Emperor Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the 15th of Augustus 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica. Napoleon was the fourth of eleven children from Carlo Buonaparte (Napoleon had his name changed in 1796) and Letitia Romolino. His father was of lower nobility (Toscana). Napoleon got a military education. Due to his size Napoleon quickly earned himself the nickname "the little corporal". In 1785 Napoleon enlisted in the army of Louis XVI. The French Revolution of 1789 was of little influence on the young Napoleon. Napoleon did neither sympathise with the royal house nor was Napoleon actively involved in politics. Napoleon was at the time in Paris but nothing states Napoleon was a convinced republican.
Up to 1793 his ambitions were mainly aimed at Corsica. In that year Napoleon had to flee, with his entire family, to the French mainland, bacause Napoleon, for the likes of the Corsicans, sympathised with the French republic. Back in France Napoleon got control of the French Republican Army which has to fight the royalists in the south. Napoleon participated in the siege of Avignon and chased the English out of the harbour in Toulon. In 1795 the royalist attempted once more to seize the power in Paris. Napoleon, stationed in the capital at that time, gets the order to defend the Tuileries Palace. His artillery put a quick but bloody end to the revolt. As gratitude for his services Napoleon was promoted to general.
On the 9th of March 1796 Napoleon married Josphine de Beauharnais. Josphine was married before (at the age of 16) to Alexander de Beauharnais who was executed in 1794. This marriage resulted in two children: Eugene en Hortense. Only days after the marriage Napoleon left his bride in Paris to take command of the invasion of Italy . In May 1794 Napoleon walshed through the north of Italy. His progress was however halted in Manua by Austrian defences which hold for 18 months. During springtime the French army heads for Vienna, and the Austrians are forced to accept a peace-offer and Napoleon reigned Italy and the territory west of the Rhine..
After spending the summer, with Josphine, in Monbello, Napoleon returned to Paris where a heroes-welcome awaits him. Napoleon was offered command over the invasion of England, but having seen the state the French fleet was in, Napoleon does not accept. Napoleon did not want to stay in Paris however and in the spring of 1798 Napoleon left, with an army of 35,000 soldiers, from Toulon towards Egypt. By conquering Egypt, the French hoped to extend their influence in the Mediterranean, as well as form a threat to the English in India. The first big battle took place at the pyramids of Cairo. The battle was won by the French and napoleon succeeded, with minimum losses, to gain control of the north of Egypt. On the first of August, Admiral Nelson defeated the French fleet at Aboukir and cut of the French army from its homeland. In 1799 Napoleon handed over the command to general Jean Baptiste Kléber and returns to France.
He landed at the 9th of October 1799 in Fréjus and started his immediate journey to Paris, which was politically ready for a "coup d'etat". On the 9th of October Napoleon overthrew the Government of Directoire and was pronounced "first consul". A position that gave him almost unlimited power and national and international problems are handled effectively by him. Napoleon sent an army over the st-Bernard passage to remove the Austrians (who declared war on France) from Italy. At Marengo the Austrians were defeated and Italy comes once more under French rule.
Towards 1802, Napoleon was more Popular than ever. Napoleon was pronounced Emperor and France was made an Empire. Napoleon delegates a lot of power to many of his family members. On the height of his rule, four European thrones were occupied by his brothers and a brother-in-law. (His brother Jemme, king of Westfallia; his brother Joseph, king of Napels (and Spain); and Louis Napoleon (who was married to his stepdaughter Hortense), king of Holland.
The French people notice little change. the wars continue. In 1803 the war with England was picked up once more. In september the army moved again against Austria which made an alliance with Russia. In the battle of Austerlitz (the top of Napoleons millitary carreer), these allied troops were defeated and the Austrians are once more forced to accept a French peace-offer. The European extension of the empire continued however. In 1806 Napoleon defeated the Prussians and took Berlin. The Battle had meanwhile moved eastwards, direction Poland, when the Russians (a bit on the late side) attempted to come to the rescue of the defeated. The Russians succeeded to halt the French army and the Russian Tsar Alexander I, signed a peace treaty with Napoleon on the 25 June 1807. This divided Europe in two; the Russians ruled in Eastern-Europe and Napoleon the West. When Napoleon conquered Sweden in 1808 he was lord and master of the European mainland.
The English continued to be a nuisance. In October 1805 the French-Spanish fleet was defeated at Trafalgar (Spain) by admiral Nelson. This made it impossible for Napoleon to conquer England. In an attempt to make life difficult for them Napoleon introduced the, so called, "Continental System": A complete blockage on the trade with England by other European states. Napoleon hoped to shut down the English economy and force the English to accept peace on his terms.The plan did not go according to plan, and led only to escalations with Spain , the Vatican and Russia. The continental system is however seen as the prime cause of the fall of the French empire.. The refusal of the Russians to close their harbours for English ships, led to an invasion in 1812. The French Highlights in this war were the battle of Borodino and the occupation of Moscow. Napoleon lost however the majority of his 'Grande Armee' of 500.000 soldiers. The winter appeared; the major ally of the Russians
Napoleons power diminished fast. In 1810 Napoleon had his marriage with Josphine de Beauharnais annulled to marry Marie Louise of Habsburg, daughter of the Austrian Emperor, hoping to gain support from the Habsburgers. In 1813 his father in law declared him war anyway. Napoleon suffered big losses and Paris was occupied on the 31st of March 1814. The poor prognosis for the future made Napoleon abdicate his throne in favour of his son Napoleon II. The allied forces refuse to acknowledge a three year old as emperor and put Louis XVIII on the French throne. Napoleon was banned to Elba. Napoleon returned however after 10 months with an army of of more than a thousand men to France where he reinstalled himself as Emperor. Louis XVIII fled and thus started the second rule of Napoleon, which lasted in total 100 days. Then Napoleon was defeated again at the battle of Waterloo and banned to st.Helens where Napoleon died of cancer in 1815.
The Paris-agreement (1814) resulted in the unison of Belgium and the Netherlands in one kingdom. And William I (son of Stadtholder William V) was pronounced king.