Origin In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte was confronted by
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès—one of five
Directors constituting the executive branch of the French government—who sought his support for a ''coup d'état'' to overthrow the
Constitution of the Year III. The plot included Bonaparte's brother
Lucien, then serving as speaker of the
Council of Five Hundred,
Roger Ducos, another Director, and
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. On 9 November 1799 (
18 Brumaire VIII under the
French Republican Calendar) and the following day, troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a
rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the
Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the
Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the
Constitution of the Year X, which made him First Consul for life. The
Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleon's
Russian campaign. The
Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of
Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the
Piedmont and by acquiring
Genoa,
Parma, Tuscany, and
Naples, and added this Italian territory to the
Cisalpine Republic. Then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the
Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the
Pope. When he recognised his error of raising the authority of the Pope from that of a figurehead, Napoleon produced the
Articles Organiques (1802) with the goal of becoming the legal protector of the papacy, like
Charlemagne. To conceal his plans before their actual execution, he aroused French colonial aspirations and the memory of the 1763
Treaty of Paris, worsening British relations with France, whose borders now extended to the
Rhine and beyond, to
Hanover, Hamburg, and
Cuxhaven. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie and the old aristocracy. On 12 May 1802, the French
Tribunat voted unanimously, with the exception of
Lazare Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the
Corps Législatif. A general
plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802 (14 Thermidor, An X), Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life. Pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the "Recess of 1803", which brought
Bavaria,
Württemberg, and
Baden to France's side. Prime Minister
William Pitt the Younger, back in power in Britain, appealed once more for an Anglo-Austro-Russian coalition against France to counter French expansionism. On 18 May 1804, Napoleon was given the title of "
Emperor of the French" by the
Senate; finally, on 2 December 1804, he was
solemnly crowned, after receiving the
Iron Crown of the
Lombard kings, and was consecrated by
Pope Pius VII in
Notre-Dame de Paris. In four campaigns, the Emperor transformed his "
Carolingian"
feudal republican and
federal empire into one modelled on the
Roman Empire. The memories of imperial Rome were for a third time, after
Julius Caesar and Charlemagne, used to modify the historical evolution of France. Although Napoleon’s
planned invasion of Britain was abandoned after the defeat at
Trafalgar, the army assembled at Boulogne became
La Grande Armée, which went on to win decisive victories in the
Ulm campaign and at
Austerlitz.
Early victories , 2nd December 1805'', by
François Gérard In the
War of the Third Coalition, Napoleon swept away the remnants of the old
Holy Roman Empire and created in
southern Germany the
vassal states of
Bavaria,
Baden,
Württemberg,
Hesse-Darmstadt, and
Saxony, which were reorganised into the
Confederation of the Rhine. The
Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, extracted extensive territorial concessions from Austria, on top of a large financial indemnity. Napoleon's creation of the
Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of
Ancona, and his annexation of
Venetia and its former
Adriatic territories marked a new stage in the French Empire's progress. To create
satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The
Bonapartes began to marry into old European royal families, gaining sovereignty over many states. Older brother
Joseph Bonaparte replaced the dispossessed
Bourbons in
Naples; younger brother
Louis Bonaparte was installed on the throne of the
Kingdom of Holland, formed from the
Batavian Republic; brother-in-law
Marshal Joachim Murat became
Grand-Duke of Berg; youngest brother
Jérôme Bonaparte was made son-in-law to the King of Württemberg and
King of Westphalia; adopted son
Eugène de Beauharnais was appointed Viceroy of Italy; and adopted daughter and second cousin
Stéphanie de Beauharnais married
Karl (Charles), the son of the Grand Duke of Baden. In addition to the vassal titles, Napoleon's closest relatives were also granted the title of
French Prince and formed the
Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power. On 6 August 1806 the
Habsburgs abdicated their title of
Holy Roman Emperor in order to prevent Napoleon from becoming the next Emperor, ending a political power which had endured for over a thousand years. Prussia had been offered the territory of
Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal. To this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. During the
War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the Prussian armies at
Jena and Auerstedt. Successive victories at
Eylau and
Friedland against the Russians finally ruined
Frederick the Great's formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at
Tilsit.
Height of the Empire , ordered by Napoleon in honour of the Grande Armée'', is one of several landmarks whose construction was started in Paris during the First French Empire. before the
Battle of Jena, 1806 The
Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and France and began an alliance between the two empires that held as much power as the rest of Europe. The two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes. France pledged to aid Russia against the
Ottoman Empire, while Russia agreed to join the
Continental System against Britain. Russia also agreed to recognize the
Confederation of the Rhine, as agreed on by the treaty. Napoleon also forced Alexander to enter the
Anglo-Russian War and to instigate the
Finnish War against Sweden in order to force Sweden to join the Continental System. More specifically, Alexander agreed to evacuate
Wallachia and
Moldavia, which had been occupied by Russian forces as part of the
Russo-Turkish War. The
Ionian Islands and
Cattaro, which had been captured by Russian admirals
Fyodor Ushakov and
Dmitry Senyavin, were to be handed over to the French. In recompense, Napoleon guaranteed the sovereignty of the
Duchy of Oldenburg and several other small states ruled by the Russian emperor's German relatives. The treaty removed about half of Prussia's territory:
Cottbus was given to Saxony, the left bank of the
Elbe was awarded to the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia,
Białystok was given to Russia, and the rest of the Polish lands in Prussian possession were set up as the
Duchy of Warsaw. Prussia was ordered to reduce its army to 40,000 men and to pay an indemnity of 100,000,000 francs. Observers in Prussia viewed the treaty as unfair and as a national humiliation. , 1807 Talleyrand had advised Napoleon to pursue milder terms; the treaties marked an important stage in his estrangement from the emperor. After Tilsit, instead of trying to reconcile Europe, as Talleyrand had advised, Napoleon wanted to defeat Britain and complete his Italian dominion. To the coalition of the northern powers, he added the league of the
Baltic and Mediterranean ports, and to the bombardment of
Copenhagen by the
Royal Navy he responded with a second decree of blockade, dated from Milan on 17 December 1807. The application of the Concordat and the taking of Naples led to Napoleon's first struggles with the Pope, centred around
Pius VII renewing the theocratic affirmations of
Pope Gregory VII. The emperor's Roman ambition was made more visible by the occupation of the Kingdom of Naples and of the
Marches, and by the entry of General
Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis into Rome; while General
Jean-Andoche Junot invaded
Portugal, Marshal Murat
took control of formerly Roman Spain as Regent. Soon after, Napoleon had his brother, Joseph, crowned King of Spain and sent him there to take control. Napoleon tried to succeed in the
Iberian Peninsula as he had done in Italy, in the Netherlands, and in Hesse. However, the exile of the Spanish Royal Family to
Bayonne, together with the enthroning of Joseph Bonaparte, turned the Spanish against Napoleon. After the
Dos de Mayo riots and subsequent reprisals, the Spanish government began an effective guerrilla campaign, under the oversight of local
Juntas. The Iberian Peninsula became a war zone from the Pyrenees to the Straits of Gibraltar and saw the
Grande Armée facing the remnants of the Spanish Army, as well as British and Portuguese forces. General
Pierre Dupont capitulated at
Bailén to General
Francisco Castaños, and Junot at
Cintra, Portugal to General
Arthur Wellesley. Spain used up the soldiers needed for Napoleon's other fields of battle, and they had to be replaced by conscripts. Spanish resistance affected Austria, and indicated the potential of national resistance. The provocations of Talleyrand and Britain strengthened the idea that the Austrians could emulate the Spanish. On 10 April 1809, Austria invaded France's ally, Bavaria. The campaign of 1809, however, would not be nearly as long and troublesome for France as the one in Spain and Portugal. Following a short and decisive action in Bavaria, Napoleon opened up the road to the Austrian capital of
Vienna for a second time. At
Aspern, Napoleon suffered his first serious tactical defeat, along with the death of Marshal
Jean Lannes, an able commander and dear friend of the emperor. The victory at
Wagram, however, forced Austria to sue for peace. The
Treaty of Schönbrunn, signed on 14 December 1809, resulted in the annexation of the
Illyrian Provinces and recognised past French conquests. The Pope was forcibly deported to
Savona, and his domains were incorporated into the French Empire. The Senate's decision on 17 February 1810 created the title "King of Rome", and made Rome the capital of Italy. Between 1810 and 1812 Napoleon's divorce of
Joséphine, and his marriage with
Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, followed by the birth of
his son, shed light upon his future policy. He gradually withdrew power from his siblings and concentrated his affection and ambition on his son, the guarantee of the continuance of his dynasty, marking the high point of the Empire.
Intrigues and unrest and
Frederick William III of Prussia meet him at
Tilsit in July 1807. Undermining forces, however, had already begun to impinge on the faults inherent in Napoleon's achievements. Britain, protected by the English Channel and its navy, was persistently active, and rebellion of both the governing and of the governed broke out everywhere. Napoleon, though he underrated it, soon felt his failure in coping with the Peninsular War. Men like
Baron von Stein,
August von Hardenberg, and
Gerhard von Scharnhorst had begun secretly preparing Prussia's retaliation. The alliance arranged at Tilsit was seriously shaken by the Austrian marriage, the threat of Polish restoration to Russia, and the Continental System. The very persons whom he had placed in power were counteracting his plans. With many of his siblings and relations performing unsuccessfully or even betraying him, Napoleon found himself obliged to revoke their power.
Caroline Bonaparte conspired against her brother and against her husband Murat; the hypochondriac Louis, now Dutch in his sympathies, found the supervision of the blockade taken from him, and also the defence of the
Scheldt, which he had refused to ensure. Jérôme Bonaparte lost control of the blockade on the
North Sea shores. The very nature of things was against the new dynasties, as it had been against the old. After national insurrections and family recriminations came treachery from Napoleon's ministers. Talleyrand betrayed his designs to
Klemens von Metternich and suffered dismissal.
Joseph Fouché, corresponding with Austria in 1809 and 1810, entered into an understanding with Louis and also with Britain, while
Louis Antoine de Bourrienne was convicted of speculation. By consequence of the spirit of conquest Napoleon had aroused, many of his marshals and officials, having tasted victory, dreamed of sovereign power: Marshal
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who had helped him to the Consulate, played Napoleon false to win the crown of Sweden. Marshal
Jean-de-Dieu Soult, like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating the treason of 1812. The country itself, though flattered by conquests, was tired of self-sacrifice. The unpopularity of
conscription gradually turned many of Napoleon's subjects against him. Amidst profound silence from the press and the assemblies, a protest was raised against imperial power by the literary world, against the excommunicated sovereign by Catholicism, and against the author of the Continental Blockade by the discontented bourgeoisie, ruined by the crisis of 1811. Even as he lost his military principles, Napoleon maintained his gift for brilliance. His
Six Days' Campaign, which took place at the very end of the
War of the Sixth Coalition, is often regarded as his greatest display of leadership and military prowess. But by then it was the end (or "the finish"), and it was during the years before when various European states conspired against France. While Napoleon and his holdings idled and worsened, the rest of Europe agreed to avenge the revolutionary events of 1792.
Last days , by
Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier Napoleon had hardly succeeded in putting down the revolt in Germany when the emperor of Russia himself headed a European insurrection against Napoleon. To put an end to this, ensure his own access to the Mediterranean, and exclude his chief rival, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Despite his victorious advance, the
taking of Smolensk, the victory on the
Moskva, and the entry into Moscow, he was defeated by the country and the climate, and by Alexander's refusal to make terms. After this came the terrible retreat in the harsh Russian winter, while all of Europe was turning against him. Pushed back, as he had been in Spain, from bastion to bastion, after the crossing of the
Berezina, Napoleon had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1809, and then—having refused the peace offered to him by Austria at the Congress of Prague (4 June – 10 August 1813), from fear of losing Italy, where each of his victories had marked a stage in the accomplishment of his dream—on those of 1805, despite the victories at
Lützen and
Bautzen, and on those of 1802 after his disastrous defeat at
Leipzig, when
Bernadotte—now Crown Prince of Sweden—turned upon him, General
Jean Moreau also joined the Allies, and longstanding allied states, such as
Saxony and
Bavaria, forsook him as well. Following his retreat from Russia, Napoleon continued to retreat, this time from Germany. After the loss of Spain, reconquered by an Allied army led by the
Duke of Wellington, the uprising in the Netherlands preliminary to the invasion, and the
manifesto of Frankfurt (1 December 1813) which proclaimed it, he was forced to fall back upon the frontiers of 1795; and was later driven further back upon those of 1792—despite the forceful
campaign of 1814 against the invaders. Paris capitulated on 30 March 1814, and the
Delenda Carthago, pronounced against Britain, was spoken of Napoleon. The empire briefly fell with Napoleon's abdication at
Fontainebleau on 11 April 1814. After less than a year's exile on the island of Elba, Napoleon escaped to France with a thousand men and four cannons. King
Louis XVIII sent Marshal
Michel Ney to arrest him. Upon meeting Ney's army, Napoleon dismounted and walked into firing range, saying "If one of you wishes to kill his emperor, here I am!" But instead of firing, the soldiers went to join Napoleon's side shouting "''Vive l'Empereur!''" Napoleon retook the throne temporarily in 1815, reviving the empire in the "
Hundred Days". However, he was defeated by the Seventh Coalition at the
Battle of Waterloo. He surrendered himself to the British and was exiled to
Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, where he remained until his death in 1821. After the Hundred Days, the
Bourbon monarchy was restored, with Louis XVIII regaining the French throne, while the rest of Napoleon's conquests were disposed of in the
Congress of Vienna. ==Nature of Napoleon's rule ==