apolon Bonaparte (/npolin bonprt/;[2] French: [naple bnapat]; 15 August 1769

5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the
French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars.
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815
(during the Hundred Days). Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a
decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most
of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over
continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history,
his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and
cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human
history.[3][4]

He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (Italian: [napoleone di bwnaparte]) in Corsica, to a

relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789,
Napoleon was serving as an artillery officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities
presented by the Revolution, he rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, becoming a
general at age 24. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he
suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first
military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allieswinning virtually every battle,
conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year, and becoming a national hero. In 1798, he led a
military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a
coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. His ambition and public
approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French.
Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by
1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a
historic triumph over Russia and Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the elimination
of the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against
him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent.
Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand
Army deep into Eastern Europe and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of
Friedland. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of
Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark
of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during
the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at
the Battle of Wagram in July.

Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European
mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808.
The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six
years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental
System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially
Russia. Unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely
violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched a
major invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse
of the Grand Army and the destruction of Russian cities, and inspired a renewed push against
Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition
against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating
Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured
Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of
Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from
Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a
Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The British exiled
him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at
the age of 51.[5][6]

Napoleon had an extensive and powerful influence on the modern world, bringing liberal
reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low
Countries, Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented
fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe.[note 1] His legal
achievement, the Napoleonic Code, has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations
around the world. British historian Andrew Roberts stated, "The ideas that underpin our modern
worldmeritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular
education, sound finances, and so onwere championed, consolidated, codified and
geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local
administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the
abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire".
[13]