A Brief Biography Of Napoleon Bonaparte

The victory at the Battle of the Pyramids gave French control of Cairo, but the naval defeat at Aboukir Bay isolated the expedition from France. After some unsuccessful campaigning in Syria, he departed by ship with a small group of friends and sailed to France, abandoning his Army. In 1799, public sentiment had swung against the government, and following the coup d'etat de Brumaire, Napoleon became the defacto ruler of France. The country was still at war however, and after a dramatic crossing of the Alps, Napoleon defeated the Austrians at the battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800. This victory solidified his reputation of invincibility, and combined with other successes, led to a general peace.

In 1804, he proclaimed himself the emperor of France and created the formidable Grande Armee intimidating other European powers such as Austria, Britain and Russia to the point of hostility. The Grand Armee dominated Europe and led to the formation of the German federation and the reform of the newly conquered French territories. The British remained the most daunting naval force but it was the Russians who utterly defeated the French in the harsh winter of 1812 lead... ... middle of paper ... ...e period which he inhabited. His political background from his father and the French Revolution both had profound effects on Napoleon’s outlook on the coalition nations because the coalition efforts to attack French ideas made Napoleon belligerent towards. The general political instability in existence in France heavily inspired Napoleon to reform the government to a more stable form factor that purely reflected the needs of the people rather than the desires of the government.

Lastly, in 1814 Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. Napoleon was exiled because his troops had been overpowered by Russians. Most of Europe was conquered by Napoleon I and continued being a leader after being exiled. Work Cited “Napoleon, I." Encyclopedia of World Biography “The French Revolution Napoleonic Era” By Connelly, Owen pg’s.

In 1814, the coalition invaded France. Napoleon tried to take advantage of the distance between the armies approaching Paris by picking them off one by one, but was eventually outnumbered. Napoleon gave up his rule and was exiled to the island of Elba, and giving small amounts of governmental power there. Louis XVII took the crown of France. Aware of the French peoples dissatisfaction with Louis XVII's rule, Napoleon returned to France in 1815.

A reformer said that if social abuses were eliminated the Prussians could fight with national honor. Military reforms improved the Prussian army. In the War of Liberation (1813), the soldiers showed great feelings of patriotism and nationalism. Afterwards, the French were driven out of Prussia. Russia, who was an ally of France, went against the word of Napoleon, So Napoleon decided to invade Russia.

Other European countries, suspicious of their non-monarchical neighbor ruled by Napoleon, declared war against him. Napoleon at first seemed unstoppable when he defeated 6 coalitions that were formed against him. Soon after, however, he faced a series of key defeats that led to his downfall. The Spanish, whom had previously been his allies, revolted against him by using guerrilla warfare when he switched their monarch Ferdinand VII Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte. Napoleon’s naval power was stifled by the British navy, and he was finally beat June 18 1815 by the 7th coalition at the Battle of Waterloo.

From 1805 to 1808 Napoleon fought in battles that left only Great Britain out of his control. He began to run into problems trying to capture Great Britain. Trying to destroy the British economy Napoleon put his Continental system into place, which was a plan to cut off British sea trade. The British Navy was superior and Napoleon lost. This is said to be the start of his downfall.

Spain tried to smuggle goods into the continental system so Napoleon invaded Spain again. Britain helped form a coalition with Spain. France was unable to take control of Moscow because the Russians destroyed the city. France was defeated and in 1814 all of Europe went against Napoleon, who was finally defeated in 1815 by the other European monarchs who restored the bourbons to power. A coalition was formed and it exiled Napoleon to Elba.

Soon after, mediation having failed, Metternich brought Austria into the war against France. As the war came towards its conclusion in the spring of 1814, Metternich quickly came to the conclusion that no peace with Napoleon was possible, and abandoning ideas of a Bonapartist regency under Marie Louise, came to support a Bourbon restoration, which brought him closer to Castlereagh, the British Foreign Secretary. Metternich was one of the principal negotiators at the Congress of Vienna. During this period, Metternich came to have a bitter personal hate with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, whose Polish plans Metternich deeply feared, and who competed with the womanizing Metternich for the affections of the beautiful Wilhelmina von Sagan. Metternich's attempts to form a united front with Viscount Castlereagh and Hardenberg, the Prussian chancellor, to oppose Alexander's plans for a constitutional Kingdom of Poland under his own rule, came to nothing due to Prussia's unwillingness to stand up to Alexander.

January, 1793: The French King, Louis XVI was executed and Napoleon returned to the French Army. June 11, 1793: A quarrel with Paoli, the mayor of Corsica, starts and the Napoleon’s family was forced to leave the island. June 13, 1793: Napoleon’s family successfully arrives in Toulon. June 20, 1793: Robespierre and other Jacobins took over the government in June 1793 and began the Reign of Terror. French cities revolted against his government.