1. Napoleon led the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815.
138 Facts About Napoleon
1. 2.
Napoleon was King of Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813.
3.
Napoleon supported the French Revolution in 1789 and promoted its cause in Corsica.
4.
Napoleon rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendemiaire in 1795.
5.
In 1796, Napoleon commanded a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies in the War of the First Coalition, scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero.
6.
Napoleon led an invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 which served as a springboard to political power.
7.
Napoleon won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, which secured France's victory in the War of the Second Coalition, and in 1803 he sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States.
8.
In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power.
9.
Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
10.
In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition, in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the Battle of Wagram.
11.
In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig.
12.
Napoleon's opponents responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.
13.
Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51.
14.
Napoleon established a system of public education, abolished the vestiges of feudalism, emancipated Jews and other religious minorities, abolished the Spanish Inquisition, enacted the principle of equality before the law for an emerging middle class, and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities.
15.
Napoleon's conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation states.
16.
Napoleon abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies except for Haiti, banned the entry of blacks and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility, and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule.
17.
Napoleon had an elder brother Joseph and six younger siblings: Lucien, Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jerome.
18.
Napoleon was born one year after the Republic of Genoa ceded Corsica to France.
19.
Napoleon's father supported Pasquale Paoli during the Corsican war of independence against France.
20.
The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child.
21.
Napoleon excelled at mathematics and read widely in geography, history and literature.
22.
Napoleon served in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 but spent long periods of leave in Corsica which fed his Corsican nationalism.
23.
Napoleon became a supporter of the Jacobins and joined the pro-French Corsican Republicans who opposed Paoli's policy and his aspirations to secede.
24.
Napoleon was given command over a battalion of Corsican volunteers and promoted to captain in the regular army in 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and a dispute between his volunteers and the French garrison in Ajaccio.
25.
Napoleon quickly increased the available artillery and proposed a plan to capture a hill fort where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the allies to evacuate.
26.
Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of defences on the Mediterranean coast.
27.
Napoleon sought a transfer to Constantinople to offer his services to Sultan Selim III.
28.
Napoleon ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat, to seize cannons, and Bonaparte deployed them in key positions.
29.
Napoleon went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia in Piedmont before their Austrian allies could intervene.
30.
Napoleon authorized the French to loot treasures such as the Horses of Saint Mark.
31.
Napoleon founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and one for circulation in France.
32.
Napoleon met Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, France's foreign minister, and took command of the Army of England for the planned invasion of Britain.
33.
Napoleon decided on a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its trade interests in India.
34.
Napoleon fought the Battle of Shubra Khit against the Mamluks, Egypt's ruling military caste.
35.
Napoleon's army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.
36.
Napoleon learned that France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition.
37.
Napoleon then crowned Josephine, who became the second woman in French history, after Marie de' Medici, to be crowned and anointed.
38.
Napoleon then swore an oath to defend the territory of the republic; to respect the Concordat, freedom of worship, political and civil liberty and the sale of nationalized lands; to raise no taxes except by law; to maintain the Legion of Honour; and to govern in the interests, wellbeing and the glory of the French people.
39.
On 26 May 1805, Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at the Cathedral of Milan.
40.
When Napoleon incorporated Genoa and Liguria into his empire, Austria formally protested against this violation of the Treaty of Luneville.
41.
In 1803 and 1804, Napoleon had assembled a force around Boulogne for an invasion of Britain.
42.
Napoleon's army moved quickly and outflanked the Austrian positions.
43.
Napoleon then sent his army north in pursuit of the allies.
44.
Napoleon ordered his right wing to feign retreat, enticing the allies to descend from the heights in pursuit.
45.
Napoleon went on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought".
46.
Vincent Cronin disagrees, stating that Napoleon was not overly ambitious for himself, "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".
47.
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, possibly by forming an alliance with the Ottoman Empire.
48.
Napoleon opted for an alliance with France, calling France "our sincere and natural ally".
49.
Napoleon then made his younger brother, Louis, king of Holland.
50.
Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of German states intended to serve as a buffer zone between France and Central Europe.
51.
Napoleon's growing influence in Germany threatened the status of Prussia as a great power and in response Frederick William III decided on war with France.
52.
From former Prussian territory, Napoleon created the Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by his young brother Jerome, and the Duchy of Warsaw.
53.
Napoleon then pursued the retreating British forces who were eventually evacuated at Corunna in January 1809.
54.
The battle was reported in European capitals as a defeat for Napoleon and damaged his aura of invincibility.
55.
Napoleon had already commenced negotiations for the marriage of Tsar Alexander's sister Anna, but the tsar responded that she was too young.
56.
Napoleon then turned to Austria, and a marriage to the Austrian emperor's daughter, Marie Louise, was quickly agreed.
57.
In December 1810, Napoleon annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg which Alexander considered an insult as his uncle was the duke.
58.
Russia feared that Napoleon intended to restore the Kingdom of Poland while Napoleon suspected Russia of seeking an alliance with Britain against France.
59.
In late 1811, Napoleon began planning an invasion of Russia.
60.
Napoleon called the invasion the "Second Polish War," but he refused to guarantee an independent Poland for fear of alienating his Austrian and Prussian allies.
61.
Alexander, in St Petersburg, refused to negotiate a peace, and after six weeks Napoleon's army evacuated Moscow.
62.
Napoleon heard that an attempted coup by General Claude Francois de Malet in Paris had only narrowly failed.
63.
From Smolensk, Napoleon's army headed for Vilnius, where there was a French garrison of 20,000.
64.
Napoleon did not accept the terms, and the allies crossed the Rhine into French territory on 1 January 1814.
65.
In north-eastern France, Napoleon led about 70,000 troops against a coalition army of 200,000.
66.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was in Fontainebleau with an army of 40,000 to 60,000.
67.
Napoleon's priority was to raise an army to face the coalition, but the law did not allow conscription and he was only able to raise about 300,000 men, mostly raw recruits and national guards.
68.
The coalition forces broke through Napoleon's lines, inflicting a devastating defeat.
69.
Napoleon returned to Paris and found that the legislature had turned against him.
70.
Napoleon left Paris three days later and settled at Josephine's former palace in Chateau de Malmaison.
71.
When Napoleon heard that Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive, he fled to Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, considering an escape to the United States.
72.
Napoleon stayed for two months at a pavilion in Briars before he was moved to Longwood House, a 40-room wooden bungalow.
73.
Napoleon often complained of his living conditions in letters to the island's governor Hudson Lowe while his attendants complained of "colds, catarrhs, damp floors and poor provisions".
74.
Napoleon formally received visitors, read, and dictated his memoirs and commentaries on military campaigns.
75.
Napoleon studied English under Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases for a few months but gave up as he was poor at languages.
76.
Napoleon circulated reports of poor treatment in the hope that public opinion would force the allies to revoke his exile on Saint Helena.
77.
Under instructions from the British government, Lowe cut Napoleon's expenditure, refused to recognize him as a former emperor, and made his supporters sign a guarantee they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely.
78.
In November 1818, the allies announced that Napoleon would remain a prisoner on Saint Helena for life.
79.
Napoleon's health continued to worsen, and in March 1821 he was confined to bed.
80.
Napoleon left his fortune to 97 legatees and asked to be buried by the Seine.
81.
Napoleon was buried with military honours in the Valley of the Geraniums.
82.
Napoleon's penis was allegedly removed during the autopsy and sold and exhibited.
83.
In 1840, the British government gave Louis Philippe I permission to return Napoleon's remains to France.
84.
Napoleon's body was exhumed and found to be well preserved as it had been sealed in four coffins and placed in a masonry tomb.
85.
The coffin was later placed in the cupola in St Jerome's Chapel, where it remained until Napoleon's tomb, designed by Louis Visconti, was completed.
86.
Napoleon began to question his faith at age 13 while at Brienne.
87.
Napoleon consistently expressed his belief in a God or creator.
88.
Napoleon understood the power of organized religion in social and political affairs and later sought to use it to support his regime.
89.
Napoleon had a civil marriage with Josephine in 1796 and, at the pope's insistence, a private religious ceremony with her the day before his coronation as emperor in 1804.
90.
Napoleon was excommunicated by the pope through the bull Quum memoranda in 1809.
91.
Napoleon progressively occupied and annexed the Papal States from 1805.
92.
In January 1813, Napoleon pressured the pope to sign a new "Concordat of Fontainebleau" which was repudiated by the pontiff.
93.
Napoleon wished to assimilate Jews into French society and convened an assembly of Jewish notables in 1806 to that end.
94.
Historians agree that Napoleon was highly intelligent with an excellent memory and was a superior organizer who could work efficiently for long hours.
95.
Napoleon was an inspiring leader who could obtain the best from his soldiers and subordinates.
96.
Hippolyte Taine said Napoleon saw others only as instruments and was cut off from feelings of admiration, sympathy or pity.
97.
Arthur Levy replied that Napoleon genuinely loved Josephine and often showed humanity and compassion to his enemies or those who had let him down.
98.
Napoleon had the normal middle class virtues and understood the common man.
99.
Historians are divided over whether Napoleon was consistently ruthless when his power was threatened or surprisingly indulgent in some cases.
100.
Napoleon was not driven by ideology and promoted capable men irrespective of their political and social background, as long as they were loyal.
101.
Napoleon took a team of scholars, artists and engineers with him to Egypt in order to scientifically study the country's culture and history, but at the same time was struck by romantic "orientalism".
102.
Alfred Adler cites Napoleon to describe an inferiority complex in which short people adopt over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term Napoleon complex.
103.
Napoleon was mocked as a short-tempered small man and was nicknamed "Little Boney in a strong fit".
104.
Napoleon instituted numerous reforms, many of which had a lasting influence on France, Europe, and the world.
105.
Napoleon reformed the French administration, codified French law, implemented a new education system, and established the first French central bank, the Banque de France.
106.
Napoleon negotiated the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic Church, which sought to reconcile the majority Catholic population to his regime.
107.
Napoleon implemented civil and religious equality for Protestants and Jews.
108.
Napoleon introduced three French constitutions culminating in the reintroduction of a hereditary monarchy and nobility.
109.
Napoleon introduced a series of centralizing administrative reforms soon after taking power.
110.
Napoleon drew many of his ministers and ambassadors from the council.
111.
In December 1805, Napoleon abolished the revolutionary calendar, with its ten-day week, which had been introduced in 1793.
112.
Napoleon participated actively in the sessions of the Council of State that revised the drafts.
113.
Napoleon continued the revolutionary policies of conscription and promotion based primarily on merit.
114.
Napoleon was regarded by the influential military theorist Carl von Clausewitz as a genius in the art of war, and many historians rank him as a great military commander.
115.
Napoleon's principles were to keep his forces united, keep no weak point unguarded, seize important points quickly, and seize his chance.
116.
Napoleon was an aggressive commander with a preference for the offensive.
117.
Under Napoleon, the focus shifted towards destroying enemy armies rather than simply outmanoeuvering them.
118.
Napoleon synthesized academic elements from the Ancien Regime, The Enlightenment, and the French Revolution.
119.
Napoleon abolished the revolutionary central schools and replaced them with secondary schools and elite lycees where the curriculum was based on reading, writing, mathematics, Latin, natural history, classics, and ancient history.
120.
Napoleon retained the revolutionary higher education system, with grandes ecoles in professions including law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering and school teaching.
121.
Napoleon introduced grandes ecoles in history and geography, but opposed one in literature because it was not vocational.
122.
Napoleon promoted the advanced centres, such as the Ecole Polytechnique, that provided both military expertise and advanced research in science.
123.
Napoleon was compared to Adolf Hitler by Pieter Geyl in 1947 and Claude Ribbe in 2005.
124.
Cobban and Susan P Conner argue that Napoleon had insufficient regard for the lives of his soldiers and that his battle tactics led to excessive casualties.
125.
Napoleon introduced discriminatory tariff policies which promoted French trade at the expense of allies and satellite states.
126.
Historians blame Napoleon for reducing the civil rights of women, children and people of colour, and reintroducing the legal penalties of civil death and confiscation of property.
127.
Napoleon fostered a relationship with artists, commissioning and controlling different forms of art to suit his propaganda goals.
128.
Napoleon remained a central figure in the romantic art and literature of the 1820s and 1830s.
129.
Napoleon's regime abolished remnants of feudalism in the lands he conquered and in his satellite states.
130.
Napoleon liberalized property laws, ended manorialism, abolished the guild of merchants and craftsmen to facilitate entrepreneurship, legalized divorce, closed the Jewish ghettos and ended the Spanish Inquisition.
131.
Napoleon reorganized what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of about three hundred Kleinstaaten, into a more streamlined forty-state Confederation of the Rhine; this helped promote the German Confederation and the unification of Germany in 1871, as it sparked a new wave of German nationalism that opposed the French intervention.
132.
Napoleon indirectly began the process of Latin American independence when the power vacuum was filled by local political leaders such as Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin.
133.
Napoleon's reputation is generally favourable in Poland, which is the only country in the world to evoke him in its national anthem, Poland Is Not Yet Lost.
134.
Napoleon married Josephine in 1796, but the marriage produced no children.
135.
When Napoleon abdicated in 1815 he named his son his successor as "Napoleon II", but the allies refused to recognize him.
136.
Napoleon was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children.
137.
Napoleon acknowledged one illegitimate son: Charles Leon by Eleonore Denuelle de La Plaigne.
138.
On becoming emperor, Napoleon adopted the French Imperial Eagle as his arms.