Napoleon

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This article is about Napoleon I. For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation).

Napoleon

His Imperial and Royal Majesty

[show]

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries

(by Jacques-Louis David, 1812)

Emperor of the French

Reign 18 May 1804 6 April 1814

Coronation 2 December 1804

Notre-Dame Cathedral

Predecessor Himself (as First Consul)

Successor Louis XVIII (Bourbon Restoration)

Reign 20 March 1815 22 June 1815

Predecessor Louis XVIII

Successor Louis XVIII (Bourbon Restoration)

Napoleon III (Second Empire)

King of Italy

Reign 17 March 1805 11 April 1814

Coronation 26 May 1805

Milan Cathedral
Predecessor Himself (as President)

Successor Victor Emmanuel II (1861)

Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine

Reign 12 July 1806 19 October 1813

Predecessor Francis II & I (as Holy Roman Emperor)

Successor Francis II & I (as President of theGerman Confederation)

More...

Born 15 August 1769

Ajaccio, Corsica, France

Died 5 May 1821 (aged 51)

Longwood, Saint Helena

Burial Les Invalides, Paris, France

Josphine de Beauharnais
Spouse
(m. 1796; ann. 1810)

Marie Louise of Austria

(m. 1810)

Issue Napoleon II

Detail

Full name

Napolon Bonaparte

House Bonaparte

Father Carlo Buonaparte

 Mother Letizia Ramolino

Religion see religion section

Signature

Imperial coat of arms

Napolon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 5 May 1821) was a French statesman and military
leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful
campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon, he was Emperor of the
French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815 (during the Hundred Days). Napoleon
dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a
series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of
his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in
1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at
military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the
most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.[1][2]
He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (Italian: [napoleone di bwnaparte]) in Corsica, to a
relatively modest family from minor Italian nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789,
Napoleon was serving as an artillery officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities
presented by the Revolution, he rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, becoming a
general at age 24. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he
suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began
his first military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allieswinning virtually every
battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year, and becoming a national hero. In 1798, he
led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He
engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. His ambition
and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the
French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third
Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm
Campaign and a historic triumph over Russia and Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led
to the elimination of the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire.