1973 |orig-year= 1966 |location= |isbn= |oclc= |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book|last=Chesney|first=Charles|title=Waterloo Lectures:A Study Of The Campaign Of 1815|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4286-4988-0}}
* {{cite book|year=2006|title=Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns|first=Owen|last=Connelly|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-5318-7}}
* {{cite book|title=The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon|first=David|last=Cordingly|year=2004|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1-58234-468-3}}
* {{cite book|title=Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?|last=Cullen|first=William|year=2008|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|isbn=978-0-85404-363-7}}
* {{cite book|title=As Befits a Legend|publisher=Kent State University Press|isbn=978-0-87338-484-1|last=Driskel|first=Paul|year=1993}}
* {{cite book|isbn=978-0-313-31912-9|title=Conscription and democracy: The Draft in France, Great Britain, and the United States|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2001|first=George Q.|last=Flynn}}
* {{cite book|last=Fremont-Barnes|first=Gregory|first2=Todd|last2= Fisher|title=The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire|publisher=Osprey|year=2004|isbn=978-1-84176-831-1}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/gallery/napo.html|title=Death Mask of Napoleon|accessdate=4 August 2008|publisher=University of North Carolina|last=Fulghum|first=Neil|year=2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726174840/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/gallery/napo.html|archive-date=26 July 2013|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last=Gates|first=David|title=The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-306-81083-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Gates|first=David|title=The Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815|publisher=Pimlico|isbn=978-0-7126-0719-3|year=2003|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|author1=Godechot, Jacques|author2=Béatrice Fry Hyslop|author3=David Lloyd Dowd|title=The Napoleonic era in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rFmAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|displayauthors=1}}
* {{cite book|last=Grab|first=Alexander|title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe|publisher=Macmillan|year=2003|isbn=978-0-333-68275-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=FUaIGHxCIEwC&pg=PA181|title=Size Matters|year=2006|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|last=Hall|first=Stephen|isbn=978-0-618-47040-2}}
* {{cite book|first=Robert|last=Harvey|year=2006|title=The War of Wars|publisher=Robinson|isbn=978-1-84529-635-3}}
* {{cite journal|journal=Clinical Chemistry|url=http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/reprint/54/12/2092 |title=The Death of Napoleon, Cancer or Arsenic?|last=Hindmarsh|first=J. Thomas|first2=John|last2= Savory|volume=54|page=2092 |doi=10.1373/clinchem.2008.117358 |year=2008 |accessdate=10 October 2010|issue=12}}
* {{cite book|first=Inari|last=Karsh|title=Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-674-00541-9|url=https://books.google.com/?id=UBilaKRKkC&pg=PA11}}
* Mowat, R.B. (1924) ''The Diplomacy of Napoleon'' (1924) 350 pp. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.80819 online]
* {{cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Measurement.html|title=The history of measurement|publisher=St Andrew's University|accessdate=18 July 2008|year=2003|last=O'Connor|first=J|first2=E F|last2= Robertson}}
* {{cite journal|title=1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict|edition=vol 28|last=Poulos|first=Anthi|journal=International Journal of Legal Information|volume=28|pages=1–44|year=2000|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/ijli28&div=12&id=&page=|doi=10.1017/S0731126500008842}}
* Richardson, Hubert N.B. ''A Dictionary of Napoleon and His Times'' (1921) [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnapo00rich online free] 489pp
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=MdMZqhMzfpYC&pg=PR9|title=Heavy Words Lightly Thrown|publisher=Granta|isbn=978-1-86207-765-2|year=2004|last=Roberts|first=Chris}}
* {{cite book |last= Schom |first= Alan |authorlink= Alan Schom |title= Napoleon Bonaparte |year= 1997 |publisher= HarperCollins |isbn= 978-0-06-017214-5 |ref= harv |url= https://archive.org/details/napoleonbonapart00scho }}
* {{cite book|author=Schroeder, Paul W. |title=The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC|year=1996|publisher=Oxford U.P.|pages=177–560|isbn=978-0-19-820654-5}} advanced diplomatic history of Napoleon and his era
* {{cite book|last=Schwarzfuchs|first=Simon|publisher=Routledge|year=1979|isbn=978-0-19-710023-3|title=Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin}}
* {{cite book|title=Tricolor and crescent|first=William|last=Watson|url=https://books.google.com/?id=o4vrUbMK5eEC&pg=PA13|isbn= 978-0-275-97470-1|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|accessdate=12 June 2009|year=2003}}
* {{cite book|first=Martin |last=Sicker|title=The Islamic World in Decline: From the Treaty of Karlowitz to the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzMJys65u9wC&pg=PA99|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood|page=99|ref=harv|isbn=978-0275968915}}
* {{cite book|last=Wells|first=David|title=The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry|url=https://archive.org/details/penguindictionar0000well|url-access=registration|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-011813-1|year=1992}}
{{refend}}

=== Historiography and memory ===
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Napoleon_in_Caricature_1795_1821.html?id=fwgKAAAAIAAJ|title=Napoleon in Caricature 1795-1821|last1=Broadley|first1=Alexander Meyrick|year=1911}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1093/fh/18.4.379|title=Napoleon Bonaparte as Hero and Saviour: Image, Rhetoric and Behaviour in the Construction of a Legend|journal=French History|volume=18|issue=4|pages=379–403|year=2004|last1=Dwyer|first1=Philip G.}}
* {{cite journal |last=Dwyer |first=Philip |title=Remembering and Forgetting in Contemporary France: Napoleon, Slavery, and the French History Wars |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |year=2008 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=110–22 |url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/viewarticle?data=dGJyMPPp44rp2%2fdV0%2bnjisfk5Ie42eqLtaashd%2ff7Ebj3u2L8ravSq2otEewpq9Lnq64SrewsFCet8s%2b8ujfhvHX4Yzn5eyB4rOrSbSptUmyqLdMt5zqeezdu33snOJ6u97neaTq33%2b7t8w%2b3%2bS7S7Ovs0mxp7Q%2b5OXwhd%2fqu4ji3MSN6uLSffbq&hid=4207 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2008.260306 }}
* Englund, Steven. "Napoleon and Hitler". ''Journal of the Historical Society'' (2006) 6#1 pp.&nbsp;151–69.
* {{cite book|first=Pieter|last=Geyl|authorlink=Pieter Geyl|title=Napoleon For and Against|origyear=1947|year=1982|publisher=Penguin Books |url=https://books.google.com/?id=saMfAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite web|title=The Claremont Institute: The Little Tyrant, A review of ''Napoleon: A Penguin Life''|publisher=The Claremont Institute|author=Hanson, Victor Davis|year=2003|url=https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-little-tyrant/}}
* {{cite book |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |title=The Legend of Napoleon |year=2005}} [https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Napoleon-Sudhir-Hazareesingh/dp/1862077894/ excerpt and text search]
** Hazareesingh, Sudhir. "Memory and Political Imagination: The Legend of Napoleon Revisited", ''French History'' (2004) 18#4 pp.&nbsp;463–83.
** {{cite journal |last=Hazareesingh |first=Sudhir |title=Napoleonic Memory in Nineteenth-Century France: The Making of a Liberal Legend |journal=MLN |year=2005 |volume=120 |issue=4 |pages=747–73 |doi=10.1353/mln.2005.0119 }}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|Napoleon Bonaparte|b=European History/Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rise of Nationalism|s=Author:Napoleon Bonaparte}}
* [http://www.napoleonguide.com/index.htm The Napoleonic Guide]
* [http://www.napoleon-series.org/ Napoleon Series]
* [http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/ International Napoleonic Society]
* [https://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/home.html Biography] by the US [[Public Broadcasting Service]]
* {{Gutenberg author|id=4267}}

<!-- * [http://www.inside-longwood.com/index.html Inside Longwood] descriptions of Longwood House & other places on St. Helena, articles on Napoleon's captivity
* [[Alan Schom]] [https://www.c-span.org/video/?91435-1/napoleon-bonaparte Interview on his book ''Napoleon Bonaparte''] on ''[[Booknotes]]'', 26 October 1997
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Napoleon+I,+Emperor+of+the+French}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12292}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=3567|name=Memoirs of Napoleon}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=14300|name=The Life of Napoleon I|author=John Holland Rose|authorlink=John Holland Rose}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=17579|name=The History of Napoleon Buonaparte|author=John Gibson Lockhart|authorlink=John Gibson Lockhart}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=24360|name=The Life of Napoleon I.|author=William Milligan Sloane|authorlink=William Milligan Sloane}} Vol. 1/4
* [http://www.shapell.org/Collection/Historical-Figures/Bonaparte-Napoleon Napoleon Personal Manuscripts & Letters]
{{Gutenberg|no=27289|name=The Life of Napoleon I.|author=William Milligan Sloane|authorlink=William Milligan Sloane}} Vol. 3/4
* [https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/6173 Letter written by Napoleon Buonaparte (Bonaparte) to Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal RG 523] Brock University Library Digital Repository
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547jy "Napoleon and Wellington"], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Andrew Roberts, Mike Broer and Belinda Beaton (''In Our Time'', 25 October 2001) -->
* {{PM20|FID=pe/012799}}
* [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/napoleon.html “Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess” by Edward Winter]


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