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Napoleon's Childhood
On August 15, 1769, Napoleon was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in the city of Ajaccio. On May 15, 1779, when Napoleon was just nine years old his parents sent him to the military school of Brienne. Napoleon left that school to go to the Royal Military School in Paris on October 17, 1784. Just the year after on October 28, 1785, Napoleon graduates from military school and becomes a lieutenant in the artillery. -
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Importance of Childhood and Hero of the Hour
All this matters because it is about how smart he was and how he started at a young age. The battle leads up to how the Directory then elects him as the general to lead an army against Austria in Italy which then leads to the coup d’état that he makes to gain power over France. -
The Reign of Terror Ends!
After a year of a fierce rule by Robespierre- the Reign of Terror- the radical phase of the French Revolution has come to an end. This year was filled with quick trials and guillotines- the fate of supposed enemies to the state. Eventually the National Convention turns on Robespierre and execute him. -
The Directory Takes Over France!
The third government is created since 1789 in France The upper middle class will be in charge, forming a two-house legislature and an executive body called the Directory. These individuals will give France a period of order after much chaos and choose Napoleon Bonaparte to lead their military. -
Napoleon as Hero of the Hour
On October 5, 1795, Napoleon was given an opportunity to receive glory. Thousands of royalist rebels marched on the National Convention and Napoleon was ordered to defend the delegates. Napoleon’s artillery and gunners showered the royalist rebels with a cannonade. Soon, the rebels grew panicky and fled in confusion. Napoleon became the hero of the hour and was hailed all through Paris as the savior of the French Republic. -
Napoleon’s Coup d’État
A year later, in 1799, the Directory had lost control of the political situation in and the confidence of the French people. When Napoleon returned from Egypt, people cheered him on even though it had been disaster in Egypt and Napoleon and his men had been defeated. Napoleon covered his defeat and kept the stories about his defeat out of the newspapers. Friends of Napoleon urged him that this was the time to seize political power. -
Napoleon’s Coup d’État
In early November of 1799, Napoleon and his troops surrounded the national legislature and drove out most of its members. The remaining members voted to dissolve the Directory. Napoleon then established a group of three consuls, one of them being him. He took the title of First Consul and assumed the powers of a dictator. A seizure of power is called a coup d’état or “blow to the state”.
He rewrote the constitution, established a new government and by 1800, 30 year old Napoleon was the most pow -
Napoleon’s Coup d’État
At the time of Napoleon’s coup, France was still at war. In 1799, Britain, Austria, and Russia joined together in an attempt to drive Napoleon from power. Eventually all three nations signed peace agreements with France. By 1802, Europe was at peace for the first time in ten years and Napoleon was free to spend his time restoring order in France. -
Napoleon’s Coup d’État
His successful campaign in Italy convinced Napoleon that he would be a good leader. He personally negotiated the Treaty of Campo with the defeated Austrians and brought more new territories under France’s rule. When he came back to Paris, the people looked at him as a hero and they thought that he could lead them to end the political chaos in France but he denied as he thought the time was not right for a coup. On May 19, 1789 he set sail with an army to Egypt. -
Napoleon’s Coup d’État
On May 5, 1796 Napoleon had successfully freed the people of Italy from the Austrian emperor Francis I. He made himself the head of a provisional Italian government. He treated the people of Italy badly. He shot people who did not follow his rule and his soldiers burned and sacked villages and towns. Italy’s greatest treasures were looted and shipped to Paris. The Italians quickly revolted against Napoleon and his ideas of revolution. -
Start of Napoleon's Rule
He took steps to end corruption and inefficiency in the government. He dismissed corrupt officials. In order to provide the government with trained officials, Napoleon set up lycees , or government-run public schools Graduates were appointed to public office in the government.
Napoleon disregarded changes about religion introduced by the Revolution. The clergy and peasants wanted to restore the position of the Church in France. Napoleon signed a concordat, or agreement with Pope Pius VII. -
Start of Napoleon's Rule
On February 7, 1800, the Constitution was approved by the people through a plebiscite, or a vote of the people. The people voted in favor of the constitution, which gave all real power to Napoleon as first consul.
He kept many of the changes from the Revolution. Napoleon supported laws that strengthened the central government.
Napoleon set up an efficient method of tax collection and established a national bank system, which promoted financial management and better control of the economy. -
Napoleon's concordat with Pope Pius VII
The concordat, or agreement, between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII was signed on July 15, 1801. This concordat established a new relationship between the state and church. The government acknowledged the influence of the Church but kept the Church control away in national affairs. This was brought upon by the lack of Napoleon to regard changes for religion. By Napoleon signing this concordat, his amount of supporters of the organized church rose along with the majority of French people. -
Napoleon's concordat with Pope Pius VII
This event and others lead him to declaring himself the emperor. When being crowned, he took the crown from the pope, stating he was more powerful than the church (traditionally crowned the rulers of France). Their concordat help strengthen their relationship leading to Napoleon becoming more powerful. -
Loss of American Territories
6: Loss of American Territories In 1789 revolution reached the colony of Saint Domingue. The workers and slaves at the Saint Dominigue wanted to have freedoms and rights. Civil war breaks out when the slaves rebelled being led by Toussaint L’Ouverture. Wanting to restore the valuable sugar production, Napoleon sent troops to the colonies, but due to the troops being sick, and the rebels being exceedingly strong. -
Loss of American Territories
Eventually he turns to the United States’ leader , President Jefferson, and sells the land to them. He does this for two reasons. 1. It gains money for France. 2. Selling the land to America diminishes England, long time rival of France. -
Napoleonic Code
Napoleon thought his greatest work was his comprehensive system of laws called the Napoleonic code. This gave the country a uniform set of laws and eliminated many problems. Also, specified that government jobs would go to the most qualified. What it actually did was limit liberty and promoted order and authority over individual rights. For example, freedom of speech and of the press, were restricted under the code. Slavery in the French colonies of the Caribbean were restored. -
Napoleonic Code
The Code was originally called the Code civil des français. It was established 1804, in France, by Napoleon. The Napoleonic code strongly influenced the laws of many countries formed during/after the Napoleonic wars. Napoleon wanted to redo the French legal system with the ideas of the French Revolution, because the old feudal and royal laws seemed confusing and contradictory to the people. Before the Code, France did not have a single set of laws; their rules consisted mainly of local customs. -
crowning of napolean, how he ruled and who he was
Napoleon had strong military influence since childhood being enrolled in military school since 9 and when he was 16 joined Frances military. He quickly became a renowned general and when france was looking for strong new leadership he took the roll.
When France fell on a time of peace Napoleon decided he wanted to be emperor. At a traditional crowning the pope would crown the new emperor but in napoleons case in 1804 he took the crown from the pope and crowned himself saying that he considered -
napoleans crowning and STUFF part 2
himself more powerful than the church.
Napoleon could be described as a war-hungry, greedy, and even corrupt ruler. He often used wars as a political tool despite the human loss it involved; this could be because he had such a strong military background. One of the first things he did once crowned was try and strongly assert France into the Americas. When this failed he immediately began trying to conquer large parts of Europe for France. -
Battle of Trafalgar
Nelson split his fleet in to two sections and then attempted to split the French line of ships. This was a dangerous tactic and could have led to heavy damage for leading ships. However, the British ships avoided any damage and successfully split the French fleet. The battle lasted for five hours. The British fleet captured and later destroyed 19 French ships. Nelson was shot and killed about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. -
Battle of Trafalgar
This victory ensured that the British navy dominant for the next hundred years. It also ruined Napoleon’s invisible image This victory also made it impossible for Napoleon to invade Britain. -
Battle of Trafalgar
By 1805, the only major enemy that Napoleon had not conquered was the British navy. They were lead by Horatio Nelson, who was brilliant in sea warfare. The Battle of Trafalgar took place on October 21, 1805. This naval battle took place of the southwest coast of Spain. Nelson’s fleet which was made of 27 ships was facing a larger combined French and Spanish fleet of 33 ships. This larger fleet was led by Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve and Don Federico. -
Conquering Europe-Battle of Austerlitz
After Napoleon abandoned efforts for the New World, he focused more on conquering Europe. He took over Austrian Netherlands, Switzerland, and parts of Italy already and now he was looking for further expansion. Soon after Britain, Russia, Austria and Sweden joined forces against France. Because of his unpredictable moves he defeated his opponent in a series of battles. The Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 was one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. -
Conquering Europe. Pt.2
The fighting took place for nine hours and after France had the victory in it, they took Austria out of the war with the Treaty of Pressburg. Prussia, Russia and Austria all signed treaties with France now and the only major enemy left were Britain. -
Continental System
Napoleon, now the ruler of France, began attempting to take over surrounding countries in an effort to expand the French Empire. He decided that he would attempt to destroy Great Britain’s commercial and industrial economy, weakening the country altogether. In November of 1806, Napoleon set up a blockade around Great Britain, forcibly closing all of their ports. Great Britain was now cut off from trade and communication with other countries. -
Continental System
This act became known as the Continental System, as it was supposed to make continental Europe more self-sufficient. Unfortunately for Napoleon, his blockade was not strong enough, and smugglers were able to transport cargo in and out. Furthermore, his allies and family disregarded the blockade, moving in and out as they pleased. Consequently, British trade was weakened, but not destroyed. -
Continental System
Britain ended up putting a blockade of their own into place, but their strong navy allowed for a much tighter seal on French interactions. Britain stopped ships coming to France, and forced them to dock in Britain, to be searched and taxed. This angered the U. S., who went to war with Britain in 1812. Two years later, the war had concluded, and Britain suffered only a minor setback in their feud with Napoleon. -
Continental System
The Continental System was considered to be one of Napoleon’s three disastrous mistakes. His blockade with a weak army caused Great Britain to turn against Napoleon, and join in the war against him. This mistake was a major contributing factor to his downfall. -
The Peninsular War
1807, Napoleon leads French troops through Spain to invade Portugal so they would accept his Continental System; the Spanish people protested this action.
In 1808 Napoleon removed the Spanish king from his throne and placed his brother Joseph on the throne in reaction to Spain’s protest this angered the Spain people. The Spanish also were devoutly Catholic were afraid that the church would be weakened just like the church in France during the French Revolution. -
The Peninsular War
This gave Britain a new ally in the war against France. Throughout the next six years small bands of Spanish peasant fighters called guerrillas ambushed the French armies in Spain with hit and run tactics. The English helped add to the French troubles by sending troops to aid the Spanish. Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this war, and Nationalism became a very powerful weapon used against Napoleon. -
The Peninsular War
Like the Spanish guerrillas, Germans and Italians and other conquered peoples began to revolt and act against Napoleon. -
Invasion of Russia
After Napoleon’s failed attempt at crushing Great Britain, Napoleon attempted to blockade Great Britain. Even though Alexander I of Russia was Napoleon’s ally, he continued to sell grain to Great Britain. Because of this violation of the blockade, Napoleon decided to invade Russia. In June of 1812, Napoleon and his Grand Army (which consisted of 420,000 troops) invaded Russia. As the Napoleon was moving deeper and deeper into Russia, Alexander kept pulling back, and as he did he used the “scorch -
Invasion of Russia
, and as he did he used the “scorched-earth policy (burning grain and slaughtering livestock so that the enemy didn’t have anything to eat).” They finally fought at the Battle of Borodino, however the Russians decided to retreat and let the French pass into Moscow (which had been destroyed by Alexander). Napoleon finally decided to retreat back to France, but as the temperature dropped dramatically and the heavy snows set in (both of which the French weren’t used to), the Russians attacked the -
Invasion of Russia
French. The French survived, but by the time they made it back to France, all but 10,000 had succumbed to exhaustion, hunger, and the cold weather. This event is important because it was one of the factors that contributed to Napoleon’s downfall. After this, the other European countries decided to take advantage of Napoleon’s lack of army by declaring war on him. Napoleon tried to build another army, but was unsuccessful and was forced to accept their terms of surrender. -
Britain, Prussia, Russia and Sweden Declare War on Napoleon 1
After retreating from Russia, Napoleon only had 10,000 soldiers left to fight. His enemies noticed and they took action and took advantage of the present weakness. Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden declared war on Napoleon. Austria also declared war although he was married to Marie Louise. Marie Louise was the daughter of the emperor of Austria. Napoleon managed to raise another army, but they were ill prepared. -
Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden Declare War on Napoleon 2
He still faced the allied enemies outside Leipzig in October 1813 and he was easily defeated. By January 1814, Frederick William III of Prussia and Czar Alexander I of Russia paraded around Paris in victory. Napoleon wanted to fight even more, but his generals denied him access. He accepted terms of surrender in April 1814 and he gave his throne up. They exiled him to a tiny island called Elba, which was off the coast of Italy. -
Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna was a series of meetings in Vienna in the year 1814-1815. The most influential representative was a foreign minister of Austria, Prince Klemens von Metternich. He wanted to keep things as they were. He also felt that Napoleon’s behavior had been a natural outcome of experiments with democracy. The first goal Metternich had at the congress was to prevent future French aggression by surrounding France with strong countries. To do this, there were 3 steps. -
Congress of Vienna
The first sttep was to unite Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic to form Kingdom of the Netherlands. The second step was to group 39 of the German states as the new German Confederation, dominated by Austria. The third step was to recognize Switzerland as an idependent nation. Lastly, Genoa was added to the Kingdom of Sardinia. -
Klemens Von Metternich
Congress of Vienna was A series of meetings in Vienna,they were call to set up policies to achive a goal of new European Order It went on for eight months
he was the Foreign Minister of Austria,
Metternich distrusted the democratic ideals of the French Revolution. Like most other European Aristocrats, he felt that Napoleons behavior had been a natural outcome of experiments with democracy. Metternich wanted to keep things as they were. He wanted to restore a Balance of Power, -
Hundred Days
Before the period of “Hundred Days”, there was a battle in Leipzig, Germany where all of the European countries against Napoleon forces fought. These forces included British, Russian, Prussian and Sweden. These countries, the allies, easily won against France. In April 1814, Napoleon surrenders because his generals refused to go on and he was exiled to Elba. The European countries didn’t have to fear anymore and didn’t worry about Napoleon coming back because of how small of an island he was on. -
Hundred Days cont.
On March 1, 1815 Napoleon gathered a thousand men and headed to regain his power over France. Napoleon was welcomed by the people of France and quickly became emperor. By the time Napoleon reached Paris on March 20th he had over 340,000 men. Immediately European forces were ready for battle. June 16, 1815 was the Prussian battle against Napoleon. Napoleon ended up leaving but he sent 1/3 of his army back to destroy Prussians. June 16, 1815 was British’s battle with Napoleon at Quatre Bras. -
Hundred Days cont. 2
. They ended up tying but one of the generals gets a head start on the Waterloo battle. On June 18, 1815 Napoleon attacked the British village of Waterloo in Belgium. Prussians came later that day to help the British; with the two forces against Napoleon he was unable to win and got chased away. This defeat ended Napoleon’s hundred days of trying to regain power in France. The British then shipped Napoleon to St. Helena where he lived for six years until his death in 1821 from a stomach ailment. -
Holy Alliance; Concert of Europe
Many monarchs in Europe following Napoleon’s demise were worried that a revolution may happen in their nation. In order to prevent revolution in their countries, Czar Alexander I (Russia), Emperor Francis I (Austria), and King Frederick William III (Prussia) agreed to base communication between their nations on Christian teachings. They believed this would stop the formation of any revolution. In case of a revolution, it was also decided upon that if an uprising were to unfold, they would help -
Holy Alliance; Concert of Europe (cont)
one another destroy it. The Concert of Europe strengthened these ideas with the help of Klemens von Metternich. The group of alliances formed and agreed to help each other in the event of a potential revolution. These alliances helped create a lasting peace to help nations recover from the war and for the first time, work through political problems as a continent.
