Upload
anshul-agrawal
View
42
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
NapoleonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation).
Napoleon I
Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres,
1806
Emperor of the French
Reign 18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814
20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815
Coronation 2 December 1804
Predecessor Himself as First Consul
Successor Louis XVIII (de jure in 1814)
King of Italy
Reign 17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814
Coronation 26 May 1805
Predecessor Himself as President of Italy
Successor None (kingdom disbanded, next king of Italy was Victor Emmanuel
II)
Spouse Joséphine de Beauharnais
Marie Louise of Austria
Issue
Napoleon II
Full name
Napoleon Bonaparte
House House of Bonaparte
Father Carlo Buonaparte
Mother Letizia Ramolino
Born 15 August 1769
Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Died 5 May 1821 (aged 51)
Longwood, Saint Helena
Burial Les Invalides, Paris, France
Signature
Religion Roman Catholicism (see Religions section)
Imperial Standard of Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔ̃nɑpaʁt], Italian:Napoleone Buonaparte; 15
August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter
stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe.
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815, the first monarch of France bearing the title
emperor since the reign of Charles the Fat (881–887). His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a
major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led
against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars. He established hegemony over most
of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial
monarchy which restored aspects of the deposed Ancien Régime . Due to his success in these wars, often
against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of
all time, and his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide.[1]
Napoleon was born at Ajaccio in Corsica in a family of noble Italian ancestry which had settled in Corsica in the
16th century. He trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. He rose to prominence under the French
First Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France.
He led a successful invasion of the Italian peninsula.
In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later the French Senate
proclaimed him emperor, following a plebiscite in his favour. In the first decade of the 19th century, the French
Empire under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—that involved every major
European power.[1] After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and
Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the
elevation of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French vassal states.
The Peninsular War and the invasion of Russia in 1812 marked turning points in Napoleon's fortunes.
His Grande Armée was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth
Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to
abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power,
but he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life in
confinement by the British on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, but
there has been some debate about the cause of his death, as some scholars have speculated that he was a
victim of arsenic poisoning.
Contents
[hide]
1 Origins and education
2 Early career
o 2.1 Siege of Toulon
o 2.2 13 Vendémiaire
o 2.3 First Italian campaign
o 2.4 Egyptian expedition
3 Ruler of France
o 3.1 French Consulate
3.1.1 Temporary peace in Europe
o 3.2 French Empire
3.2.1 War of the Third Coalition
3.2.2 Middle-Eastern alliances
3.2.3 War of the Fourth Coalition
3.2.4 Peninsular War
3.2.5 War of the Fifth Coalition and remarriage
3.2.6 Invasion of Russia
3.2.7 War of the Sixth Coalition
3.2.8 Exile to Elba
3.2.9 Hundred Days
4 Exile on Saint Helena
o 4.1 Death
4.1.1 Cause of death
5 Reforms
o 5.1 Napoleonic Code
o 5.2 Metric system
6 Religions
o 6.1 Concordat
o 6.2 Religious emancipation
7 Personality
8 Image
9 Legacy
o 9.1 Warfare
o 9.2 Bonapartism
o 9.3 Criticism
o 9.4 Propaganda and memory
o 9.5 Legacy outside France
10 Marriages and children
11 Titles, styles, honours and arms
o 11.1 Titles and styles
o 11.2 Full titles
11.2.1 1804–1805
11.2.2 1805–1806
11.2.3 1806–1809
11.2.4 1809–1814
11.2.5 1815
12 Ancestry
13 Notes
14 Citations
15 References
16 External links
Origins and education
Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, was Corsica's representative to the court ofLouis XVI of France.
Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769 to Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino in his family's
ancestral home, Casa Buonaparte, in the town of Ajaccio, Corsica.[2] He was their fourth child and third son.
[2] This was a year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa.[3] He was
christened Napoleone di Buonaparte, probably named for an uncle (an older brother, who did not survive
infancy, was the first of the sons to be called Napoleone). In his twenties, he adopted the more French-
sounding Napoléon Bonaparte.[4][note 1]
The Corsican Buonapartes were descended from minor Italian nobility of Tuscan origin,[5][6][7][8] who had come to
Corsica from Liguria in the 16th century.[9][10]
His father, Nobile Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court ofLouis
XVI in 1777. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Letizia Ramolino, whose firm
discipline restrained a rambunctious child.[11] Napoleon's maternal grandmother had married into the
Swiss Fesch family in her second marriage, and Napoleon's uncle, the later cardinalJoseph Fesch, would fulfill
the role as protector of the Bonaparte family for some years.
The nationalist Corsican leaderPasquale Paoli; portrait by Richard Cosway, 1798
He had an elder brother, Joseph; and younger siblings, Lucien,Elisa, Louis, Pauline, Caroline and Jérôme. A
boy and girl were born before Joseph but died in infancy.[12] Napoleon was baptised as a Catholic just before
his second birthday, on 21 July 1771 atAjaccio Cathedral.[13]
Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background and family connections afforded him greater opportunities to
study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time.[14] In January 1779, Napoleon was enrolled at a
religious school in Autun, in mainland France, to learn French. In May he was admitted to a military
academy at Brienne -le-Château .[15] He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell
properly.[16] Napoleon was teased by other students for his accent and applied himself to reading.[17] An
examiner observed that Napoleon "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is
fairly well acquainted with history and geography... This boy would make an excellent sailor."[18][note 2]
On completion of his studies at Brienne in 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite École Militaire in Paris.
This ended his naval ambition, which had led him to consider an application to the BritishRoyal Navy.[20] 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.[21] He was the first Corsican to graduate from the École Militaire.[21] He had
been tested by the famed scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace, whom Napoleon later appointed to the Senate.[22]
Early career
Napoleon Bonaparte, aged 23, Lieutenant-Colonel of a battalion of Corsican Republican volunteers
Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery
regiment.[15][note 3] He served on garrison duty in 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. A fervent Corsican nationalist,
Bonaparte wrote to the 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.[24]
He spent the early years of the Revolution in Corsica, fighting in a complex three-way struggle among royalists,
revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He supported the revolutionary Jacobin faction, gained the rank
of lieutenant colonel in the Corsican militia, and gained command over a battalion of volunteers. Despite
exceeding his leave of absence and leading a riot against a French army in Corsica, he was promoted to
captain in the regular army in July 1792.[25]
He returned to Corsica and came into conflict with Paoli, who had decided to split with France and sabotage
the French assault on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena in February 1793, where Bonaparte was one of the
expedition leaders.[26] Bonaparte and his family fled to the French mainland in June 1793 because of the split
with Paoli.[27]
Siege of Toulon
Main article: Siege of Toulon
In July 1793, he published a pro-republican pamphlet, Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire), which
gained him the admiration and 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. The city had risen against
the republican government and was occupied by British troops.[28]
Bonaparte at the Siege of Toulon
He adopted a plan to capture a hill where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the
British ships to evacuate. The assault on the position, during which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to
the capture of the city. He was promoted to 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.[29]
Whilst waiting for confirmation of this post, Napoleon spent time as inspector of coastal fortifications on the
Mediterranean coast near Marseille. He devised plans for attacking the Kingdom of Sardinia as part of France's
campaign against the First Coalition.[30] The commander of the Army of Italy, Pierre Jadart Dumerbion, had
seen too many generals executed for failing or for having the wrong political views. Therefore, he deferred to
the powerful représentants en mission , Augustin Robespierre and Saliceti, who in turn were ready to listen to
the freshly promoted artillery general.[31]
Carrying out Bonaparte's plan in the Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, the French army advanced north-east
along the Italian Riviera then turned north to seize Ormea in the mountains. From Ormea, they thrust west to
outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around Saorge. As a result, the coastal towns of Oneglia and Loano, as
well as the strategic Col de Tende (Tenda Pass), were taken by the French.[32] Later, Augustin Robespierre
sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to determine that country's intentions towards France.[30]
13 Vendémiaire
Main article: 13 Vendémiaire
Journée du 13 Vendémiaire. Artillery fire in front of the Church of Saint-Roch, Paris,Rue Saint-Honoré
Following the fall of the Robespierres in the Thermidorian Reaction in July 1794, one account alleges that
Bonaparte was put under house arrest at Nice for his association with the brothers. Napoleon's
secretary, Bourrienne, disputed this allegation in his memoirs. According to Bourrienne, jealousy between the
Army of the Alps and the Army of Italy (with whom Napoleon was seconded at the time) was responsible.
[33] After an impassioned defense in a letter Bonaparte dispatched to representants Salicetti and Albitte, he was
acquitted of any wrongdoing.[34]
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 Royal Navy.[35]
Bonaparte became engaged to Désirée Clary , whose sister, Julie Clary, married Bonaparte's elder brother
Joseph; the Clarys were a wealthy merchant family from Marseilles.[36] In April 1795, he was assigned to
the 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.[37]
He was moved to the Bureau of Topography of the Committee of Public Safety and sought, unsuccessfully, to
be transferred toConstantinople in order to offer his services to the Sultan.[38] During this period, he wrote a
romantic novella, Clisson et Eugénie , about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own
relationship with Désirée.[39] 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.[40]
On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared a rebellion against the National Convention after they were excluded
from a new government, the Directory.[41] 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 . Having seen the massacre of the King's Swiss Guard there three years
earlier, he realised artillery would be the key to its defence.[15]
He ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat, to seize large cannons and used them to repel the
attackers on 5 October 1795—13 Vendémiaire An IV in the French Republican Calendar. After 1,400 royalists
died, the rest fled.[41] He had cleared the streets with "a whiff of grapeshot", according to the 19th-century
historian Thomas Carlyle in The French Revolution: A History.[42]
The defeat of the royalist insurrection extinguished the threat to the Convention and earned Bonaparte sudden
fame, wealth, and the patronage of the new Directory. Murat married one of his sisters and became 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.[27]
Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, Joséphine de Beauharnais . They
married on 9 March 1796 after he had broken off his engagement to Désirée Clary.[43]
First Italian campaign
Main article: Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars
Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole, by Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, (ca. 1801), Musée du Louvre , Paris
Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy and led it on a
successful invasion of Italy. At the Battle of Lodi he defeated Austrian forces and drove them out ofLombardy.
[27] He was defeated at Caldiero by Austrian reinforcements, led by József Alvinczi , though Bonaparte regained
the initiative at the crucial Battle of the Bridge of Arcole and proceeded to subdue the Papal States.[44]
Bonaparte argued against the wishes of Directory atheists to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope as he
reasoned this would create a power vacuum which would be exploited by the Kingdom of Naples. Instead, in
March 1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced it to negotiate peace.[45] The Treaty of Leoben 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 authorised the French to loot treasures such as the Horses of Saint Mark.[46]
His application of conventional military ideas to real-world situations effected his military triumphs, such as
creative use of artillery as a mobile force to support his infantry. He referred to his tactics thus: "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."[47]
Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli, byPhilippoteaux
He was adept at espionage and deception and 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 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.[48] In this Italian campaign,
Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons and 170 standards.[49] The French army fought 67
actions and won 18 pitched battles through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics.[50]
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.[51] The royalists attacked
Bonaparte for looting Italy and warned he might become a dictator.[52] 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.[53] He met Talleyrand, France's new Foreign Minister—who would later serve in
the same capacity for Emperor Napoleon—and they began to prepare for an invasion of Britain.[27]
Egyptian expedition
Main article: French campaign in Egypt and Syria
Napoleon enters Alexandriaon 3 July 1798 by Guillaume-François Colson, 1800
Napoleon Bonaparte Before the Sphinx, (ca. 1868) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Hearst Castle
Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July 1798 by Louis-François, Baron Lejeune, 1808
After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided France's naval power was not yet strong enough to confront
the Royal Navy in the English Channel and proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby
undermine Britain's access to its trade interests in India.[27] Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in
the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with a Muslim enemy of the British in India, Tipu Sultan .[54]
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."[55]According to a report written
in February 1798 by Talleyrand: "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men
from Suez to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English."[55] The Directory agreed in
order to secure a trade route to India.[56]
In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences. His Egyptian expedition
included a group of 167 scientists: mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and geodesistsamong them; their
discoveries included the Rosetta Stone, and their work was published in theDescription de l'Égypte in 1809.[57]
En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached Malta on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the Knights Hospitaller. The
two-hundred Knights of French origin did not support the Grand Master,Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim ,
who had succeeded a Frenchman, and made it clear they would not fight against their compatriots. Hompesch
surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three
men.[58]
General Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and on 1 July landed at Alexandria.
[27] He fought the Battle of Shubra Khit against the Mamluks, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the
French practice their defensive tactic for the Battle of the Pyramids, fought on 21 July, about 24 km (15 mi)
from the pyramids. General Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian
cavalry, but he formed hollow squares with supplies kept safely inside. Twenty-nine French[59] and
approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the morale of the French army.[60]
On 1 August, the British fleet under Horatio Nelson captured or destroyed all but two French vessels in
the Battle of the Nile, and Bonaparte's goal of a strengthened French position in the Mediterranean was
frustrated.[61] His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced
repeated uprisings.[62] In early 1799, he moved an army into the Ottoman province of Damascus
(Syria and Galilee). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns
of Arish, Gaza, Jaffa, andHaifa.[63] The attack on Jaffa was particularly brutal: Bonaparte, on discovering many
of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, ordered the garrison and 1,400 prisoners
to be executed by bayonet or drowning to save bullets.[61] Men, women and children were robbed and murdered
for three days.[64]
With his army weakened by disease—mostly bubonic plague—and poor supplies, Bonaparte was unable
to reduce the fortress of Acreand returned to Egypt in May.[61] To speed up the retreat, he ordered plague-
stricken men to be poisoned.[65] (However, British eyewitness accounts later showed that most of the men were
still alive and had not been poisoned.) His supporters have argued this was necessary given the continued
harassment of stragglers by Ottoman forces, and indeed those left behind alive were tortured and beheaded by
the Ottomans. Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir.[66]
Ruler of France
Main articles: 18 Brumaire and Napoleonic era
General Bonaparte surrounded by members of the Council of Five Hundred during the 18 Brumaire coup d'état, byFrançois
Bouchot
While in Egypt, Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs through irregular delivery of newspapers and
dispatches. He learned that France had suffered a series of defeats in theWar of the Second Coalition.[67] 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 he had received no explicit orders from Paris.[61] The army was left in the
charge of Jean Baptiste Kléber.[68]
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.[67] By the time he reached
Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic was, however,
bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population.[69] The Directory discussed
Bonaparte's "desertion" but was too weak to punish him.[67]
Bonaparte was approached by one of the Directors, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, to solicit his support in a coup
to overthrow the constitutional government. The leaders of the plot included his brother Lucien; the speaker of
the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos; another Director, Joseph Fouché; and Talleyrand. On 9 November
(18 Brumaire by the French Republican Calendar) Bonaparte was charged with the safety of the legislative
councils, who were persuaded to relocate to the Château de Saint-Cloud, to the west of Paris, after the plotters
spread rumours of an imminent Jacobin insurrection.[70] By the following day, the deputies realised that in fact
they were the victims of a coup. Bonaparte led troops to seize control and disperse them, which left a rump
legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government.[61]
French Consulate
Main articles: French Consulate and War of the Second Coalition
Though Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, he was outmanoeuvred by Bonaparte, who drafted
the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul, and he took up residence at the
Tuileries.[71] This made Bonaparte the most powerful person in France.[61] The constitution was approved in a
plebiscite held the following January, with 99.94 percent officially listed as voting "yes"—an implausibly high
result that could have only been obtained through fraud.
In 1800, Bonaparte and his troops crossed the Alps into Italy, where French forces had been almost completely
driven out by the Austrians whilst he was in Egypt.[note 4] The campaign began badly for the French after
Bonaparte made strategic errors; one force was left besieged at Genoa but managed to hold out and thereby
occupy Austrian resources.[73] This effort, and French general Louis Desaix's timely reinforcements, allowed
Bonaparte narrowly to avoid defeat and to triumph over the Austrians in June at the significantBattle of
Marengo.[74]
Bonaparte's brother Joseph led the peace negotiations in Lunéville and reported that Austria, emboldened by
British support, would not recognise France's newly gained territory. As negotiations became increasingly
fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general Moreauto strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to
victory at Hohenlinden. As a result, the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February 1801; the French gains of
the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased.[74]
Temporary peace in Europe
See also: Haitian Revolution
Bonaparte, First Consul, byJean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Both France and Britain had become tired of war and signed the Treaty of Amiens in October 1801 and March
1802. This called for the withdrawal of British troops from most colonial territories it had recently occupied.
[73] Bolstered by this treaty, Napoleon was made First Consul for life in a 10 May plebiscite, with an implausible
99.76 percent voting in favour.
The peace was uneasy and short-lived. Britain did not evacuate Malta as promised and protested against
Bonaparte's annexation of Piedmont and his Act of Mediation, which established a newSwiss Confederation,
though neither of these territories were covered by the treaty.[75] The dispute culminated in a declaration of war
by Britain in May 1803, and he reassembled the invasion camp at Boulogne.[61]
Bonaparte faced a major setback and eventual defeat in the Haitian Revolution. By the Law of 20 May
1802 Bonaparte re-established slavery in France's colonial possessions, where it had been banned following
the Revolution.[76] Following a slave revolt, he sent an army to reconquer Saint-Domingueand establish a base.
The force was, however, destroyed by yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Haitian generals Toussaint
Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Faced by imminent war against Britain and bankruptcy, he
recognised French possessions on the mainland of North America would be indefensible and sold them to the
United States—the Louisiana Purchase—for less than three cents per acre (7.4 cents per hectare).[77]
French Empire
Main article: First French Empire
See also: Coronation of Napoleon I and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon faced royalist and Jacobin plots as France's ruler, 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.[78] In January 1804, his police uncovered an assassination plot against him which involved Moreau and
which was ostensibly sponsored by the Bourbon former rulers of France. On the advice of Talleyrand,
Napoleon ordered the kidnapping of Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien, in violation of neighbouring Baden's
sovereignty. After a secret trial the Duke was executed, even though he had not been involved in the plot.[79]
The Coronation of Napoleon byJacques-Louis David in 1804
Napoleon used the plot to justify the re-creation of a hereditary monarchy in France, with himself as emperor,
as a Bourbon restoration would be more difficult if the Bonapartist succession was entrenched in the
constitution.[80] Napoleon was elected as "Emperor of the French" in a plebiscite held in November. As before,
this vote was implausibly lopsided, with 99.93 percent officially voting yes.
He was crowned by Pope Pius VII as Napoleon I, on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris and then
crowned Joséphine Empress. The story that Napoleon seized the crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII
during the ceremony to avoid his subjugation to the authority of the pontiff is apocryphal; the coronation
procedure had been agreed in advance.[note 5] [81] Ludwig van Beethoven , a long-time admirer, was disappointed
at this turn towards imperialism and scratched his dedication to Napoleon from his 3rd Symphony.[80]
At Milan Cathedral on 26 May 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. He
created eighteenMarshals of the Empire from amongst his top generals, to secure the allegiance of the army.
War of the Third Coalition
Main article: War of the Third Coalition
Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, by François Gérard1805. The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three
Emperors, was Napoleon's greatest victory, where theFrench Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition.
Great Britain broke the Peace of Amiens and declared war on France in May 1803. Napoleon set up a camp
at Boulogne-sur-Mer to prepare for an invasion of Britain. By 1805, Britain had convinced Austria and Russia to
join a Third Coalition against France. Napoleon knew the French fleet could not defeat the Royal Navy in a
head-to-head battle and planned to lure it away from the English Channel.[82]
The French Navy would escape from the British blockades of Toulon and Brest and threaten to attack the West
Indies, thus drawing off the British defence of the Western Approaches, in the hope a Franco-Spanish fleet
could take control of the channel long enough for French armies to cross from Boulogne and invade England.
[82] However, after defeat at the naval Battle of Cape Finisterre in July 1805 and Admiral Villeneuve's retreat to
Cádiz, invasion was never again a realistic option for Napoleon.[83]
As the Austrian army marched on Bavaria, he called the invasion of Britain off and ordered the army stationed
at Boulogne, his Grande Armée, to march to Germany secretly in a turning movement—the Ulm Campaign.
This encircled the Austrian forces about to attack France and severed their lines of communication. On 20
October 1805, the French captured 30,000 prisoners at Ulm, though the next day Britain's victory at the Battle
of Trafalgar meant the Royal Navy gained control of the seas.[84]
Six weeks later, on the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at Austerlitz.
This ended the Third Coalition, and he commissioned the Arc de Triomphe to commemorate the victory. Austria
had to concede territory; the Peace of Pressburg led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and creation
of the Confederation of the Rhine with Napoleon named as itsProtector.[84]
Napoleon would go on to say, "The battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought."[85] Frank McLynn
suggests Napoleon was so successful at Austerlitz he lost touch with reality, and what used to be French
foreign policy became a "personal Napoleonic one".[86] Vincent Cronin disagrees, stating Napoleon was not
overly ambitious for himself, that "he embodied the ambitions of thirty million Frenchmen".[87]
Middle-Eastern alliances
Main articles: Franco-Ottoman alliance and Franco-Persian alliance
The Persian Envoy Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini meets with Napoleon I atFinckenstein Palace, 27 April 1807,
byFrançois Mulard
Even after the failed campaign in Egypt, Napoleon continued to entertain a grand scheme to establish a French
presence in the Middle East.[54] An alliance with Middle-Eastern powers would have the strategic advantage of
pressuring Russia on its southern border. From 1803, Napoleon went to considerable lengths to try to convince
the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia in the Balkans and join his anti-Russian coalition.[88]
Napoleon sent General Horace Sebastiani as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire
recover lost territories.[88] In February 1806, following Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz and the ensuing
dismemberment of the Habsburg Empire, the Ottoman EmperorSelim III finally recognised Napoleon as
Emperor, formally opting for an alliance with France"our sincere and natural ally", and war with Russia and
England.[89]
A Franco-Persian alliance was also formed, from 1807 to 1809, between Napoleon and thePersian
Empire of Fat′h -Ali Shah Qajar , against Russia and Great Britain. The alliance ended when France allied with
Russia and turned its focus to European campaigns.[54]
War of the Fourth Coalition
Main article: War of the Fourth Coalition
The Treaties of Tilsit: Napoleon meeting with Alexander I of Russia on a raft in the middle of the Neman River
The Fourth Coalition was assembled in 1806, and Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in
October.[90] He marched against advancing Russian armies through Poland and was involved in the bloody
stalemate of the Battle of Eylau on 6 February 1807.[91]
After a decisive victory at Friedland, he signed the Treaties of Tilsit; one with Tsar Alexander I of Russia which
divided the continent between the two powers; the other with Prussia which stripped that country of half its
territory. Napoleon placed puppet rulers on the thrones ofGerman states, including his brother Jérôme as king
of the new Kingdom of Westphalia. In the French-controlled part of Poland, he established the Duchy of
Warsaw with KingFrederick Augustus I of Saxony as ruler.[92]
With his Milan and Berlin Decrees, Napoleon attempted to enforce a Europe-wide commercial boycott of Britain
called the Continental System. This act of economic warfare did not succeed, as it encouraged British
merchants to smuggle into continental Europe, and Napoleon's exclusively land-based customs enforcers
could not stop them.[93]
Peninsular War
Main article: Peninsular War
Portugal did not comply with the Continental System, so in 1807 Napoleon invaded with the support of Spain.
Under the pretext of a reinforcement of the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, Napoleon invaded Spain
as well, replaced Charles IV with his brother Joseph and placed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat in Joseph's
stead at Naples. This led to resistance from the Spanish army and civilians in the Dos de Mayo Uprising.[94]
Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, as King of Spain
In Spain, Napoleon faced a new type of war, termed a guerrilla or little war, in which the local population,
inspired by religion and patriotism, was heavily involved. The French had to contend not only with the Spanish-
allied regular armies, but also opposition by the local populace via various types of low intensity conflict such as
ambushes, sabotage and armed uprisings.
Following a French retreat from much of the country, Napoleon took command and defeated theSpanish Army.
He retook Madrid, then outmanoeuvred a British army sent to support the Spanish and drove it to the coast.
[95] Before the Spanish population had been fully subdued, Austria again threatened war, and Napoleon
returned to France.[96]
The costly and often brutal Peninsular War continued in Napoleon's absence; in the second Siege of
Zaragoza most of the city was destroyed and over 50,000 people perished.[97] Although Napoleon left 300,000
of his finest troops to battle Spanish guerrillas as well as British and Portuguese forces commanded by Arthur
Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, French control over the peninsula again deteriorated.[98]
Following several allied victories, the war concluded after Napoleon's abdication in 1814.[99] Napoleon later
described the Peninsular War as central to his final defeat, writing in his memoirs "That unfortunate war
destroyed me... All... my disasters are bound up in that fatal knot."[100]
War of the Fifth Coalition and remarriage
Main article: War of the Fifth Coalition
Napoleon at Wagram, painted by Horace Vernet
In April 1809, Austria abruptly broke its alliance with France, and Napoleon was forced to assume command of
forces on the Danube and German fronts. After early successes, the French faced difficulties in crossing
the Danube and suffered a defeat in May at the Battle of Aspern-Essling near Vienna. The Austrians failed to
capitalise on the situation and allowed Napoleon's forces to regroup. He defeated the Austrians again
at Wagram, and the Treaty of Schönbrunn was signed between Austria and France.[101]
Britain was the other member of the coalition. In addition to the Iberian Peninsula, the British planned to open
another front in mainland Europe. However, Napoleon was able to rush reinforcements to Antwerp, owing to
Britain's inadequately organised Walcheren Campaign.[102]
He concurrently annexed the Papal States because of the Church's refusal to support the Continental System;
Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating the emperor. The pope was then abducted by Napoleon's
officers, and though Napoleon had not ordered his abduction, he did not order Pius' release. The pope was
moved throughout Napoleon's territories, sometimes while ill, and Napoleon sent delegations to pressure him
on issues including agreement to a new concordat with France, which Pius refused. In 1810 Napoleon
married Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, following his divorce of Joséphine; this further strained his
relations with the Church, and thirteen cardinals were imprisoned for non-attendance at the marriage
ceremony.[103] The pope remained confined for 5 years and did not return to Rome until May 1814.[104]
First French Empire at its greatest extent in 1811
French Empire
French satellite states
Allied states
In November 1810, Napoleon consented to the ascent to the Swedish throne of Bernadotte, one of
his marshals, with whom Napoleon had always had strained relations. Napoleon had indulged Bernadotte's
indiscretions because he was married to Désirée Clary , his former fiancée and sister of the wife of his
brother Joseph. Napoleon came to regret accepting this appointment when Bernadotte later allied Sweden with
France's enemies.[105]
Invasion of Russia
Main article: French invasion of Russia
The Moscow fire depicted by an unknown German artist
The Congress of Erfurt sought to preserve the Russo-French alliance, and the leaders had a friendly personal
relationship after their first meeting at Tilsit in 1807.[106] By 1811, however, tensions had increased and
Alexander was under pressure from the Russian nobility to break off the alliance. An early sign the relationship
had deteriorated was the Russian's virtual abandonment of the Continental System, which led Napoleon to
threaten Alexander with serious consequences if he formed an alliance with Britain.[107]
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.[108] He ignored repeated advice against an invasion of the Russian heartland
and prepared for an offensive campaign; on 23 June 1812 the invasion commenced.[109]
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen
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 manumit the Russian serfs 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.[110]
The Russians avoided Napoleon's objective of a decisive engagement and instead retreated deeper into
Russia. A brief attempt at resistance was made at 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.[111]
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.[112] 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."[113]
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 a month, concerned about loss of control back in France,
Napoleon and his army left.[114]
The French suffered greatly 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, but in the end fewer than 40,000 crossed
the Berezina River in November 1812.[115] The Russians had lost 150,000 in battle and hundreds of thousands
of civilians.[116]
War of the Sixth Coalition
Main article: War of the Sixth Coalition
Adieux de Napoléon à la Garde impériale dans la cour du Cheval-Blanc du château de Fontainebleau [Napoleon's farewell
to the Imperial Guard in the White Horse courtyard of the Palace of Fontainebleau] – on 20 April 1814; by Antoine Alphonse
Montfort, Palace of Versailles national museum
There was a lull in fighting over the winter of 1812–13 while both the Russians and the French rebuilt their
forces; Napoleon was then able to field 350,000 troops.[117] 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.[118]
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.[119]
Napoleon withdrew back into France, his army reduced to 70,000 soldiers and 40,000 stragglers, against more
than three times as many Allied troops.[120] 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; Paris was captured by the
Coalition in March 1814.[121]
On 2 April, the Sénat conservateur 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 had surrendered. When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his marshals decided to
mutiny.[122] On 4 April, led by Ney, they confronted Napoleon. Napoleon asserted the army would follow him,
and Ney replied the army would follow its generals. Bowing to the inevitable, on 4 April he abdicated in favour
of his son, with Marie-Louise as regent. However, the Allies refused to accept this under prodding from
Alexander, who suggested that Napoleon might find an excuse to retake the throne. Bowing to the inevitable,
Napoleon was forced to announce his unconditional abdication only two days later.
Exile to Elba
British etching from 1814 in celebration of Napoleon's first exile to Elba at the close of the War of the Sixth Coalition
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.
Done in the palace of Fontainebleau, 11 April 1814.
—Act of abdication of Napoleon[123]
In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victors exiled him to Elba, an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the
Mediterranean, 20 km (12 mi) off the Tuscan coast. They gave him sovereignty over the island and allowed him
to retain his title of emperor. Napoleon attempted suicide with a pill he had carried since a near-capture by
Russians on the retreat from Moscow. Its potency had weakened with age, and he survived to be exiled while
his wife and son took refuge in Austria.[124] In the first few months on Elba he created a small navy and army,
developed the iron mines, and issued decrees on modern agricultural methods.[125]
Hundred Days
Main article: Hundred Days
Napoleon returned from Elba, by Karl Stenben, 19th century
Separated from his wife and son, who had come under Austrian control, 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, Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815. He landed at Golfe -Juan on the French
mainland, two days later.[126]
The 5th Regiment was sent to intercept him and made contact just south of Grenoble on 7 March 1815.
Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within gunshot range,
shouted, "Here I am. Kill your Emperor, if you wish."[127]
The soldiers responded with, "Vive L'Empereur!" and marched with Napoleon to Paris; Louis XVIII fled. On 13
March, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared Napoleon an outlaw, and four days later Great Britain,
Russia, Austria, and Prussia bound themselves to each put 150,000 men into the field to end his rule.[128]
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.[129]
Napoleon's forces fought the allies, led by Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von 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 was defeated
because he had to fight two armies with one, attacking an army in an excellent defensive position through wet
and muddy terrain.
His poor health that day may have affected his presence and vigour on the field, added to the fact that his
subordinates may have let him down. Despite this, Napoleon came very close to victory. Outnumbered, the
French army left the battlefield in disorder.
Napoleon returned to Paris and found that both the legislature and the people had turned violently on him.
Realizing that his position was untenable, he abdicated on 22 June in favour of his son. He left Paris three days
later and settled at Josephine's former home inMalmaison. Coalition forces swept into France soon afterward,
intent on restoring Louis XVIII to the French throne.
When Napoleon got word that Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive, he fled to Rochefort,
intending to escape to the United States. However, with British ships blocking every port to prevent his escape,
Napoleon formally demanded political asylum from the British Captain Frederick
Maitland on HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815.[130]
Exile on Saint Helena
Napoleon on Saint Helena
Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870 km
(1,162 mi) from the west coast of Africa. In his first two months there, he lived in a pavilion on the Briars estate,
which belonged to a William Balcombe. Napoleon became friendly with his family, especially his younger
daughter Lucia Elizabeth who later wrote Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon.[131] This friendship ended in
1818 when British authorities became suspicious that Balcombe had acted as an intermediary between
Napoleon and Paris and dismissed him from the island.[132]
Napoleon moved to Longwood House in December 1815; it had fallen into disrepair, and the location was
damp, windswept and unhealthy. The Times published articles insinuating the British government was trying to
hasten his death, and he often complained of the living conditions in letters to the governor and his
custodian, Hudson Lowe.[133]
With a small cadre of followers, Napoleon dictated his memoirs and criticised his captors—particularly Lowe.
Lowe's treatment of Napoleon is regarded as poor by historians such as Frank McLynn.[134] Lowe exacerbated a
difficult situation through measures including a reduction in Napoleon's expenditure, a rule that no gifts could
be delivered to him if they mentioned his imperial status, and a document his supporters had to sign that
guaranteed they would stay with the prisoner indefinitely.[134]
Longwood House, Saint Helena: site of Napoleon's captivity
In 1818, The Times reported a false rumour of Napoleon's escape and said the news had been greeted by
spontaneous illuminations in London.[note 6] There was sympathy for him in the British Parliament: Lord
Holland gave a speech which demanded the prisoner be treated with no unnecessary harshness.[136] Napoleon
kept himself informed of the events throughThe Times and hoped for release in the event that Holland became
prime minister. He also enjoyed the support of Lord Cochrane, who was involved in Chile's and Brazil's struggle
for independence and wanted to rescue Napoleon and help him set up a new empire in South America, a
scheme frustrated by Napoleon's death in 1821.[137]
There were other plots to rescue Napoleon from captivity including one from Texas, where exiled soldiers from
the Grande Armée wanted a resurrection of the Napoleonic Empire in America. There was even a plan to
rescue him with a primitive submarine.[138] For Lord Byron, Napoleon was the epitome of the Romantic hero, the
persecuted, lonely and flawed genius. The news that Napoleon had taken up gardening at Longwood also
appealed to more domestic British sensibilities.[139]
Death
Further information: Napoleon's Death Mask and Retour des cendres
Napoleon's funeral carriage passes along the Champs-Élysées, engraving by Louis-Julien Jacottet after a drawing by Louis
Marchand
His personal physician, Barry O'Meara, warned the authorities of his declining state of health mainly caused,
according to him, by the harsh treatment of the captive in the hands of his "gaoler", Lowe, which led Napoleon
to confine himself for months in his damp and wretched habitation of Longwood. O'Meara kept a clandestine
correspondence with a clerk at the Admiralty in London, knowing his letters were read by higher authorities: he
hoped, in such way, to raise alarm in the government, but to no avail.[140]
In February 1821, Napoleon's health began to fail rapidly, and on 3 May two British physicians, who had
recently arrived, attended on him but could only recommend palliatives.[141] He died two days later, after
confession, Extreme Unction and Viaticum in the presence of Father Ange Vignali.[141] His last words were,
"France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine." ("France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.")[141]
Napoleon's original death mask was created around 6 May, though it is not clear which doctor created it.[142][note
7] 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 St. Helena, in the Valley of the Willows. Hudson Lowe insisted the inscription should read "Napoleon
Bonaparte"; Montholon and Bertrand wanted the Imperial title "Napoleon" as royalty were signed by their first
names only. As a result the tomb was left nameless.[141]
Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides
In 1840, Louis Philippe I obtained permission from the British to return Napoleon's remains to France. The
remains were transported aboard the frigate Belle-Poule, which had been painted black for the occasion, and
on 29 November she arrived in Cherbourg. The remains were transferred to the steamship Normandie, which
transported them to Le Havre, up the Seine to Rouen and on to Paris.[144]
On 15 December, 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 Esplanade des Invalidesand then to the cupola in
St Jérôme's Chapel, where it stayed until the tomb designed byLouis Visconti was completed. In 1861,
Napoleon's remains were entombed in a porphyrysarcophagus in the crypt under the dome at Les Invalides.[144]
Cause of death
Napoleon's physician, François Carlo Antommarchi, led the autopsy, which found the cause of death to
be stomach cancer. Antommarchi did not, however, sign the official report.[145] Napoleon's father had died of
stomach cancer, though this was seemingly unknown at the time of the autopsy.[146] Antommarchi found
evidence of a stomach ulcer, and it was the most convenient explanation for the British who wanted to avoid
criticism over their care of the emperor.[141]
Napoléon sur son lit de mort (Napoleon on his death bed), by Horace Vernet, 1826
In 1955, the diaries of Napoleon's valet, Louis Marchand, appeared in print. His description of Napoleon in the
months before his death led Sten Forshufvud to put forward other causes for his death, including
deliberate arsenic poisoning, in a 1961 paper in Nature.[147] Arsenic was used as a poison during the era
because it was undetectable when administered over a long period. Forshufvud, in a 1978 book with Ben
Weider, noted the emperor's body was found to be remarkably 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 high levels of orgeat syrup that contained
cyanide compounds in the almonds used for flavouring.[147]
They maintained that the potassium tartrate used in his treatment prevented his stomach from expulsion of
these compounds and that the thirst was a symptom of the poison. Their hypothesis was that the calomel given
to Napoleon became an overdose, which killed him and left behind extensive tissue damage.[147] A 2007 article
stated the type of arsenic found in Napoleon's hair shafts was mineral type, the most toxic, and according to
toxicologist Patrick Kintz, this supported the conclusion his death was murder.[148]
The wallpaper used in Longwood contained a high level of arsenic compound used for dye by British
manufacturers. The adhesive, which in the cooler British environment was innocuous, may have grown mould
in the more humid climate and emitted the poisonous gas arsine. This theory has been ruled out, as it does not
explain the arsenic absorption patterns found in other analyses.[147]
There have been modern studies which have supported the original autopsy finding.[148] Researchers, in a 2008
study, analysed samples of Napoleon's hair from throughout his life, and 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.[note 8] 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.[150]
Reforms
Bonaparte instituted lasting reforms, including higher education, a tax code, road and sewer systems, and
established the Banque de France (central bank). 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. Later that year, Bonaparte became President of
the French Academy of Sciences and appointed Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre its Permanent Secretary.[57]
In May 1802, he instituted the Legion of Honour, a substitute for the old royalist decorations and orders of
chivalry, to encourage civilian and military achievements; the order is still the highest decoration in France.
[151] His powers were increased by the Constitution of the Year X including: Article 1. The French people name,
and the Senate proclaims Napoleon-Bonaparte First Consul for Life.[152] After this he was generally referred to
as Napoleon rather than Bonaparte.[23]
Napoleon's 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 theCouncil of State that revised the drafts. The development
of the code was a fundamental change in the nature of the 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.
[153] See Legacy.
Napoleonic Code
Main article: Napoleonic Code
First page of the 1804 original edition of the Code Civil
The Napoleonic code was adopted throughout much of 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 40
battles...Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. ... But...what will live forever, is my Civil
Code."[154] The Code still has importance today in a quarter of the world's jurisdictions including in Europe, the
Americas and Africa.[155]
Dieter Langewiesche described the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development
of bourgeois society in Germany by the extension of the right to own property and an acceleration towards the
end of feudalism. Napoleon reorganised what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of more than a
thousand entities, into a more streamlined forty-state Confederation of the Rhine; this provided the basis for
the German Confederationand the unification of Germany in 1871.[156]
The movement toward national unification in Italy was similarly precipitated by Napoleonic rule.[157] These
changes contributed to the development of nationalism and the nation state.[158]
Metric system
Main articles: History of the metric system, Mesures usuelles , and Units of measurement in France
The official introduction of the metric system in September 1799 was unpopular in large sections of French
society, and Napoleon's rule greatly aided adoption of the new standard across not only France but the
French sphere of influence. Napoleon ultimately took a retrograde step in 1812 when he passed legislation to
introduce the mesures usuelles (traditional units of measurement) for retail trade[159]—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 g[160] instead of 489.5 g—the value of the livre du roi (the king's pound).
[161] Other units of measure were rounded in a similar manner. This however laid the foundations for the
definitive introduction of the metric system across Europe in the middle of the 19th century.[162]
Religions
Further information: Napoleon and the Catholic Church
Napoleon's baptism took place in Ajaccio on 21 July 1771; he was piously raised and received a Christian
education; however, his teachers failed to give faith to the young boy.[163] As an adult, Napoleon was described
as a "deist with involuntary respect and fondness for Catholicism."[164] He never believed in a living God;
Napoleon's deity was an absent and distant God,[163] but he pragmatically considered organised religions as key
elements of social order,[163] and especially Catholicism, whose, according to him, "splendorous ceremonies
and sublime moral better act over the imagination of the people than other religions".[163]
Napoleon had a civil marriage with Joséphine de Beauharnais, without religious ceremony, on 9 March 1796.
During the campaign in Egypt, Napoleon showed much tolerance towards religion for a revolutionary general,
holding discussions with Muslim scholars and ordering religious celebrations, but General Dupuy, who
accompanied Napoleon, revealed, shortly after Pope Pius VI's death, the political reasons for such behaviour:
"We are fooling Egyptians with our pretended interest for their religion; neither Bonaparte nor we believe in this
religion more than we did in Pius the Defunct's one".[note 9] In his memoirs, Bonaparte's
secretary Bourienne wrote about Napoleon's religious interests in the same vein.[166] His religious opportunism
is epitomized in his famous quote: "It is by making myself Catholic that I brought peace to Brittany and Vendée.
It is by making myself Italian that I won minds in Italy. It is by making myself a Moslem that I established myself
in Egypt. If I governed a nation of Jews, I should reestablish the Temple of Solomon."[167]However, according
to Juan Cole, "Bonaparte's admiration for the Prophet Muhammad, in contrast, was genuine".[168]
Napoleon was crowned Emperor Napoleon I on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris by Pope Pius VII.
On 1 April 1810, Napoleon religiously married the Austrian princess Marie Louise. During his brother's rule in
Spain, he abolished the Spanish Inquisition in 1813. In a private discussion with general Gourgaud during his
exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon expressed materialistic views on the origin of man,[note 10]and doubted
the divinity of Jesus, stating that it is absurd to believe that Socrates, Plato, Muslims, and the Anglicansshould
be damned for not being Roman Catholics.[note 11] He also said to Gourgaud in 1817 "I like the Mohammedan
religion best. It has fewer incredible things in it than ours."[171] and that "the Mohammedan religion is the finest
of all".[172] However, Napoleon wasanointed by a priest before his death.[173]
Concordat
Further information: Concordat of 1801
Leaders of the Catholic Church taking the civil oath required by 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.
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly had taken Church properties and issued the Civil
Constitution of the Clergy, which made the Church a department of the State, removing it from the authority of
the Pope. This caused hostility among the Vendeanstowards the change in the relationship between the
Catholic Church and the French government. Subsequent laws abolished the traditional Gregorian
calendar and Christian holidays.
While the Concordat restored some ties to the papacy, it was largely in favor of the state; the balance of
church-state relations had tilted firmly in Napoleon's favour. Now, Napoleon could win favor with the Catholics
within France while also controlling Rome in a political sense. Napoleon once told his brother Lucien in April
1801, "Skillful conquerors have not got entangled with priests. They can both contain them and use
them."[174] As a part of the Concordat, he presented another set of laws called the Organic Articles.
Religious emancipation
Further information: Napoleon and the Jews
Napoleon emancipated Jews, as well as Protestants in Catholic countries and Catholics in Protestant countries,
from laws which restricted them to ghettos, and he expanded their rights to property, worship, and careers.
Despite the anti-semitic 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.[175]
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."[176]He was seen as so favourable to the Jews that the Russian
Orthodox Church formally condemned him as "Antichrist and the Enemy of God".[177]
Personality
All historians agree that Napoleon's remarkable personality was one key to his influence. Although not
physically imposing, in one-on-one situations he immediately had a hypnotic impact on people and seemingly
bent the strongest leaders to his will.[178] Second, his intellectual powers were unrivaled.[179] He had
a photographic memory for facts, people, events, numbers, military units, and maps. He devoured statistical
information and reports, memorized maps, and had a perfect recall of a fantastic stock of information. He
understood military technology, but was not an innovator in that regard.[180] He was an innovator in using the
financial, bureaucratic, and diplomatic resources of France. He could instantly organize and integrate all that
information, generating brilliant insights on complex situations. He could organize his own thoughts and rapidly
dictate a series of complex commands to all his subordinates, keeping in mind where each major unit was
expected to be at every future point, and like a chess master, "seeing" the best plays many moves ahead.
Combined with his inexhaustible energy, he kept relays of staff and secretaries at work. Unlike many generals,
Napoleon did not turn to history to ask what Hannibal or Alexander or whomever did in a similar situation.
Critics said he won many battles simply because of luck; Napoleon responded, "Give me lucky generals,"
aware that "luck" comes to leaders who recognize opportunity, and seize it.[181] After 1812, Napoleon seems to
have lost his old verve. On the great Russian campaign of 1812, with crisis after crisis at hand, he rarely rose to
the occasion. After that débâcle, compatriots noticed a loss of the old flair. Some historians have suggested a
physical deterioration, but others note that an impaired Napoleon was still a brilliant general.[179]
In terms of impact on events, it was more than Napoleon's personality that took effect. He chose outstanding
generals, and stood by them. He reorganized France itself to supply the men and money needed for great
wars.[182] Above all he inspired his men—Wellington said his presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000
soldiers,[183] for he inspired confidence from privates to field marshals. The force of his personalities neutralized
material difficulties as his soldiers fought with the confidence that with Napoleon in charge they would surely
win.[184]
Image
Further information: Cultural depictions of Napoleon
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of theChasseur à Cheval, with a largebicorne and a hand-in-
waistcoatgesture.
Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolises military genius and political power.Martin van
Creveld described him as "the most competent human being who ever lived".[185] 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.[186]
During the Napoleonic Wars he was taken seriously by the British press as a dangerous tyrant, poised to
invade. He was often referred to by the British as Boney. A nursery rhyme warned children that Bonaparte
ravenously ate naughty people; the "bogeyman".[187] The British Tory press sometimes depicted Napoleon as
much smaller than average height, and this image persists. Confusion about his height also results from the
difference between the French pouce and British inch—2.71 and 2.54 cm, respectively; he was about 1.7 m
(5'7") tall, above average height for the period.[note 12][189]
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 termNapoleon complex.
[190] 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.[191]
Legacy
Warfare
Further information: Napoleonic weaponry and warfare and Military career of Napoleon Bonaparte
Statue in Cherbourg-Octevilleunveiled 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.[192]
Corps replaced divisions as the largest army units, 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.[192] Though he consolidated
the practice of modern conscription introduced by the Directory, one of the restored monarchy's first acts was
to end it.[193]
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
defenses, 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.[194] Weapons and other kinds of military technology remained
largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th-century operational mobility underwent
significant change.[195]
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.[196] 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.[197] Wellington, when asked who was the greatest general of
the day, answered: "In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon."[198]
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 impact of war increased significantly; defeat for a European power meant more than the
loss of isolated enclaves. Near-Carthaginian peaces intertwined whole national efforts, intensifying the
Revolutionary phenomenon of total war.[199]
Bonapartism
Main article: Bonapartism
Bonapartism refers to his nephew Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte who exploited the family name to be elected
president in 1848 and then made himself Emperor Napoleon III.
Criticism
The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, showing Spanish resisters being executed by Napoleon's troops.
Napoleon ended lawlessness and disorder in post-Revolutionary France.[200] He was, however, considered a
tyrant and usurper by his opponents.[201] His critics charge that he was not significantly 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 oversea colonies are controversial and have an impact on his reputation.[202]
Napoleon institutionalised 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.[203] He was compared to Adolf Hitler most
famously by the historianPieter Geyl in 1947[204] and Claude Ribbe in 2005.[205] 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]."[206]
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 six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost."[207] McLynn notes that, "He
can be viewed as the man who set back European economic life for a generation by the dislocating impact of
his wars."[201] However, 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.[208]
Propaganda and memory
Main article: Napoleonic propaganda
Napoleon Crossing the
Alps, romanticversion by Jacques-Louis
David in 1805
Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, realistversion by Paul
Delaroche in 1848
Napoleon's masterful use of propaganda contributed to his rise to power, legitimated his regime, and
established his image for posterity. Strict censorship, controlling aspects of the press, books, theater, and art,
was only 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 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 an important, though
uneasy, relationship with the contemporary art community, taking an active role in commissioning and
controlling different forms of art production to suit his propaganda goals.[209]
Hazareesingh (2004) explores how Napoleon's image and memory are best understood when considered
within the socio-political context. They played a key role in collective political defiance of the Bourbon
restoration monarchy in 1815–30. People from all walks of life and all areas of France, particularly Napoleonic
veterans, drew on the Napoleonic legacy and its connections with the ideals of the 1789 revolution.[210]
Widespread rumors 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,
notably displaying the tricolor and rosettes, and subversive activities celebrating anniversaries of Napoleon's
life and reign and disrupting royal celebrations, and demonstrated the prevailing and successful goal of the
varied supporters of Napoleon to constantly destabilize the Bourbon regime.[210]
Datta (2005) shows that, following the collapse of militaristic Boulangism in the late 1880s, the Napoleonic
legend was divorced from party politics and revived in popular culture. Concentrating on two plays and two
novels from the period—Victorien Sardou 's Madame Sans-Gêne (1893), Maurice Barrès's Les
Déracinés (1897), Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon (1900), and André de Lorde and Gyp'sNapoléonette (1913)
Datta examines how writers and critics of the Belle Epoque exploited the Napoleonic legend for diverse political
and cultural ends.[211]
Reduced to a minor character, the new fictional Napoleon was not a world historical figure but an intimate one
fashioned by each individual's 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.[211]
International Napoleonic Congresses are held regularly and include participation by members of the French
and American military, French politicians and scholars from different countries.[212]
In January 2012, the mayor of Montereau -Fault-Yonne , near Paris—the site of a late victory of Napoleon—
proposed development of acommemorative theme park at a projected cost of 200 million euros.[213]
Legacy outside France
Bas-relief of Napoleon I in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives
Napoleon was responsible for overthrowing many Ancien Régime –type monarchies in Europe and spreading
the official values of the French Revolution to other countries. In particular, Napoleon's French nationalism had
the effect of influencing the development of nationalism elsewhere—often inadvertently. German nationalism of
Fichte rose to challenge Napoleon's conquest of Germany. The Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula
not only greatly fuelled Spanish and Portuguese national sentiment; it also helped provoke the Spanish
American wars of independence. The Napoleonic ideal of a liberal/bourgeois empire would influence the First
Mexican Empire and the Empire of Brazil. Napoleon also inflamed Italian nationalism, famously providing the
design for the flag of Italy on the basis of the French tricolour.
The Napoleonic Code is a codification of law including civil, family and criminal law that Napoleon imposed on
French-conquered territories. After the fall of Napoleon, not only was Napoleonic Code retained by many such
countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Italy and Germany, but has also 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.[214]
The memory of Napoleon in Poland is highly favorable, for his support for independence and opposition to
Russia, his legal code, the abolition of serfdom, and the introduction of modern middle class bureaucracies.[215]
A number of leaders have been influenced by Napoleon. Muhammad Ali of Egypt sought alliance with
Napoleon's France and sought to modernize Egypt along French governmental lines. In the 20th century, Adolf
Hitler admired and emulated Napoleon as a leader and empire-builder, Hitler paid homage to Napoleon by
visiting his tomb after Germany occupied France in World War II.[205]
Marriages and children
Napoleon's first wife, Joséphine,
Empress of the French
Napoleon's second wife, Marie-
Louise, Empress of the French
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. 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.[216] He formally adopted her son Eugène and
cousin Stéphanie and arranged dynastic marriages for them. Joséphine had her daughter Hortense marry
Napoleon's brotherLouis.[217]
Joséphine had lovers, including a Hussar lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles, during Napoleon's Italian campaign.
[218] Napoleon learnt the full extent of her affair with Charles while in Egypt, and a letter he wrote to his brother
Joseph regarding the subject was intercepted by the British. The letter appeared in the London and Paris
presses, much to Napoleon's embarrassment. Napoleon had his own affairs too: during the Egyptian campaign
he took Pauline Bellisle Foures, the wife of a junior officer, as his mistress. She became known as "Cleopatra"
after the Ancient Egyptian ruler.[219][note 13]
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 20s.
[221] Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir. In March 1810, he
married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette byproxy; thus he had
married into a German royal and imperial family.[222]
They 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 Francis Joseph Charles (1811–1832), known from
birth as the 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.[222]
Napoleon acknowledged one illegitimate son: Charles Léon (1806–1881) by Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne ,.
[223][223] He may have had further unacknowledged illegitimate offspring as well, such as Karl Eugin von Mühlfeld
by Victoria Kraus;[101] Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte (1816–1910) by Albine de Montholon ; and Jules
Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire, whose mother remains unknown.[224] In addition; he was widely assumed to be the
biological father of Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868) by Countess Marie Walewska;
who was, however, acknowledged by his mother's husband as his son, and he was not acknowledged by
Napoleon.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Emperor Napoleon I of France
House of Bonaparte
Political offices
Preceded byFrench Directory
Provisional Consul of France11 November – 12 December 1799
Served alongside: Roger Ducos and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
Became Consul
New title
Consulate created
First Consul of France12 December 1799 – 18 May 1804
Served alongside: Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (Second Consul)
Charles-François Lebrun (Third Consul)
Became Emperor
Regnal titles
Vacant
French Revolution
Title last held by
Louis XVI of Franceas King of the French
Emperor of the French18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814
Succeeded byLouis XVIII of France
as King of France and Navarre
Vacant
Title last held by
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperoras last crowned monarch, 1530
King of Italy17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814
Vacant
Title next held by
Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy
Preceded byLouis XVIII of France
as King of France and Navarre
Emperor of the French20 March – 22 June 1815
Succeeded byLouis XVIII of France
as King of France and Navarre(Napoleon II according to his will only)
Vacant
Title last held by
Louis XVI of France
Co-Prince of Andorra1806 – 11 April 1814
Succeeded byLouis XVIII of France
New title
State created
Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine12 July 1806 – 19 October 1813
Rhine Confederation dissolved
successive ruler:Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
as President of the German Confederation
Titles in pretence
New title— TITULAR —
Emperor of the French11 April 1814 – 20 March 1815
Vacant
Title next held by
Napoleon II
Titles and styles
Monarchical styles of
Napoleon I of France
Reference style His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style My Lord
Monarchical styles of
Napoleon I of Italy
Reference style His Royal Majesty
Spoken style Your Royal Majesty
Alternative style My Lord
18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814: His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the
French
17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814: His Imperial and Royal Majesty the
Emperor of the French, King of Italy
20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815: His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the
French
Full titles
1804–1805
His Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of theRepublic, Emperor of the
French.
1805–1806
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic,
Emperor of the French, King of Italy.
1806–1809
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic,
Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.
1809–1814
His Imperial and Royal Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic,
Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Helvetic
Confederation.
1815
His Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, By the Grace of God and the Constitutions of the Republic, Emperor of the
French.
Ancestry
16. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte(1663–1703)
8. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte (1683–1720/60)
17. Maria Colonna Bozzi(1668–1704)
4. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte(1713–1763)
18. Carlo Tusoli
9. Maria Anna Tusoli(1690–1760)
19. Isabella
2. Carlo Maria Buonaparte(1746–1785)
10. Giuseppe Maria Paravicini
5. Maria Saveria Paravicini(1715–bef. 1750)
22. Angelo Agostino Salineri
11. Maria Angela Salineri
23. Francetta Merezano
1. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French and King of Italy
(1769–1821)
24. Giovanni Girolamo Ramolino(1645–?)
12. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino
25. Maria Laetitia Boggiano
6. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino
(1723–1755)
26. Andrea Peri(1669–?)
13. Angela Maria Peri
27. Maria Maddalena Colonna d'Istria
3. Maria Letizia Ramolino(1750–1836)
28. Giovanni Antonio Pietrasanta
14. Giuseppe Maria Pietrasanta
29. Paola Brigida Sorba
7. Angela Maria Pietrasanta (1725–1790)
15. Maria Giuseppa Malerba
Notes
1. Jump up^ His name was also spelled as Nabulione, Nabulio,Napolionne,
and Napulione.[4]
2. Jump up^ Aside from his name, there does not appear to be a connection
between him and Napoleon's theorem.[19]
3. Jump up^ He was mainly referred to as Bonaparte until he became First
Consul for life.[23]
4. Jump up^ 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 chargerin the latter work.[72]
5. Jump up^ Napoleon gave the pope a tiara following the ceremony, now
referred to as the Napoleon Tiara.
6. Jump up^ A custom in which householders place candles in street-facing
windows to herald good news.[135]
7. Jump up^ It was customary to cast a death mask or mold of a leader.
Four genuine death masks of Napoleon are known to exist: one in The
Cabildo, a state museum located in New Orleans, one in a Liverpool
museum, another in Havana and one in the library of the University of
North Carolina.[143]
8. Jump up^ The body can tolerate large doses of arsenic if ingested
regularly, and arsenic was a fashionable cure-all.[149]
9. Jump up^ "Nous trompons les Égyptiens par notre simili attachement à
leur religion, à laquelle Bonaparte et nous ne croyons pas plus qu'à celle
de Pie le défunt."[165]
10. Jump up^ "I think the matter that made man was slime, warmed by the
sun and vivified by electric fluids. What are animals —an ox, for example
— but organized matter? Well, when we see that our physical frame
resembles theirs, may we not believe that we are only better organized
matter... The most simple idea consists in worshiping the sun, which gives
life to everything. I repeat, I think man was created in an atmosphere
warmed by the sun, and that after a certain time this productive power
ceased." [169]
11. Jump up^ "I do not think Jesus Christ ever existed. I would believe in the
Christian religion if it dated from the beginning of the world. That Socrates,
Plato, the Mohammedan, and all the English should be damned is too
absurd. Jesus was probably put to death, like many other fanatics who
proclaimed themselves to be prophets or the expected Messiah. Every
year there were many of these men."[170]
12. Jump up^ Napoleon's height was 5 ft 2 French inches according to
Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy and British sources put his height at
5 foot and 7 British inches: both equivalent to 1.7 m.[188] Napoleon
surrounded himself with tall bodyguards and had a nickname of le petit
caporal which was an affectionate term that reflected his reported
camaraderie with his soldiers rather than his height.
13. Jump up^ 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.
[220]
Citations
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Schom, Alan (1998).Napoleon Bonaparte (1.
HarperPerennial ed.). New York: HarperPerennial.ISBN 0-06-092958-8.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Delors, Catherine."15th of August 1769: birth of
Napoleone di Buonaparte". Retrieved 3 November 2012.
3. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.6
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Dwyer 2008, p.xv
5. Jump up^ The court and camp of Bonaparte, J & J Harper, 1832, p.
17, Google Book
6. Jump up^ Ida M. Tarbell, A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Kessinger
Publishing, 2005, p. 1,Google Book
7. Jump up^ The other conquest. Harper & Row. 1967. Retrieved 3 August
2011.
8. Jump up^ French Fortifications, 1715–1815. McFarland. 30 November
2009.ISBN 9780786458073. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
9. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.2
10. Jump up^ 2012 DNA tests found some of the family's ancestors were
from theCaucasus region;lefigaro.fr (15 January 2012). "Le Figaro – Mon
Figaro : Selon son ADN,les ancêtres de Napoléon seraient du
Caucase!".Le Figaro. Retrieved 20 February 2012.; The study
found haplogroup type E1b1c1*, which originated in Northern Africa circa
1200 BC; the people migrated into the Caucasus and into
Europe. "Haplogroup of the Y Chromosome of Napoléon the First; Gerard
Lucotte, Thierry Thomasset, Peter Hrechdakian; Journal of Molecular
Biology Research " . December 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
11. Jump up^ Cronin 1994, pp. 20–21
12. Jump up^ Harvey, R. The War of Wars, Robinson, 2006. pp.58–61.
13. Jump up^ "Cathedral—Ajaccio". La Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 31
May 2008.
14. Jump up^ Cronin 1994, p.27
15. ^ Jump up to:a b c Roberts 2001, p.xvi
16. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.18
17. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.29
18. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.21
19. Jump up^ Wells 1992, p.74
20. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.23
21. ^ Jump up to:a b Dwyer 2008, p.42
22. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.26
23. ^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.290
24. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.37
25. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.55
26. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.61
27. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Roberts 2001, p.xviii
28. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.132
29. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.76
30. ^ Jump up to:a b Dwyer 2008, pp.145–9
31. Jump up^ Chandler 1973, p.30
32. Jump up^ Boycott-Brown 2001, pp.88–92
33. Jump up^ Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon, p.39.
34. Jump up^ Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon, p.38.
35. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.157
36. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, pp.76, 84
37. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.92
38. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.26
39. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.164
40. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.93
41. ^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.96
42. Jump up^ Johnson 2002, p.27
43. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.102
44. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.129
45. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, pp.284–5
46. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.132
47. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.145
48. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.142
49. Jump up^ Harvey 2006, p.179
50. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.135
51. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.306
52. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.305
53. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.322
54. ^ Jump up to:a b c Watson 2003, pp.13–14
55. ^ Jump up to:a b Amini 2000, p.12
56. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.342
57. ^ Jump up to:a b Alder 2002
58. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.175
59. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.179
60. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.372
61. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Roberts 2001, p.xx
62. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, pp.392
63. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, pp.411–24
64. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.189
65. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.193
66. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.442
67. ^ Jump up to:a b c Connelly 2006, p.57
68. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.444
69. Jump up^ Dwyer 2008, p.455
70. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.215
71. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.224
72. Jump up^ Chandler 2002, p.51
73. ^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.235
74. ^ Jump up to:a b Schom 1997, p.302
75. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.265
76. Jump up^ Jackson 2004, p.33
77. Jump up^ Connelly 2006, p.70
78. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.243
79. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.296
80. ^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.297
81. Jump up^ Woolley, Reginald Maxwell (1915). Coronation Rites.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 106–107.
82. ^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.321
83. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.332
84. ^ Jump up to:a b Goetz 2005, p.301
85. Jump up^ Schom 1997, p.414
86. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.350
87. Jump up^ Cronin 1994, p.344
88. ^ Jump up to:a b Karsh 2001, p.11
89. Jump up^ Karsh 2001, p.12
90. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.356
91. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.370
92. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.426
93. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.497
94. Jump up^ Gates 2001, p.20
95. Jump up^ Chandler 1995, p.631
96. Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.408
97. Jump up^ Harvey 2006, p.631
98. Jump up^ Gates 2001, p.177
99. Jump up^ Gates 2001, p.467
100.Jump up^ Napoleon Bonaparte, Memorial de Sainte-Helene, Vol 1 (Paris:
Garnier fretes, 1961 (1823), pp. 609–610
101.^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.423
102.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.422
103.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.470
104.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, pp.433–5
105.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.472
106.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.378
107.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.495
108.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.507
109.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.506
110.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, pp.504–505
111.Jump up^ Harvey 2006, p.773
112.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.518
113.Jump up^ Markham 1988, p.194
114.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.522
115.Jump up^ Markham 1988, pp.190, 199
116.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.541
117.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.549
118.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.565
119.Jump up^ Chandler 1995, p.1020
120.Jump up^ Fremont-Barnes 2004, p.14
121.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.585
122.Jump up^ Gates 2003, p.259
123.Jump up^ "Napoleon's act of abdication". Bulletin des lois de la
Republique Française. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
124.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, pp.593–4
125.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.597
126.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.604
127.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.605
128.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.607
129.Jump up^ Chesney 2006, p.35
130.Jump up^ Cordingly 2004, p.254
131.Jump up^ Balcombe 1845
132.Jump up^ Thomson 1969, pp.77–9
133.Jump up^ Schom 1997, pp.769–770
134.^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.642
135.Jump up^ Woodward 2005, pp.51–9
136.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.644
137.Jump up^ Macaulay 1986, p.141
138.Jump up^ Wilkins 1972
139.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.651
140.Jump up^ Albert Benhamou, Inside Longwood – Barry O'Meara's
clandestine letters, 2012
141.^ Jump up to:a b c d e McLynn 1998, p.655
142.Jump up^ Wilson 1975, pp.293–5
143.Jump up^ Fulghum 2007
144.^ Jump up to:a b Driskel 1993, p.168
145.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.656
146.Jump up^ Johnson 2002, pp.180–1
147.^ Jump up to:a b c d Cullen 2008, pp.146–48
148.^ Jump up to:a b Cullen 2008, p.156
149.Jump up^ Cullen 2008, p.50
150.Jump up^ Cullen 2008, p.161, and Hindmarsh et al 2008, p.2092
151.Jump up^ Blaufarb 2007, pp.101–2
152.Jump up^ Edwards 1999, p.55
153.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.255
154.Jump up^ Wanniski 1998, p.184
155.Jump up^ Wood 2007, p.55
156.Jump up^ Scheck 2008, Chapter: The Road to National Unification
157.Jump up^ Astarita 2005, p.264
158.Jump up^ Alter 2006, pp.61–76
159.Jump up^ Hallock, William; Wade, Herbert T (1906). "Outlines of the
evolution of weights and measures and the metric system". London: The
Macmillan Company. pp. 66–69.
160.Jump up^ Denis Février. "Un historique du mètre" (in French). Ministère
de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
161.Jump up^ Thierry Sabot (1 October 2000). "Les poids et mesures sous
l’Ancien Régime" [The weights and measures of the Ancien Régime] (in
French). histoire-genealogie. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
162.Jump up^ O'Connor 2003
163.^ Jump up to:a b c d "L'Empire et le Saint-Siège". Napoleon.org. Retrieved
15 June 2011.
164.Jump up^ "Revue des Deux Mondes – 1867 – tome 71,
p.386" (in (French)). Fr.wikisource.org. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
165.Jump up^ Jacques Bainville, Napoleon I, p.94
166.Jump up^ "Bonaparte and Islam.". Center for History and New
Media atGeorge Mason University. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
167.Jump up^ "Napoleon: Man of Peace". Napoleon-series.org. 17 November
1999. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
168.Jump up^ Juan Cole, Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, p.29
169.Jump up^ Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena'' (1903), pp. 270–271
170.Jump up^ Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena'' (1903), pp. 276–277
171.Jump up^ Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena'' (1903), pp. 274–275
172.Jump up^ Talk Of Napoleon At St. Helena'' (1903), pp. 279–280
173.Jump up^ Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon
Bonaparte. Scott, Webster & Geary. 1839. p. 586. Retrieved 5 February
2011.
174.Jump up^ Aston, Nigel (2002).Christianity and Revolutionary
Europe c.1750–1830. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46027-1.
175.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.436
176.Jump up^ Schwarzfuchs 1979, p.50
177.Jump up^ Cronin 1994, p.315
178.Jump up^ Jack Coggins (1966).Soldiers And Warriors: An Illustrated
History. Courier Dover Publications. p. 187.
179.^ Jump up to:a b See David Chandler, "General Introduction" to
his Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon: the Mind and Method
of History's Greatest Soldier(1975).
180.Jump up^ Sally Waller (2002).France in Revolution, 1776–1830.
Heinemann. p. 188.
181.Jump up^ Gregory R. Copley (2007). The Art of Victory: Strategies for
Personal Success and Global Survival in a Changing World. Simon and
Schuster. p. 97.
182.Jump up^ J. M. Thompson,Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and
Fall (1954), p.285
183.Jump up^ Christopher Hibbert (1999). Wellington: A Personal History. Da
Capo Press. p. 171.
184.Jump up^ Steven Englund,Napoleon: A Political Life(2004), pp.379ff
185.Jump up^ van Crevald, Martin (1987). Command in War. Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press. p. 64.ISBN 0-674-14441-4.
186.Jump up^ "Napoleon Bonaparte (Character)". IMDB. Retrieved 12
October 2008.and Bell 2007, p.13
187.Jump up^ Roberts 2004, p.93
188.Jump up^ Dunan 1963
189.Jump up^ "Sarkozy height row grips France". BBC. 8 September 2009.
Retrieved 13 September 2009.
190.Jump up^ Hall 2006, p.181
191.Jump up^ Bordes 2007, p.118
192.^ Jump up to:a b Archer et al 2002, p.397
193.Jump up^ Flynn 2001, p.16
194.Jump up^ Bruce McConachy, "The Roots of Artillery Doctrine: Napoleonic
Artillery Tactics Reconsidered," Journal of Military History 2001 65(3):
617–640. in JSTOR;online
195.Jump up^ Archer et al 2002, p.383
196.Jump up^ John Shy, "Jomini" in Peter Paret, ed. Makers of Modern
Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (1986).
197.Jump up^ Archer et al 2002, p.380
198.Jump up^ Roberts 2001, p.272
199.Jump up^ Archer et al 2002, p.404
200.Jump up^ Abbott 2005, p.3
201.^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.666
202.Jump up^ Repa, Jan (2 December 2005). "Furore over Austerlitz
ceremony". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
203.Jump up^ Poulos 2000
204.Jump up^ Geyl 1947
205.^ Jump up to:a b Hudson, Christopher (24 July 2008). "The French Fuhrer:
Genocidal Napoleon was as barbaric as Hitler, historian claims". The Daily
Mail. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
206.Jump up^ Chandler 1973, p. xliii
207.Jump up^ Hanson 2003
208.Jump up^ Cronin 1994, pp.342–3
209.Jump up^ Alan Forrest, "Propaganda and the Legitimation of Power in
Napoleonic France." French History, 2004 18(4): 426–445
210.^ Jump up to:a b Sudhir Hazareesingh, "Memory and Political Imagination:
the Legend of Napoleon Revisited."French History, 2004 18(4): 463–483
211.^ Jump up to:a b Venita Datta, "'L'appel Au Soldat': Visions of the
Napoleonic Legend in Popular Culture of the Belle Epoque." French
Historical Studies 2005 28(1): 1–30
212.Jump up^ "Call for Papers: International Napoleonic Society, Fourth
International Napoleonic Congress". La Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 27
June 2008.
213.Jump up^ Laurent, Ottavi (8 February 2012). "A New Napoleonic
Campaign for Montereau". Foundation Napoleon.
214.Jump up^ "Napoleonic Code". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 13
April 2012.
215.Jump up^ Andrzej Nieuwazny, "Napoleon and Polish identity." History
Today, May 1998 v48 n5 pp.50–55
216.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.117
217.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.271
218.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.118
219.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.188
220.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.284
221.Jump up^ McLynn 1998, p.100
222.^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.663
223.^ Jump up to:a b McLynn 1998, p.630
224.Jump up^ Lowndes 1943
References
Abbott, John (2005). Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Kessinger
Publishing. ISBN 1-4179-7063-4.
Alder, Ken (2002). The Measure of All Things—The Seven-Year Odyssey and
Hidden Error That Transformed the World. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-1675-X.
Alter, Peter (2006). T. C. W. Blanning and Hagen Schulze, ed. Unity and
Diversity in European Culture c. 1800. Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-
726382-8.
Amini, Iradj (2000). Napoleon and Persia. Taylor & Francis.ISBN 0-934211-58-
2.
Archer, Christon I.; John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig (2002). World History of
Warfare. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4423-1.
Astarita, Tommaso (2005). Between Salt Water And Holy Water: A History Of
Southern Italy. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05864-6.
Balcombe Abell, Lucia Elizabeth (1845). Recollections of the Emperor
Napoleon. J. Murray. OCLC 9123757.
Bell, David (2007). The First Total War. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN 0-618-
34965-0.
Bertman, Sandra (2002). "Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 3 May 1808" .
New York University. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
Blaufarb, Rafe (2007). Napoleon: Symbol for an Age, A Brief History with
Documents. Bedford. ISBN 0-312-43110-4.
Bordes, Philippe (2007). Jacques-Louis David. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-
300-12346-9.
Boycott-Brown, Martin (2001). The Road to Rivoli: Napoleon's First Campaign.
Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35305-1.
Chandler, David (1973). The Campaigns of Napoleon, Volume 1.
9780025236608. ISBN 0-02-523660-1.
Chandler, David (1995). The Campaigns of Napoleon. Simon &
Schuster. ISBN 0-02-523660-1.
Chandler, David (2002). Napoleon. Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-750-3.
Chesney, Charles (2006). Waterloo Lectures:A Study Of The Campaign Of
1815. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4286-4988-3.
Connelly, Owen (2006). Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns.
Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-5318-3.
Cordingly, David (2004). The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of
Napoleon. Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-468-X.
Cronin, Vincent (1994). Napoleon. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-637521-9.
Cullen, William (2008). Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?. Royal Society of
Chemistry. ISBN 0-85404-363-2.
Driskel, Paul (1993). As Befits a Legend. Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-
87338-484-9.
Dunan, Marcel (1963). "Napoleon's height" (in French). La Fondation
Napoléon. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
Dwyer, Philip (2008). Napoleon:The Path to Power 1769–1799.
Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-6677-9.
Edwards, Catharine (1999). Roman Presences. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-59197-X.
Flynn, George Q. (2001). Conscription and democracy: The Draft in France,
Great Britain, and the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-
313-31912-X.
Fremont-Barnes, Gregory; Todd Fisher (2004). The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise
and Fall of an Empire. Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-831-6.
Fulghum, Neil (2007). "Death Mask of Napoleon". University of North Carolina.
Retrieved 4 August 2008.
Gates, David (2001). The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. Da
Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81083-2.
Gates, David (2003). The Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815. Pimlico.ISBN 0-7126-
0719-6.
Geyl, Pieter (1982) [1947]. Napoleon For and Against. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-
452-00057-2.
Goetz, Robert (2005). 1805: Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the
Third Coalition. Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-644-6.
Hall, Stephen (2006). Size Matters. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN 0-618-
47040-9.
Hanson, Victor Davis (2003). "The Claremont Institute: The Little Tyrant, A
review of Napoleon: A Penguin Life " . The Claremont Institute. Retrieved 30
May 2008.
Harvey, Robert (2006). The War of Wars. Robinson. ISBN 978-1-84529-635-3.
Hindmarsh, J. Thomas; John Savory (2008). "The Death of Napoleon, Cancer
or Arsenic?". Clinical Chemistry (American Association for Clinical
Chemistry) 54 (12): 2092.doi:10.1373/clinchem.2008.117358. Retrieved 10
October 2010.
Hudson, Christopher (24 July 2008). "The French Fuhrer: Genocidal Napoleon
was as barbaric as Hitler, historian claims". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 21
October 2013.
Jackson, John (2004). Race, Racism, and Science. ABC-CLIO.ISBN 1-85109-
448-2.
Johnson, P. (2002). Napoleon: A life. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-03078-3.
Karsh, Inari (2001). Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the
Middle East, 1789–1923. Harvard University Press.ISBN 0-674-00541-4.
Lowndes, Marie Adelaide Belloc (1943). Where Love And Friendship Dwelt.
Macmillan. OCLC 67554055.
Macaulay, Neill (1986). Dom Pedro: The Struggle for Liberty in Brazil and
Portugal, 1798–1834. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-0681-6.
Markham, Felix (1988). Napoleon. Mass Market Paperback.ISBN 0-451-62798-
9.
McLynn, Frank (1998). Napoleon. Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6247-2.
O'Connor, J; E F Robertson (2003). "The history of measurement". St Andrew's
University. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
Outhwaite, William (2003). The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought.
Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-22164-6.
Poulos, Anthi (2000). "1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict". International Journal of Legal
Information (vol 28 ed.) (HeinOnline).
Roberts, Andrew (2001). Napoleon and Wellington. Weidenfeld and
Nicholson. ISBN 0-297-64607-9.
Roberts, Chris (2004). Heavy Words Lightly Thrown. Granta.ISBN 1-86207-
765-7.
Scheck, Raffael (2008). Germany, 1871–1945: A Concise History.
Berg. ISBN 1-84520-817-X.
Schom, Alan (1997). Napoleon Bonaparte. HarperCollins.ISBN 978-0-06-
017214-5.
Schwarzfuchs, Simon (1979). Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin.
Routledge. ISBN 0-19-710023-6.
Thomson, Kathleen (1969). "Balcombe, Alexander Beatson (1811–77)".
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
Wanniski, Jude (1998). The Way the World Works. Regnery Gateway. ISBN 0-
89526-344-0.
Watson, William (2003). Tricolor and crescent. Greenwood Publishing
Group. ISBN 0-275-97470-7. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
Wells, David (1992). The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting
Geometry. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-011813-6.
Wilkins, William (1972) [1944]. Napoleon's Submarine. New English
Library. ISBN 0-450-01028-7.
Wilson, J (2 August 1975). "Dr. Archibald Arnott: Surgeon to the 20th Foot and
Physician to Napoleon". British Medical Journal 3(vol.3): 293–
5. doi:10.1136/bmj.3.5978.293. PMC 1674241.PMID 1097047.
Wood, Philip (2007). The Law and Practice of International Finance Series.
Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 1-84703-210-9.
Woodward, Chris (July 2005). "Napoleon's Last Journey" (7). History Today.
Archived from the original on 25 April 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
External links
Napoleonic Wars portal
Find more about Napoleon Bonaparte at Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
The Napoleonic Guide
Napoleon Series
International Napoleonic Society
Biography by the US Public Broadcasting Service
The last years in St. Helena Illustrated chronology of Napoleon's captivity
in St. Helena.
Inside Longwood Descriptions of Longwood House, St. Helena, and other
places in the island, as well as articles about Napoleon's captivity.
Booknotes interview with Alan Schom on Napoleon Bonaparte , 26 October
1997.
Works by or about Napoleon in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Memoirs of Napoleon at Project Gutenberg
John Holland Rose . The Life of Napoleon I at Project Gutenberg
John Gibson Lockhart . The History of Napoleon Buonaparte at Project
Gutenberg
William Milligan Sloane . The Life of Napoleon I. at Project Gutenberg Vol.
1/4
William Milligan Sloane . The Life of Napoleon I. at Project Gutenberg Vol.
3/4
Authority control
WorldCat
VIAF : 106964661
LCCN : n79054933
ISNI : 0000 0001 2283 8283
GND : 118586408
BNF : cb12008245w
[show]
V
T
E
French Revolution
[show]
V
T
E
Imperial House of France of the First French Empire
[show]
V
T
E
Bonaparte family
[show]
V
T
E
French monarchs
[show]
V
T
E
German Confederations 1806–1871
[show]
V
T
E
Pretenders to the French throne since 1792
[show]
V
T
E
Heads of State of France
[show]
V
T
E
Marshals of the First French Empire
Categories:
Napoleon
1769 births
1821 deaths
18th-century rulers in Europe
19th-century monarchs in Europe
Corsican politicians
Deaths from stomach cancer
First French Empire
French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
French emperors
French exiles
French military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
French people of Italian descent
French Roman Catholics
House of Bonaparte
Italian monarchs
Kings of Italy
Leaders who took power by coup
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Monarchs who abdicated
Ousted heads of state
People excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church
People from Ajaccio
Princes of Andorra
Navigation menu Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
View source
View history
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
Print/export
Languages
Acèh
Afrikaans
Alemannisch
አማርኛ Ænglisc
العربية Aragonés
ܐܪܡܝܐ Asturianu
Azərbaycanca বাং��লা�
Bân-lâm-gú
Баш ҡ ортса
Беларуская
Беларуская (тарашкевіца)
Bikol Central
Български
Boarisch
Bosanski
Brezhoneg
Català
Ч ӑ вашла
Cebuano
Česky
Corsu
Cymraeg
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Estremeñu
Euskara
فارسی Fiji Hindi
Føroyskt
Français
Frysk
Furlan
Gaeilge
Gàidhlig
Galego
贛語
客家語 /Hak-kâ-ngî
한국어
Հայերեն हि�न्दी�
Hrvatski
Ido
Ilokano
Bahasa Indonesia
Interlingua
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית Basa Jawa ಕನ್ನ�ಡ ქართული
Қазақша
Kiswahili
Kurdî
Кыргызча
Лезги
Latina
Latviešu
Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuvių
Ligure
Limburgs
Lojban
Luganda
Lumbaart
Magyar
Македонски
Malagasy മലയാ�ളം�
Malti मराठी�
მარგალური مصرى ماِز2رونی Bahasa Melayu
Монгол
မြ�န်��ဘသ
Nederlands
Nedersaksies ने पाली� 日本語 Napulitano
Нохчийн
Norsk bokmål
Norsk nynorsk
Occitan
Oʻzbekcha
پنجابی پښتو ភាសាខ្�រ Piemontèis
Plattdüütsch
Polski
Português
Qaraqalpaqsha
Ripoarisch
Română
Rumantsch
Runa Simi
Русиньскый
Русский सं�स्कृ� तम�
Scots
Seeltersk
Shqip
Sicilianu
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Ślůnski
Soomaaliga
کوردی Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Basa Sunda
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog தமி�ழ்
Татарча/tatarça తెలు�గు� ไทย Türkçe
Удмурт
Українська
اردو Uyghurche / ئۇيغۇرچە Vèneto
Tiếng Việt
Võro
Walon
文言
West-Vlams
Winaray
יִידיש Yorùbá
粵語
Zazaki
Žemaitėška
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 3 November 2013 at 10:11.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional
terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use andPrivacy Policy.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit
organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
vvvvv