Napoleon leading the French. Napoleon is appointed commander of the French army. Napoleon's domestic policy

The story of the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte still fascinates people around the world no less than his contemporaries. An unknown Corsican, a native of a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, he, thanks to the abilities of a commander and statesman, gained unlimited power over France, and then over the entire European continent, after which, in just two years, he lost all his conquests and ended his life on Saint Helena Island, lost in the vast expanses of the Atlantic.

And although over the past two hundred years the number of studies about Napoleon published in different countries world, has long exceeded three hundred thousand, historians still continue to introduce new sources of that era into scientific circulation.

Image: Napoleon Bonaparte

// Bibliothèque nationale de France

The beginning of the way

Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica. A descendant of an old but impoverished noble family, he was the second son of Carlo Buonaparte, a member of the royal court in Ajaccio. Having chosen a military career, Napoleon studied at the military college of Brienne in 1779–1784, and at the Military School of Paris in 1784–1785. He read a lot on philosophy, history and military affairs, and himself engaged in literary experiments. While serving in the garrisons of Valence and Auson, Napoleon more than once took long vacations to travel to Corsica, where he actively participated in local political life.

French revolution

In 1789, Bonaparte unconditionally supported the French Revolution and took an oath of allegiance to the “Nation, the King and the Law.” In February 1793, together with Corsican revolutionaries, he participated in a military expedition to the island of Sardinia, receiving a baptism of fire.

In December 1793, commanding the artillery of the army besieging Toulon occupied by the British, Captain Bonaparte proposed a plan that led to the rapid capture of the city, for which he received the rank of brigadier general. However, after the Thermidorian coup, the newly-minted general, due to his previous closeness to the Commissar of the Convention, Augustin Robespierre - the brother of the notorious one - was subjected to a ten-day arrest in August 1794. And although he was eventually acquitted, he was removed from the state.

Arriving in Paris for a new appointment, Bonaparte was in the capital when the city's residents raised an anti-government uprising on the 13th of Vendemières, IV of the Republic, which the Convention declared royalist. The previously disgraced general was involved in suppressing the rebellion, put in charge of the artillery of the Convention troops, and with his decisive actions made an important contribution to the defeat of the rebels. Thus, he regained the trust of the authorities, received the rank of division general and the post of commander of the Italian army.

// Image: Three Napoleons: Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France; Napoleon, son of the emperor; Napoleon, nephew of the emperor

Rise to Fame

Having led the army, which was located in a secondary theater of military operations until that time and was supplied on a residual basis, Bonaparte managed to turn it into one of the best military associations of the Republic. In 1796–1797 he invaded Italy and inflicted a series of defeats on Austrian and Piedmontese forces in northern Italy, forcing Piedmont, the Papal States and Austria to sign peace with France. This marked the end of the First Anti-French Coalition. Italy, occupied by the French, was subjected to merciless robbery: Bonaparte sent from there to France not only multimillion-dollar indemnities, but also hundreds of priceless works of art. The brilliant victories of the young general brought him widespread popularity in France itself and great fame beyond its borders. Therefore, after Bonaparte’s triumphant return to Paris, the government of the Republic - the Directory - hastened to offer him a new mission to remove him from the capital.

Egyptian campaign

After the collapse of the First Anti-French Coalition, Great Britain remained France's only enemy. Unable, due to the superiority of the English fleet, to land French troops on the British Isles, the Directory decided to capture Egypt, which belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Thus, it was supposed to prepare a springboard for advancing to British India and at the same time get a rich colony. Preparations were carried out as quickly as possible: on March 3, 1798, a corresponding resolution of the Directory was adopted, and already on May 19, the French fleet left Toulon with the troops of the Eastern Army on board. It was headed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Having captured Malta along the way, he landed in Egypt near Alexandria on July 1.

French aggression caused an extremely negative reaction from Russia and Austria, which, together with Great Britain, Turkey and Naples, created the Second Anti-French Coalition.

Having captured Alexandria, Bonaparte moved to Cairo. Having defeated detachments of Mamluks and Arabs at the Battle of Shubrahit on July 13, 1798 and at the Battle of the Pyramids on July 21, 1798, he occupied the capital of Egypt and within six months extended French occupation to the entire country. However, after the English squadron of Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Abukir on August 1–2, 1798, the Eastern Army was blocked in Egypt.

Trying to force Ottoman Empire to peace, Bonaparte in the spring of 1799 moved with the main forces of his army to Palestine. Taking Jaffa by storm, he, together with J. B. Kleber, defeated the Turkish army at Mount Tabor on April 16, 1799. To further advance north, the French needed to capture the fortress of Acre (now Acre), but the two-month siege ended unsuccessfully. Having suffered heavy losses and suffering from the outbreak of plague, the French army was forced to return to Egypt.

Bonaparte won his last victory on Egyptian soil on July 25, 1799, destroying the Turkish corps that had landed from British ships at Aboukir. Taking advantage of the favorable moment and realizing that further stay in Egypt was futile for him, Bonaparte secretly left for France on August 23, 1799, together with his inner circle, leaving Kleber a letter in which he transferred authority to command the army and said that he himself was going to save the Republic .

Maneuvering enemy squadrons during the transition of the Egyptian expedition

//commons.wikimedia.org

At the heights of power

Upon his return to France, Bonaparte, relying on units loyal to him, carried out a military coup on the 18th–19th Brumaire of the VIII year of the Republic (November 9–10, 1799): he overthrew the Directory and established the Consulate regime, in fact, a one-man dictatorship under the guise of republican decorations.

Leading French troops in Italy, Bonaparte defeated the Austrians at Marengo on June 14, 1800. In 1801 he forced Austria to peace, and in 1802 Great Britain.

Military victories provided Bonaparte with wide popularity in the country, which he skillfully used to strengthen his own power: following the results of plebiscites, he was proclaimed First Consul for life on August 4, 1802, and Emperor Napoleon on May 18, 1804.

Some institutions of the Old Order were restored in the Empire: titles of nobility, slavery in the colonies, Catholicism as the state religion, but in general the socio-economic results of the French Revolution were preserved and legislated in Civil Code Napoleon (1807).

// Image: Napoleonic Codex, personal copy. 1807

The Emperor sought to attract to the service of the state representatives of both the elites of the Old Order and the new elites that emerged during the French Revolution. At the same time, any opposition to the regime on the part of Republicans, liberals or royalists was harshly suppressed.

In 1803, the war with Great Britain resumed. By 1805, London managed to put together the Third Anti-French Coalition, for the war against which Napoleon gathered all his troops into one fist, creating the Grand Army. At its head, on October 20, 1805, he forced the Austrian army of K. Mack to capitulate in Ulm, and on December 2, 1805, he completely defeated the combined forces of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz, which led to the collapse of the coalition.

After creating the Fourth Coalition in 1806, Napoleon defeated the Prussians who had joined it at Jena and Auerstedt on October 14. Having entered Berlin, he issued a decree on November 21, 1806 on the Continental Blockade of Great Britain, prohibiting other countries from trading with it.

Napoleon was unable to defeat the Russian army in the bloody battle of Preussisch-Eylau on February 6, 1807, but on June 14 he defeated it at Friedland and thereby forced Russia to peace; On July 7, Napoleon and Alexander I signed the Treaty of Tilsit, according to which Russia agreed with the territorial changes made by the French emperor in Western and Central Europe, became an ally of France and pledged to observe the Continental Blockade. In return, Napoleon recognized Russia's special interests in Finland.

At Fontainebleau on October 27, 1807, Napoleon concluded a treaty with Spain to partition Portugal, which French troops occupied a month later. After, under the pretext of fulfilling their allied obligations, the French actually occupied half of the Spanish territory, Napoleon summoned the Spanish king Charles IV and his heir, Ferdinand, to Bayona, where he forced them to abdicate the throne. And on June 4, 1808, Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's elder brother, became the Spanish king. This caused a nationwide uprising in Spain, and after British troops landed in Portugal, the uprising spread to that country as well. In November–December 1808, Napoleon personally led a campaign into Spain and, having defeated the rebels, occupied Madrid.

Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the French army were stuck in the Pyrenees, England prompted Austria to create with it the Fifth Anti-French Coalition, which in the spring of 1809 began military operations against Bavaria, allied to Napoleon. The French emperor with part of his troops arrived from Spain to the Danube theater of operations and defeated the Austrians at Abensberg and Eckmühl on May 19–22, 1809. Having tried to cross the Danube on the move, he failed at Aspern and Essling on May 21–22, but then won a decisive victory at Wagram on July 5–6, 1809, forcing the Austrian Empire to peace. Although Russia took the side of France in this war, the Russian army rather imitated activity, avoiding direct clashes with the Austrians.

Despite all the efforts of Napoleon, Alexander I avoided further rapprochement with him and refused him marriage with one of his sisters. In 1810–1811, Franco-Russian relations sharply deteriorated due to economic contradictions. Napoleon was dissatisfied with the flow of smuggling into Central Europe through Russian ports and the anti-French protectionist tariffs imposed by Russia. The Tsar expressed dissatisfaction with the strengthening of the Duchy of Warsaw. Both sides were preparing for war.

"Russian Campaign" of 1812

On June 24, 1812, the Grand Army under the command of Napoleon invaded Russian territory. The French emperor planned, having made a throw through Kovno to Vilna, to defeat first the 1st Russian army, then the 2nd, without allowing them to unite; On June 28, he was already in Vilna, where he discovered that the Russian armies were retreating into the interior of the country, avoiding a general battle. Unable to prevent their union in Smolensk, Napoleon continued the pursuit in an attempt to force a general battle on the united Russian forces.

Such a battle took place on September 7, 1812 at Borodino: the French ousted the Russians from the fortified positions they occupied, but they themselves suffered heavy losses. And on September 14, Napoleon entered Moscow. From here he turned to Alexander I several times with proposals for peace, but all of them remained unanswered. Meanwhile, the Moscow fire and the general looting of all ranks of the Great Army seriously weakened its combat effectiveness.

// Franz Roubo. Battle for Semenovsky ravine. Fragment of the Borodino panorama (1912)

On October 19, 1812, Napoleon left Moscow, moving his army to Kaluga, but after a fierce battle near Maloyaroslavets on October 24, 1812, he did not dare to attack the main forces of the Russians and turned to the already devastated Old Smolensk Road. The early onset of cold weather, supply difficulties and constant skirmishes with Russian troops caused serious damage to the Great Army and significantly weakened it. And although in the battles of Krasny on November 16–18, 1812 and on the Berezina on November 26–28, 1812, the main French forces managed to break through to the west, avoiding complete encirclement, the Grand Army virtually ceased to exist.

Having received news from Paris about the attempt made by the conspirators there to seize power, Napoleon transferred command of the remnants of the army to I. Murat and on December 5, 1812 he left for France.

Decline of the First Empire

In the winter of 1812/13, the emperor put up to 500 thousand new soldiers under arms for the war against the Sixth Anti-French Coalition. He won victories over it at Lützen on May 2, 1813, Bautzen on May 20, 1813, and Dresden on August 27, 1813, but suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig on October 16–19, 1813.

In 1814, he had to fight against superior coalition forces already on French territory. On January 29, Napoleon won the battle of Brienne, February 10 - at Champaubert, February 11 - at Montmirail, February 18 - at Montero, March 13 - at Reims, but lost Paris and, under pressure from his marshals, signed his abdication on April 4, 1814 in Fontainebleau .

Benjamin Robert Haydon. Napoleon on Saint Helena

// National Portrait Gallery, London

By decision of the allies, Napoleon received control of the island of Elba, and the Bourbon monarchy was restored in France. Having learned at the beginning of 1815 about a conspiracy organized by Bonapartists and Republicans against the Restoration regime, which had become extremely unpopular, Napoleon landed with one thousand soldiers on the French coast on March 1 and headed towards Paris. The troops sent against him by the government went over to the side of the emperor, and on March 20, Napoleon entered Paris and restored the empire in the form of a constitutional monarchy.

To combat it, the leading European powers created the Seventh Anti-French Coalition. The fighting took place on the territory of Belgium. On June 16, 1815, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny, but on June 18 he suffered a crushing defeat from the Anglo-Prussian forces at Waterloo.

On June 22, 1815, the French emperor again abdicated the throne and was exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he spent the rest of his life. On May 3, 1821 he died. Some authors later put forward the version that it was the British who poisoned Napoleon with arsenic, but relatively recently it was convincingly refuted by the famous French researcher T. Lenz. In 1840, Napoleon's ashes were transported from Saint Helena to Paris and buried in the Cathedral of the Invalides, where they remain to this day.

March 2, 1796

The Austrians, who suffered brutal military defeats from French troops in Italy in 1796-1797 and lost Belgium, rightly considered it a miracle to preserve the integrity of their state. But the Directory also hoped to receive the Rhineland. The secret articles of the treaty, which Paris did not even know about, provided for the liquidation of the Venetian Republic. Bonaparte started a dangerous game.

For gross violation of government instructions, the Directory should have removed him from leadership of the army and put him on trial. However, the population of Paris greeted the news of the signing of peace with delight. Victories in Italy and the defeat of Austria brought Bonaparte fame.

Napoleon appointed commander of the French Army

The French Revolutionary Directory appointed Napoleon Bonaparte as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army March 2, 1796. Bonaparte's career developed rapidly. And it wasn’t just luck, his performance was phenomenal. He needed no more than 4-5 hours of sleep a day. During Great Revolution Napoleon sided with the Girondins.

The Convention Commission entrusted Bonaparte with command of the artillery on September 16, 1793. During the assault on Toulon, Napoleon, who led one of the detachments, was wounded. After the capture of the city, the Convention commission promoted him to brigadier general. The fall of Robespierre's dictatorship seemed to put the Toulon hero's career in jeopardy. As a friend of the Jacobins, he was arrested, but was soon released. In search of a new assignment, he met Deputy Barras.

On his instructions, on October 5, 1795, Napoleon crushed the royalist rebellion. The reward was not long in coming. Barras became one of the leaders of the Directory, and Napoleon headed the Parisian garrison. At the same time, he married the general's widow, the beautiful Creole Josephine Beauharnais, who was six years older than him.

The Directory appointed Napoleon commander-in-chief of the French army for operations in Italy on March 2, 1796. His campaign ended in a great and unexpected victory. The hero of the Italian campaign craved the glory of a peacemaker, knowing full well that by doing so he would gain popularity in France and strengthen his position before the Directory.

In February 1797, Bonaparte signed a peace treaty with Pope Pius VI, according to which the latter lost a significant part of his possessions. At Eggenwald Castle, located in Styria, on April 7, 1797, Napoleon began negotiations that ended on April 18 with the signing of a preliminary peace treaty with Austria.

Napoleon Bonaparte is the first French emperor and one of the most talented commanders of all time. He had high intelligence, a fantastic memory and was distinguished by an amazing capacity for work.

Napoleon personally developed combat strategies that allowed him to emerge victorious in most battles, both on land and at sea.

As a result, after 2 years of hostilities, the Russian army entered Paris in triumph, and Napoleon abdicated the throne and was exiled to the island of Elba, in.

Moscow fire

However, less than a year later he escapes and returns back to Paris.

By this time, the French were concerned that the monarchical Bourbon dynasty might once again take power. That is why they enthusiastically greeted the return of Emperor Napoleon.

Ultimately, Napoleon was overthrown and captured by the British. This time he was sent into exile on the island of St. Helena, in which he remained for about 6 years.

Personal life

From his youth, Napoleon had an increased interest in girls. It is generally accepted that he was short (168 cm), but at that time such height was considered quite normal.

In addition, he had good posture and strong-willed facial features. Thanks to this, he was very popular among women.

Napoleon's first love was 16-year-old Desiree Eugenia Clara. However, their relationship did not turn out to be strong. Once in the capital, the future emperor began many affairs with Parisian women, who were often older than him.

Napoleon and Josephine

7 years after the French Revolution, Napoleon first met Josephine Beauharnais. A whirlwind romance began between them, and in 1796 they began to live in a civil marriage.

It is interesting that at that time Josephine already had two children from a previous marriage. In addition, she even spent some time in prison.

The couple had a lot in common. They both grew up in the provinces, faced difficulties in life, and also had prison experience.

Napoleon and Josephine

When Napoleon participated in various military campaigns, his beloved remained in Paris. Josephine enjoyed life, and he languished with melancholy and jealousy towards her.

It was difficult to call the famous commander a monogamist, and even rather the opposite. His biographers suggest that he had about 40 favorites. From some of them he had children.

After living with Josephine for about 14 years, Napoleon decides to divorce her. One of the main reasons for the divorce was that the girl could not have children.

An interesting fact is that Bonaparte initially proposed marriage to Anna Pavlovna Romanova. He proposed to her through her brother.

However, the Russian emperor made it clear to the Frenchman that he did not want to become related to him. Some historians believe that this episode from Napoleon's biography influenced further relations between Russia and France.

Soon the commander married the daughter of the Austrian emperor, Maria Louise. In 1811 she gave birth to his long-awaited heir.

One more thing worth paying attention to interesting fact. Fate turned out in such a way that it was Josephine’s grandson, and not Bonaparte, who in the future became emperor. His descendants still successfully reign in several European countries.

But Napoleon's pedigree soon ceased to exist. Bonaparte's son died at a young age, leaving no offspring.

After the abdication at the Palace of Fontainebleau

However, the wife, who lived with her father at that time, did not even remember her husband. Not only did she not express a desire to see him, but she did not even write him a single letter in response.

Death

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon lived last years on the island of St. Elena. He was in a state of deep depression and suffered from pain in his right side.

He himself thought that he had cancer, from which his father died.

There is still debate about the true cause of his death. Some believe that he died from cancer, while others are convinced that there was arsenic poisoning.

The latest version is explained by the fact that after the death of the emperor, arsenic was found in his hair.

In his will, Bonaparte asked to bury his remains in France, which was done in 1840. His grave is located in the Parisian Invalides on the territory of the cathedral.

Photo of Napoleon

At the end we offer you to look at the most famous photos of Napoleon. Of course, all portraits of Bonaparte were made by artists, since cameras simply did not exist at that time.

Bonaparte - First Consul
Emperor Napoleon in his office in the Tuileries
Capitulation of Madrid on December 4, 1808
Napoleon crowned King of Italy on May 26, 1805 in Milan
Napoleon Bonaparte on the Arcole Bridge

Napoleon and Josephine

Napoleon at the Saint Bernard Pass

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Napoleon, Emperor of France

(1769–1821)

Man recognized greatest commander and the greatest conqueror in the history of mankind, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, in Corsica, which had just become a province of France, in the family of a small nobleman, lawyer Carlo Buonaparte, and his wife Maria Letizia Ramolino, who belonged to an old but poor patrician family. In 1784, Napoleon graduated from the Royal Military School in Briand-le-Château. Here he was treated condescendingly as an ignorant foreigner, who also studied at public expense due to poverty. This attitude made Napoleon a closed person who had no friends. His academic success was more than modest: the future emperor graduated from only 42 out of 58 students. Nevertheless, Napoleon decided to continue his military career and began studying to become an artilleryman at the Military School in Paris. In September 1785, shortly after the death of his father, he was promoted to junior lieutenant of the artillery and assigned to the garrison of the city of La Fère. Here his comrades were amazed at his ability to work: Bonaparte slept 4–5 hours a day. In February 1791, at the height of the revolution, Napoleon received the rank of senior lieutenant and a new assignment - to Grenoble, to an artillery regiment. Here he became a member of the Jacobin Club, and then went to Corsica, where he was elected lieutenant colonel of a volunteer regiment. This happened on April 1, 1792. After the Corsicans failed in the battles in Sardinia, Napoleon quarreled with the head of the Corsican nationalists, Pascal Paoli, who advocated the independence of Corsica, and on June 10 he moved to Marseille with his family. When a royalist rebellion occurred in Marseille in July, he decisively sided with the Republicans and led the artillery in the army of General Jean-Baptiste Carlot. On December 19, 1793, Napoleon took part in the assault on Toulon, occupied by the royalists, and the artillery he led played a decisive role in the capture of the city. In addition, during the assault, he personally led one of the columns and was wounded. For the capture of Toulon, Bonaparte was promoted to brigadier general, and in February 1794 he was appointed commander of the artillery of the French army in Italy. After the overthrow of the dictatorship of Maximilian Robespierre, Napoleon, who had a reputation as a Jacobin, was even imprisoned, where he stayed from August 6 to September 14, 1794. He was soon completely rehabilitated, but, offended by the Directory, he rejected the offer to lead the artillery of the Western Army in Germany. Instead, Napoleon became head of the topographic bureau of the War Ministry. But very soon he waited in the wings. On October 5, 1795 (13 Vendamiere), it was necessary to suppress the rebellion of the royalists besieging the Convention. By this time, Napoleon had become close to Directory member Barras, who asked him to help put down the rebellion. Having been appointed deputy commander of the internal troops, Napoleon shot the rebels with grapeshot. As a reward, he was made commander of all internal troops and the Parisian garrison.

In March 1796, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, the widow of a Republican general, who was 6 years older than him, and therefore changed his surname from Buonaparte to Bonaparte. In the same 1796, Napoleon was sent as commander-in-chief to Italy, where he defeated Piedmontese troops in the battles of Cheva and Mondovia and annexed Savoy and Nice to France under a truce concluded with Piedmont. On May 10, 1796, Napoleon defeated the Austrian army at Lodi and five days later occupied Milan. By the end of June he had cleared all of Lombardy from the Austrians. In February 1797, after a long siege, the Austrian fortress of Mantua was taken. After this, Napoleon launched a campaign against Vienna, which forced Austria to ask for peace. Napoleon, with the help of Talleyrand, successfully conducted peace negotiations and on October 17, 1797, concluded a treaty at Campo Formio, according to which the Austrians left Northern Italy and ceded Lombardy and a significant part of the left bank of the Rhine to France, annexing the territory of the Venetian Republic as compensation. Bonaparte financed his operations through the sale of captured works of Italian art. He believed that the main thing in achieving victory was the high spirit of one’s own army. Success in Italy made Napoleon a national hero of France. The Directory invited him to lead the landing to England. But Napoleon eventually managed to convince politicians that first it was necessary to capture Egypt, expel the British from the Mediterranean and threaten British India from the Middle East. On October 5, 1798, the Directory authorized the sending of Bonaparte's army to Egypt. However, Napoleon's Egyptian expedition turned out to be a gamble and ultimately ended in disaster. The French managed to expel British and Turkish troops from Egypt with relative ease. However, a guerrilla war began in the country, and the British squadron of Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Nevertheless, Napoleon managed to return to France on August 24, 1799, eluding a meeting with English ships. The French troops in Egypt capitulated a year later. By the time Napoleon returned, the armies of the Directory were suffering defeats from their allies in Italy and Germany. He organized a coup against the Directory on the 18th Brumaire (November 9), 1799, while being the commander of the Paris garrison. In the new government, he became one of three consuls, and his vote was decisive. Each of the consuls was elected by the Senate for a term of 10 years, but it never came to re-election. According to the constitution of the VIII year of the Republic, Napoleon was proclaimed first consul with almost dictatorial powers. The future emperor received the right to appoint members of the State Council, judges and officials. Napoleon assumed the post of first consul in February 1800, and in 1802 he was proclaimed consul for life. He exercised personal control not only over the armed forces and police, but also over all government agencies of the country. Elected local governments were replaced by prefects and mayors appointed personally by the emperor. Newspapers were made dependent on the government, as they could only be published thanks to government subsidies. The country had an extensive network of secret police, led by one of the bloodiest Jacobins, Fouche. Napoleon guaranteed the inviolability of property to all who received it as a result of the revolution. Napoleon managed to stabilize the French currency. In 1800 he established the French Bank.

The overwhelming majority of the French were on the side of the first consul, whose rule was seen as a guarantee against the upheavals of the revolution and a guarantee of stability. Napoleon initiated the creation of a code of laws known as the Napoleonic Code, which included criminal and civil legislation. In these laws, millions of people who received property after the revolution also saw some kind of guarantee that the old order would not be restored. The Napoleonic Code proclaimed freedom of conscience and universal school education, and all French people received civil rights. In 1801, Napoleon concluded a concordat with Pope Pius VII, according to which activities catholic church was allowed again in France.

Soon after coming to power, Napoleon turned to his external opponents, each individually, with a proposal to stop as soon as possible fighting and make peace. He fully expected that the proposal would be rejected, and made it only in anticipation of the propaganda effect. Indeed, British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger rejected peace proposals; he was supported by the Austrian and Russian emperors. As a result, the emperor was successful in the war with the forces of the second coalition. On June 14, 1800, he defeated the Austrian army in Italy at the Battle of Marengo. On February 9, 1801, the Luneville Peace Treaty, which was beneficial for France, was concluded with Austria, and the Amiens Peace Treaty with England. According to the Peace of Luneville, the entire left bank of the Rhine and Belgium, as well as part of the Venetian possessions previously acquired by Austria, went to France. According to the Peace of Amiens, the British recognized France's acquisitions in Europe and pledged to return most of the colonies seized from France. France responded by agreeing to withdraw troops from the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States. Malta returned to the rule of the Order of St. John. The Kingdom of Naples was also forced to make peace with France. And in 1802, Bonaparte declared himself president of the Italian Republic. All of Italy was gradually annexed to France. In May 1803, after the British actually refused to leave Malta, a new war began between England and France.

In 1800, Napoleon made an attempt to get closer to Russia, knowing how angry Emperor Paul I was at the Austrians, who forced the Russians to pull chestnuts from the fire in Italy for themselves, but were not going to share the fruits of victory. As a gesture of goodwill, Napoleon returned to their homeland all Russian prisoners captured in the 1799 campaign. He offered Paul an alliance when he left the anti-French coalition in September 1800, after England captured Malta. Pavel himself laid claim to Malta, being the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. However, the death of Paul during coup d'etat upset the plans of the Franco-Russian alliance. We had to limit ourselves to concluding peace between Russia and France in October 1801. The final break between Russia and France occurred after, on the orders of Bonaparte, a relative of the Bourbons, the Duke of Enghien, was kidnapped from southern Germany and shot near Paris on March 21, 1804. The Duke was the last representative of the male line of the Condé family. There was one less potential contender for the French throne, and this made Napoleon's path to the imperial crown easier.

After the war with England resumed in May 1803, Napoleon prepared an army of 170,000 to invade the British Isles. At this time, a conspiracy was uncovered to murder the first consul, with whom the Duke of Enghien was falsely accused of having connections. After this, Napoleon prompted the Senate to ask him to establish a monarchical form of government. The First Consul, of course, gladly received him. On May 19, 1804, he was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the Senate. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France by Pope Pius VII. At that moment there was a garrison of French troops in Rome, so the pope did not dare to disobey. On May 26, 1805, Napoleon was crowned King of the Kingdom of Italy in Milan, taking upon himself the crown of the Lombard kings.

When Austrian troops invaded Bavaria in 1805, Napoleon made a quick maneuver from the Boulogne camp, where he concentrated his forces for the invasion of England (after the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet by Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar, the idea of ​​​​landing on the British Isles had to be said goodbye forever). He surrounded part of the Austrian army at Ulm and forced them to capitulate in October 1805. On November 13, Napoleon captured Vienna, and on December 2, he defeated the combined Russian-Austrian army at Austerlitz. Austria signed the Peace of Presburg on December 25, 1805, ceding Venice, Istria and Dalmatia to Napoleon, transferring the Tyrol to France's Italian allies and paying a large indemnity. On July 12, 1806, the Holy Roman Empire was abolished, the crown of which was renounced by the Austrian Emperor. Instead, Napoleon created in western Germany the Rhine Confederation of German States, entirely dependent on France. Each member of the confederation was required to supply troops to help France. In January 1806, the Bourbons were expelled from Naples, and all of Italy submitted to Napoleon.

After the defeat of Austria, Prussia entered into an alliance with France, but Napoleon did not trust the Prussian king. And indeed, already in September 1806, a war began with Prussia, which opposed Napoleon’s proposal to transfer Hanover to England. Russia entered into an alliance with Prussia. Prussian troops were defeated near Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806, and Russian troops near Friedland on June 14, 1807. In July 1807, the Peace of Tilsit was signed between Russia and France and Prussia and France, according to which the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, dependent on France, was created from the Polish lands of Prussia. Prussia also lost the territories between the Rhine and Elbe. Russia became a formal ally of France for several years, but the depth of contradictions between the two countries, one of which declared itself the heir to the gains of the Great Revolution, and the other the main bearer of the principle of legitimism in Europe, gradually grew. But the economic contradictions were even more acute. Napoleon demanded that Emperor Alexander I maintain a continental blockade against England, which he called a grandiose attempt to “conquer the sea with the power of the land.” But trade with the British Empire was Russia's main source of industrial and colonial goods. Without these imports, the Russian economy could not develop, just as they could not even satisfy minimum needs different classes of the population in many types of goods. Therefore, despite Russia’s formal accession to the continental blockade, it was never actually observed here. In order to enforce the continental blockade, Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal in 1808. However, the British Expeditionary Force was quickly able to drive the French out of Portugal, and in Spain they were faced with a massive partisan movement. Napoleon's failures in the Iberian Peninsula prompted Austria, with the support of England, to re-enter the war. The Austrians managed to win at Aspern, but on July 5–6, 1809, Napoleon defeated them at Wagram. According to the Treaty of Schönbrunn on October 14, 1809, Austria lost Illyria, Salzburg, part of Carinthia and the Tarnopol district of Galicia, given for the assistance of Russia, as well as Western Galicia, annexed to the Duchy of Warsaw.

Napoleon created a magnificent imperial court. Both former republicans and former royalists appeared among the courtiers. The emperor also established several dependent kingdoms: Neapolitan, Dutch, Westphalian and Spanish, at the head of which he put his relatives and in-laws. In 1809, he divorced Josephine, who was never able to bear him a son. On April 2, 1810, he married the daughter of the Austrian Emperor, Marie-Louise, and they had a son, Napoleon, who was proclaimed King of Rome. On May 26, 1805, Napoleon himself was crowned King of Italy in Milan.

In order to finally establish his dominance on the European continent and force Russia to actually comply with the terms of the blockade against England, Napoleon, at the head of the “Great Army,” crossed the Neman on June 24, 1812. Before this, Napoleon demanded that Alexander strictly observe the conditions of the continental blockade. On April 27, 1812, the Russian side responded that this was only possible if French troops were withdrawn beyond the Elbe, Danzig and Swedish Pomerania were liberated, and Russia was allowed to trade with neutral countries. Napoleon was outraged by such demands. French troops only accelerated their march towards the Russian borders. Formally, Napoleon managed to make Austria and Prussia his allies, who sent respectively 30,000 and 20,000 contingents to the “Great Army.” However, in reality, the Austrians and Prussians practically did not fight against the Russians and were able to safely go back across the Neman. Moreover, several months before Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the Prussian king hesitated for a long time whether to strike the French together with Russian troops (Alexander had such a plan), but in the end he was afraid of the “Corsican monster.”

After the occupation of Smolensk, when it became clear that it was not possible to defeat the Russian army, Napoleon considered it best to offer peace. Through General Tuchkov, who was released from captivity, he stated that he was ready to make significant concessions regarding the continental blockade: “You want coffee and sugar, you will get them.” Alexander did not respond to these and other proposals. Napoleon managed to capture Moscow, which was burned by the Russians, but he never managed to defeat the Russian army and provide supplies to his troops, who suffered cruelly from the actions of the partisans. By the end of the year, almost the entire “Great Army” had died, mainly from hunger and disease. Napoleon never recovered from this disaster. True, in France he managed to form a new army and in May 1813 inflict defeats on the troops of Russia and Prussia, which had entered into an alliance with it under Lützen and Bautzen. This resulted in a short truce, after which Austria joined the anti-Napoleonic coalition in August. The trouble with the French emperor was that he did not want and did not know how to make compromises and concessions, that he acted on the principle: all or nothing.

On August 26-27, 1813, Napoleon once again defeated the allies at the Battle of Dresden, but was defeated by superior coalition forces in the “Battle of the Nations” at Leipzig. At the beginning of the next year, the Allies invaded France and on March 31 took Paris, which was surrendered to them by Napoleonic marshals, who decided to stop resistance. On April 6, 1814, Napoleon abdicated the throne in favor of his son, the King of Rome, but under pressure from the victors he was forced to abdicate five days later without any conditions. The abdication read: “Emperor Napoleon, true to his oath, declares that he is ready to relinquish the throne, leave France and even take his own life for the good of France.” Exiled to Elba, which was declared his lifelong possession, Napoleon, having heard about the precarious position of Louis XVIII, who had returned to the throne, fled and on March 1, 1815, landed in Cannes with a detachment of a thousand people, and on March 20 entered Paris, welcomed by enthusiastic Parisians. The entire army went over to his side, and crowds of people enthusiastically welcomed the emperor's return. He declared a general amnesty, excluding only 12 people, including Louis, Marshal Mormon and Talleyrand. True, already in April he tried to attract Talleyrand to his side with a promise to return all his property to him. He also promised Metternich 10 million livres if he would tear Austria away from the coalition. Napoleon also recognized the terms of the Paris Peace of May 30, 1814, but the allies no longer listened to his voice.

Napoleon managed to defeat the Prussians at Ligny and the British at Quatre Bras on June 16, but his army was destroyed at Waterloo on June 18 by Wellington's Anglo-Dutch army and Blucher's Prussian troops, who were able to unite during the battle right on the battlefield. On June 23, 1815, Napoleon abdicated for the second time in Paris in favor of his son, after hopes of escaping to America were dashed. No one was going to transfer the French throne to the son of Napoleon and the grandson of the Austrian emperor, who received the title of Duke of Reichstadt. Napoleon was exiled forever to the island of St. Helena, where he ended his days under British convoy on May 5, 1821 from stomach cancer. The last words of the emperor were: “France... Army... Vanguard...” According to his will, the sarcophagus with his remains in 1840 was reburied in the chapel of the Parisian Invalides Palace.

One of Napoleon’s historical merits is considered to be that he was able to bring order to the “revolutionary chaos” by formalizing legally and politically the results of the Great French Revolution. The Emperor of France established himself as one of the most brilliant commanders in human history and was able to superbly convert military successes into political power.

This text is an introductory fragment.

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Napoleon Bonaparte is the first consul, and then the emperor of France, one of the best commanders in history, the ruler of the thoughts of the entire 19th century, the darling of fate and a genius such as the world has not known since antiquity. His life is an example of a fantastic rise and a tragic fall.

Son of the revolution
Napoleone Buonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Corsica in the family of a small nobleman, participant civil war for the independence of the island from France. In addition to him, the family had seven children, they lived poorly, and only thanks to his father’s connections, Napoleon, who at the age of nine read Plutarch, Rousseau and Voltaire, received an education. In 1788, he graduated with honors from the Military School in Brienne, where he endured ridicule from rich youths for his terrible accent and poor clothes, and with the rank of junior lieutenant he went to serve in the provincial garrison. The limit of the ambitious young man's aspirations was the rank of captain. He even wanted to enroll as a mercenary in the service of the Russian Emperor Paul I, but he was not accepted. Napoleon greeted the French Revolution of 1789 with enthusiasm: “After centuries of feudal barbarism and political slavery, France is being reborn!” He welcomed the overthrow of the Bourbons and joined the club of friends of the Constitution, dreaming of exploits in the name of the Republic.

First kiss of fame
In 1793, Bonaparte was assigned to the army of General Carto, which was besieging Toulon, an impregnable fortress on the Mediterranean coast, captured by counter-revolutionaries and the British. There he proved himself to be a talented commander and fearless warrior. Napoleon would later call Toulon “the first kiss of glory.” Having covered the city with heavy artillery fire, Bonaparte personally led the assault. He did not shy away from flying projectiles, believing in his fate: “The cannonball that will hit me has not yet been cast.” The horse under him was killed, he himself was wounded in the leg, but Napoleon was one of the first to break into the city and personally captured the English general O’Hara. After the victorious assault, the Convention promoted the 24-year-old captain to brigadier general.
Such a fantastic rise in career is only possible during times of revolution. But any revolution, like the god Saturn, devours its own children: in six months the revolutionaries themselves will be led to the guillotine. After the coup of July 27, 1794, the pendulum of terror swung to reverse side– arrests and executions of everyone who supported the revolutionaries began. Napoleon was among them. He was imprisoned in the Bastille, although only for 15 days. The commander was clearly born under a lucky star. The Directory government that came to power understood that they would still need the hero of Toulon, and they were not mistaken - the royalist rebellion in October 1794 was suppressed by Bonaparte in just four hours, and he himself acquired a reputation as the savior of the Republic.

Josephine
Bonaparte's career rise was also facilitated by his marriage to Josephine Beauharnais. This charming woman, the 32-year-old widow of an executed general and mother of two children, immediately won the heart of young Bonaparte. The fearless commander, who won 50 battles, could not resist the charms of the owner of a fashionable salon. She helped Napoleon obtain the rank of army commander and provided him with connections in high circles. It didn't bother him that she was six years older. In 1796, Napoleon and Josephine got married, he adopted her children and gave her a medallion with the inscription: “This is fate.” All of France followed their quarrels and reconciliations, but Josephine and her children remained devoted to Bonaparte to the end, even after he announced a divorce to her in 1809: Josephine could not have children, and Napoleon, who became emperor, needed an heir. After the divorce, he married the Austrian Princess Marie-Louise, who soon gave him a son. But history played a cruel joke on Bonaparte - Napoleon II, the son of Marie Louise, died childless, and Josephine’s children became the founders of five royal dynasties in Europe.

“Soldiers! Forty centuries are looking at you from the tops of these pyramids."
Having inherited a weak, incapacitated army, Bonaparte in a short time made it the best in Europe. Like Caesar, he turned to his soldiers: “I will lead you into fertile valleys and prosperous cities, will you not have the courage to take them?” First military operation there was a campaign in Italy, where the French army brought the ideas of revolution and established a republic. Having captured Italy, Napoleon returned to Paris in triumph, but was not going to rest on his laurels: his plans included a campaign in Egypt and the conquest of India. It was necessary to deprive England of supremacy at sea, establish an outpost in the Red Sea, and most importantly, become famous by repeating the exploits of Alexander the Great! Bonaparte firmly believed in his star. French scientists went to Egypt with the army. Egyptian military campaign of 1798-99. accompanied by the discovery ancient world and the export of artifacts to France, but after the first victories it ended with the complete defeat of the French fleet and heavy losses on land due to the onset of the plague. To maintain the spirit of his army, Napoleon visited a barracks with plague victims and shook hands with a sick soldier, but soon, abandoning the army, he returned to France.

"My mistress is power"
On November 9, 1799, another coup took place in Paris. Power passed to three consuls - Sieyès, Ducos and Bonaparte, who almost immediately became first and then consul for life. This endowed supernatural powers the person became famous as a talented statesman. He slept three hours a day and remained lucid when his ministers collapsed from fatigue. Napoleon founded the Bank of Paris, strengthened the financial system and wrote the Constitution, or Code Bonaparte, which is still in force in France today. Its principles are equality of all before the law, protection of private property, religious tolerance and secular education.
Napoleon did not share power with anyone. He enjoyed it like a musician with his instrument, irritating both the supporters of the republic and the royalists. There were several attempts on his life, but he was clearly born under a lucky star. And yet Bonaparte understood that he could protect himself only by making power sacred: he must become emperor. Napoleon himself developed a coronation ceremony in the spirit of Roman rulers and invited Pope Pius VII. The ceremony took place on December 2, 1804 at Notre Dame Cathedral. Bonaparte was supposed to kneel before the pope, but did not want to do this: he snatched the crown from his hands and put it on his own head, and then crowned Josephine. Having fought against European monarchies, he himself became a monarch and placed his relatives and minions on European thrones! Thus begins the “dynastic madness” in Europe and the beginning of the end for Bonaparte.

"The Corsican Monster"
Bonaparte's expansion became a threat to all of Europe. After defeat in the battle with the British at Cape Trafalgar in Spain, he takes revenge by capturing Vienna and defeating the Russian-Austrian army at Austerlitz (1805). Napoleon occupied Prussia, Westphalia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Concerned about Bonaparte's military victories, the heads of European states unite against him in a coalition. Their goal is to return France to the borders of 1792 and restore the Bourbon dynasty. But only Alexander I was able to stop the “Corsican monster”.
On June 12, 1812, a 450,000-strong French army invaded Russia. Napoleon was confident that two battles would be enough to force Alexander to capitulate. For the first time, his intuition failed him. The “irrational” behavior of the Russians - avoiding battles, guerrilla warfare, as well as bad roads, death of horses and illness of soldiers led to the fact that Napoleon’s army lost 140 thousand before reaching Smolensk; Only 30 thousand French soldiers will leave Russia alive. Bonaparte was amazed at the resilience of the Russians in the Battle of Borodino and the fact that they gave him Moscow without signing a capitulation. Napoleon sent letters to Alexander with proposals for peace, but he remained silent. Realizing that he was stuck in Russia, Napoleon abandoned the army and fled ingloriously. On the island of Elba he will say: “I should have died in Moscow.”

The Emperor's Last Hundred Days
After Russia, Napoleon became a different person - broken and aged. But he was not used to retreating: his motto was always “all or nothing.” When he lost, he only raised the stakes. Having lost the army in Russia, he gathered it again and tried to take revenge in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (1813), but was completely defeated. The forces of the anti-French coalition entered Paris, their comrades betrayed, and on April 6, 1814, Napoleon signed his abdication. In the country palace of Fontainebleau, abandoned by everyone, he drank poison, but it did not work. According to an agreement with the allies, Bonaparte went into exile on the island of Elba, but nine months later, on March 1, 1815, he secretly landed in Cannes with a thousand soldiers and marched on Paris. The people greeted their emperor with delight.
Thus began the last hundred days of his reign. Bonaparte called on his old guard with the words: “We are not made to rest and die on feather pillows!”, and they all died, refusing to surrender at Waterloo, his last lost battle. Napoleon sought death on the battlefield, but survived to drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs. On July 22, 1815, he abdicated the throne for the second time and surrendered into the hands of the British, hoping for their justice, but he was deceptively taken to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. The Emperor of France, who controlled millions of human lives, died on May 5, 1821, surrounded by 26 entourage.
Little Bonaparte's school notebook on geography has been preserved. Last words in it: “Saint Helena is a small island.”