Napoleon Bonaparte
Article
July 5, 2022
Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 Ajaccio – 5 May 1821) was a French general and dictator during the last reigns of the French Revolution. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from December 2, 1804 to April 11, 1814. From March 17, 1805 to April 11, 1814 he was also King of Italy (a state that did not encompass the entire Italian peninsula) and from 1806 to 1813 protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. His legal reform, the Code Napoléon, had a major and lasting influence on the law in many countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium. He is also remembered for his role in the Napoleonic Wars he provoked and for the title of emperor he assumed. He temporarily succeeded in bringing a large part of Europe under his authority. Napoleon was born in Corsica. His father was of noble Genoese descent. In the years before the French Revolution he was trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. Bonaparte rose to prominence under the First French Republic. He managed to beat the First and Second Coalition against France. In 1799 he staged a coup, after which he installed himself as first consul. In 1804 he had himself proclaimed Emperor of France. After a series of victories, France managed to dominate continental Europe. In maintaining the French sphere of influence, Napoleon made use of alliances, where he appointed relatives in positions of power in other countries to rule as French vassals there, such as Louis Napoleon in the kingdom of Holland. Napoleon's campaign to Russia in 1812 was a turning point. His Grande Armée was decimated and in 1813 the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig. In 1814, the Coalition invaded France and was forced to abdicate and exiled to the island of Elba. In February 1815 he returned to France and again took power for Hundred Days (1815), but at the Battle of Waterloo he suffered a serious defeat. He was now deported to Saint Helena. According to an autopsy, he died of stomach cancer.