First appearance (1769-1795)
Napoleon was born in 1769 in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, into an Italian noble family, whose father had been recognized by the King of France as a nobleman of the Kingdom of France after Corsica had just been sold to the Kingdom. Arranged by his father, Charles Bonaparte, Napoleon was educated at the age of nine at the French military academy at Brienne, and after graduating with honors in 1784, he was selected to attend the Ecole Officielle in Paris, where he specialized in artillery.
Napoleon, who initially identified himself as a foreigner and was determined to one day make Corsica independent of France, dropped out of school at the age of 16 when his father died and he was commissioned as an artillery second lieutenant. While stationed with his troops, he read the writings of many Enlightenment thinkers, among them Jean-Jacques Bertrand and Jean-Pierre Bertrand. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Napoleon returned to Corsica to push for its independence, but was ostracized by another pro-British and anti-French group, the Paulist group, and his family eventually fled to France.
The political situation in France was unpredictable and turbulent. At the beginning of the Revolution, the bourgeois Girondists, who represented the interests of the industrial and commercial classes, took control of the country and established a constitutional monarchy. 1791, however, King Louis XVI colluded with foreign reactionary forces, and as a result of the conspiracy was exposed, the king's rule was abolished, and the Kingdom of France was transformed into the Kingdom of France*** and the Kingdom of France. 1793 was the beginning of the year when Louis XVI was put to death, and in June of the same year the bourgeois democrats, headed by Robespierre and Jacobin, took control of the country and established a constitutional monarchy. Jacobins seized power and the French Revolution reached its climax, however, the First Anti-French League was formed.In July, Napoleon, already a major, led the troops to capture the royalist bastion of Toulon, and was therefore appreciated by the Jacobins and was promoted to brigadier general of the Crossing of the Alps by the Jacobins.In the coup d'état of Heat of 1794 Napoleon was investigated due to his close relationship with the Robespierre brothers, and later refused to serve in the In 1794, Napoleon was investigated for his closeness to the Robespierre brothers and removed from the rank of brigadier general for refusing to serve in the infantry of the Italian Legion, and in 1795, he was entrusted by Barras, the governor of Paris, with the task of quelling an armed rebellion by the royalists in the famous Battle of the Royalists. Napoleon was promoted overnight to lieutenant general and commander of the Paris garrison, and began to make a name for himself in military and political circles.
Napoleon was an outstanding military man, with a deep knowledge of the military knowledge of the time, good at applying various military strategies to actual battles, especially advocating the centralized use of artillery, as well as giving full play to the mobility of the cavalry.
Napoleon was appointed commander-in-chief of the **** and Italian armies on March 2, 1796, and in March 1796, Napoleon, at the age of 26, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Italian armies. Commander-in-Chief of the Italian side, and on March 9 married his lover, Josephine? Beauharnais, after which he hastened to the front. Interestingly, Napoleon's lineage also belonged to Italy, although he was a French citizen, yet his father was Italian. In Italy, Napoleon's army repeatedly repelled the first anti-French alliance formed by General Wurmser of the Austrian Empire and Sartain, and finally forced the other side to sign an armistice treaty in favor of the French **** and the country. It was a masterpiece of Napoleon's military history, however, the French army burned and pillaged in Italy, causing much criticism.
After his victory in the Battle of Italy, Napoleon's prestige grew and he became the new hero of the people of France*** and the Republic. And feeling threatened by his rise, the Doge's government appointed him Commander of the Army of the French **** and State of Arab Egypt **** and State (Army of the East), which was sent east to curb the expansion of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's power in the region. In Napoleon's expedition, in addition to 2,000 cannons, he brought with him 175 scholars of various trades and hundreds of boxes of books and research equipment. During the expedition Napoleon famously decreed, "Let the donkeys and the scholars walk in the middle of the column." Napoleon himself was a master of mathematics, but he also loved literature and religion, and was so influenced by the Enlightenment that he created a "Napoleon's theorem" in mathematics.
However, the 1798 expedition to Egypt was itself a major failure. Although Napoleon commanded the French army to a complete victory on land, Napoleon's fleet was defeated by the British. Napoleon's fleet was completely destroyed by Admiral Nelson of England and the troops were trapped in Egypt. when he returned in 1799, only 2 small ships were left out of the 400 warships, his original plan to invade India was thwarted, and he suffered heavy losses of men.
The First Consulship (1799-1804)
At this time, the anti-French coalition in Europe was gradually formed, while the power of France*** and the royalist party in the country was gradually rising. 1799 August, Napoleon finally decided to rush back to Paris. 1799 October, Napoleon returned to France was welcomed as a "savior. In October 1799, Napoleon returned to France and was welcomed as a "savior". On November 9, Napoleon staged the Misty Moon coup d'état and succeeded in it, becoming the first ruler of France*** and the Misty Moon coup d'état country, and in effect a dictator.
Napoleon then carried out a number of political, educational, judicial, administrative, legislative, economic and major reforms, which is the most famous and still has an important impact on today's "Napoleonic Code," was drafted by order of Napoleon in the evening of the coup, many provisions of the Napoleon himself personally participated in the discussion and finalized, basically adopting the early stages of the Revolution in France*** and the National Revolution. It basically adopted the more rational principles put forward by France*** and the early years of the Revolution. The Code was formally implemented in 1804, and even after more than a century it is still the current law of the French **** and the State. The Code was a major influence on the legislation of Germany, Spain, Switzerland and other countries. In Napoleon's proclamation to the people three weeks after the coup d'état, he proudly proclaimed, "Citizens, the Revolution has returned to the principles from which it first sprang. The Revolution is over."
Additionally, Napoleon established a system of national education that remains to this day, as well as the French Legion of Honor.
Emperor and King (1804-1806)
Napoleon's CoronationIn August 1802, Napoleon amended the **** and eight-year constitution to a life-long rule.On November 6, 1804, a referendum passed the **** and twelve-year constitution, and the **** and State of France was changed to the French Empire, with Napoleon? Bonaparte as Emperor of the Franks, called Napoleon I. He was officially crowned on December 2, not by Pope Pius VII, but by himself, who put the crown on his head, and then also crowned his wife Josephine? Boarnet was crowned Empress. A year later, he was again crowned King of Italy by the Pope in Italy, but he didn't have time to run the kingdom, so he made his stepson Eugène (Josephine's son with her ex-husband) Vice-King of Italy to run Italy.
From 1803, Napoleon began to conceive the idea of crossing the English Channel through the French navy in order to invade Britain, and from then on, his war began to change gradually from a just war of self-defense to an unjust war of aggression in which the big bourgeoisie sought to gain benefits. He took great pains in this battle plan to invade Britain and appointed some relatively competent commanders in the navy. But Napoleon's lack of skill in naval warfare, the impracticality of his plan, and the determination of the British to resist the war led to his final defeat. In the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, British Admiral Nelson (the same admiral who destroyed the French fleet in the war of conquest of Egypt) was killed in action, but the French commander Vernave was captured, and the French navy was almost completely wiped out, and from then on France lost its maritime supremacy with Britain. However, Napoleon had no time to care about such things, because Britain to understand the siege of the sea, has provoked Austria and Russia and other continental European countries to form a third anti-French alliance, Napoleon had to give up the invasion of Britain's war plan.
August 1805, Austria, Britain, Russia formed the third anti-French alliance, Napoleon then left Paris on September 24, personally waved the army eastward, to October 12, the French Austerlitz battle army has occupied Munich. October 17, the First French Empire and the Austrian empire in Ulm after a fierce battle, the alliance surrendered. On December 2, the first anniversary of Napoleon's coronation, the First French Empire won the Battle of Austerlitz, defeating the Russian-Austrian coalition of 90,000 with a weak force of 70,000 men, breaking up the anti-French alliance once again and forcing the Austrian Empire to revoke the title of Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon then united the vassal states in Germany to form the "Confederation of the Rhine" and put it under his protection.
In the fall of the following year, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Russia, and Prussia formed the Fourth Coalition Against France, and on October 14th, Napoleon led an attack on the Prussian army. At the Battle of Jena he concentrated 90,000 men against the Prussians, but this was not the main force of the Prussian army at all. At Olstedt, the 20,000 inferior French troops of Marshal Davout of France met the main force of 50,000 men led by the King of Prussia himself. Marshal Davout fought and commanded these 20,000 men and routed the Prussian army. The Prussian army was almost wiped out, and the King and Queen of Prussia fled for their lives. Napoleon thus gained most of Germany, and in June 1807 the French army defeated the Russian army in Poland at the Battle of Airau and the Battle of Friedland. Napoleon met with the Russian Tsar Alexander I, and a peace treaty was signed between the two sides, and a year before that Napoleon issued the Pardon of Berlin, which declared a policy of continental blockade, forbidding any trade between the continent of Europe and England. Since then, the supremacy of the First French Empire in the European continent was established. Napoleon I was concurrently King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Arbiter of the Swiss Confederation, and crowned his brothers Joseph, Louis, and Jér?me as King of Naples, Holland, and Westphalia respectively.
Supremacy of Europe (1808-1811)
In the late 1807, internal unrest broke out in Spain, and the King of Spain was reviled by the people. Napoleon then took the opportunity to invade Spain and made his eldest brother, Joseph Bonaparte, the king of Spain. Joseph Bonaparte became the king of Spain. But this move was opposed by the Spanish and Napoleon was unable to quell the riots. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intervened in the Spanish dispute in 1808, when British troops landed in the Bay of Mondego on August 8th and occupied all of Portugal on August 30th. They then gradually drove the French out of the Iberian Peninsula with the support of local nationalists. Napoleon's war of aggression in Spain was a major blunder in his strategy, and from then on the French army was caught in the misery of fighting on two fronts, the western front fighting in the Iberian Peninsula, and the eastern front circling the anti-French alliance.
The Battle of Wagram was just when Napoleon was caught in the Spanish quagmire, the fifth anti-French alliance was formed in early 1809. With the Austrian Empire stealing France's territory in Germany from behind, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Spain and lead his army eastward. The French army won five victories in five battles from April 19 to 23, and occupied Vienna on May 13. Napoleon fought with Archduke Charles commanding his own army in the Battle of Aspern-Essling, in which the French army suffered a great defeat, with the death of Marshal Rana, and the French army was forced to withdraw to the island of Lobao, with more than 30,000 dead, wounded and captured, and the Austrian army suffered more than 20,000 casualties. This was the first defeat since Napoleon personally commanded the army, (although he had suffered a handful of defeats before, but they were not under his personal command) but Napoleon turned defeat into victory with his iron will, and at the Battle of Wagram on July 5-6, the French army captured a decisive victory, forcing Austria to sign the Peace of Vienna and cede land again. In the following year, Napoleon married the Austrian Princess Marie? Marie-Louise of Austria as his wife, France and Austria formed an alliance, and the First French Empire reached its heyday. Napoleon became the unrivaled hegemon of Europe, and became known as Napoleon the Great, on a par with Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great.
For several years, Napoleon did not wage war.
Defeat of Russia (1812)
Napoleon was always thinking of ruling the whole of Europe; only Russia was not under his control on the continent, and Napoleon understood that he could only conquer England by putting Russia under his feet. It wasn't as if he didn't consider the consequences of attacking Russia, but his unrivaled military prowess declined in 1812 because of his hubristic ambitions.
In May 1812, Napoleon led an expedition against Russia with an army of 570,000 men speaking 12 languages. The Russian army was firmly opposed to Napoleon's invasion, and although the French army won victories along the way, the casualties were extremely heavy. on September 7, 1812 the French army was about to enter Moscow after the Battle of Borodino (in which 70,000 French men were killed and seriously wounded). The Russian commander-in-chief, Kutuzov, was determined to abandon the capital, and he wanted to save the other half of the Russian army's living forces.
On September 16, Napoleon rode into Moscow on his high horse, where Alexander I and Kutuzov had already withdrawn with the senior Russian generals and most of Moscow's inhabitants. Napoleon expected that Alexander I would compromise, but was not prepared to be greeted by the fire of the whole city of Moscow. The coming winter season, the Russian people's determination not to surrender, and a failed coup d'état orchestrated by General Marais, who was at home at the time, forced him to rush back to France.
The French army retreated from Russia
The Russian winter, the ever-present Russian pursuers and partisans made the invincible Napoleon also afraid, the French army was either killed in battle or frozen to death, and in the end less than 30,000 people returned to France. From then on, let the whole of Europe are trembling in fear of the army has ceased to exist, after the loss of the expedition to Russia, the first French empire was greatly wounded, the increasingly declining France will face the enemy is once forced to submit to the whole of Europe.
The End of the Road (1813-1814)
After Napoleon's disastrous defeat on the Russian battlefield, Alexander was so ambitious that he decided to organize an army to defeat France once and for all, in order to dominate Europe. However, the Russian army, in pursuit of the remnants of the French army, suffered a great blow to itself, as Alexander I decided to form an anti-French alliance.
Of course, Napoleon went to great lengths to thwart the formation of the anti-French alliance. Through Crown Princess Desiree of Sweden, he hoped to get her husband, Crown Prince Bernadotte of Sweden, to join the French side, but in the end failed. He also installed his wife, Princess of Austria, Empress Louise, as Imperial Regent to keep Austria in check. Nevertheless, in 1813 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Russia, Prussia and Sweden formed the Sixth Coalition against France, which resulted in many fierce battles in Germany. Although the French won many victories at Lützen and Bautzen, the pressure against Napoleon was mounting, and after a brief truce, the allied forces outnumbered Napoleon as Austria fell into the anti-French alliance.
War flared up again in Europe, and in August Napoleon commanded a defensive battle in Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, and won, but the lack of cavalry prevented him from expanding his gains, and the French army suffered repeated setbacks in Germany thereafter.
In the Battle of Leipzig, which broke out on October 16-19, the French army concentrated 155,000 men, while the allied forces were twice the strength of the French army. Although at the beginning the cavalry of Marshal Mura of France beat the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian emperors who fled on horseback, the allied forces surrounded Leipzig in six directions, as well as the French army's artillery ran out of shells, and Napoleon was forced to retreat. On the way to defeat, the French army was dealt a major blow by the allied forces, and was left with a remnant of 56,000 men. The Confederation of the Rhine was soon dissolved. The allied forces were able to drive into France.
In 1814, the anti-French allies again offered an armistice on the condition that France's territory be restored to what it had been in 1790, which Napoleon took as an insult and refused to accept; he reorganized his army to fight again, however, there were only 100,000 men left in the French army, while the allied forces numbered 350,000 men!
In the city of Brenner (Citta di Briana) on January 29, Napoleon revisited his former territory and commanded his army to a major defeat of the Prussian army, restoring the morale that had been low since the Battle of Leipzig.On February 1, at the River La Rottière, the French army fought with the Allied forces again, and although they lost, the French army showed unparalleled courage, and from February 10 to February 14, Napoleon commanded the French army in Chambord, Montmirail, Chattoti From February 10th to February 14th, Napoleon commanded the French army to defeat the allied forces at Chambord, Montmirail, Chateau-Terre and Vaucan, demonstrating that his military skills were being put to great use and his tactical talents were also on full display. However, he strategically erred in splitting the attacking forces into two, which resulted in the allied forces having an unobstructed path to Paris.
Paris was captured on March 31, 1814, and the Allies demanded the unconditional surrender of France, while Napoleon had to abdicate. Napoleon wished to allow his son, the King of Rome, to succeed to the throne as Napoleon II, but was rejected by the anti-French allies.Napoleon signed an edict of abdication at the Palace of Fontainebleau in Paris on April 13, 1814, two days after Napoleon had announced his unconditional surrender. The First French Empire fell. Napoleon himself was exiled to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, after his abdication. Napoleon retained the title of "Emperor", but his territory was confined to the island.
Napoleon was nearly assassinated on his way to Elba and attempted suicide himself. And in Paris, Louis XVIII returned to France to become King of the Kingdom of France again, and the Bourbon dynasty was restored. Napoleon's wife and son were under house arrest by the Austrians, and there were also rumors that Napoleon would be exiled to an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Napoleon had no choice but to closely watch the changing situation in France, the army and the people could not stand the exploitation of the French nobility led by Louis XVIII, and almost all of them believed that Napoleon was their true monarch, Napoleon realized that the time for restoration had come, and he finally escaped from the island on February 26, 1815, and led the Bourbons to the island. He finally escaped from the island on February 26, 1815, and returned to France on March 1 with 700 soldiers. The French army, which had been sent to stop him, instead continued to support Napoleon. Napoleon made speeches along the way announcing that he would bring peace to France, that there would be no more expansion out of the country, and that he would no longer be a despot but a constitutional monarch who would ensure the freedom of his people. The king repeatedly sent troops to block the way, but all the armies fell back in front of the line as soon as they saw the emperor. The civil and military ministers, such as Cambaceres, Davoux, Marey, Ney, and Soult, returned to his side. on March 20 Napoleon returned to Paris, by which time he had a regular army of 140,000 men and 200,000 volunteers, Louis XVIII fled, and the Hundred Days dynasty began.
The Hundred Days Dynasty (1815)
The good times did not last long, as the countries of Europe quickly formed the Seventh Coalition against France, and while they had an army of 700,000 men in one ****, France had only 284,000 men. Napoleon analyzed the situation and thought that the Russian-Austrian alliance would only need to be held back by a small number of troops, and that the key target of the blow would be the Anglo-Prussian alliance in Belgium. He led his army north to Belgium on June 6 and decided to capture Brussels.
On June 16, Napoleon surprised the Prussians by routing them at the Battle of Linnaeus, but due to the slow movement of the French army, Napoleon's original plan was to annihilate the Prussians, but the Battle of Linnaeus merely turned into a rout, and Napoleon had to send Marshal Gruchy to lead some troops to pursue the Prussians.
On June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was fought. The British army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington. 72,000 French and 68,000 British troops fought near the small town of Waterloo in a battle that changed the nineteenth century. The main thrust of the French attack was on the heights of Mount St. John's, but the heights were never captured, and most of the French generals capable of commanding the army did not participate in the battle, resulting in an abundance of incompetent commanders in the French army, including Napoleon's eighth brother, Jér?me. Battle of Waterloo
In the long battle, Marshal Ney led the cavalry began to Mount St. John's heights to launch no less than the Moscow Battery and the Battle of Leipzig cavalry charge, although the cavalry army's charge no tactics to speak of, but they are really sharp, the French cavalry broke through the square formation, captured a large number of forts, the British army was killed, Wellington's face has changed. But the British fought to hold off the French onslaught. Though Napoleon's victory was in sight, he saw the Prussian army heading for reinforcements at midday, and the savior, Marshal Gruchy, was slow to arrive.
Both the British and the French were killed and wounded, but the French had the upper hand; but, at 7 p.m., the Prussian army, under Vice-Admiral Billaud, suddenly killed them, and the French were so badly defeated that they fled desperately, and though Napoleon and Ney attempted to save the day, all was to no purpose; the last of the French squares of General Combruner were already overrun, and Waterloo was so full of deserters that Napoleon was obliged to The defeat at Waterloo brought the Hundred Days dynasty to its knees.
After Napoleon's defeat, the French people as well as his ministers strongly demanded his dictatorship and the overthrow of the parliament that forced him to abdicate, but, as Napoleon was clear, the bourgeoisie had abandoned him. For, he refused to mobilize the people against the war.
On June 22, Napoleon announced his abdication, and the British decided to exile him to St. Helena, and were so unkind to him that they did not leave him the name of emperor.
Elegy for the Lonely Island (1815-1821)
In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the Atlantic island of St. Helena, and he selected the three counts of Bertrand, Monteleone, and Las Gases, as well as General Gurgo, to accompany him. The island of St. Helena was separated from the continent by the sea, and it was utterly impossible for Napoleon to escape, nor did he intend to do so, for he had been utterly despondent after the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon went ashore and stayed temporarily at the home of the English merchant Balcombe, who later had a Longwood estate, where he took up residence, and where he began to devote himself to writing his memoirs, which he dictated and which the Count of Lascars recorded and organized. Here he also made the famous statement that "China is a sleeping lion that will shock the world when it wakes up".
Napoleon was exiled to the island of St. Helena on May 5, 1821, Napoleon died on the island, May 8 in a salute to the sound of the conqueror was buried on the island of St. Helena, next to the spring of Torbett. Until today, the cause of Napoleon's death is still divided, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland doctor's autopsy report shows that he died of severe gastric ulcers, but new research that Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning, and from the wallpaper used by the aristocrats, historians have also found that contains arsenic minerals, estimated to be because of the environment and humidity and let Shen permeate out of the environment, there is also said to be the Count of Mont-Tolon because of the British bribe and the eagerness of the British to get the money. There is also a theory that the Count of Monteleone was bribed by the British and eager to inherit part of Napoleon's legacy left to Napoleon and put arsenic in Napoleon's wines for a long time, resulting in Napoleon's chronic poisoning.
Nine years after his death, the new dynasty of Orléans reerected Napoleon's statue on the Vend?me Column under popular pressure, and in 1840 Louis Philippe, king of the French July dynasty, sent his son to have Napoleon's statue reerected on the Vend?me Column. Philippe sent his son to retrieve Napoleon's body. On December 15 of that year, Napoleon's coffin was brought back to Paris, and after passing through the Arc de Triomphe, he was buried in the Retirement Home for Disabled Soldiers on the banks of the Seine (i.e., the Legion of Honor).