Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the fifteenth of August 1769 years in the city of Ajaccio. His family was of noble origin. However, they lived quite poorly.

His father was a lawyer, and his mother was engaged in raising children. Napoleon is a Corsican by nationality. He first studied at home, and from the age of six he was sent to a local private school.

Parents Carl and Laetitia Bonaparte in addition to Napoleon, they raised five sons and three daughters. The father always wanted his son Napoleon to be a military man. And so when the boy turns ten, he is sent to a French school, and a little later to the Brienne military school. Little Napoleon Bonaparte grows up as a good boy and makes great academic progress.

In 1784 he entered the military academy in Paris... After graduation, young Napoleon received the rank of lieutenant. After Napoleon Bonaparte receives the rank of lieutenant, he goes to serve in the artillery troops.

Young Napoleon preferred solitude, read a lot of historical and geographical books, was interested in military affairs. He wrote essay on the history of the island of Corsica, several stories. He wrote: “ Conversation about love", and " Prophet in disguise", A small work" Earl of Essex". All these works remained in handwritten versions.

A young military man with great joy meets the French revolution in 1784 year. He fully supports her, and becomes a member of the Jacobin Club. Napoleon quickly climbs the corporate ladder. In the spring 1788 took part in the development of defensive line fortifications. He also worked on the theory of militia organization.

In the spring 1792 year, the young officer becomes a member of the Jacobin Club.

For a successful operation in 1793 year, receives the rank of general, takes part in the dispersal of the royalist uprising in 1795 year.
Napoleon wants to declare himself as a person, and therefore he goes on a military expedition to Syria and Egypt. But there the military operation fails, and Napoleon returns to his homeland. This failure is not considered a failure of Napoleon, because by this time he was already at war in Italy with the troops of Suvorov.

Napoleon is not going to stop there. In Paris, after a coup d'état, he achieves the appointment of himself as consul for a life term. And already in 1804 year Napoleon is elected emperor.

Domestic policy and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte was aimed at establishing himself more as emperor. He undertook important reforms and innovations that are valid and supported by the French state to this day.

After the coup in France in 1802 year he was appointed consul, and from 1804 he was already emperor. At the same time, Napoleon and his associates participated in the creation of the Civil Code, which was based on the postulates of Roman law. Some of these innovations still form the basis of state laws.
Napoleon ended anarchy, approved law that secured ownership. French citizens were given equal rights... City halls were established in all settlements, mayors were appointed. The legality of Bonaparte's power was recognized by the Pope.

During Napoleon's rise to power France is at war with England and Austria. France concludes an alliance with Russia, Austria and Prussia.

The first years of the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte are perceived with joy and pride. French citizens are happy to realize that their country is governed by an intelligent and judicious person who, with more and more, is leading his country to power. But the war, which has been going on for twenty years, irritates the bourgeoisie. They are unwilling to spend their money on troops. Bonaparte proclaimed the Continental blockade, which led to the decline of England and its industry. The crisis forced British industrialists and merchants to end their ties with the colonies. Stopped deliveries of goods from there. As a result, supplies to France were cut off. There was a shortage of food and coffee. A period of crisis has come 1810 of the year. But Napoleon is determined to strengthen himself and his country, although there is no obvious threat to France.

He divorces his first wife Marie Louiseand marries the daughter of the Austrian emperor... From this marriage, a boy is born, the future heir.

1812 the year was a turning point in the fate of the French state and Napoleon. And the beginning of the fall of Napoleonic power was his defeat in the war with Russia ... The created coalition, which included Austria along with Sweden, Prussia subjugated to France and Russia defeated the Napoleonic army, contributed to the fall of the Napoleonic Empire. The coalition forces defeated the French army and entered the environs of Paris.

Napoleon was forced to abdicate and sent to Elba... But he spent a little time there, escaping with the help of supporters who feared the return of Bourbon power. Gathering an army on the first spring day 1815 years, he went to Paris, was again captured by the British and exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he spent the rest of his days.

Bonaparte has spent the last six years on the island of Helena. He have cancer, and it is impossible to cure it. Fifth of May 1821 year he dies of arsenic poisoning.

(1769-1821) emperor of France from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815

Historians call Napoleon Bonaparte the great Corsican who attracted the attention of the whole world, although from the very beginning he had nothing but great ambition and natural abilities.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in Corsica in a large family of a poor nobleman Carlo Maria Buonaparte. When he was 10 years old, his father sent him to a military school. The boy showed exceptional ability in mathematics, read a lot, studied excellently in all subjects, except German and Latin. He never learned languages; even in French, when he was already emperor, he made not only grammatical but also semantic mistakes. But Napoleon's memory was amazing. He knew by heart many of the poems of Corneille, Racine, Voltaire. They also write that later, in the army, Napoleon Bonaparte unmistakably called the names of soldiers and officers, remembering in what year and even month they served together, where and in what battalion.

Everyone notes that from childhood he was an unsociable and withdrawn person. But he didn’t let himself be offended and didn’t allow himself to be mocked. They were even afraid of him, despite the fact that he was small in stature and did not differ in special physical strength. He also forced teachers to reckon with themselves. At the age of 11, in response to the teacher's shout: "Who are you!" - Napoleon answered with dignity: "I am a man."

Obviously, Napoleon Bonaparte was still worried that he had no close friends. In 1786, he wrote about himself: "Always alone among people."

In 1784, he was transferred to the Paris military school on the Champ de Mars (it is there to this day). A year later, the future emperor successfully passes his final exams, leaves school with the rank of second lieutenant and goes to serve in an artillery regiment located in Balance, near Lyon. By this time, his father had already died, and he had to take care of the family, which was left almost without a livelihood. I must say that Napoleon Bonaparte has always been a loving and caring son and brother.

In addition to all these positive qualities, historians note his extraordinary capacity for work and exceptional endurance. From childhood, he taught himself to sleep a little, usually got up no later than 4 o'clock in the morning and immediately got down to work. As a real military man, Napoleon Bonaparte believed that every officer should be able to do in the service everything that any soldier has to do, and always set an example in this for other officers. During the exercises, and then on the campaign, he walked along with the soldiers in any bad weather and on any roads. No wonder the soldiers adored their commander and were devoted to him with all their hearts.

Probably, Napoleon Bonaparte would have remained an unknown officer if not for the Great French Revolution and the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. At this time he turned 20 years old; he, without hesitation, took the side of the revolution.

France was divided into several camps. Some, like Napoleon, supported the new order, others wanted to return the old one.

In 1793, he was assigned to command the artillery during the siege of the city of Toulon, which remained in the hands of the supporters of the executed king. They called on the British, Spanish and Italian troops to help themselves.

Napoleon Bonaparte himself developed a simple but very effective plan for the capture of Toulon, and during the siege he showed not only the talent of a commander, but also great courage. They say that a horse was killed under him, his leg was pierced with a bayonet, he received a shell shock, but remained with his soldiers.

The capture of Toulon was a very important victory for the Republic, as the new France began to be called, and for Napoleon Bonaparte it was “the first path to glory,” as Leo Tolstoy said about this episode from his life in the novel War and Peace.

After Toulon, the whole of France learned the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. At 24, he was promoted to brigadier general. From that moment on, Napoleon's military career developed rapidly, and there were changes in his personal life. He marries Josephine Beauharnais, widow of General Beauharnais, who was executed by guillotine by the Revolutionary Tribunal. For Josephine's sake, he parted ways with his first bride, Desiree Clari, who later became Queen of Sweden and Norway.

Immediately after the wedding, Bonaparte rushed to the location of the Italian army, of which he was appointed commander in 1796. In this field, he achieved another success by annexing Northern Italy to France.

Now he has become a very influential man in France and the most famous general. On the streets he was recognized and greeted with enthusiastic shouts. He was flattered by such a confession, but he understood that all his exploits would soon be forgotten if he did not accomplish something great.

Napoleon Bonaparte planned to seize England, but first decided to strike at the English colony - Egypt. He believed in his luck and on a sunny morning on May 19, 1798 set off on a new campaign. French troops captured Cairo and Alexandria, but were never able to subjugate the Egyptian people. All over the country, more and more rebellions arose. In August 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte left the army to another commander, and he himself secretly returned to France.

A month after his return on 18 Brumaire (November 9), 1799, a coup took place, and Napoleon was proclaimed the first consul of the Republic, and 5 years later, in 1804, he became Emperor of France. In the first year of his reign as consul, he revised the French constitution and established a regime of personal power. So far, he succeeded, and by 1807 France had become the largest empire in the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte needed an heir to strengthen and continue the dynasty. In 1809, he divorced Josephine Beauharnais and wanted to marry the daughter of the Russian Emperor Paul I / pavel-i, Catherine, but was refused. On April 1, 1810, Napoleon married the daughter of the Austrian emperor, Marie-Louise.

At this time, his power in Europe was unlimited. At times it seemed that he himself was blinded by his power. Nobody could argue with him. He did not ask anyone else's opinion and only gave orders in a tough, indisputable tone.

Now Napoleon Bonaparte instilled fear in everyone, but often felt it himself. “When the hour of danger comes, everyone will leave me,” he admitted to himself, but he could not stop. England remained his main enemy, he had already subjugated the rest of Europe and forced the European countries to stop trading with England, establishing the so-called "continental blockade". Only Russia did not submit to this.

And Napoleon Bonaparte decided to fight with her, although he understood that this war could be fatal for him. Later, in exile on the island of St. Helena, he admitted that the war with Russia was his fatal mistake. The generals from Napoleon's entourage did not want this war either. And yet it began.

In 1812, the 600-thousand-strong French army, which included the military units of the countries conquered by Napoleon, crossed the Niemen and, without encountering much resistance, moved into the depths of the Russian Empire. It consisted of 12 corps, known for many victories. They were commanded by experienced military leaders - Marshal Davout, "the bravest of the brave" Marshal Ney, one of the best cavalrymen of that time, Marshal Murat and others.

Napoleon Bonaparte no longer doubted his victory. "If I take Kiev, I will hold Russia by the legs, if I capture St. Petersburg, I will take Russia by the head, if I capture Moscow, I will strike Russia in the very heart," he said.

The army of Napoleon Bonaparte captured Vitebsk, Smolensk and was getting closer and closer to Moscow. The main battle of the French and Russian armies took place in September 1812 on the Borodino field, 125 km from Moscow.

After a terrible bloody battle, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, gave the order to retreat, and Napoleon's army approached Moscow. Napoleon stood for a long time on Poklonnaya Hill, waiting for the Russians to present him with the symbolic keys to the city, but did not wait. The scouts who arrived from the city reported that Moscow was empty, all residents had left it.

The emperor gave the order to occupy the city and he himself settled in the Kremlin. Early in the morning he was awakened by an incomprehensible glow. Moscow was on fire.

A partisan war broke out on the territory of Russia occupied by the French. Winter has come, and with it terrible frosts and hunger. Napoleon asked for peace, but Kutuzov refused him this. Then the emperor decided to leave Moscow, and then his army. He changed into civilian clothes and rode off to Warsaw, and from there to France under a false name.

The trip to Russia really turned out to be disastrous for him. This was followed by an uprising in Germany (1813), and on March 31, 1814, the Russian-British allied troops entered Paris. On April 4, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated in favor of his son. However, the allies demanded from him a complete renunciation, which was signed on April And. After that, Napoleon was sent into exile on the island of Elba. He was retained the imperial title and was assigned a monetary pension.

In 1815 he secretly left the island and landed in France. On March 20, 1815, Napoleon I Bonaparte entered Paris. His secondary reign lasted only 100 days.

On June 18, 1815, the French army suffered a crushing defeat at Waterloo. On June 22, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne in favor of his son, who was proclaimed emperor under the name of Napoleon II. After that, Napoleon thought to flee to America, but was captured by the British and sent under escort to St. Helena. There he spent the last six years of his life and died on May 5, 1821. Shortly before his death, Napoleon Bonaparte finished writing his memoirs, which were subsequently published.

The story of Napoleon Bonaparte's meteoric rise to the heights of power over almost all of Europe, most historians prefer to start with the Battle of Toulon. The phrase "This is my Toulon" has become a household name, denoting a successful enterprise (even not necessarily a military one), after which life is rapidly changing for the better.

In contact with

The birth and formation of personality

Having won a convincing victory over the counter-revolutionaries and the British and became a cohort of young generals of the republic, Bonaparte was included in a kind of "black list" of the French Directory that replaced the Convention.

The young man alerted the government with his own courage and ability to instantly make the right military and political decisions. As history has shown, the desire of the government of the first French republic to push such a person into the deepest shadow was justified. However, at the moment of the crisis, it was necessary to resort to the help of this extraordinary person, which destroyed the republic.

Napoleon was born in Genoese-occupied Corsica on May 15, 1769... His parents from the petty but ancient nobility had 13 children, five of whom died in infancy. There is evidence that the young Napoleon was a hyperactive child (historians have recorded his family nickname "Balamut"), who divided his childhood into antics and reading. At the same time, before the start of his studies at school, young Napoleon did not know either Italian or French, but spoke only the Corsican dialect. This fact explains his "indescribable" light accent, which, however, was paid attention only when he began his ascent to power.

Napoleon's career was not only helped by his reading habit and the ability to analyze what he read.... He also received a good education for those times. After elementary school, Bonaparte, already in France, graduated from the following institutions:

• autun College (mainly French);
• brienne le Chateau College (mathematics, history);
• higher educational institution - the future Polytechnic Institute - the Paris Military School (military science, mathematics, artillery, advanced scientific achievements of that time, such as aeronautics).

An excellent education, a passion for both the humanities (military history) and technical sciences in the future will greatly help Bonaparte to combine intuitive solutions with their verified mathematical implementation.

The history of Napoleonic takeoff

The French Revolution gave birth to a galaxy of ambitious young generals. Napoleon stood out against their background by belonging to the nobility and excellent education... The fact that he did not get rid of his accent until the end of his life, and in moments of excitement often switched to his native Corsican dialect, hindered rather than helped his career. However, the young soldier had a great flair for patrons..

During the years of the Convention, he was supported by Lazar Carnot, who also loved mathematics, and the younger brother of the all-powerful Maximilian Robespierre, Augustin. During the bourgeois coup, Bonaparte managed to dissociate himself from his old patrons and get the support of Talien and Barras. This was probably also the reason why governments were reluctant to use his services. So, before the start of the siege of Toulon, Bonaparte was only a major, but for a brilliantly carried out operation he immediately received the primary general rank ("brigadier general") at the age of 24.

But he had to wait for the next rank for more than two years, and on half the content. From 1793 to 1795, Bonaparte considered the possibilities of joining the service of the future implacable enemies of the Emperor Napoleon: the British East India Company and the Russian army.

But when the bourgeois power was put to the test of strength by two revolts at once, royalist (Vendemere) and Jacobin, Napoleon Bonaparte was the only one of the highest military commanders who agreed to suppress these revolts and successfully coped with the task, using artillery against the rebels. The irony of fate lies in the fact that Louis XVI at one time did not dare to give such an order, and after this solution of the problem of riots, Bonaparte not only immediately received the next military rank (divisional general), but also firmly became part of the elite that ruled at that time.

First victories

Within six months after "his Vendemere" Bonaparte was assigned to the Italian army. Having finally got rid of the tutelage of government officials, the young general wins one victory after another.

The winning list starts with the following battles:

• under Montenotta and Millisimo ("six victories in six days");
• near Lodi, near Lonato and near the city of Brescia;
• decisive battles at Castiglion and at Arcole (all - 1796);
• the defeat of the Austrian army at Rivoli, the defeat of the "Papal region" (1797).

Already in these early battles, an interesting tendency manifested itself, which will be destined to characterize almost all battles of the "Napoleonic" era: individual corps of the French army under the command of its future marshals could often suffer annoying defeats (like Junot and Massena already at the first stage of the Italian company), but these lost battles led only to the concentration of troops, led personally by Napoleon, and under his command the French inevitably won victories.

Until 1814, there were only a few battles when the French were under the personal command of Napoleon, and which French (and world) historians rank as "nobody's":

• Preussisch-Eylau (opponents - Russian and Prussian troops, 1807);
• Aspern-Essling (opponents - the Austrian army, 1809);
• Borodino (1812);
• Leipzig (1813).

Interestingly, the Battle of Leipzig is considered to be Napoleon's defeat, but it is, in fact, a mirror image of the Battle of Borodino. At Borodino, the Russians retreated, losing slightly more people than the French, at Leipzig, the French retreated, losing only 10 thousand more than the coalition troops.

Major triumphs

The list of Napoleon's victories in major battles during the same period is much more impressive. The most important of them are battles:

• at Rivoli (1797);
• at Austerlitz (1805, victory over the Russian-Austrian army);
• at Friedland (1807, victory over the Russian-Prussian army);
• under Wagram (1809);
• under Bautzen (1813).

Also, the return of Napoleon from Elba can be attributed to incredible triumphs.: having landed with less than a thousand supporters, the commander on the way to Paris, practically without fighting, annexed an army of almost one hundred thousand. And, of course, the real triumphs in the biography of Napoleon are the days of his coup on 18 Brumaire or November 9, 1799, the concordat with the Catholic Church in the person of the Pope and the coronation day on December 2, 1804.

Personal life

Today, many novels are released about Napoleon's love affairs. It can be assumed that especially during the Italian company he had many mistresses, but few of them remained in history or in the heart of a great man. But here are the women, without whom Napoleon Bonaparte could not have taken place at all as a military-political leader and almost a world leader:

But here's an interesting fact: for the two women who "made" Napoleon, there were also two women in his life who pushed him to death a lot:

• the daughter of the Austrian emperor Maria-Louise (1791−1847), who betrayed him in the days of defeats and forgot about him already during his exile to Elba, in fact, she killed Napoleon's only child;
• countess Maria Walewska (1786−1817) - probably a beautiful Polish woman really loved Bonaparte, becoming his "late passion", but, according to historians, in addition to the objective reasons for the fateful campaign to Russia, Napoleon began it under the constant "pressure" of a beauty who dreamed about free and great Poland.

That's how two "guardian angels" in the love story and personal life of Napoleon found two "demons".

Brief description of Napoleon

According to contemporaries, Bonaparte was distinguished by incredible efficiency (3-4 hours of sleep was enough for him) and strong outbursts of anger, turning into seizures. A detailed description of the first French emperor can be read in the memoirs of his contemporaries, but the best of the artistic ones is the one given in War and Peace.

In short, according to Count Leo Tolstoy, the dominant feature of this person was contempt for humanity in general and for any particular person in particular. But even Leo Tolstoy does not deny Bonaparte the extraordinary speed of information processing and decision-making on this basis.

ital. Napoleone Buonaparte, fr. Napoléon Bonaparte

emperor of the French, military leader and statesman

short biography

An outstanding French statesman, brilliant commander, emperor, was a native of Corsica. There he was born in 1769, on August 15, in the city of Ajaccio. Their noble family did not live well, raised eight children. When Napoleon was 10 years old, he was sent to the French Autun College, but in the same year he ended up at the Brienne Military School. In 1784 he became a student at the Paris Military Academy. Having received the rank of lieutenant upon graduation, from 1785 he began to serve in the artillery troops.

The French Revolution was greeted by Napoleon Bonaparte with great enthusiasm, in 1792 he became a member of the Jacobin Club. For the capture of Toulon, occupied by the British, Bonaparte, who was appointed chief of artillery and carried out a brilliant operation, was awarded the rank of brigadier general in 1793. This event became a turning point in his biography, becoming the starting point of a brilliant military career. In 1795, Napoleon distinguished himself during the dispersal of the Parisian revolt of the royalists, after which he was appointed commander of the Italian army. Undertaken under his leadership in 1796-1797. the Italian campaign demonstrated his military leadership talents in all their glory and glorified throughout the continent.

Napoleon considered his first victories sufficient reason to declare himself as an independent person. Therefore, the Directory willingly sent him on a military expedition to distant lands - Syria and Egypt (1798-1799). It ended in defeat, but it was not regarded as a personal failure of Napoleon, since he left the army without permission to fight the army in Italy.

When Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris in October 1799, the Directory regime was in the midst of a crisis. The immensely popular general, who had a loyal army, did not find it difficult to carry out a coup d'état and proclaim a consular regime. In 1802 Napoleon seeks to be appointed consul for a life term, and in 1804 he is proclaimed emperor.

The internal policy pursued by him was aimed at the comprehensive strengthening of personal power, which he called the guarantor of the preservation of revolutionary gains. He undertook a number of important reforms in the legal and administrative spheres. Many Napoleonic innovations formed the basis for the functioning of modern states and are still valid.

When Napoleon came to power, his country was at war with England and Austria. Heading for a new Italian campaign, his army victoriously eliminated the threat to the borders of France. Moreover, as a result of hostilities, almost all the countries of Western Europe were subordinated to it. In those territories that were not directly part of France, Napoleon created kingdoms subject to him, where members of the imperial family were rulers. Austria, Prussia and Russia were forced to conclude an alliance with her.

The first years of being in power, Napoleon was perceived by the population as the savior of the homeland, a man born of the revolution; his entourage consisted largely of representatives of the lower social strata. The victories aroused a sense of pride in the country, national upsurge. However, the war, which lasted for about 20 years, greatly tired the population, and in 1810 the economic crisis began again.

The bourgeoisie was dissatisfied with the need to spend money on wars, especially since external threats had long been a thing of the past. It did not escape her attention that an important factor in foreign policy was Napoleon's desire to expand the framework of his power, to protect the interests of the dynasty. The emperor even divorced Josephine, his first wife (there were no children in their marriage), and in 1810 he tied fate with Marie Louise, the daughter of the Austrian emperor, which caused the discontent of many fellow citizens, although an heir was born from this union.

The collapse of the empire began in 1812 after the Russian troops defeated the Napoleonic army. Then the anti-French coalition, which, in addition to Russia, included Prussia, Sweden, Austria, defeated the imperial army in 1814 and, having entered Paris, forced Napoleon I to abdicate. Retaining the title of emperor, he ended up as an exile on a small Fr. Elba in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, French society and the army were discontent and fearful that the Bourbons and the emigrated nobility returned to the country, hoping for the return of their former privileges and property. Having escaped from the Elbe, on March 1, 1815, Bonaparte moved to Paris, where he was greeted by the enthusiastic cries of the townspeople, and resumed hostilities. This period of his biography remained in history under the name "One Hundred Days". The Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815 led to the final and irrevocable defeat of Napoleon's troops.

The deposed emperor was sent to the Atlantic Ocean on the island of St. Helena, where he was a prisoner of the British. The last 6 years of his life were spent there, filled with humiliation and suffering from cancer. It was from this disease that 51-year-old Napoleon was believed to have died on May 5, 1821. However, later French researchers came to the conclusion that the true cause of his death was arsenic poisoning.

Napoleon I Bonaparte went down in history as an outstanding, ambiguous personality with brilliant military leadership, diplomatic, intellectual abilities, amazing efficiency and phenomenal memory. The results of the revolution, consolidated by this major statesman, proved beyond the power to destroy the restored monarchy of the Bourbons. An entire era was named after him; his fate was a real shock for his contemporaries, including people of art; military operations carried out under his leadership have become pages of military textbooks. The civil norms of democracy in Western countries are still largely based on the "Napoleonic Law".

Biography from Wikipedia

Napoleon I Bonaparte (Italian Napoleone Buonaparte, French Napoléon Bonaparte; August 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica - May 5, 1821, Longwood, Saint Helena) - Emperor of the French (French Empereur des Français) in 1804-1814 and 1815, commander and statesman the figure who laid the foundations of the modern French state, one of the most prominent figures in the history of the West.

Napoleone Buonaparte (as he called himself in the Corsican manner until 1796) began his professional military service in 1785 with the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery. During the Great French Revolution, he reached the rank of brigadier general after the capture of Toulon on December 18, 1793. Under the Directory, he became a divisional general and commander of the military forces of the rear after playing a key role in the defeat of the revolt of the 13th Vendemier in 1795. On March 2, 1796, he was appointed commander of the Italian army. In 1798-1799 he headed a military expedition to Egypt.

In November 1799 (18 Brumaire) carried out a coup d'état and became the first consul. In subsequent years, he carried out a number of political and administrative reforms and gradually achieved dictatorial power.

May 18, 1804 was proclaimed emperor. The victorious Napoleonic wars, especially the Austrian campaign of 1805, the Prussian and Polish campaigns of 1806-1807, and the Austrian campaign of 1809, helped transform France into the main power on the continent. However, Napoleon's unsuccessful rivalry with the "ruler of the seas" Great Britain did not allow this status to be fully consolidated.

The defeat of Napoleon I in the 1812 war against Russia led to the formation of an anti-French coalition of European powers. Having lost the "Battle of the Nations" at Leipzig, Napoleon could no longer resist the united army of the Allies. After the entry of the coalition troops into Paris, he abdicated the throne on April 6, 1814 and went into exile on the island of Elba.

He returned to the French throne in March 1815 (for a hundred days). The defeat at Waterloo forced him to abdicate a second time on June 22, 1815.

His last years he lived on the island of St. Helena in captivity of the British. His ashes from 1840 are in the House of Invalids in Paris.

early years

Origin

Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, which for a long time was under the rule of the Republic of Genoa. In 1755, Corsica liberated itself from Genoese domination and since that time has actually existed as an independent state under the leadership of the local landowner Pasquale Paoli, whose close assistant was Napoleon's father. In 1768, the Republic of Genoa transferred its rights to Corsica to the French king Louis XV for 40 million livres. In May 1769, at the Battle of Ponte Nuovo, French troops defeated the Corsican rebels. Paoli and 340 of his associates emigrated to England. Napoleon's parents remained in Corsica, he himself was born 3 months after these events. Paoli remained his idol until the 1790s.

The Buonaparte family belonged to the minor aristocrats, Napoleon's ancestors came from Florence and lived in Corsica from 1529. Carlo Buonaparte, Napoleon's father, served as a judge and had an annual income of 22.5 thousand livres, which he tried to increase through litigation with neighbors for property. Napoleon's mother, Letizia Ramolino, was a very attractive and strong-willed woman, her marriage to Carlo was arranged by their parents. As the daughter of the late Inspector General of Corsican Bridges and Roads, Letizia brought with her a great dowry and position in society. Napoleon was the second of 13 children, five of whom died at an early age. In addition to Napoleon, 4 of his brothers and 3 sisters survived to adulthood:

• Joseph (1768-1844)
• Lucien (1775-1840)
• Eliza (1777-1820)
• Louis (1778-1846)
• Pauline (1780-1825)
• Carolina (1782-1839)
• Jerome (1784-1860)

The name his parents gave to Napoleon was quite rare: it is found in Machiavelli's book on the history of Florence; the same was the name of one of his great-uncles.

Childhood and youth

Casa Buonaparte - Napoleon's home

Little is known about Napoleon's early childhood. As a child, he suffered from a dry cough, which could have been bouts of tuberculosis. According to his mother and older brother Joseph, Napoleon read a lot, especially historical literature. He found himself a small room on the third floor of the house and rarely came down from there, missing family meals. Napoleon later claimed to have read the New Héloise for the first time at the age of nine. However, his childhood nickname "Balamut" (Italian "Rabulione") does not agree well with this image of a frail introvert.

The native language of Napoleon was the Corsican dialect of Italian. He learned to read and write Italian in elementary school and only started learning French when he was almost ten years old. Throughout his life, he spoke with a strong Italian accent. Thanks to the cooperation with the French and the patronage of the Governor of Corsica, Count de Marbeuf, Carlo Buonaparte was able to obtain royal scholarships for his two eldest sons, Joseph and Napoleon. In 1777, Carlo was elected to Paris from the Corsican nobility. In December 1778, going to Versailles, he took with him both sons and brother-in-law Fesch, who had won a scholarship to the Aix seminary. The boys were admitted to a college in Autun for four months, mainly for the purpose of teaching French.

In May 1779, Napoleon entered the cadet school (college) in Brienne-le-Chateau. Napoleon had no friends at the college, since he came from a not too rich and noble family, and besides, he was a Corsican with a pronounced patriotism for his native island and dislike for the French as the enslavers of Corsica. The bullying of some of his classmates made him withdraw into himself and devote more time to reading. He read Corneille, Racine and Voltaire, his favorite poet was Ossian. Napoleon was especially fond of mathematics and history, he was fascinated by antiquity and such historical figures as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Napoleon achieved particular success in mathematics, history and geography; on the contrary, in Latin and German he was weak. He also made quite a few mistakes in writing, but his love of reading made his style much better. The conflict with some teachers made him even popular among his peers, and gradually he became their informal leader.

Back in Brienne, Napoleon decided to specialize in artillery. In this branch of the army, his mathematical talents were in demand, here there were the greatest career opportunities, regardless of origin. Having passed the final exams, in October 1784 Napoleon was admitted to the Paris military school. There he studied mathematics, natural sciences, horse riding, military technology, tactics, including the pioneering work of Gibert and Griboval. As before, he shocked the teachers with his admiration for Paoli, Corsica, and dislike for France. He was lonely, he had no friends, but he had enemies. Pico de Picadu, sitting between Napoleon and Picard de Felippo, fled from his seat as he was constantly hit in their hidden fights.

In total, Napoleon was not in Corsica for almost eight years. Studying in France made him a Frenchman - he moved here at an early age and spent many years here, French cultural influence spread at that time to the rest of Europe and the emerging French identity was very attractive.

Military career

Carier start

In 1782, Napoleon's father received a concession and a royal grant to establish a nursery (fr. Pépinière) of mulberry trees. Three years later, the parliament of Corsica withdrew the concession, allegedly due to non-fulfillment of its conditions. At the same time, the Buonaparte family had large debts and an obligation to return the grant. On February 24, 1785, his father died, and Napoleon assumed the role of head of the family, although according to the rules, his older brother Joseph should have done it. On September 28 of the same year, he completed his education ahead of schedule and on November 3 began his professional career in the artillery regiment de la Fere in Valence with the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery (the officer's patent was dated September 1, the rank was finally confirmed on January 10, 1786 after a three-month probationary period) ...

The expenses and litigation over the nursery completely upset the family's financial affairs. In September 1786, Napoleon requested a leave of absence, which was then extended twice at his request. While on vacation, Napoleon tried to settle the family's affairs, including traveling to Paris. In June 1788, he returned to military service and went to Oson, where his regiment was transferred. To help his mother, he had to send her part of his salary. He lived extremely poorly, ate once a day, but tried not to show his depressing financial situation. In the same year, Napoleon attempted to enroll in the well-paid officer service in the Russian Imperial Army, which recruited foreign volunteers for the war against the Ottoman Empire. However, according to the order received the day before, the recruitment of foreigners was made only with a decrease in rank, which did not suit Napoleon.

In April 1789, Napoleon was sent as deputy commander to Seur to suppress a hunger riot. The French Revolution, which began in July with the capture of the Bastille, forced Napoleon to choose between his dedication to Corsican freedom and his French identity. However, problems with the nursery occupied him at that time more than the unfolding political upheavals. Although Napoleon participated in the suppression of the revolts, he was one of the early supporters of the Society of Friends of the Constitution. In Ajaccio, his brother Lucien joined the Jacobin club. In August 1789, having again received sick leave, Buonaparte went home, where he stayed for the next eighteen months and actively participated with his brothers in the local political struggle on the side of the revolutionary forces. Napoleon and Salichetti, a member of the Constituent Assembly, supported the transformation of Corsica into a department of France. Paoli, seeing this as a consolidation of the power of Paris, protested from exile. In July 1790, Paoli returned to the island and led the case for secession from France. Buonaparte, on the other hand, remained loyal to the central revolutionary authorities, approving of the nationalization of church property, unpopular in Corsica.

In February 1791, Napoleon returned to the service, taking with him his younger brother Louis (for whose studies he paid from his salary, Louis had to sleep on the floor). On June 1, 1791, he was promoted to lieutenant (with seniority from April 1) and transferred back to Valence. In August of the same year, he again received leave to Corsica (for four months, with the condition that if he did not return before January 10, 1792, he would be considered a deserter). Arriving in Corsica, Napoleon again plunged into politics and was elected a lieutenant colonel in the emerging National Guard. He never returned to Valence. Having come into conflict with Paoli, in May 1792 he left for Paris at the disposal of the War Office. In June, he received the rank of captain (although Napoleon insisted that he be confirmed with the rank of lieutenant colonel, received in the National Guard). From the moment he entered the service in September 1785 until September 1792, Napoleon spent a total of about four years on leave. In Paris, Napoleon witnessed the events of June 20, August 10 and September 2, supported the overthrow of the king, but spoke out disapprovingly of his weakness and the indecision of his defenders.

In October 1792, Napoleon returned to Corsica to take up his duties as Lieutenant Colonel of the National Guard. Buonaparte's first combat experience was participation in an expedition to the islands of Maddalena and Santo Stefano, which belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia, in February 1793. The landing force from Corsica was quickly defeated, but Captain Buonaparte, who commanded a small artillery battery of two cannons and a mortar, distinguished himself: he made every effort to save the guns, but they still had to be abandoned on the shore.

In the same 1793, Paoli was accused before the Convention of seeking to achieve the independence of Corsica from republican France. The accusations involved Napoleon's brother Lucien. As a result, there was a final break between the Buonaparte and Paoli family. The Buonaparte openly opposed Paoli's course towards the full independence of Corsica and, in view of the threat of political persecution, in June 1793, the whole family moved to France. In the same month, Paoli recognized George III as king of Corsica.

Napoleon was assigned to the revolutionary Italian army, then to the Army of the South. At the end of July, he wrote a Jacobin-style pamphlet Le Souper de Beaucaire, published with the help of the convention commissioners Salichetti and the younger Robespierre, and gave the author a reputation as a revolutionary soldier.

In September 1793, Buonaparte arrived in the army besieging Toulon, occupied by the British and royalists, in October he was promoted to battalion commander (corresponding to the rank of major). In Toulon, he contracted scabies, which plagued him in the following years. Appointed chief of artillery, Buonaparte carried out a brilliant military operation in December. Toulon was taken, and at the age of 24 he received the rank of brigadier general from the commissioners of the Convention. A new rank was awarded to him on December 22, 1793, and in February 1794 - approved by the Convention.

Having been appointed on February 7 to the post of chief artilleryman of the Italian army, Napoleon participated in a five-week campaign against the kingdom of Piedmont, got acquainted with the command of the Italian army and the theater of operations, and sent proposals to the Ministry of War on organizing an offensive in Italy. In early May, Napoleon returned to Nice and Antibes to prepare a military expedition to Corsica. At the same time, he began to look after Desiree Clari, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a late millionaire, a cloth and soap merchant. In August 1794, Desiree's older sister married Joseph Buonaparte, bringing with her a dowry of 400 thousand livres (which finally put an end to the financial problems of the Buonaparte family).

After the Thermidorian coup, Buonaparte was arrested due to his connections with the younger Robespierre (August 9, 1794, for two weeks). After his release, he continued to prepare for the conquest of Corsica from Paoli and the British. On March 3 (according to other sources, 11), 1795, Napoleon, as part of an expedition of 15 ships and 16,900 soldiers, sailed from Marseilles, but this flotilla was soon scattered by a British squadron.

In the spring of the same year he was appointed to the Vendée to pacify the rebels. Arriving in Paris on May 25, Napoleon learned that he had been assigned to command the infantry, while he was an artilleryman. Buonaparte refused to accept the appointment, citing health conditions. In June, Desiree broke off relations with him, according to E. Roberts, under the influence of her mother, who believed that Buonaparte alone in the family was enough. Half-paid, Napoleon continues to write letters to Minister of War Carnot regarding the actions of the Italian army. In the absence of any prospects, he even considered the possibility of joining the service of the East India Company. Having a lot of free time, he visited the "Cafe de la Regence", where he played chess with enthusiasm. In August 1795, the War Office required him to undergo a medical commission to confirm the illness. Turning to his political connections, Napoleon received a position in the topographic department of the Committee of Public Safety, which at that time played the role of the headquarters of the French army. On September 15, he was excluded from the list of active generals for refusing to go to Vendée, but almost immediately reinstated.

At a critical moment for the Thermidorians, Napoleon was appointed by Barras as his assistant and distinguished himself in dispersing the royalist rebellion in Paris on October 5, 1795 (Napoleon used cannons on the streets of the capital against the rebels), was promoted to the rank of divisional general and appointed commander of the rear. Graduated in 1785 from the Paris military school to the army with the rank of junior lieutenant, Buonaparte went through the entire hierarchy of rank-making in the army of the then France in 10 years.

At 10 o'clock in the evening on March 9, 1796, Buonaparte was married to the widow of the General Count de Beauharnais, who was executed during the Jacobin terror, Josephine, the former mistress of one of the then rulers of France - Barras. The witnesses at the wedding were Barras, Napoleon Lemarua's adjutant, Talien's husband and wife, and the bride's children, Eugene and Hortense. The groom was two hours late for the wedding, being very busy with his new appointment. Some consider the position of commander of the Italian army of the republic to be a wedding gift from Barras to the young general (the appointment took place on March 2, 1796), but Carnot offered Buonaparte this position. On March 11, Napoleon left for the army. In a letter to Josephine, written on the road, he omitted the "u" in his last name, deliberately emphasizing that he preferred French in himself over Italian and Corsican.

Italian campaign

Having taken over the leadership of the army, Bonaparte found it in a difficult financial situation. Salaries were not paid, ammunition and supplies were almost never brought. Napoleon managed to partially solve these problems, including at the cost of a real war with unscrupulous army suppliers, but he understood that he needed to go to the enemy's territory and organize the supply of the army at its expense.

Bonaparte based his operational plan on the speed of action and on the concentration of forces against enemies who adhered to a cordon strategy and disproportionately stretched their troops. He himself, on the contrary, adhered to the strategy of "central position", in which his divisions were within a daily march from each other. Yielding to the allies in numbers, he concentrated his troops for decisive battles and received a numerical superiority in them. With a quick offensive during the Montenotte campaign in April 1796, he managed to separate and defeat the troops of the Sardinian general Colli and the Austrian general Beaulieu.

The Sardinian king, frightened by the successes of the French, concluded an armistice with them on April 28, which gave Bonaparte several cities and a free passage across the Po River. On May 7, he crossed this river, and by the end of May he cleared almost all of Northern Italy of the Austrians. The dukes of Parma and Modena were forced to conclude an armistice, bought by a large sum of money; a huge contribution of 20 million francs was also taken from Milan. The Pope's possessions were overrun by French troops; he had to pay 21 million francs in indemnity and provide the French with a significant number of works of art.

From the moment of his departure from Paris, Napoleon bombarded Josephine with letters, asking to come to him. However, at this time in Paris, Josephine was carried away by the young officer Hippolyte Charles. In her letters, Josephine explained the delay with her pregnancy; at the end of May, she completely stopped responding to Napoleon's pleas, leading him to despair. Finally, in June, Josephine left for Italy, accompanied by the same Hippolyte Charles, Joseph and Junot. However, these events did not prevent Napoleon from leading the army, since one of his talents was the ability to completely separate his personal problems from the professional sphere of activity: “I close one box and open another,” he said.

Only the fortress of Mantua and the citadel of Milan remained in the hands of the Austrians. Mantua was besieged on June 3. On June 29, the Milan citadel fell. Wurmser's new Austrian army, arriving from Tyrol, could not improve the state of affairs; after a series of setbacks, Wurmser himself with part of his forces was forced to lock himself up in Mantua, which he had previously tried in vain to free from the siege. In November, new troops were moved to Italy under the command of Alvinzi and Davidovich. As a result of the battles at Arcola on November 15-17, Alvinzi was forced to retreat. Napoleon showed personal heroism by leading one of the attacks on the Arkolsky Bridge with a banner in his hands. His adjutant Muiron died, covering him with his body from enemy bullets.

After the Battle of Rivoli on January 14-15, 1797, the Austrians were finally driven out of Italy, suffering huge losses. The position of Mantua, where widespread disease and hunger raged, became desperate, on February 2, Wurmser surrendered. On February 17, Bonaparte moved to Vienna. The weakened and frustrated troops of the Austrians could no longer offer him stubborn resistance. By early April, the French were only 100 kilometers from the Austrian capital, but the forces of the Italian army were also running out. On April 7, a truce was concluded, on April 18, peace negotiations began in Leoben.

While the peace negotiations were going on, Bonaparte pursued his own military and administrative line, regardless of the instructions sent to him by the Directory. Using as a pretext the uprising that began on April 17 in Verona, on May 2, he declared war on Venice, and on May 15 he occupied it with troops. June 29 declared the independence of the Cisalpine Republic, made up of Lombardy, Mantua, Modena and some other adjacent possessions; at the same time, Genoa was occupied, called the Ligurian Republic. Showing his genius in deep understanding of propaganda mechanisms, Napoleon methodically used the victories of the army to create political capital. On July 17, Courier of the Italian Army began to appear, followed by France through the Eyes of the Italian Army and The Journal of Bonaparte and the Virtuous People. These newspapers were widely distributed not only in the army, but also in France itself.

As a result of his victories, Napoleon received significant spoils of war, which he generously distributed among his soldiers, while not forgetting himself and his family members. Part of the funds went to the Directory, which was in dire financial straits. Napoleon provided direct military support to the Directory on the eve and during the events of 18 Fructidore (September 3-4), revealing the treachery of Pishegru and sending Augereau to Paris. On October 18, in Campo Formio, peace was concluded with Austria, ending the War of the first coalition, from which France emerged victorious. When signing the peace, Napoleon completely ignored the position of the Directory, forcing it to ratify the treaty in the form he needed. On December 5, Napoleon returned to France and settled in a house on Victory Street (fr. Rue Victoire), renamed in his honor. Napoleon bought the house for 52.4 thousand francs, and Josephine spent another 300 thousand francs on its decoration.

Egyptian campaign

As a result of the Italian campaign, Napoleon gained great popularity in France. On December 25, 1797, he was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Sciences for Physics and Mathematics, Section of Mechanics. On January 10, 1798, the Directory appointed him commander of the English army. It was planned that Napoleon would organize an expeditionary force to land on the British Isles. However, after weeks of inspecting the invasion forces and analyzing the situation, Napoleon recognized the landing as unfeasible and put forward a plan to conquer Egypt, which he saw as an important outpost in the attack on British positions in India. On March 5, Napoleon received carte blanche to organize the expedition and actively set about preparing it. Remembering that Alexander the Great was accompanied by scientists on his eastern campaigns, Napoleon took with him 167 geographers, botanists, chemists and representatives of other sciences (of which 31 were members of the Institute).

A significant problem was the Royal British Navy, whose squadron, under the command of Nelson, entered the Mediterranean. Expeditionary troops (35 thousand people) secretly left Toulon on May 19, 1798 and, avoiding meeting with Nelson, crossed the Mediterranean Sea in six weeks.

The first target Napoleon identified Malta - the location of the Order of Malta. After the capture of Malta in June 1798, Napoleon left a four thousandth garrison on the island and moved with the fleet further to Egypt.

On July 1, Napoleon's troops began landing near Alexandria, and the very next day the city was captured. The army moved to Cairo. On July 21, the French troops met with the army assembled by the Mameluke leaders Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey, the Battle of the Pyramids took place. Thanks to their enormous advantage in tactics and military training, the French completely defeated the Mameluk troops with minor losses.

On July 25, from the accidentally dropped words of his adjutant, Bonaparte learned what had long been gossiped in Parisian society - that Josephine was unfaithful to him. The news astonished Napoleon. “From that moment on, idealism left his life, and in subsequent years his selfishness, suspicion and egocentric ambition became even more noticeable. All of Europe was destined to feel the destruction of Bonaparte's family happiness. ".

On August 1, the British squadron under the command of Nelson, after a two-month search in the Mediterranean Sea, finally overtook the French fleet in the Gulf of Aboukir. As a result of the battle, the French lost almost all of their ships (including the flagship "Orient", which carried 60 million francs in Maltese indemnity), the survivors had to return to France. Napoleon was cut off in Egypt, and the British gained control of the Mediterranean.

On August 22, 1798, Napoleon signed a decree establishing the Institute of Egypt, consisting of 36 people. One of the results of the Institute's work was the monumental Description of Egypt, which created the preconditions for modern Egyptology. The Rosetta stone, discovered during the expedition, opened the way for deciphering the ancient Egyptian writing.

After the capture of Cairo, Napoleon sent a detachment of 3 thousand people under the leadership of Deset and Davout to conquer Upper Egypt, and in the meantime he began active and in many ways successful measures to subjugate the country and attract the sympathies of influential layers of the local population. Napoleon tried to find an understanding with the Islamic clergy, but nevertheless, on the night of October 21, an uprising broke out against the French in Cairo: about 300 Frenchmen were killed, more than 2,500 rebels were killed in the suppression of the uprising and executed after its completion. By the end of November, calm was established in Cairo; Opening the amusement garden on November 30, Napoleon met Pauline Fouret, the twenty-year-old wife of an officer whom Napoleon immediately sent on a mission to France.

Encouraged by the British, Porta began to prepare an offensive against the French positions in Egypt. Based on his principle "attack is the best defense", in February 1799 Napoleon began a campaign against Syria. He stormed Gaza and Jaffa, but was unable to capture Acra, which was supplied by the British fleet from the sea, and Picard de Felippo fortified on land. The retreat began on May 20, 1799. Napoleon was still able to defeat the Turks who were stationed near Aboukir (July 25), but realized that he was trapped. On 23 August he sailed secretly for France on the frigate Muiron, accompanied by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Monge and Berthollet, throwing an army against General Kleber. Having happily passed the meeting with the British ships, Napoleon returned to France in the aura of the conqueror of the East.

Arriving in Paris on October 16, Napoleon discovered that during his absence Josephine had bought the Malmaison estate for 325 thousand francs (which she had occupied). After the scandal over the infidelity of Josephine (according to E. Roberts, partially staged by Napoleon), reconciliation followed. In the further family life, Josephine remained faithful to her husband, which cannot be said about him.

Consulate

Coup 18 Brumaire and the Temporary Consulate

While Bonaparte was with troops in Egypt, the French government found itself in a crisis situation. The European monarchies formed a second coalition against Republican France. The Directory could not ensure the stability of the republic within the framework of the norms of the current constitution and increasingly relied on the army. In Italy, the Russian-Austrian troops under the command of Suvorov liquidated all of Napoleon's acquisitions, and even there was a threat of their invasion of France. In the conditions of the crisis, emergency measures were taken, reminiscent of the times of the terror of 1793. To prevent the "Jacobin" threat and give more stability to the regime, a conspiracy was formed, which even included the directors Sieyès and Ducos themselves. The conspirators were looking for a "saber" and turned to Bonaparte as a man who matched them in popularity and military reputation. Napoleon, on the one hand, did not want to be compromised (contrary to his custom, he hardly wrote letters these days); on the other hand, he actively participated in the preparation of the coup.

The conspirators managed to win over most of the generals to their side. On 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), the Council of Elders, in which the conspirators had a majority, adopted decrees transferring the meetings of the two chambers to Saint-Cloud and the appointment of Bonaparte as commander of the Seine department. Sieyès and Ducos immediately resigned, and Barras did the same, thereby ending the Directory and creating a vacuum of executive power. However, the Council of Five Hundred, which met on November 10, in which the influence of the Jacobins was strong, refused to approve the required decree. Its members attacked Bonaparte with threats, who entered the meeting hall with weapons and without invitation. Then, at the call of Lucien, the former chairman of the Council of Five Hundred, soldiers under the command of Murat burst into the hall and dispersed the meeting. On the same evening, it was possible to collect the remnants of the Council (about 50 people) and "adopt" the necessary decrees on the establishment of a temporary consulate and commission to develop a new constitution.

Three temporary consuls were appointed (Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos). Ducos offered the presidency to Bonaparte "by right of conquest", but he refused in favor of a daily rotation. The task of the temporary consulate was to develop and adopt a new constitution. Under pressure from Bonaparte, her project was developed in five weeks. In those few weeks, he was able to attract many of Sieyes's previous supporters and introduce fundamental amendments to his draft constitution. Sieyès, having received 350 thousand francs and real estate in Versailles and Paris, did not mind. According to the draft, the legislative power was divided between the Council of State, the Tribunate, the Legislative Corps and the Senate, which made it helpless and clumsy. The executive power, on the contrary, gathered in one fist of the first consul, that is, Bonaparte, appointed for ten years. The second and third consuls (Cambaceres and Lebrun) had only advisory votes. Formal elections for the three consuls took place on 12 December.

The Constitution was promulgated on December 13, 1799 and approved by the people at the plebiscite of the VIII year of the Republic (according to official data, about 3 million votes against 1.5 thousand, in reality the constitution was supported by about 1.55 million people, the rest of the votes were falsified). On February 19, 1800, Napoleon left the Luxembourg Palace and settled in the Tuileries.

Ten-year consulate

At the time of Napoleon's coming to power, France was in a state of war with Great Britain and Austria, which in 1799, as a result of Suvorov's Italian campaign, regained Northern Italy. Napoleon's new Italian campaign resembled the first. In May 1800, having crossed the Alps in ten days, the French army unexpectedly appeared in Northern Italy. At the battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800, Napoleon first yielded to the pressure of the Austrians under the command of Melas, but a counterattack by the arrived Dese corrected the situation (Dese himself died). The victory at Marengo made it possible to begin negotiations for peace in Leoben, but it took more of Moreau's victory at Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800, for the threat to the French borders to be finally eliminated.

The Luneville Peace, concluded on February 9, 1801, marked the beginning of French domination not only in Italy, but also in Germany. A year later (March 27, 1802), the Peace of Amiens was concluded with Great Britain, which ended the war of the Second Coalition. However, the Peace of Amiens did not eliminate the deep contradictions between France and Great Britain and therefore was fragile. The terms of the peace provided for the return of France to her colonies occupied by England. In an effort to restore and expand the colonial empire, under the terms of the treaty in San Ildefonso, Napoleon acquired Louisiana from Spain. In March 1802, he dispatched an expedition of 25,000 soldiers under the command of his son-in-law Leclerc to reclaim San Domingo from the rebellious slaves led by Toussaint Louverture.

Administrative and legal innovations of Napoleon laid the foundation of the modern state, many of them are still valid today. Becoming the first consul, Napoleon radically changed the state structure of the country; In 1800, he carried out an administrative reform, establishing the institution of prefect departments and sub-prefects of districts accountable to the government. Mayors were appointed to cities and villages. The administrative reform made it possible to solve those issues for which the local authorities were responsible, and which the Directory could not previously solve - tax collection and recruitment.

In 1800, the Bank of France was established to store the gold reserve and issue money (this function was transferred to it in 1803). Initially, the bank was governed by 15 elected board members from among the shareholders, but in 1806 the government appointed a manager (Crete) and two deputies, and the 15 board members included three general tax collectors.

Fully aware of the importance of influencing public opinion, Napoleon closed 60 of the 73 Parisian newspapers and put the rest under government control. A powerful police force was created, led by Fouche and an extensive secret service, led by Savary.

In March 1802, Napoleon removed many Republican opposition supporters from the legislature. Gradually there was a return to monarchical forms of government. The address to "you", adopted during the years of the revolution, disappeared from everyday life. Napoleon allowed part of the emigrants to return, subject to the swearing of an oath of allegiance to the constitution. Liveries, official ceremonies, palace hunting, and masses in Saint-Cloud returned to everyday life. Despite the objections of the Council of State, Napoleon introduced the hierarchically organized Order of the Legion of Honor (May 19, 1802) instead of the personalized weapon awarded during the revolution. But, attacking the "left" opposition, Bonaparte, at the same time, tried to preserve the gains of the revolution.

In 1801, Napoleon concluded a concordat with the Pope. Rome recognized the new French government, and Catholicism was declared the religion of the majority of the French. At the same time, freedom of religion was preserved. The appointment of bishops and the activities of the church were made dependent on the government.

These and other measures forced the opponents of Napoleon "on the left" to declare him a traitor to the Revolution, although he considered himself a faithful successor of its ideas. Napoleon feared the Jacobins more than the royalist conspirators because of their ideology, knowledge of the mechanisms of power and excellent organization. When the "infernal machine" exploded on the Rue Saint-Nises on December 24, 1800, on the rue Saint-Nises, along which Napoleon was going to the Opera, he used this attempt as a pretext for reprisals against the Jacobins, although Fouche provided him with evidence of the guilt of the royalists.

Napoleon was able to consolidate the main revolutionary gains (the right to property, equality before the law, equality of opportunity), putting an end to revolutionary anarchy. In the minds of the French, well-being and stability were increasingly linked to his presence at the helm of the state, which contributed to Bonaparte's next step in strengthening personal power - the transition to a life-long consulate.

Life consulate

Bonaparte is the first consul. Ingres (1803-1804)

In 1802, Napoleon, relying on the results of the plebiscite, passed through the Senate a Senate consultant on the life of his powers (August 2, 1802). The first consul received the right to present his successor to the Senate, which brought him closer to restoring the hereditary principle.

On April 7, 1803, paper money was abolished; the silver franc, divided into 100 centimes, became the main currency; simultaneously introduced gold coins of 20 and 40 francs. The metal franc established by Napoleon was in circulation until 1928.

Having adopted a state with a deplorable financial condition, Napoleon and his financial advisers completely overhauled the system of collecting taxes and spending funds. The normal functioning of the financial system was ensured by the creation of two opposing and at the same time cooperating ministries: finance and treasury, headed by Gaudin and Barbet-Marbois, respectively. The finance minister was responsible for budget receipts, the treasury minister was responsible for spending funds; expenditures had to be approved by law or ministerial decree, and they were closely monitored.

Napoleon's foreign policy was to ensure the primacy of the French industrial and financial bourgeoisie in the European market. This was hindered by British capital, the predominance of which was due to the industrial revolution that had already taken place in Great Britain. Competition between the two countries resulted in their violation of the terms of the Treaty of Amiens. The British refused to evacuate their troops from Malta, as stipulated by the treaty. Napoleon, in turn, occupied Elba, Piedmont and Parma, and also signed an act of mediation and a military alliance with the Swiss cantons. Preparing for the inevitable war, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States. Like Leclerc's expedition to Haiti, Napoleon's colonial projects generally failed.

20 gold francs 1803 - Napoleon as first consul

By May 1803, relations between Great Britain and France had deteriorated so much that the British recalled their ambassador; On May 16, an order was issued to seize French ships in British ports and on the high seas, and on May 18, Great Britain declared war on France. Napoleon moved the French army to the Duchy of Hanover, which belonged to the British king. On July 4, the Hanoverian army surrendered. Napoleon set about creating a large military camp on the Pas-de-Calais coast near Boulogne. On December 2, 1803, these troops were named the "English Army"; by 1804, more than 1,700 ships were assembled in Boulogne and the surrounding area to transport troops to England.

The internal policy of Napoleon was to strengthen his personal power as a guarantee of the preservation of the results of the revolution: civil rights, property rights to the land of the peasants, as well as those who bought national property during the revolution, that is, the confiscated lands of emigrants and the church. All these conquests were supposed to be ensured by the Civil Code (ratified on March 21, 1804), which went down in history as the "Code of Napoleon".

After the discovery of the Cadudal-Pishegru conspiracy (the so-called "conspiracy of the XII year"), in which it was assumed that the princes of the royal house of Bourbons outside France were involved, Napoleon ordered the capture of one of them, the Duke of Enghien at Ettenheim, near the French border. The duke was taken to Paris and executed by a military court on March 21, 1804. Cadudal was executed, Pishegru was found dead in a prison cell, Moreau who met with them was expelled from France. The XII conspiracy caused outrage in French society and was used by the official press to instill in readers the idea of \u200b\u200bthe need for the hereditary power of the First Consul.

First empire

Empire proclamation

On 28 Floreal (May 18, 1804), a new constitution was adopted by a resolution of the Senate (the so-called Senate Consulate of the XII year), according to which Napoleon was proclaimed emperor of the French, the posts of high dignitaries and great officers of the Empire were introduced, including the restoration of the marshal rank, canceled in the years revolution.

On the same day, five of the six high dignitaries were appointed (the supreme elector, the arch-chancellor of the Empire, the arch-treasurer, the great constable and the great admiral). The highest dignitaries formed a large imperial council. On May 19, 1804, eighteen popular generals were appointed marshals of France, with four of them considered honorary and the rest valid.

In November, the Senatus Consultant was ratified by a plebiscite. As a result of the plebiscite and despite the resistance of the State Council, it was decided to revive the tradition of coronation. Napoleon certainly wanted the Pope to attend the ceremony. The latter demanded that Napoleon marry Josephine according to the church ceremony. On the night of December 2, Cardinal Fesch held a wedding ceremony in the presence of Talleyrand, Berthier and Duroc. On December 2, 1804, during a lavish ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral with the participation of the Pope, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.

The coronation highlighted the hostility hitherto hidden between the Bonaparte families (Napoleon's brothers and sisters) and Beauharnais (Josephine and her children). Napoleon's sisters did not want to carry Josephine's train. Madame Mother refused to attend the coronation altogether. In quarrels, Napoleon took the side of his wife and adopted children, but remained generous towards his brothers and sisters (however, constantly expressing dissatisfaction with them and the fact that they did not justify his hopes).

Another stumbling block between Napoleon and his brothers was the question of who should be king of Italy and who should inherit imperial power in France. The result of their disputes was the decision, according to which Napoleon received both crowns, and in the event of his death, the crowns were divided between his relatives. On March 17, 1805, the Kingdom of Italy was created from the "subsidiary" Italian republic, in which Napoleon was president. In the newly formed kingdom, Napoleon received the title of king, and his stepson Eugene de Beauharnais received the title of viceroy. The decision to crown Napoleon with the Iron Crown did a disservice to French diplomacy, as it provoked hostility from Austria and contributed to its joining the newly formed anti-French coalition. In May 1805, the Ligurian Republic became one of the departments of France.

Rise of an empire

In April 1805, Russia and Great Britain signed the Petersburg Union Treaty, which laid the foundation for the third coalition. In the same year, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples and Sweden formed the Third Coalition against France and its allied Spain. British subsidies became an important factor in the formation of the coalition (the British allocated £ 5 million to the allies). French diplomacy managed to achieve the neutrality of Prussia in the impending war (Talleyrand, at the direction of Napoleon, promised Frederick William III that Hanover was taken from the British).

In October 1805, Napoleon created the Office of Extraordinary Property (fr.domaine extraordinaire) - a special financial institution headed by La Bouyerie, designed to collect payments and contributions from conquered countries and territories. These funds were spent mainly to finance the next military campaigns.

Napoleon planned to land on the British Isles, but, having received information about the actions of the coalition, moved troops from the Bois de Boulogne to Germany. The Austrian army surrendered at the Battle of Ulm on October 20, 1805. On October 21, the British fleet under the command of Nelson defeated the Spanish-French fleet at Trafalgar. As a result of this defeat, Napoleon ceded dominance of the sea to the British. Despite the tremendous effort and resources that Napoleon spent in the years that followed, he never succeeded in shaking British naval rule; landing on the British Isles became impossible. On November 13, Vienna was declared an open city and French troops occupied it without serious resistance.

Russian Emperor Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Franz II arrived at the army. At the insistence of Alexander I, the Russian army stopped the retreat and, together with the Austrians, on December 2, 1805, entered the battle with the French at Austerlitz, in which the allies fell into a tactical trap set by Napoleon, suffered a heavy defeat and retreated in disarray. On December 26, Austria concluded the Peace of Presburg with France. More than 65 million francs came from the Austrian lands to the Office of Extraordinary Property: war fed war. The news of military operations and victories, which reached the French public through the bulletins of the Grand Army, served to unite the nation.

On December 27, 1805, Napoleon announced that "the Bourbon dynasty in Naples ceased to reign", because the Kingdom of Naples, contrary to the previous treaty, joined the anti-French coalition. The movement of the French army to Naples forced King Ferdinand I to flee to Sicily, and Napoleon made his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Naples. By a decree of March 30, 1806, Napoleon introduced princely titles for members of the imperial family. Polina and her husband received the Duchy of Guastalla, Murat and his wife, the Grand Duchy of Berg. Berthier received Neuchâtel. The principalities of Benevento and Pontecorvo were given to Talleyrand and Bernadotte. Napoleon's sister Eliza received Lucca even earlier, and in 1809 Napoleon made Eliza the ruler of all Tuscany. In June 1806, the Kingdom of Holland replaced the puppet Batavian Republic. Napoleon put his younger brother, Louis Bonaparte, on the throne of Holland.

On July 12, 1806, a treaty was concluded between Napoleon and many rulers of the German states, by virtue of which these rulers entered into an alliance, called the Rhine, under the protectorate of Napoleon and with the obligation to keep a sixty thousand army for him. The formation of the union was accompanied by mediatization (the subordination of small direct (immediate) rulers of the supreme power of large sovereigns). On August 6, 1806, Emperor Franz II announced the resignation of the title and powers of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and, thus, this centuries-old entity ceased to exist.

Alarmed by the strengthening of the French positions in Germany, and not having received the promised Hanover, Prussia came out against Napoleon. On August 26, she issued an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of the Grand Army across the Rhine. Napoleon rejected this ultimatum and attacked the Prussian troops. In the first major battle of Saalfeld, on October 10, 1806, the Prussians were defeated. This was followed by their complete defeat on 14 October at Jena and Auerstedt. Two weeks after the Jena victory, Napoleon entered Berlin, shortly after that Stetin, Prenzlau, Magdeburg surrendered. An indemnity of 159 million francs was imposed on Prussia.

From Koenigsberg, where the Prussian king Frederick William III fled, he begged Napoleon to end the war, agreeing to join the Rhine Union. However, Napoleon became more and more demanding, and the Prussian king was forced to continue fighting. Russia came to his aid, deploying two armies in order to prevent the French from crossing the Vistula. Napoleon addressed the Poles with an appeal inviting them to fight for independence, and on December 19, 1806, he entered Warsaw for the first time. Fierce battles near Charnov, Pultusk and Golymin in December 1806 did not reveal the winners.

On December 13, Charles Leon, Napoleon's son by Eleanor Denuelle, was born in Paris. Napoleon found out about this on December 31 in Pultusk. The birth of a son confirmed that Napoleon could have founded a dynasty if he divorced Josephine. Returning to Warsaw from Pultusk, on January 1, 1807, at the post station in Blonie, Napoleon met for the first time the twenty-one-year-old Maria Walewska, the wife of an elderly Polish count, with whom he had a long romance.

The general battle of the winter campaign took place at Eylau on February 8, 1807. There were no winners in the bloody battle between the main forces of the French and Russian armies under the command of General Bennigsen, for the first time in many years Napoleon did not win a decisive victory.

After the French occupied Danzig on May 27, 1807 and the defeat of the Russians at Friedland on June 14, which allowed the French to occupy Konigsberg and threaten the Russian border, the Peace of Tilsit was concluded on July 7. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw was formed from the Polish possessions of Prussia. Prussia was also deprived of all of its possessions between the Rhine and the Elbe, which formed, together with a number of former small Germanic states, the Kingdom of Westphalia, at the head of which was put Napoleon's brother Jerome.

Victories in two Italian and other campaigns gave Napoleon a reputation as an invincible general. Within the empire, his sovereignty was finally established; he now completely disregarded the opinion of his ministers, legislators, relatives and friends. On August 9, 1807 Talleyrand was dismissed from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Tribunat was disbanded on 19 August. The emperor was displeased by the relatives and friends crowned by him, who sought to protect the interests of their possessions in spite of the unity of the empire. Napoleon was distinguished by contempt for people and nervousness, sometimes leading to fits of rage, similar to epilepsy. In an effort to single-handedly make decisions and control their implementation, Napoleon created a system of so-called administrative councils, which considered, among other things, issues that were within the competence of municipalities, and to control the costs of maintaining a cumbersome administrative apparatus in 1807, he established the Accounts Chamber headed by Barbet-Marbois.

As emperor, Napoleon got up at 7 o'clock in the morning and was busy with business. At 10 o'clock - breakfast, accompanied by diluted Chambertin (a habit from pre-revolutionary times). After breakfast, he worked again in his office until one o'clock, after which he attended meetings of the councils. I dined at 5, and sometimes at 7 o'clock in the afternoon, in the afternoon I talked with the empress, got acquainted with book novelties, and then returned to the study. At midnight I went to bed, at three in the morning I woke up to take a hot bath, at five in the morning I went to bed again.

Continental blockade

40 gold francs 1807 - Napoleon as emperor

On May 18, 1806, the British government ordered a blockade of the French coast, allowing the inspection of neutral (mostly American) ships bound for France. After defeating Prussia, on November 21, 1806, in Berlin, Napoleon signed a decree on the continental blockade. From that moment on, France and her allies broke off trade relations with England. Europe was the main market for British goods, as well as for colonial goods imported by England, the largest maritime power. The continental blockade damaged the British economy: as European countries joined the blockade, the export of British cloth and cotton to the continent fell, while the prices of raw materials that Britain imported from the continent rose. The situation worsened significantly for Britain after Russia joined the continental blockade in July 1807 in accordance with the terms of the Tilsit Peace. European countries, which initially put up with British smuggling, under pressure from Napoleon were forced to start a serious struggle with it. In the second half of 1807, about 40 British ships were arrested in Dutch ports, Denmark closed its waters to the British. By the middle of 1808, rising prices and falling incomes caused popular unrest in Lancashire, and the pound sterling fell.

The blockade also hit the continent. French industry was not able to replace English in the European market. In retaliation, London announced a blockade of European ports in November 1807. The loss of their own and the disruption of trade relations with the British colonies led to the decline of the French port cities: La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulon. The population (and the emperor himself, as a great coffee lover) suffered from a shortage of the usual colonial goods (coffee, sugar, tea) and their high cost. In 1811, Delesser, following the example of German inventors, began to make high-quality sugar from sugar beets, for which he received the Order of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon who came to him, but new technologies spread very slowly.

From the Pyrenees to Wagram

In 1807, with the support of Spain, which had been allied with France since 1796, Napoleon demanded that Portugal join the continental system as well. When Portugal refused to comply with this demand, then on October 27 between Napoleon and Spain a secret treaty on the conquest and partition of Portugal took place, while the southern part of the country was to go to the all-powerful first minister of Spain, Godoy. On November 13, 1807, the government "Le Moniteur" sardonically announced that "the House of Braganza has ceased to rule - further proof of the inevitable death of all who associate themselves with England." Napoleon sent Junot's 25,000th corps to Lisbon. After a grueling two-month march across Spanish territory, Junot with 2,000 soldiers arrived in Lisbon on November 30. The Portuguese prince-regent João, hearing about the approach of the French, abandoned his capital and fled with his relatives and court to Rio de Janeiro. Napoleon, furious that the royal family and Portuguese ships eluded him, on December 28 ordered the imposition of an indemnity of 100 million francs on Portugal.

Expecting to become a sovereign prince under the terms of a secret treaty, Godoy allowed the deployment of a large number of French troops in Spain. On March 13, 1808, Murat was in Burgos with 100 thousand soldiers and was moving towards Madrid. To appease the Spaniards, Napoleon ordered to spread the rumor that he intended to besiege Gibraltar. Realizing that he would also die with the death of the dynasty, Godoy began to convince the Spanish king Charles IV of the need to flee from Spain to South America. However, on the night of March 18, 1807, he was overthrown during the mutiny in Aranjuez by the so-called "Fernandists", who achieved his resignation, the abdication of Charles IV and the transfer of power to the king's son, Ferdinand VII. On March 23, Murat entered Madrid. In May 1808, Napoleon summoned both Spanish kings - father and son - to explain to Bayonne. Caught in captivity by Napoleon, both monarchs renounced the crown, and the emperor placed his brother Joseph, who had been the king of Naples before, on the Spanish throne. Now Murat has become the king of Naples.

In France itself, by decrees of March 1, 1808, Napoleon restored titles of nobility and coats of arms as a sign of recognition of services to the empire. The difference from the old nobility was that the granting of a title did not give rights to land holdings and the title did not automatically pass by inheritance. However, along with the title, new nobles often received high salaries. If a nobleman acquired a prerogative (capital or permanent income), then the title was inherited. 59 percent of the new nobility was military. On March 17, a decree was issued establishing the Imperial University. The university was divided into academies and was called upon to give higher education (bachelor's degree). By creating the University, Napoleon sought to control the formation of the national elite.

Napoleon's interference in the internal affairs of Spain caused outrage - on May 2 in Madrid, and then throughout the country. Local authorities (juntas) organized resistance to the French, who had to face a new form of hostilities for them - guerrilla warfare. On July 22, Dupont, with 18,000 soldiers, surrendered to the Spaniards in a field near Baylen, inflicting a severe blow on the reputation of the formerly invincible Great Army. The British landed in Portugal with the support of local authorities and the population and forced Junot to evacuate the country after the defeat at Vimeiro.

For the final conquest of Spain and Portugal, Napoleon needed to transfer the main forces of the Great Army from Germany here, but this was hampered by the threat of war from the rearmed Austria. The only counterweight to Austria could be Russia, allied to Napoleon. On September 27, Napoleon met with Alexander I in Erfurt to enlist his support. Napoleon entrusted the negotiations to Talleyrand, who by this time was in secret relations with the Austrian and Russian courts. Alexander proposed to divide Turkey and transfer Constantinople to Russia. Having not received the consent of Napoleon, Alexander limited himself to general words about the alliance against Austria. Napoleon also asked through Talleyrand for the hand of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, but even then he did not achieve anything.

Expecting to solve the Spanish problem before Austria entered the war, Napoleon on October 29 set out on a campaign at the head of an army of 160 thousand who had arrived from Germany. On December 4, French troops entered Madrid. On January 16, the British, repelling the attack of Soult near La Coruna, boarded ships and left Spain. On January 1, 1809, in Astorga, Napoleon received dispatches about the military preparations of Austria and about intrigues in his government from the close Talleyrand and Fouche (who agreed to replace him with Murat in the event of Napoleon's death in Spain). On January 17, he left Valladolid for Paris. Despite the successes achieved, the conquest of the Pyrenees was not completed: the Spaniards continued the partisan war, the British contingent covered Lisbon, and three months later the British under Wellesley's command again landed on the peninsula. The fall of the Portuguese and Spanish dynasties opened both colonial empires to British trade and breached the continental blockade. For the first time, the war did not bring income to Napoleon, but only required more and more expenses and soldiers. To cover costs, indirect taxes (on salt, food products) were increased, which caused discontent among the population. At St. Helena, Napoleon said: "The ill-fated Spanish war was the root cause of misfortune."

Since the signing of the Treaty of Presburg, deep military reforms have been carried out in the Austrian army under the leadership of Archduke Charles. Expecting to take advantage of the anti-French sentiments that were gaining strength in Germany, on April 3, 1809, the Austrian Emperor Franz I declared war on France. After the outbreak of hostilities, Austria received more than £ 1 million in subsidies from the UK. Napoleon, bogged down in Spain, tried to avoid war, but without Russian support he could not do it. However, thanks to vigorous efforts, in the three months from January 1809, he was able to form a new army in France. Archduke Charles simultaneously sent eight corps to the allied Napoleon Bavaria, two corps to Italy and one to the Duchy of Warsaw. Russian troops concentrated on the eastern borders of the Austrian Empire, but practically did not take part in the hostilities, allowing Austria to wage a war on one front (which angered Napoleon).

Napoleon, reinforced by the troops of the Rhine League, with the forces of ten corps repelled the attack on Bavaria and captured Vienna on May 13. The Austrians crossed to the northern bank of the flooded Danube and destroyed the bridges behind them. Napoleon decided to cross the river based on the island of Lobau. However, after part of the French troops crossed to the island, and some to the north coast, the pontoon bridge broke, and Archduke Charles attacked the crossings. In the battle that followed on May 21-22 at Aspern and Essling, Napoleon was defeated and retreated. The failure of the emperor himself inspired all anti-Napoleonic forces in Europe. After six weeks of detailed preparation, French troops crossed the Danube and won the general battle at Wagram on July 5-6, followed by the Znaim Armistice on July 12, and the Schönbrunn Peace Treaty on October 14. Under this treaty, Austria lost access to the Adriatic Sea, transferring territories to France, from which Napoleon later formed the Illyrian provinces. Galicia was transferred to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and the Tarnopol district to Russia. The Austrian campaign showed that Napoleon's army no longer had the same advantage over the enemy on the battlefield.

Empire crisis

Napoleon's policy in the first years of his reign enjoyed the support of the population - not only the owners, but also the poor (workers, farm laborers): the revival of the economy led to an increase in wages, which was also facilitated by constant recruits into the army. Napoleon looked like the savior of the fatherland, wars caused national upsurge, and victories - a sense of pride. Napoleon Bonaparte was a man of revolution, and the marshals around him, brilliant military leaders, sometimes came from the very bottom. But gradually the people began to get tired of the war, recruiting for the army began to cause dissatisfaction. In 1810, the economic crisis erupted again, which did not stop until 1815. Wars in the vastness of Europe lost their meaning, the costs of them began to irritate the bourgeoisie. The new nobility that Napoleon created did not become the mainstay of his throne. It seemed that nothing threatened the security of France, and the emperor's desire to strengthen and secure the interests of the dynasty played an increasingly important role in foreign policy, preventing, in the event of his death, both anarchy and the restoration of the Bourbons.

In the name of dynastic interests, on January 12, 1810, Napoleon divorced Josephine, from whom he had no children, and asked Alexander I for the hand of his younger sister, 15-year-old Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. Anticipating refusal, he also approached Franz I with a proposal to marry his daughter, Marie-Louise. On April 1, 1810, Napoleon married an Austrian princess, the grand-niece of Marie Antoinette. The heir was born on March 20, 1811, but the Austrian marriage of the emperor was extremely unpopular in France.

In February 1808, French troops occupied Rome. By decree of May 17, 1809, Napoleon declared the papal possessions annexed to the French Empire and abolished the power of the Pope. In response, Pope Pius VII excommunicated “the robbers of St. Peter "from the church. The papal bull was nailed to the doors of the four main churches of Rome and sent to all ambassadors of foreign powers at the papal court. Napoleon ordered the arrest of the Pope and held him captive until January 1814. On July 5, 1809, the French military authorities took him to Savona, and then to Fontainebleau near Paris. The excommunication of Napoleon from the church negatively affected the authority of his government, especially in traditionally Catholic countries.

The Continental system, while damaging Britain, failed to win over it. On June 3, 1810, Napoleon dismissed Fouche for secret peace negotiations with the British, which he allegedly conducted on behalf of the emperor. The allies and vassals of the First Empire, who accepted the continental blockade contrary to their interests, did not seek to strictly observe it; tensions grew between them and France. On July 3 of the same year, Napoleon deprived his brother Louis of the Dutch crown for non-compliance with the continental blockade and recruitment requirements, Holland was annexed to France. Recognizing that the continental system did not allow achieving the set goals, the emperor did not abandon it, but introduced the so-called "new system", under which special licenses for trade with Great Britain were issued, and French enterprises had an advantage in obtaining licenses. This measure aroused even greater hostility among the continental bourgeoisie.

The contradictions between France and Russia became more and more obvious. Patriotic movements expanded in Germany, and guerrillas did not die out in Spain.

Hike to Russia and the collapse of the empire

Having severed relations with Alexander I, Napoleon decided to go to war with Russia. 450 thousand soldiers, gathered in the Great Army from different European countries, crossed the Russian border in June 1812; they were opposed by 193 thousand soldiers in two Russian western armies. Napoleon tried to impose a general battle on the Russian troops; evading a superior enemy and trying to unite, the two Russian armies retreated inland, leaving behind a devastated territory. The great army suffered from hunger, heat, mud, overcrowding and the diseases they caused; by mid-July, whole detachments had deserted from it. Having united near Smolensk, the Russian armies tried to defend the city, but to no avail; On August 18, they had to resume their retreat towards Moscow. The general battle, given on September 7 near the village of Borodino in front of Moscow, did not bring Napoleon a decisive victory. The Russian troops had to retreat again, on September 14 the Great Army entered Moscow.

A fire that spread immediately after that destroyed most of the city. Counting on the conclusion of peace with Alexander, Napoleon remained unjustifiably long in Moscow; finally, on October 19, he left the city in a southwest direction. Unable to overcome the defense of the Russian army on October 24 near Maloyaroslavets, the Great Army was forced to retreat through the already devastated terrain in the direction of Smolensk. The Russian army followed a parallel march, inflicting damage on the enemy both in battles and in partisan actions. Suffering from hunger, the soldiers of the Great Army turned into robbers and rapists; the angry population responded with no less cruelty, burying the captured marauders alive. In mid-November, Napoleon entered Smolensk and did not find food supplies here. In this regard, he was forced to retreat further towards the Russian border. With great difficulty, he managed to avoid complete defeat when crossing the Berezina on November 27-28. The huge multi-tribal army of Napoleon did not carry the former revolutionary spirit; far from the homeland in the fields of Russia, it quickly melted away. Having received a message about the attempted coup in Paris and wanting to collect new troops, Napoleon left for Paris on December 5. In his last bulletin, he acknowledged the disaster, but attributed it solely to the severity of the Russian winter. Only 25 thousand soldiers returned from Russia out of those 450 thousand who were part of the central part of the Great Army. Napoleon lost almost all the horses in Russia; he could not compensate for this loss.

The defeat in the Russian campaign put an end to the legend of Bonaparte's invincibility. Despite the fatigue of the Russian army and the reluctance of the Russian commanders to continue the war outside Russia, Alexander I decided to transfer the hostilities to German territory. Prussia joined the new anti-Napoleonic coalition. In a few months, Napoleon gathered a new 300,000-strong army of young men and old people and trained it on the march to Germany. In May 1813, in the battles of Lützen and Bautzen, Napoleon managed to defeat the Allies, despite a shortage of cavalry. On June 4, a truce was concluded, Austria acted as a mediator between the warring parties. The Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich, at his meetings with Napoleon in Dresden, proposed to conclude peace on the terms of the restoration of Prussia, the partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria and the return of Illyria to the Austrians; but Napoleon, considering military conquest as the basis of his power, refused.

In the midst of an acute financial crisis and lured by British subsidies, at the end of the armistice on August 10, Austria joined the Sixth Coalition. Sweden did the same. In accordance with the Trachenberg Plan, the Allies formed three armies under the command of Bernadotte, Blucher and Schwarzenberg. Napoleon also divided his forces. In a major battle at Dresden, Napoleon prevailed over the allies; however, his marshals, acting on their own, suffered a series of painful defeats at Kulm, Katzbach, Großberen and Dennewitz. In the face of the threatening encirclement, Napoleon with an army of 160,000 gave a general battle near Leipzig to the combined Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish troops totaling 320,000 people (October 16-19, 1813). On the third day of this "Battle of the Nations", the Saxons from the Rainier corps went over to the side of the Allies, and then the Württemberg cavalry.

The defeat in the Battle of the Nations led to the falling away of Germany and Holland, the collapse of the Swiss Confederation, the Rhine Union and the Italian Kingdom. In Spain, where the French were defeated, Napoleon had to restore the rule of the Spanish Bourbons (November 1813). To enlist the support of the deputies, in December 1813, Napoleon called a meeting of the Legislative Corps, but dissolved the chamber after it passed a disloyal resolution. At the end of 1813, the allied armies crossed the Rhine, invaded Belgium and marched on Paris. The 250-thousandth army, Napoleon could oppose only 80 thousand recruits. In a series of battles, he won victories over individual allied formations. However, on March 31, 1814, coalition troops led by the Russian Tsar and the King of Prussia entered Paris.

Elba Island and One Hundred Days

First renunciation and first exile

Napoleon was ready to continue the fight, but on April 3 the Senate announced his removal from power and formed a provisional government headed by Talleyrand. Marshals (Ney, Berthier, Lefebvre) urged him to abdicate in favor of his son. On April 6, 1814, at the Fontainebleau palace near Paris, Napoleon abdicated the throne. On the night of April 12-13, 1814, in Fontainebleau, experiencing the defeat left by his court (there were only a few servants, a doctor and General Caulaincourt next to him), Napoleon decided to commit suicide. He took poison, which he always carried with him after the battle of Maloyaroslavets, when only by a miracle he was not taken prisoner. But the poison decomposed from long storage, Napoleon survived. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which Napoleon signed with the allied monarchs, he took possession of the small island of Elba in the Mediterranean. On April 20, 1814, Napoleon left Fontainebleau and went into exile.

On Elba, Napoleon was actively involved in the development of the island's economy. In accordance with the terms of the agreement at Fontainebleau, he was promised an annual rent of 2 million francs from the French treasury. However, he never received the money and by the beginning of 1815 found himself in a difficult financial situation. Marie-Louise and her son, under the influence of Franz I, refused to come to him. Josephine died in Malmaison on May 29, 1814, as the doctor who treated her later told Napoleon, "of grief and anxiety for him." Of Napoleon's relatives, only his mother and sister Pauline came to visit him on Elba. Napoleon closely followed what was happening in France, received guests and exchanged secret messages with his supporters.

On April 24, 1814, Louis XVIII, who had arrived from England, landed in Calais. Along with the Bourbons, emigrants also returned, striving for the return of their property and privileges ("they did not learn anything and did not forget anything"). In June, the king granted France a new constitution. The 1814 constitution retained much of the imperial legacy, but concentrated power in the hands of the king and his entourage. The Royalists demanded a complete return of the old order. The new owners of land, once confiscated from emigrants and the church, feared for their property. The military was unhappy with the sharp reduction in the army. At the Vienna Congress convened in September 1814, the Allied Powers split over the division of the conquered territories.

One Hundred Days and Second Abdication

Taking advantage of the favorable political situation, Napoleon fled Elba on February 26, 1815. On March 1, he landed in the Gulf of Juan near Cannes with 1,000 soldiers and headed for Paris on the road through Grenoble, bypassing the prophetic-minded Provence. On March 7, in front of Grenoble, the 5th Line Regiment went over to Napoleon's side after his impassioned speech: "You can shoot your emperor if you want!" Napoleon marched from Grenoble to Paris, greeted by enthusiastic crowds of people. On March 18 at Auxerre, Ney joined him, promising Louis XVIII "to bring Bonaparte in a cage." On March 20, Napoleon entered the Tuileries.

At the Congress of Vienna, the powers had settled their differences by the time Napoleon boarded the ships. Having received the news that Napoleon was in France, on March 13, they outlawed him. On March 25, the powers united in a new, seventh coalition, and agreed to deploy 600 thousand soldiers. In vain did Napoleon convince them of his peacefulness. In France, revolutionary federations began to form spontaneously to protect the homeland and order. On May 15, the Vendee revolted again, and the big bourgeoisie boycotted the new government. However, Napoleon did not take advantage of the revolutionary mood of the people to fight external and internal enemies ("I do not want to be the king of Jacquerie"). Seeking to rely on the liberal bourgeoisie, he instructed Constant to draft a new constitution, which was approved at a plebiscite (with a low turnout) and ratified during a ceremony on June 1, 1815 at the Maisky field. Under the new constitution, the House of Peers and the House of Representatives were formed.

The war resumed, but France was no longer able to bear its burden. On June 15, Napoleon with an army of 125 thousand people marched into Belgium to meet the British (90 thousand under the command of Wellington) and Prussian (120 thousand under the command of Blucher) troops, intending to defeat the allies in parts before the approach of the Russian and Austrian forces. In the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny, he pushed the British and Prussians. However, in a general battle near the Belgian village of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, he suffered a final defeat. Leaving the army, on June 21 he returned to Paris.

On June 22, the House of Representatives formed a provisional government headed by Fouche and demanded Napoleon's abdication. On the same day, Napoleon denied for the second time. He was forced to leave France and, relying on the nobility of the British government, on July 15, near the island of Aix, voluntarily boarded the English battleship Bellerophon, hoping to get political asylum from his old enemies - the British.

Saint Helena

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But the British cabinet judged differently: Napoleon became a prisoner and was sent to the distant island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. The British chose Saint Helena because of its remoteness from Europe, fearing Napoleon's repeated escape from exile. Upon learning of this decision, he said: “This is worse than the iron cage of Tamerlane! I would prefer to be extradited to the Bourbons. " Napoleon was allowed to choose officers to accompany him; he chose Bertrand, Montolon, Las Casa and Gurgo; in total there were 26 people in Napoleon's retinue. On August 9, 1815, the former emperor left Europe aboard the Northumberland. Nine escort ships with 1,000 soldiers accompanied his ship. On October 17, 1815, Napoleon arrived at Jamestown.

The habitat of Napoleon and his retinue was Longwood House (the former residence of the lieutenant governor), located on a mountain plateau with a humid and unhealthy climate. The house was surrounded by sentries, sentinels reported with signal flags about all actions of Napoleon. Arriving on April 14, 1816, the new Governor Lowe further limited the freedom of the deposed emperor. In fact, Napoleon had no plans to escape. Upon arriving at St. Helena, he befriended Betsy, the active 14-year-old daughter of East India Company Superintendent Balcomb, and played a childish fool with her. In subsequent years, he occasionally received visitors who stayed on the island. In June 1816, he began to dictate a memoir, published two years after his death by Las Caz, in four volumes under the title Memorial of Saint Helena; Memorial became the most widely read book of the 19th century.

Death

Since October 1816, Napoleon's health began to deteriorate - due to the fact that he began to lead a sedentary lifestyle (a conflict with Lowe led to a refusal to walk) and due to a constantly depressed mood. In October 1817, Napoleon O'Meer's doctor diagnosed him with hepatitis. Initially, he hoped for a change in European politics, for the coming to power in Great Britain of Princess Charlotte, known for her sympathies for him, but the princess died in November 1817. In 1818, the Balcombs left the island, Lowe expelled O'Mira.

In 1818, Napoleon fell into depression, was increasingly ill, complained of pain in his right side. He suspected it was cancer, the disease from which his father died. In September 1819, the doctor Antommarki, sent by Napoleon's mother and Cardinal Fech, arrived on the island, but he could no longer help the patient. In March 1821, Napoleon's condition deteriorated so much that he no longer doubted his imminent death. On April 15, 1821, he dictated his will. Napoleon died on Saturday, May 5, 1821, at 17:49. His last words, spoken in delirium, were "Head of the army!" (fr. La tête de l "armée!). He was buried near Longwood near the spring of Torbet, overgrown with willows.

There is a version that Napoleon was poisoned. In 1960, Sten Forshufwood and his colleagues examined Napoleon's hair and found arsenic in them in a concentration that was about an order of magnitude higher than normal. However, numerous analyzes carried out in the 1990s and 2000s show that the arsenic content in Napoleon's hair varied from day to day, and sometimes even within a single day. The explanation may be that Napoleon used a hair powder that included arsenic; or the fact that the hair of Napoleon, which he gave to his admirers, according to the customs of those years, was preserved in a powder containing arsenic. The version of the poisoning is currently not confirmed. However, gastroenterologists in a 2007 study prove that the death of the emperor was explained by the very first known official version - stomach cancer (according to the autopsy, the emperor had two stomach ulcers, one of which turned out to be through and reached the liver).

Return of the remains

In 1840, Louis-Philippe sent a delegation to Saint Helena, led by the Prince of Joinville, with the participation of Bertrand and Gurgo, to fulfill Napoleon's last wish - to be buried in France. The remains of Napoleon were transported by the frigate "Bel Poul" under the command of Captain Charnay to France. On a frosty day, December 15, the motorcade drove through the streets of Paris in front of a million French people. The remains were buried in the House of Invalids in the presence of Napoleonic marshals.

A sarcophagus made of red porphyry by Visconti with the remains of Emperor Napoleon is located in the crypt of the cathedral. The entrance to the crypt is guarded by two bronze figures holding a scepter, an imperial crown and an orb. The tomb is surrounded by 10 marble bas-reliefs of Napoleon's deeds of state and 12 statues by Pradier dedicated to his military campaigns.

Heritage

Public administration

Napoleon's achievements in the field of government, and not military victories and conquests, constitute his main legacy. Moreover, the main of these achievements fell on the relatively peaceful years of the Consulate. According to J. Ellis, this is confirmed by their simple listing: the founding of the Bank of France (January 6, 1800), prefects (February 17, 1800), the Concordat (signed on July 16, 1801), lyceums (May 1, 1802), the Order of the Legion of Honor (May 19, 1802 ), the bimetallic standard of the germinal franc (March 28, 1803), and, finally, the Civil Code (March 21, 1804). These achievements to a large extent characterize the modern world as well; Napoleon is often regarded as the father of modern Europe. As E. Roberts says:

The ideas that underlie our modern world - meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious tolerance, modern secular education, healthy finances, and so on - were taken under protection, consolidated, codified and geographically disseminated by Napoleon. To these he added rational and efficient local administration, an end to village banditry, the promotion of the arts and sciences, the abolition of feudalism, and the largest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire.

Another element of the legacy that survived the fall of Napoleon was the system of governing the French state that he created and debugged - centralized authoritarian rule through a unified bureaucratic ladder. Some elements of this system exist to this day, even in the parliamentary democracy of the Fifth Republic.

Political currents

In politics, Napoleon I left behind Bonapartism. The word was first used by his opponents in 1814 in a derogatory sense, but by 1848, supporters of Napoleon III had filled it with its current meaning. Unlike republicanism, based on an impersonal elected government, and unlike monarchism, which denies the power of the nation, Bonapartism focuses the nation on one person (the military dictator) as its sole representative. As a political trend, Bonapartism has its roots ("legitimacy") more in the broad support that Napoleon received from the so-called federations (French fédérés) during the Hundred Days rather than in the Napoleonic plebiscites. The Saint Helena Memorial has become the bible of Bonapartism; its political culmination was the election of Napoleon III, son of Louis and Hortense, as president of the second French republic in 1848. By the beginning of the 20th century, Bonapartism had disappeared from the political scene.

The conquest of Europe has always been seen as a central part of Napoleonic legacy, which is not surprising when you look at the irreversible changes that he caused in the political geography of the continent. On the eve of the French Revolution, Germany was nothing more than a conglomerate of 300 states. The deeds of Napoleon, such as the formation of the Rhine Union and the Kingdom of Westphalia, mediatization, secularization, the introduction of the Civil Code, the French culture brought on with bayonets, caused political changes in Germany, which eventually led to the formation of a unified German state. Likewise, in Italy, Napoleon's abolition of internal borders, the introduction of uniform legislation and universal conscription paved the way for the risorgimento.

Military art

Napoleon is best known for his outstanding military successes. Having inherited a combat-ready army from the French Revolution, he introduced few fundamental improvements that allowed this army to win campaigns. Studying the vast military literature helped him develop his own approach based on agility and flexibility. He successfully used the mixed order of battle (a combination of column and line), first proposed by Gibert, and mobile artillery, created by Griboval. Building on the ideas of Carnot, Moreau and Brune, Napoleon reorganized the French army as a system of army corps, each of which included infantry, cavalry and artillery and was capable of acting independently. The main imperial apartment, led by Berthier and Duroc, provided a unified command of the army, collected and systematized intelligence data, helped Napoleon prepare plans and sent orders to the troops. Giving preference to offensive over defense, Napoleon crushed the enemy by quickly concentrating his forces on the direction of the main attack.

When analyzing Napoleon's strategy, the "Napoleon's Dictionary" quotes his own words: "If it seems that I am always prepared for everything, this is explained by the fact that before I did anything, I thought for a long time before; I foresaw what might happen. It is by no means a genius that suddenly and mysteriously reveals to me what exactly I should say and do under circumstances that seem unexpected to others - but this my reasoning and reflection reveals to me. "

Napoleon's military achievements left an imprint on the military and social thought of the next century. As C. Isdale shows, in 1866, 1870, 1914, peoples went into battle with the memory of Napoleon and the thought that the outcome of the war would be determined by victory in one general battle. Schlieffen's plan was only a pompous implementation of the Napoleonic roundabout maneuver (French manoeuvre sur les derrières). Behind the front side of the war, which began to be associated with shiny uniforms and bravura marches, the suffering associated with it was gradually forgotten. Meanwhile, given the then state of medicine, the wounds and diseases caused by the fighting caused enormous disasters. The victims of the Napoleonic wars were at least 5 million people - military and civilians.

Offspring

As E. Roberts notes, the irony of fate is that although Napoleon divorced Josephine in order to give life to the legitimate heir to his throne, later it was her grandson who became the emperor of France. Josephine's descendants reign in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg. The descendants of Napoleon do not reign anywhere. Napoleon's only legitimate son, also Napoleon, died young, leaving no children. Of Bonaparte's illegitimate offspring, the "Napoleon Dictionary" mentions only two - Alexander Walewski and Charles Leon, but there is evidence of others. The Colonna-Valevsky family continues to this day.

Essays

Peru Napoleon owns several early works of various genres, imbued with youthful maximalism and revolutionary sentiments ("Letter to Matteo Buttafuoko", "History of Corsica", "Dialogue about Love", "Dinner at Beauquere", "Clisson and Eugene" and others). He also wrote and dictated a huge number of letters (of which more than 33 thousand have survived).

In his later years in exile to Saint Helena, trying to create a positive legend about his intentions and their fulfillment, Napoleon dictated memories of the siege of Toulon, the Vandemierre mutiny, the Italian campaign and the Egyptian campaign, the Battle of Marengo, exile to the island of Elba, the period of the Hundred Days, and See also descriptions of the campaigns of Caesar, Turenne and Frederick.

His letters and later works were published in 32 volumes in 1858-1869 by order of Napoleon III. Some of the letters were not published then, some were edited for various reasons. The new complete edition of Napoleon's letters in 15 volumes has been carried out by the "Napoleon Foundation" since 2004; as of the beginning of 2017, 13 volumes were published; publication is scheduled to be completed in 2017. The publication of a complete critical edition of Napoleon's letters allowed historians to take a fresh look at him and his era.

The novel "Clisson and Eugene", "Dinner at Beauquere", some of his later works and some letters have been published in Russian.

Legend

The Napoleonic legend was not born on Saint Helena. Bonaparte consistently created it through newspapers (first combat leaflets of the Italian army, and then official Paris publications), commemorative medals, bulletins of the Great Army, paintings of David and Gros, the Arc de Triomphe and the Victory Column. Throughout his career, Napoleon has shown an amazing ability to pass bad news as good news and good news as triumph. “If you need to describe the genius of Napoleon in one word, then this word is 'propaganda'. In this respect, Napoleon was a man of the 20th century. He himself created an image for himself - a two-cornered hat, a gray frock coat, a hand between the buttons. " However, the decisive role in the emergence of the "golden legend" about Napoleon was played by his soldiers, who were left idle after the end of the Napoleonic wars and longingly remembered the First Empire and their "little corporal".

However, as J. Tulard showed, not only Napoleon worked to form his legend, but also his opponents. The golden legend was opposed by the black one. For English cartoonists (Crookshanka, Gillray, Woodward, Rowlandson), Napoleon was a favorite character - in the early years, skinny (English Boney), and in later years, fat (English Fleshy) short, upstart. In 1813, the French, whose 16-year-old sons were drafted into the army, called Napoleon a cannibal. In Russia and Spain, the clergy represented Napoleon as the embodiment of the Antichrist.

Reflection in culture, science and art

In historiography

The number of historical studies about Napoleon Bonaparte is in the tens and hundreds of thousands. At the same time, as noted by Peter Gale, each generation writes about its own Napoleon. Before World War II, Napoleonic historiography was characterized by three points of view, replacing each other. The earliest authors sought to emphasize in Bonaparte his "superhuman" abilities and unusual energy, uniqueness for human history, often took an extremely apologetic or very critical position (Las Kaz, Bignon, de Stael, Arndt, Gentz, Hazlitt, Scott, etc.). Representatives of the second point of view tried to adapt the conclusions about Napoleon to the current situation, to draw "historical lessons" from his deeds, turning the image of Bonaparte into an instrument of political struggle (d'Aussonville, Mignet, Michelet, Thiers, Quinet, Lanfre, Tennes, Usset, Vandal and etc.). Finally, researchers of the “third wave” were looking for a “big idea” in the goals and achievements of Napoleon, on the basis of which one could understand himself and his era (Sorel, Masson, Bourgeois, Driot, Dunant, etc.).

Post-war researchers pay more attention not to the personality of Napoleon and his actions, but to the study of a wider range of topics related to his time, including the peculiarities of the regime of his power.

In other sciences

In 1804, the genus of trees Napoleonaea P. Beauv., Belonging to the Lecithis family, was named in honor of Napoleon. The peculiarity of these African trees is that their flowers are devoid of petals, but have three circles of sterile stamens, forming a corolla-like structure.

In art

The image of Napoleon was widely reflected in various types of art - painting, literature, music, cinema, monumental art. In music, the works of Beethoven were dedicated to him (he deleted the dedication to the Third Symphony after the coronation of Napoleon), Berlioz, Schoenberg, Schumann. Many famous writers turned to the personality and deeds of Napoleon (Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Hardy, Conan Doyle, Kipling, Emerson and others). Filmmakers of various ideologies and trends paid tribute to Napoleonic themes: Napoleon (France, 1927), Maiskoe Pole (Italy, 1935), Kohlberg (Germany, 1944), Kutuzov (USSR, 1943), Ashes "(Poland, 1968)," Waterloo "(Italy - USSR, 1970); Kubrick's project remained unfulfilled, but to this day arouses keen interest.

In popular culture

Thanks to his distinctive features in appearance and demeanor, Napoleon is a recognizable cultural character. In particular, the idea of \u200b\u200bNapoleon's small stature was formed in popular culture. However, according to various sources, his growth was from 167 to 169 cm, which for France at that time was above average growth. According to the "Napoleon's Dictionary", the idea of \u200b\u200bhis small stature could have developed due to the fact that Napoleon, in contrast to his entourage, who wore high caps with a plume, wore a modest small hat. Based on this misconception, the German psychologist Alfred Adler coined the term "Napoleon complex", according to which short people seek to compensate for the feeling of their inferiority through excessive aggressiveness and the desire for power.

Popular biographies

During the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1815), six coalitions were formed against France. The Napoleonic Wars, which continued the wars of the French Revolution, fundamentally redrawn the map of Europe. The brilliant and tragic Napoleonic epic depleted the human and material resources of France. The defeat in Russia in 1812 marked the beginning of the fall of the Napoleonic empire. After its short-term restoration ("Hundred Days") in 1815, Napoleon was finally defeated.

During the years of the revolution, consulate and empire, France fought against seven coalitions of European powers. The first coalition (1792 - 1797) arose when revolutionary France launched a war against Austria and Prussia. Soon after Napoleon came to power, the second coalition (1798-1800) ceased to exist, and in 1802 France, on honorable terms, signed a peace treaty with Great Britain, according to which both powers pledged to maintain the existing order in Europe.

The peace turned out to be short-lived: Great Britain sought to impose a trade agreement that was not profitable for France, and Napoleon hatched a plan for the military defeat of Great Britain and the seizure of its colonies. The third anti-French coalition consisting of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Sweden and the Kingdom of Naples was formed in 1805. In the naval battle at Cape Trafalgar, English Admiral Nelson defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet, forcing Napoleon to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200blanding amphibious assault on the British Isles. By concentrating his forces against Austria, Napoleon regained his military success: the French army occupied Vienna, and in December 1805, at the Battle of Austerlitz, defeated the combined troops of Austria and Russia. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Austria ceded possession to Napoleon in Italy and the Balkans and recognized him as king of Italy.

Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation in 1806, forcing its Emperor Franz II to be content with the title of Emperor of Austria. On the territory of South and West Germany, the Union of Rhine was formed under the protectorate of Napoleon. In the same year, the fourth anti-French coalition was formed (1806-1807) consisting of Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Sweden. In two major battles - at Jena and Auerstedt - the French defeated the Prussian army and entered Berlin, but Russia continued the war. After two bloody battles in East Prussia - near Preussisch-Eylau and Friedland, the preponderance in which was on the side of the French army that was suffering heavy losses, peace negotiations began.

Napoleon in 1806 in Berlin signed a decree on the "continental blockade", according to which everyone in France and its dependent countries was strictly forbidden to trade, as well as maintain postal or other communications with Great Britain. For the smuggling of British goods, severe penalties were imposed, up to the death penalty. In this way, Napoleon tried to crush the economic power of the rival. However, Great Britain continued to trade with the colonies, with North and South America, and even, despite the prohibitions, smuggled its goods into Europe. The "continental blockade" and the severance of established trade ties with Great Britain had a heavy impact on the economies of continental European countries.

Tilsit became the place of signing a peace and union treaty between France and Russia and a peace treaty between France and Prussia (July 7, 1807). Russia agreed with the territorial seizures of France and joined the "continental blockade"; Napoleon recognized for Russia freedom of action against Sweden and the Ottoman Empire. Prussia, which was obliged to participate in the "continental blockade", lost the lands from which the Kingdom of Westphalia was created, given into the possession of Napoleon's brother Jerome, and the Duchy of Warsaw, which was actually dependent on France. The Tilsit peace turned out to be fragile. The rulers of both countries saw in him only a temporary respite before the inevitable new wars.

Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807 and in 1808 Spain. While French troops were fighting in the Iberian Peninsula, the fifth anti-French coalition (1809) was formed, consisting of Great Britain and Austria. In the bloody battle at Wagram, the French defeated the Austrian army, and under the terms of the peace treaty, Austria lost a significant part of its territories annexed to France and the Duchy of Warsaw.

To establish domination in Europe, Napoleon needed a victorious war with Russia, the only rival of his equal strength on the continent. After the campaign of 1812, which ended with the complete defeat of the "great army", in 1813 the sixth anti-French coalition was formed, consisting of Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, Prussia, Spain, Portugal and Austria. In 1814, hostilities were already fought in France, and on March 31, 1814, the allied forces entered Paris. Napoleon abdicated the throne and was exiled to the island of Elba; the Bourbon dynasty returned to France, and the brother of the executed Louis XVI, the Count of Provence, became king under the name of Louis XVIII. France lost all of its territorial conquests and returned to the borders of 1792.

In the spring of 1815 Napoleon fled from exile and landed with a thousand of his guards in the south of France. Dissatisfaction with the restoration of the Bourbons was so great that in 20 days Napoleon, enthusiastically welcomed by the population, marched victoriously to Paris and restored the empire for a short time. This short period of Napoleonic rule went down in history as "One Hundred Days". A seventh coalition was formed against Napoleon, which included Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria. Napoleon could not resist their much superior forces: the final defeat took place on June 18, 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon abdicated the throne for the second time and ended his days on Saint Helena. Thus ended the Napoleonic epic, which cost France more than a million human lives.