Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoléon Bonaparte
A conqueror who rose from revolutionary general to emperor
In the coup of 9–10 November 1799 (18 Brumaire), he conspired with Talleyrand and Sieyès and used troops with fixed bayonets to disperse the Council of Five Hundred and overturn the Directory, then took effective power as First Consul.
Born into an Italian-descended Corsican family, he was commissioned in the French royal artillery in 1785, supported the Revolution of 1789, and rose through his victories over royalists at Toulon in 1793 and Vendémiaire in 1795. The Italian campaign of 1796 made him a national hero, and in November 1799 the Brumaire coup overthrew the Directory and made him First Consul; in 1804 he became emperor of the First Empire. He won at Austerlitz in 1805 but was ruined by the Russian campaign of 1812 and Leipzig in 1813, was exiled to Elba in 1814, and after the Hundred Days lost at Waterloo and died on Saint Helena in 1821. His reforms such as the Napoleonic Code and public education endure, while the plunder of occupied lands, suppression of the press and deportation or imprisonment of critics, and the restoration of slavery in the colonies make him a contested figure.
Career timeline
- 1785Commissioned as an artillery second lieutenant in the French royal army.
- 1793Led the recapture of Toulon and was promoted to brigadier general.
- 1795Suppressed the royalist rising of Vendémiaire.
- 1796–1797Commanded the Army of Italy, defeating Austrian forces.
- 1798–1799Commanded the Egyptian and Syrian expedition.
- 1799Overthrew the Directory in the Brumaire coup and became First Consul.
- 1804–1814Ruled as emperor of the French First Empire.
- 1815Returned to power for the Hundred Days and was finally defeated at Waterloo.