Rise and Fall
Napoleon was born in Corsica on August 15, 1769 At age 9 he enrolled in military college in Brienne, France Eventually enrolling in the military academy in Paris as an artillery specialist
Graduated in September of 1785 (ranked 42 nd of 58 students) as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery 1793 Napoleon successfully forced the Anglo-Spanish fleet from Toulon, bringing it back under French Control He was promoted to Brigadier General as a result
With the execution of Robespierre in July of 1794, and in order to avoid another dictatorship, the National Assembly set up the Directory A 5 person council that controlled the government and the army Napoleon was promoted under Robespierre and was temporarily thrown in jail for being a Jacobin Was later released because of his value as a military commander
Under the Directory, Napoleon is promoted to second in command of the Army of the Interior October 1795 Paris rebellion Royalists attempted to take over the National Convention “Give them a whiff of grapeshot”
By 1795 the coalition against France was dissolving, leaving just Austria and England Napoleon convinced the Directory to let him attack Austrian positions in Italy In March 1796 was promoted to commander of the Army of Italy By October of 1797 Napoleon had pushed Austria out of Italy
May 1798 Napoleon planned on blocking English trade to India by conquering the Ottoman Empire and controlling Egypt Also wanted to uncover the secrets of the ancient world
Rapid success early August 1798 Battle of the Nile Defeated by the English leaving him with no naval support After failing to take Acre in 1799 Napoleon abandoned his land forces and returned to France His land troops continued to occupy Egypt until 1801
The Rosetta Stone Text written in 3 languages, Hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek Allowed for the translation of Hieroglyphs and the beginning of understanding of ancient Egypt
With the government under pressure from Austria, Russia and Brittan, Napoleon was able to set himself up as the first and most powerful of three consults Used his control of the army to place himself in power This ended the power of the Directory As First Consult he brought peace to France for the first time in 10 years
1802 the French people vote to amend the constitution to allow the First Consult to remain for life May 18, 1804 Napoleon declares himself Emperor “I found the crown of France just lying in the gutter … I picked it up with the tip of my sword”
Over the next decade Napoleon continued to gain control of a large portion of Europe. He set up his relatives as kings of conquered countries
A series of defeats to a coalition of Brittan, Prussia, Austria, and Russia followed the Russian campaign This was the result of the destruction of his army in Russia and Brittan no longer fighting in North America March 1814 Paris falls April Napoleon abdicates his throne Exiled to the island of Elba
After about a year, Napoleon escapes the island and attempts to regain his throne He is greeted as a hero in France and raises an army Again for the 7 th time, the countries of Europe unite against him and he is defeated at Waterloo Exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he remained until his death on May Shortly after Napoleon’s second exile, Louis XVIII (Louis the XVI’s brother) is restored as king
French civil code established in 1804 Includes things such as: All male citizens are equal Hereditary, nobility, and class privileges are removed Freedom from church laws Freedom of the press Freedom of contract Security of personal property Still the basis for much of French law today
The French Revolution was the seed of the Enlightenment The ideas, such as the Napoleonic Code, that took root because of it spread with Napoleon and his conquests all over Europe The Napoleonic Code also spread to South America and contributed to a number of revolutions The map of Europe was forever changed because of Napoleon