When was Napoleon Bonaparte born? Napoleon Bonaparte - biography. Economic blockade of England

Italian Napoleone Buonaparte, fr. Napoleon Bonaparte

Emperor of the French, commander and statesman

short biography

An outstanding French statesman, a brilliant commander, an emperor, was a native of Corsica. There he was born in 1769, on August 15, in the city of Ajaccio. Their noble family lived poorly and raised eight children. When Napoleon was 10 years old, he was sent to the French College of Autun, but already that 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, in 1785 he began to serve in the artillery troops.

The French Revolution was greeted by Napoleon Bonaparte with great enthusiasm, and 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, turning into the starting point of a brilliant military career. In 1795, Napoleon distinguished himself during the dispersal of the Parisian royalist rebellion, after which he was appointed commander of the Italian army. Undertaken under his leadership in 1796-1797. The Italian campaign demonstrated military leadership talents in all its glory and glorified it throughout the continent.

Napoleon considered his first victories sufficient grounds 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 Napoleon’s personal failure, because... he left the army without permission to fight with the army in Italy.

When Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris in October 1799, the Directory regime was experiencing the peak of its crisis. It was not difficult for the extremely popular general, who had a loyal army, to carry out a coup d'état and proclaim the consulate regime. In 1802, Napoleon achieved that he was appointed consul for life, and in 1804 he was 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 in effect today.

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

During the first years of his time in power, Napoleon was perceived by the population as the savior of the homeland, a man born of the revolution; his entourage largely consisted of representatives of the lower social strata. Victories evoked a sense of pride in the country and national uplift. However, the war, which lasted about 20 years, left the population fairly tired, and in 1810 the economic crisis began again.

The bourgeoisie was dissatisfied with the need to spend money on wars, especially since external threats were 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 scope of his power and protect the interests of the dynasty. The Emperor even divorced Josephine, his first wife (there were no children in their marriage), and in 1810 linked his fate with Marie-Louise, the daughter of the Austrian Emperor, which displeased many fellow citizens, although an heir was born from this union.

The collapse of the empire began in 1812 after Russian troops defeated Napoleon's army. Then the anti-French coalition, which, in addition to Russia, included Prussia, Sweden, and Austria, defeated the imperial army in 1814 and, entering Paris, forced Napoleon I to abdicate the throne. While retaining the title of emperor, he found himself as an exile on a small island. Elbe in the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, French society and the army experienced discontent and fears due to the fact that the Bourbons and the emigrated nobility had returned to the country, hoping for the return of former privileges and property. Having escaped from the Elbe, on March 1, 1815, Bonaparte moved to Paris, where he was met with 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 to the island of St. Helena, where he was a prisoner of the British. The last 6 years of his life passed 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, controversial personality, possessing brilliant military leadership, diplomatic, intellectual abilities, amazing performance and phenomenal memory. The results of the revolution, consolidated by this major statesman, were beyond the power to destroy the restored Bourbon monarchy. 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 became the pages of military textbooks. Civil norms of democracy in Western countries are still largely based on Napoleonic law.

Biography from Wikipedia

Napoleon I Bonaparte(Italian Napoleone Buonaparte, French Napoleon Bonaparte; August 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica - May 5, 1821, Longwood, St. 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) his professional military service began in 1785 with the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery. During the 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 defeating the rebellion of the 13th Vendémières in 1795. On March 2, 1796, he was appointed commander of the Italian Army. In 1798-1799 he led a military expedition to Egypt.

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

On May 18, 1804 he 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, contributed to the transformation of France into the main power on the continent. However, Napoleon's unsuccessful rivalry with the “mistress of the seas” Great Britain did not allow this status to be fully consolidated.

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

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

He lived his last years on the island of St. Helena as a prisoner of the British. His ashes have been kept in the Invalides in Paris since 1840.

early years

Origin

Napoleon born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, which for a long time was under the control of the Genoese Republic. In 1755, Corsica freed itself from Genoese rule and from that time on virtually 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 companions 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 minor aristocrats; Napoleon's ancestors came from Florence and lived in Corsica since 1529. Carlo Buonaparte, Napoleon's father, served as assessor and had an annual income of 22.5 thousand livres, which he tried to increase through litigation with neighbors over 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 large dowry and position in society. Napoleon was the second of 13 children, five of whom died at an early age. Before mature age Besides Napoleon, 4 of his brothers and 3 sisters survived:

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

The name that Napoleon's parents gave him was quite rare: it appears in Machiavelli's book on the history of Florence; that was also the name of one of his great-uncles.

Childhood and youth

Casa Buonaparte - Napoleon's home

ABOUT early childhood Little is known about Napoleon. As a child, he suffered from a dry cough that 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 that he first read La Nouvelle Héloise at the age of nine. However, his childhood nickname “Balamut” (Italian: “Rabulione”) does not fit well with this image of a frail introvert.

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

In May 1779, Napoleon entered the cadet school (college) in Brienne-le-Chateau. Napoleon had no friends at college, since he came from a not very rich and noble family, and besides, he was a Corsican with pronounced patriotism for his native island and hostility towards the French as the enslavers of Corsica. The bullying of some classmates forced him to withdraw into himself and devote more time to reading. He read Corneille, Racine and Voltaire, his favorite poet being Ossian. Napoleon especially loved 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, he was weak in Latin and German. In addition, he made quite a lot of mistakes when writing, but thanks to his love of reading, his style became much better. A conflict with some teachers even made him popular among his peers, and gradually he became their informal leader.

While still in Brienne, Napoleon decided to specialize in artillery. His mathematical talents were in demand in this branch of the military, and here there were the greatest opportunities for a career, 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 becoming acquainted with the innovative works of Guibert and Gribeauval. As before, he shocked teachers with his admiration for Paoli, Corsica, and hostility towards France. He was lonely, he had no friends, but he had enemies. Pico de Picadu, who was sitting between Napoleon and Picard de Felippo, ran away from his seat because he was constantly getting 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 was spreading to the rest of Europe at that time 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 create a nursery (fr. pépinière) of mulberry trees. Three years later, the Corsica parliament revoked the concession, allegedly due to non-fulfillment of its terms. At the same time, the Buonaparte family was left with large debts and an obligation to repay the grant. On February 24, 1785, his father died, and Napoleon took over the role of head of the family, although according to the rules his older brother Joseph should have done so. On September 28 of the same year, he completed his education early and on November 3 began his professional career in the de La Fère artillery regiment in Valence with the rank of sub-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 finances. In September 1786, Napoleon requested leave with pay, which was then extended twice at his request. During his vacation, Napoleon tried to settle family affairs, including traveling to Paris. In June 1788, he returned to military service and went to Osong, 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 with the Ottoman Empire. However, according to the order received the day before, the recruitment of foreigners was carried out only with a reduction in rank, which Napoleon was not happy with.

In April 1789, Napoleon was sent as second-in-command to Soeur to suppress a food riot. The French Revolution, which began in July with the storming of the Bastille, forced Napoleon to choose between his devotion to Corsican freedom and his French identity. However, the problems with the nursery occupied him at that time more than the unfolding political upheavals. Although Napoleon was involved in suppressing rebellions, 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, again receiving sick leave, Buonaparte went to his homeland, 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 Salicetti, deputy 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 way for separation from France. Buonaparte, on the contrary, remained loyal to the central revolutionary authorities, approving the unpopular nationalization of church property in Corsica.

In February 1791, Napoleon returned to service, taking with him his younger brother Louis (for whose studies he paid from his salary, Louis had to sleep on the floor). On 1 June 1791 he was promoted to lieutenant (with seniority from 1 April) 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 lieutenant colonel in the emerging National Guard. He never returned to Valence. Having entered into conflict with Paoli, in May 1792 he left for Paris at the disposal of the War Ministry. 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 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 disapproved of his weakness and the indecisiveness of his defenders.

In October 1792, Napoleon returned to Corsica to 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 landed 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. Napoleon's brother Lucien was involved in the accusations. As a result, there was a final break between the Buonaparte and Paoli families. Buonaparte openly opposed Paoli's course for the complete independence of Corsica and, due to the threat of political persecution, in June 1793 the whole family moved to France. That 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 pamphlet in the Jacobin spirit, “Dinner at Beaucaire” (French: “Le Souper de Beaucaire”), which was published with the help of the Convention commissioners Salicetti and the younger Robespierre and created the author’s reputation as a revolutionary-minded soldier.

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

Having received an appointment to the post of chief artilleryman of the Italian army on February 7, Napoleon participated in a five-week campaign against the kingdom of Piedmont, became acquainted with the command of the Italian army and the theater of operations, and sent proposals to the War Ministry for organizing an offensive in Italy. At the beginning of May, Napoleon returned to Nice and Antibes to prepare a military expedition to Corsica. At the same time, he began to court Desiree Clary, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the late millionaire, a fabric and soap merchant. In August 1794, Désiré'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 liberation, he continued preparations for the reconquest 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 Marseille, but this flotilla was soon dispersed by the British squadron.

In the spring of the same year, he was assigned to the Vendée to pacify the rebels. Arriving in Paris on May 25, Napoleon learned that he had been appointed to command the infantry, while he was an artilleryman. Buonaparte refused to accept the appointment, citing health reasons. In June, Desiree ended her relationship with him, according to E. Roberts, under the influence of her mother, who believed that one Buonaparte in the family was enough. Being on half his pay, Napoleon continues to write letters to War Minister Carnot regarding the actions of the Italian army. In the absence of any prospects, he even considered the possibility of entering the service of the East India Company. Having a lot of free time, he visited the Café de la Regence, where he enthusiastically played chess. In August 1795, the War Department required him to undergo a medical examination to confirm the illness. Turning to his political connections, Napoleon received a position in the topographical 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 removed from the list of active generals for refusing to go to the Vendée, but was almost immediately reinstated.

At a critical moment for the Thermidorians, Napoleon was appointed by Barras as his assistant and distinguished himself during the dispersal of the royalist rebellion in Paris on October 5, 1795 (Napoleon used cannons against the rebels on the streets of the capital), was promoted to the rank of division general and appointed commander of the rear forces. Released in 1785 from the Paris Military School into the army with the rank of junior lieutenant, Buonaparte in 10 years went through the entire hierarchy of ranks in the army of what was then France.

At 10 pm on March 9, 1796, Buonaparte had a civil marriage with the widow of General Count Beauharnais, 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's adjutant Lemarois, husband and wife Tallien and the bride's children - Eugene and Hortensia. The groom was two hours late for the wedding, being very busy with a new appointment. Some consider Barras's wedding gift to the young general to be the commander of the Italian Army of the Republic (appointment took place on March 2, 1796), but Carnot suggested Buonaparte for this position. On March 11, Napoleon left for the army. In a letter to Josephine, written on the road, he omitted the “u” from his last name, deliberately emphasizing that he preferred French over Italian and Corsican.

Italian campaign

Having taken command of the army, Bonaparte found it in a difficult financial situation. Salaries were not paid, ammunition and supplies were almost never delivered. 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 move to enemy territory and organize supplies for 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 "central position" strategy, in which his divisions were within a day's march of each other. Being inferior to the allies in numbers, he concentrated his troops for decisive battles and gained a numerical superiority in them. With a quick offensive during the Montenotte campaign in April 1796, he managed to separate the troops of the Sardinian General Colli and the Austrian General Beaulieu and defeat them.

The Sardinian king, frightened by the successes of the French, concluded a truce with them on April 28, which gave Bonaparte several cities and 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 from the Austrians. The Dukes of Parma and Modena were forced to conclude a truce, bought with a significant amount of money; A huge indemnity 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 her to come to him. However, at this time in Paris, Josephine became interested in the young officer Hippolyte Charles. In her letters, Josephine explained the delay by 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 his professional sphere of activity: “I close one drawer 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, which arrived from Tyrol, could not improve the situation; after a series of failures, Wurmser himself, with part of his forces, was forced to lock himself in Mantua, which he had previously tried in vain to liberate from the siege. In November, new troops were sent to Italy under the command of Alvintsi and Davidovich. As a result of the battles at Arcola on November 15-17, Alvintsi was forced to retreat. Napoleon showed personal heroism by leading one of the attacks on the Arcole Bridge with a banner in his hands. His adjutant Muiron died, shielding 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 situation in Mantua, where widespread disease and famine were raging, became desperate; on February 2, Wurmser capitulated. On February 17, Bonaparte marched on Vienna. The weakened and frustrated Austrian troops could no longer offer him stubborn resistance. By the beginning of 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, and on April 18, peace negotiations began in Leoben.

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

As a result of his victories, Napoleon received significant military booty, which he generously distributed among his soldiers, without forgetting himself and his family members. Part of the funds was sent to the Directory, which was in desperate financial situation. Napoleon provided the Directory with direct military support on the eve and during the events of Fructidor 18 (September 3-4), revealing the betrayal of Pichegru and sending Augereau to Paris. On October 18, peace was concluded with Austria in Campo Formio, 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 Sciences and Arts in the class of 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 several weeks of inspecting the invasion force and analyzing the situation, Napoleon recognized the landing as impracticable 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 began 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 (31 of them were members of the Institute).

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

Napoleon's first target was Malta, the seat of the Order of Malta. After the capture of Malta in June 1798, Napoleon left a garrison of four thousand 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 marched on Cairo. On July 21, French troops met with the army assembled by the Mameluke leaders Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey, and the Battle of the Pyramids took place. Thanks to their enormous advantage in tactics and military training, the French completely defeated the Mameluke troops with minor losses.

On July 25, from the accidentally dropped words of his adjutant, Bonaparte learned what had long been gossiped about in Parisian society - that Josephine was unfaithful to him. The news shocked 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 family happiness Bonaparte".

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

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 up the possibility of deciphering ancient Egyptian writing.

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

Incited by the British, the Porte began to prepare an attack on the French positions in Egypt. Based on his principle of “attack is the best defense,” in February 1799 Napoleon began his campaign against Syria. He stormed Gaza and Jaffa, but was unable to capture Acre, which was supplied by the British fleet from the sea and strengthened on land by Picard de Felippo. On May 20, 1799, the retreat began. Napoleon was still able to defeat the Turks, who were stationed near Abukir (July 25), but realized that he was trapped. On August 23, he secretly sailed to France on the frigate Muiron, accompanied by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Monge and Berthollet, throwing an army at General Kleber. Having happily avoided encounters with 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 (borrowed by her) francs. After the scandal over Josephine's infidelity (according to E. Roberts, partly staged by Napoleon), reconciliation followed. In her later family life, Josephine remained faithful to her husband, which cannot be said about him.

Consulate

Coup of the 18th Brumaire and temporary consulate

While Bonaparte was with his 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 current constitution and relied increasingly on the army. In Italy, Russian-Austrian troops under the command of Suvorov liquidated all of Napoleon's acquisitions, and there was even a threat of their invasion of France. In conditions of crisis, emergency measures were taken, reminiscent of the times of terror of 1793. To prevent the “Jacobin” threat and give greater 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 person who suited them in terms of his popularity and military reputation. Napoleon, on the one hand, did not want to be compromised (contrary to his custom, he wrote almost no 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. 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 appointing Bonaparte commander of the Seine department. Sieyès and Ducos immediately resigned, and Barras did the same, thereby ending the powers of the Directory and creating a vacuum of executive power. However, the Council of Five Hundred, which met on November 10, in which there was a strong influence of the Jacobins, refused to approve the required decree. Its members attacked Bonaparte with threats, who entered the meeting room with weapons and without an invitation. Then, at the call of Lucien, who was the chairman of the Council of Five Hundred, soldiers under the command of Murat burst into the hall and dispersed the meeting. That same evening, it was possible to gather the remnants of the Council (approximately 50 people) and “adopt” the necessary decrees on the establishment of a temporary consulate and a 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 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 these few weeks, he was able to attract many of those who had previously supported Sieyès and introduce fundamental amendments to his draft constitution. Sieyès, having received 350 thousand francs and real estate in Versailles and Paris, did not object. According to the project, legislative power was divided between the State Council, the Tribunate, the Legislative Corps and the Senate, which made it helpless and clumsy. The executive power, on the contrary, was gathered into one fist by the first consul, that is, Bonaparte, appointed for ten years. The second and third consuls (Cambaceres and Lebrun) had only advisory votes. The formal elections of the three consuls took place on December 12.

The Constitution was promulgated on December 13, 1799 and approved by the people in a plebiscite in 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 remaining votes were falsified). On February 19, 1800, Napoleon left the Luxembourg Palace and settled in the Tuileries.

Ten-year consulate

At the time Napoleon came to power, France was at 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 initially succumbed to pressure from the Austrians under the command of Melas, but a counterattack by Dese, who arrived in time, corrected the situation (Dese himself was killed). The victory at Marengo made it possible to begin negotiations for peace in Leoben, but it took Moreau's victory at Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800 for the threat to the French borders to be finally eliminated.

The Peace of Luneville, concluded on February 9, 1801, marked the beginning of French dominance not only in Italy, but also in Germany. A year later (March 27, 1802), the Peace of Amiens was concluded with Great Britain, ending the War of the Second Coalition. However, the Peace of Amiens did not eliminate the deep-seated contradictions between France and Great Britain and was therefore fragile. The terms of peace provided for the return to France of its colonies occupied by England. In an effort to restore and expand the colonial empire, under the terms of the Treaty of San Ildefonso, Napoleon acquired Louisiana from Spain. In March 1802, he sent an expedition of 25 thousand soldiers under the command of his son-in-law Leclerc to recapture Saint-Domingue from the rebel slaves led by Toussaint Louverture.

Napoleon's administrative and legal innovations laid the foundation for the modern state, many of which are still in effect today. Having become first consul, Napoleon radically changed the country's government; in 1800 he carried out an administrative reform, establishing the institution of department prefects and district sub-prefects accountable to the government. Mayors were appointed to cities and villages. Administrative reform made it possible to resolve the issues for which they were responsible local authorities authorities, and which the Directory had previously been unable to solve - tax collection and recruitment.

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

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

In March 1802, Napoleon removed from legislative bodies many supporters of the Republican opposition. There was a gradual return to monarchical forms of government. The “you” address, adopted during the years of the revolution, has disappeared from everyday life. Napoleon allowed some of the emigrants to return, subject to taking an oath of allegiance to the constitution. Liveries, official ceremonies, palace hunting, and masses in Saint-Cloud returned to everyday life. Instead of personalized weapons awarded during the revolution, despite objections State Council, Napoleon introduced a hierarchically organized order Legion of Honor(19 May 1802). But while attacking the “left” opposition, Bonaparte, at the same time, sought 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 Napoleon’s opponents “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 December 24, 1800, on the Rue Saint-Nicèse, along which Napoleon was traveling to the Opera, he used this assassination attempt as a pretext for reprisals against the Jacobins, although Fouché provided him with evidence of the royalists’ guilt.

Napoleon managed to consolidate the main revolutionary gains (the right to property, equality before the law, equality of opportunity), ending revolutionary anarchy. In the minds of the French, prosperity and stability were increasingly linked to his presence at the helm of state, which contributed to Bonaparte's next step to strengthen personal power - the transition to a lifelong consulate.

Lifetime Consulate

Bonaparte - First Consul. Ingres (1803-1804)

In 1802, Napoleon, relying on the results of the plebiscite, held a senatus consultation through the Senate 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 main monetary unit was the silver franc, divided into 100 centimes; At the same time, gold coins of 20 and 40 francs were introduced. The metal franc established by Napoleon was in circulation until 1928.

Having taken over a state with a deplorable financial condition, Napoleon and his financial advisers completely rebuilt the system of tax collection and spending. 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 Barbe-Marbois, respectively. The Minister of Finance was responsible for budget revenues, the Minister of Treasury was responsible for spending funds; expenditures had to be approved by law or ministerial decree and 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 prevented by English capital, the predominance of which was due to what had already happened in Great Britain industrial revolution. The 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 provided for in the treaty. Napoleon, in turn, occupied Elba, Piedmont and Parma, and also signed an Act of Mediation and a Treaty of Military Alliance with the Swiss cantons. In preparation for the inevitable war, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States. Like Leclerc's expedition to Haiti, Napoleon's colonial projects were generally a fiasco.

20 gold francs 1803 - Napoleon as First Consul

By May 1803, relations between Britain and France had become so strained 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 capitulated. Napoleon began to create a large military camp on the Pas de Calais coast near Boulogne. On December 2, 1803, these troops received the name "English Army"; by 1804, more than 1,700 ships had been assembled in and around Boulogne to transport troops to England.

Napoleon's domestic policy consisted of strengthening his personal power as a guarantee of preserving the results of the revolution: civil rights, land ownership rights of peasants, as well as those who bought national property during the revolution, that is, confiscated lands of emigrants and churches. All these conquests had to be ensured Civil Code(ratified on March 21, 1804), which went down in history as the “Napoleonic Code”.

After the discovery of the Cadoudal-Pichegru plot (the so-called “conspiracy of the year XII”), in which the princes of the royal house of Bourbon outside France were supposed to participate, Napoleon ordered the capture of one of them, the Duke of Enghien in Ettenheim, not far from the French border. The Duke was taken to Paris and executed by military court on March 21, 1804. Cadoudal was executed, Pichegru was found dead in a prison cell, Moreau, who met with them, was expelled from France. The XII conspiracy caused indignation in French society and was used by the official press to instill in readers the idea of ​​​​the need for the hereditary power of the First Consul.

First Empire

Proclamation of the Empire

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

On the same day, five of the six highest dignitaries (the High Elector, the Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, the Arch-Treasurer, the Grand Constable and the Grand Admiral) were appointed. The highest dignitaries formed a large imperial council. On May 19, 1804, eighteen popular generals were appointed marshals of France, four of them being considered honorary and the rest valid.

In November, the Senate Consultation was ratified following 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 participate in the ceremony. The latter demanded that Napoleon marry Josephine according to church rites. On the night of December 2, Cardinal Fesch performed the wedding ceremony in the presence of Talleyrand, Berthier and Duroc. On December 2, 1804, during a magnificent ceremony held in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with the participation of the pope, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.

The coronation brought to light the hitherto hidden hostility 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 come to the coronation at all. In quarrels, Napoleon took the side of his wife and stepchildren, but remained generous towards his brothers and sisters (however, constantly expressing dissatisfaction with them and the fact that they did not live up to his hopes).

Another stumbling block between Napoleon and his brothers was the question of who should be king of Italy and who would inherit imperial power in France. The result of their disputes was a 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 “daughter” Italian Republic, in which Napoleon was president. In the newly formed kingdom, Napoleon received the title of king, and his stepson Eugene Beauharnais received the title of viceroy. The decision to crown Napoleon with the Iron Crown did a disservice to French diplomacy, as it aroused the hostility of 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 St. Petersburg Union Treaty, which laid the foundation for the third coalition. That same year, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples and Sweden formed the Third Coalition against France and its allied Spain. An important factor in the formation of the coalition was British subsidies (the British allocated 5 million pounds sterling to the allies). French diplomacy managed to achieve Prussia's neutrality in the impending war (Talleyrand, on Napoleon's instructions, promised Frederick William III that Hanover would be taken from the British).

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

Napoleon planned a landing on the British Isles, but, having received information about the actions of the coalition, he moved troops from the Boulogne camp to Germany. The Austrian army capitulated 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 supremacy of the sea to the British. Despite the enormous efforts and resources that Napoleon expended in subsequent years, he was never able to shake 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 Francis II arrived to join the army. At the insistence of Alexander I, the Russian army stopped retreating 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 states to the Office of Extraordinary Estates: the war fed the war. News of military operations and victories that reached the French public through bulletins Great Army, served to unite the nation.

On December 27, 1805, Napoleon announced that “the Bourbon dynasty has ceased to reign in Naples” because the Kingdom of Naples, contrary to the previous agreement, joined the anti-French coalition. The movement of the French army towards Naples forced King Ferdinand I to flee to Sicily, and Napoleon made his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Naples. By 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 received the Grand Duchy of Berg. Berthier received Neuchâtel. The principalities of Benevento and Pontecorvo were given to Talleyrand and Bernadotte. Napoleon's sister Elisa received Lucca even earlier, and in 1809 Napoleon made Elisa ruler of all of Tuscany. In June 1806, the Kingdom of Holland replaced the puppet Batavian Republic. Napoleon placed his younger brother, Louis Bonaparte, on the throne of Holland.

On July 12, 1806, an agreement was concluded between Napoleon and many rulers of the German states, by virtue of which these rulers entered into an alliance with each other, called the Rhineland, under the protectorate of Napoleon and with the obligation to maintain a sixty-thousandth army for him. The formation of the union was accompanied by mediatization (the subordination of small immediate (immediat) rulers to the supreme power of large sovereigns). On August 6, 1806, Emperor Francis II announced his abdication of the title and powers of Holy Roman Emperor and, thus, this centuries-old entity ceased to exist.

Alarmed by the strengthening of French positions in Germany, having not received the Hanover promised to it, Prussia opposed Napoleon. On August 26, she issued an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of the Grand Army beyond 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 on October 14 by their complete defeat at Jena and Auerstedt. Two weeks after the Jena victory, Napoleon entered Berlin, and soon after Stetin, Prenzlau, and Magdeburg surrendered. An indemnity of 159 million francs was imposed on Prussia.

From Königsberg, where the Prussian king Frederick William III had fled, he begged Napoleon to end the war, agreeing to join the Confederation of the Rhine. However, Napoleon became more and more demanding, and the Prussian king was forced to continue hostilities. Russia came to his aid, sending two armies 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 any winners.

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

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

After the French occupation of Danzig on May 27, 1807 and the Russian defeat at Friedland on June 14, which allowed the French to occupy Königsberg 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. All of its possessions between the Rhine and the Elbe were also taken away from Prussia, which, together with a number of former small German states, formed the Kingdom of Westphalia, headed by Napoleon's brother Jerome.

The victories won in two Italian and other campaigns gave Napoleon a reputation as an invincible commander. His sovereignty was finally established within the empire; he now did not take into account at all the opinions of his ministers, legislators, relatives and friends. On August 9, 1807, Talleyrand was dismissed from his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On August 19, the Tribunate was dissolved. The emperor's dissatisfaction was caused by his crowned relatives and friends, who sought to defend the interests of their possessions despite the unity of the empire. Napoleon was distinguished by contempt for people and nervousness, which sometimes led to fits of rage similar to epilepsy. In an effort to make decisions individually 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 Court of Accounts headed by Barbe-Marbois.

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

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 (mainly American) ships heading to France. Having won victory over Prussia, on November 21, 1806 in Berlin, Napoleon signed a decree on the continental blockade. From that moment on, France and its allies ceased trade relations with England. Europe was the main market for British goods, as well as colonial goods imported by England - the largest maritime power. The Continental blockade damaged the British economy: as European countries joined the blockade, British cloth and cotton exports 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 under the terms of the Peace of Tilsit. European countries, which initially tolerated British smuggling, were forced, under pressure from Napoleon, to begin a serious fight against it. In the second half of 1807, about 40 British ships were arrested in Dutch ports, and Denmark closed its waters to the British. By mid-1808, rising costs 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 industry on the European market. In response, in November 1807, London announced a blockade of European ports. The loss of their own and the disruption of trade ties with the English colonies led to the decline of French port cities: La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulon. The population (and the emperor himself, as a big coffee lover) suffered from a lack of familiar colonial goods (coffee, sugar, tea) and their high cost. In 1811, Delessert, following the example of German inventors, began making 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. When Portugal refused to comply with this demand, on October 27, a secret agreement was concluded between Napoleon and Spain on the conquest and division of Portugal, 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 - a new proof of the inevitable death of all who associate themselves with England." Napoleon sent Junot's 25,000-strong corps to Lisbon. After a grueling two-month march through Spanish territory, Junot arrived in Lisbon with 2 thousand soldiers on November 30. The Portuguese Prince Regent João, hearing of the approach of the French, abandoned his capital and fled with his relatives and court to Rio de Janeiro. Napoleon, enraged that the royal family and Portuguese ships had eluded him, on December 28 ordered an indemnity of 100 million francs to be imposed on Portugal.

Expecting to become a sovereign prince under the terms of a secret treaty, Godoy allowed a large number of French troops to be stationed on Spanish territory. On March 13, 1808, Murat was in Burgos with 100 thousand soldiers and was moving towards Madrid. To calm the Spaniards, Napoleon ordered the rumor to be spread that he intended to besiege Gibraltar. Realizing that with the death of the dynasty he would also die, 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 a rebellion 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 Bayonne for explanations. Finding themselves captured by Napoleon, both monarchs renounced the crown, and the emperor placed his brother Joseph, who had previously been the King of Naples, on the Spanish throne. Now Murat became the king of Naples.

In France itself, by decrees of March 1, 1808, Napoleon restored noble titles and noble coats of arms as a sign of recognition of services to the empire. The difference from the old nobility was that the grant of a title did not give rights to land holdings and the title was not automatically inherited. However, along with the title, new nobles often received high salaries. If a nobleman acquired primogeniture (capital or permanent income), then the title was inherited. 59 percent of the new nobility were 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). By creating the University, Napoleon sought to bring the formation of the national elite under his control.

Napoleon's intervention 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 combat for them - guerrilla warfare. On July 22, Dupont with 18 thousand soldiers surrendered to the Spaniards in a field near Baylen, dealing a severe blow to the reputation of the previously invincible Grand 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 Grand Army from Germany here, but this was prevented by the threat of war from rearmed Austria. The only counterweight to Austria could be Russia, allied with Napoleon. On September 27, Napoleon met with Alexander I in Erfurt to gain his support. Napoleon entrusted the negotiations to Talleyrand, who by this time was in secret relations with the Austrian and Russian courts. Alexander proposed dividing Turkey and handing over Constantinople to Russia. Without receiving Napoleon's consent, Alexander limited himself in general terms regarding the alliance against Austria. Napoleon also asked through Talleyrand for the hand of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, but here, too, he achieved nothing.

Hoping to solve the Spanish problem before Austria entered the war, Napoleon set out on a campaign on October 29 at the head of an army of 160 thousand people arriving from Germany. On December 4, French troops entered Madrid. On January 16, the British, having repelled Soult's attack near La Coruña, boarded ships and left Spain. On January 1, 1809, in Astorga, Napoleon received dispatches about the military preparations of Austria and about the intrigues in his government on the part of the close friends Talleyrand and Fouche (who agreed in the event of Napoleon's death in Spain to replace him with Murat). On January 17, he left Valladolid for Paris. Despite the successes achieved, the conquest of the Pyrenees was not completed: the Spaniards continued guerrilla warfare, the English contingent covered Lisbon, three months later the British under the command of Wellesley again landed on the peninsula. The fall of the Portuguese and Spanish dynasties led to the opening of both colonial empires to British trade and broke 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 expenses, 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.”

In the time since the signing of the Peace of Presburg, deep military reforms were carried out in the Austrian army under the leadership of Archduke Charles. Hoping to take advantage of the anti-French sentiment that was 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 Great Britain. Napoleon, stuck in Spain, tried to avoid war, but could not do this without support from Russia. However, thanks to energetic efforts, within three months from January 1809, he was able to form a new army in France. Archduke Charles simultaneously sent eight corps to Napoleon's allied Bavaria, two corps to Italy and one to the Duchy of Warsaw. Russian troops concentrated on eastern borders the Austrian Empire, but practically did not take part in the hostilities, allowing Austria to fight the war on one front (which angered Napoleon).

Napoleon, reinforced by the troops of the Confederation of the Rhine, repelled the attack on Bavaria with the forces of ten corps 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 relying on the island of Lobau. However, after part of the French troops crossed to the island, and part to the northern shore, the pontoon bridge broke, and Archduke Charles attacked those who crossed. In the subsequent battle of Aspern and Essling on May 21-22, Napoleon was defeated and retreated. The failure of the emperor himself inspired all anti-Napoleonic forces in Europe. After six weeks of extensive preparation, French troops crossed the Danube and won the general battle of Wagram on July 5-6, followed by the Armistice of Znaim on July 12, and the Peace of Schönbrunn on October 14. Under this treaty, Austria lost access to the Adriatic Sea, transferring to France territories 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 previous advantage over the enemy on the battlefield.

Crisis of the Empire

Napoleon's policies in the first years of his reign enjoyed the support of the population - not only property 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 recruitment into the army. Napoleon looked like the savior of the fatherland, wars caused national uplift, and victories caused a sense of pride. Napoleon Bonaparte was a man of the 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, and recruitment into the army began to cause discontent. In 1810, an economic crisis broke out again, which did not stop until 1815. Wars in the vastness of Europe were losing their meaning; the costs of them began to irritate the bourgeoisie. The new nobility that Napoleon created never became the support of his throne. It seemed that nothing threatened the security of France, and in foreign policy everything big role played by the emperor’s desire to strengthen and ensure the interests of the dynasty, 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, with whom he had no children, and asked Alexander I for his hand in marriage. younger sister, 15-year-old Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. Anticipating a refusal, he also approached Franz I with a proposal of marriage to his daughter, Marie-Louise. On April 1, 1810, Napoleon married the Austrian princess, the great-niece of Marie Antoinette. The heir was born on March 20, 1811, but the emperor's Austrian marriage 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 to this, Pope Pius VII excommunicated the “robbers of the inheritance 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 Pope's arrest and held him prisoner until January 1814. On July 5, 1809, the French military authorities took him to Savona and then to Fontainebleau near Paris. Napoleon's excommunication had a negative impact on the authority of his government, especially in traditionally Catholic countries.

The Continental System, although it caused damage to Great Britain, could not lead to victory over it. On June 3, 1810, Napoleon dismissed Fouche for secret negotiations with the British about peace, which he allegedly conducted on behalf of the emperor. The allies and vassals of the First Empire, who accepted the continental blockade against their interests, did not strive to strictly observe it, and 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 the requirements for recruiting, Holland was annexed to France. Recognizing that the continental system did not allow achieving its goals, the emperor did not abandon it, but introduced the so-called “new system”, under which special licenses were issued for trade with Great Britain, and French enterprises had priority in obtaining licenses. This measure caused even greater hostility among the continental bourgeoisie.

The contradictions between France and Russia became increasingly obvious. Patriotic movements expanded in Germany, and guerrilla violence continued unabated in Spain.

March to Russia and the collapse of the empire

Having broken off relations with Alexander I, Napoleon decided to go to war with Russia. 450 thousand soldiers, gathered into 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 force a general battle on the Russian troops; Dodging the superior enemy and trying to unite, the two Russian armies retreated inland, leaving devastated territory behind them. The Grand Army suffered from hunger, heat, dirt, overcrowding and the diseases they caused; By mid-July, entire 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, fought on September 7 near the village of Borodino in front of Moscow, did not bring Napoleon a decisive victory. Russian troops again had to retreat; on September 14, the Great Army entered Moscow.

The fire that immediately spread after this destroyed most of the city. Counting on concluding peace with Alexander, Napoleon remained in Moscow for an unjustifiably long time; Finally, on October 19, he left the city in a southwestern direction. Having failed to overcome the defenses of the Russian army on October 24 at 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 through partisan actions. Suffering from hunger, the soldiers of the Grand 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. Napoleon's huge, multi-tribal army did not carry the same revolutionary spirit; far from its homeland in the fields of Russia, it quickly melted away. Having received reports of a coup attempt in Paris and wanting to raise more troops, Napoleon left for Paris on December 5th. 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 his horses in Russia; he was never able to 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 Russian military leaders to continue the war outside Russia, Alexander I decided to transfer the fighting to German territory. Prussia joined the new anti-Napoleonic coalition. In a few months, Napoleon assembled a new 300,000-strong army of young men and old men and trained it on the march to Germany. In May 1813, at the battles of Lützen and Bautzen, Napoleon managed to defeat the allies, despite the lack of cavalry. On June 4, a truce was concluded, Austria acted as a mediator between the warring parties. Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich, at meetings with Napoleon in Dresden, proposed concluding peace on the terms of the restoration of Prussia, the division of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria and the return of Illyria to the Austrians; but Napoleon, considering military conquests to be the basis of his power, refused.

Experiencing an acute financial crisis and tempted 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, Blücher and Schwarzenberg. Napoleon also divided his forces. At the major battle of Dresden, Napoleon gained the upper hand over the allies; however, his marshals, acting independently, suffered a series of painful defeats at Kulm, Katzbach, Grosberen and Dennewitz. In the face of threatening encirclement, Napoleon with an army of 160 thousand gave a general battle near Leipzig to the united Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish troops with a total number of 320 thousand people (October 16 - 19, 1813). On the third day of this “Battle of the Nations,” the Saxons from Rainier’s corps, and then the Württemberg cavalry, went over to the side of the allies.

Defeat in the Battle of the Nations led to the fall of Germany and Holland, the collapse of the Swiss Confederation, the Confederation of the Rhine and the Kingdom of Italy. In Spain, where the French were defeated, Napoleon had to restore the power of the Spanish Bourbons (November 1813). To gain the support of the deputies, Napoleon convened a meeting of the Legislative Corps in December 1813, but dissolved the chamber after it adopted a disloyal resolution. At the end of 1813, the Allied armies crossed the Rhine, invaded Belgium and marched on Paris. Napoleon could oppose an army of 250 thousand with 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 the Hundred Days

First renunciation and first exile

Napoleon was ready to continue the fight, but on April 3 the Senate proclaimed his removal from power and formed a provisional government led by Talleyrand. The marshals (Ney, Berthier, Lefebvre) convinced 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 defeat, abandoned by his court (next to him were only a few servants, a doctor and General Caulaincourt), Napoleon decided to commit suicide. He took poison, which he always carried with him after the battle of Maloyaroslavets, when he miraculously escaped being captured. But the poison decomposed from long storage, Napoleon survived. According to the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which Napoleon signed with the allied monarchs, he received possession of the small island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. On April 20, 1814, Napoleon left Fontainebleau and went into exile.

On Elba, Napoleon was actively involved in developing the island's economy. According to the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was promised an annual annuity of 2 million francs from the French Treasury. However, he never received the money and by the beginning of 1815 he found himself in a difficult financial situation. Marie-Louise and her son, being 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, “from 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 arrived from England, landed in Calais. Along with the Bourbons, emigrants also returned, seeking the return of their property and privileges (“they learned nothing and forgot nothing”). In June, the king granted France a new constitution. The Constitution of 1814 preserved much of the imperial heritage, but concentrated power in the hands of the king and his entourage. The royalists demanded a complete return to the old order. The new owners of lands that had once been confiscated from emigrants and the church feared for their property. The military was unhappy with the sharp reduction in the army. At a meeting in September 1814 Congress of Vienna The allied powers split over the division of the conquered territories.

One hundred days and second renunciation

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 thousand soldiers and headed to Paris along the road through Grenoble, bypassing pro-royalist Provence. On March 7, before Grenoble, the 5th Line Regiment went over to Napoleon's side after his passionate speech: “You can shoot your emperor if you want!” Napoleon walked 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 settled their differences by the time Napoleon boarded the ships. Having received news that Napoleon was in France, on March 13 they declared him an outlaw. On March 25, the powers united into a new, seventh coalition, and agreed to field 600 thousand soldiers. In vain Napoleon convinced them of his peacefulness. In France, revolutionary federations began to spontaneously form to defend the homeland and order. On May 15, the Vendée revolted again, and the big bourgeoisie boycotted the new government. However, Napoleon did not take advantage of the revolutionary sentiments of the people to fight external and internal enemies (“I don’t want to be King of the Jacquerie”). In an effort to gain support from the liberal bourgeoisie, he commissioned Constant to draft a new constitution, which was approved in a plebiscite (with a low turnout) and ratified during a ceremony on June 1, 1815 on the Field of May. Under the new constitution, a House of Peers and a 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 to 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 piecemeal before the arrival of Russian and Austrian forces. At the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny, he pushed back 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, he returned to Paris on June 21.

On June 22, the House of Representatives formed a provisional government led by Fouche and demanded Napoleon's abdication. On the same day, Napoleon abdicated 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, he voluntarily boarded the English battleship Bellerophon, hoping to receive political asylum from his longtime enemies, the British.

Saint Helena

Link

But the British cabinet decided differently: Napoleon became a prisoner and was sent to the distant island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. The British chose St. Helena because of its distance from Europe, fearing Napoleon's escape from exile again. Upon learning of this decision, he said: “This is worse than Tamerlane’s iron cage! I would prefer to be handed over to the Bourbons." Napoleon was allowed to choose officers to accompany him, he chose Bertrand, Montolon, Las Casas and Gourgaud; in total there were 26 people in Napoleon's retinue. On August 9, 1815, the former emperor left Europe aboard the ship Northumberland. Nine escort ships with 1 thousand soldiers accompanied his ship. On October 17, 1815, Napoleon arrived in 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 damp and unhealthy climate. The house was surrounded by sentries, and sentinels reported with signal flags all of Napoleon's actions. Arrived April 14, 1816 new governor Low further restricted the deposed emperor's freedom. In fact, Napoleon did not make plans to escape. Upon his arrival at St. Helena, he befriended Betsy, the active 14-year-old daughter of the East India Company superintendent Balcombe, and played childish fools with her. In subsequent years, he occasionally received visitors staying on the island. In June 1816 he began dictating memoirs, published two years after his death by Las Cases in four volumes called "St. Helena Memorial"; Memorial became the most widely read book of the 19th century.

Death

From 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 him giving up walking) and because of his constantly depressed mood. In October 1817, Napoleon O'Meara's physician diagnosed him with hepatitis. Initially, he hoped for changes in European politics, for Princess Charlotte, known for her sympathies towards him, to come to power in Great Britain, but the princess died in November 1817. In 1818, the Balcombes left the island and Lowe sent O'Meara away.

In 1818, Napoleon fell into depression, became increasingly ill, and complained of pain in his right side. He suspected it was cancer - the disease from which his father died. In September 1819, the Antommarchi doctor, sent by Napoleon's mother and Cardinal Fesch, 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!” (French: La tête de l'armée!) He was buried near Longwood near the Torbet spring, overgrown with willows.

There is a version that Napoleon was poisoned. In 1960, Sten Vorshufvud and his colleagues examined Napoleon's hair and found arsenic in it at a concentration that was approximately an order of magnitude higher than normal. However, numerous analyzes conducted in the 1990s and 2000s show that the arsenic levels in Napoleon's hair varied from day to day, and sometimes even within a single day. An explanation may be that Napoleon used hair powder that contained arsenic; or the fact that Napoleon’s hair, which he gave to his admirers, was, according to the customs of those years, preserved in powder containing arsenic. The version of poisoning currently has no confirmation. However, gastroenterologists in a 2007 study prove that the death of the emperor is explained by the 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 remains

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

A red porphyry sarcophagus by Visconti containing 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 about Napoleon's statesmanship and 12 statues by Pradier dedicated to his military campaigns.

Heritage

Public administration

Napoleon's achievements in the field government controlled, and not military victories and conquests, constitute his main legacy. Moreover, the main of these achievements occur in relatively years of peace Consulates. 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), Concordat (signed July 16, 1801), lyceums (May 1, 1802), Legion of Honor (May 19, 1802) ), the Franc Germinal bimetallic standard (March 28, 1803), and finally the Civil Code (March 21, 1804). These achievements largely characterize our modern world; Napoleon is often seen 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, sound finance, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified, and spread geographically by Napoleon. To these he added rational and efficient local administration, an end to village banditry, encouragement 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 government of the French state that he created and fine-tuned - centralized authoritarian rule through a unified bureaucratic ladder. Some elements of this system still exist today, even in the parliamentary democracy of the Fifth Republic.

Political movements

In politics, Napoleon I left behind Bonapartism. The word was first used by his opponents in 1814 in a pejorative sense, but by 1848 supporters of Napoleon III gave it its current meaning. Unlike republicanism, which is 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 movement, Bonapartism has its roots (“legitimacy”) more in the widespread support that Napoleon received from the so-called federations(French fédérés) during the Hundred Days than in Napoleonic plebiscites. The Memorial of Saint Helena became 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 one looks at the irreversible changes he caused in the political geography of the continent. On the eve of the French Revolution, Germany was little more than a conglomerate of 300 states. The actions of Napoleon, such as the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine and the Kingdom of Westphalia, mediatization, secularization, the introduction of the Civil Code, and French culture brought at bayonets, caused political changes in Germany, which over time 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 capable army from the French Revolution, he introduced a few fundamental improvements that allowed this army to win campaigns. Studying extensive military literature helped him develop his own approach, based on agility and flexibility. He successfully used a mixed battle formation (a combination of a column and a line), first proposed by Guibert, and mobile artillery created by Gribeauval. Based on the ideas of Carnot, Moreau and Brun, Napoleon reorganized the French army as a system of army corps, each of which included infantry, cavalry and artillery and was capable of operating independently. The main imperial apartment, led by Berthier and Duroc, ensured unified control of the army, collected and systematized intelligence data, helped Napoleon prepare plans and sent orders to the troops. Giving preference to the offensive over the defensive, Napoleon crushed the enemy by quickly concentrating his forces in the direction of the main attack.

When analyzing Napoleonic strategy, “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 doing anything, I thought for a long time before; I foresaw what might happen. It is not a genius who suddenly and mysteriously reveals to me what exactly I should say and do under circumstances that seem unexpected to others - but it is my reasoning and reflection that reveals this to me.”

Napoleon's military achievements left their mark on the military and social thought of the subsequent century. As C. Easdale shows, in 1866, 1870, 1914, peoples went into battle with the memory of Napoleon and the idea that the outcome of the war would be determined by victory in one general battle. The Schlieffen plan was just a pompous implementation of Napoleon's outflanking maneuver (French manoeuvre sur les derrières). Behind the ceremonial 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 state of medicine at that time, battle-related injuries and illnesses caused enormous disasters. At least 5 million people - military and civilians - became victims of the Napoleonic wars.

Offspring

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

Essays

Napoleon's pen includes several early works of various genres, imbued with youthful maximalism and revolutionary sentiments ("Letter to Matteo Buttafuoco", "History of Corsica", "Dialogue about Love", "Dinner at Beaucaire", "Clisson and Eugenie" 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 on St. Helena, trying to create a positive legend about his intentions and their implementation, Napoleon dictated memories of the siege of Toulon, the Vendémières rebellion, the Italian campaign and the Egyptian campaign, the battle of Marengo, the exile on the island of Elba, the period of the Hundred Days, and 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. A 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 have been published; publication is scheduled to be completed in 2017. The publication of a complete critical edition of Napoleon's letters has allowed historians to take a fresh look at him and his era.

The novel “Clisson and Eugenia”, “Dinner in Beaucaire”, some of his later works and some letters were published in Russian.

Legend

The Napoleonic legend was not born in St. Helena. Bonaparte consistently created it through newspapers (first the battle leaflets of the Italian army, and then official Parisian publications), commemorative medals, bulletins of the Grand Army, paintings by David and Gro, Arc de Triomphe and the Victory Column. Throughout his career, Napoleon showed an amazing ability to spin bad news as good and good news as triumph. “If you need to characterize Napoleon’s genius in one word, then that word is “propaganda.” In this respect, Napoleon was a man of the 20th century. He created the image for himself - a double-cornered hat, a gray frock coat, a hand between the buttons.” However, the decisive role in the emergence of the “golden legend” of Napoleon was played by his soldiers, who remained idle after the end of the Napoleonic wars and remembered with longing the First Empire and their “little corporal.”

However, as J. Tulard showed, not only Napoleon worked to create his legend, but also his opponents. The golden legend was opposed by the black one. For English caricaturists (Cruikshank, Gillray, Woodward, Rowlandson) Napoleon was a favorite character - in early years skinny (English Boney), and in later years fat (English Fleshy) a short upstart. In 1813, the French, who began conscripting 16-year-old sons into the army, called Napoleon a cannibal. In Russia and Spain, the clergy presented Napoleon as the incarnation of the Antichrist.

Reflection in culture, science and art

In historiography

Quantity historical research about Napoleon Bonaparte amounts to tens and hundreds of thousands. At the same time, as Peter Gale noted, 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 taking an extremely apologetic or very critical position (Las Cases, Bignon, de Stael, Arndt, Genz, Hazlitt, Scott, etc.). Representatives of the second point of view tried to adapt conclusions about Napoleon to the current situation, to draw “historical lessons” from his actions, turning the image of Bonaparte into a weapon political struggle(d’Haussonville, Mignet, Michelet, Thiers, Quinet, Lanfrey, Taine, Housset, Vandal, etc.). Finally, “third wave” researchers were looking for a “big idea” in Napoleon’s goals and achievements, on the basis of which it would be possible to understand him 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 features of his regime.

In other sciences

In 1804, the tree genus Napoleonaea P.Beauv., part of the Lecitis 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, works by Beethoven (he crossed out the dedication to the Third Symphony after the coronation of Napoleon), Berlioz, Schoenberg, and Schumann were dedicated to him. 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), “May Field” (Italy, 1935), “Kolberg” (Germany, 1944), “Kutuzov” (USSR, 1943), “Ashes” "(Poland, 1968), "Waterloo" (Italy - USSR, 1970); Kubrick's project remained unrealized, but still arouses keen interest to this day.

In popular culture

Thanks to distinctive features in appearance and demeanor, Napoleon is a recognizable cultural character. In particular, in popular culture There was an idea of ​​Napoleon's short stature. However, according to various sources, his height ranged from 167 to 169 cm, which for France at that time was above average height. According to Napoleon's Dictionary, the idea of ​​his short stature may have been due to the fact that Napoleon, unlike his entourage, who wore tall caps with plumes, wore a small, modest hat. Based on this misconception, the German psychologist Alfred Adler coined the term “Napoleon complex,” according to which short people strive to compensate for their feelings of inferiority through excessive aggressiveness and the desire for power.

Popular biographies

Biography and episodes of life Napoleon Bonaparte. When born and died Napoleon Bonaparte, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Quotes from the French commander and emperor, images and videos.

Years of life of Napoleon Bonaparte:

born 15 August 1769, died 5 May 1821

Epitaph

“Why were you sent and who sent you?
What, good or evil, were you faithful to accomplish?
Why did it go out, why did it shine,
A wonderful visitor to Earth?
From a poem by A. S. Pushkin

“Great husband! there's no reward here
Worthy of your valor!
Looks will find her in the sky
And they won’t find it among people.”
From a poem by M. Yu. Lermontov

Biography

The reign of Napoleon Bonaparte did not bring any significant economic benefit to his country. But one cannot deny Bonaparte's military genius, which allowed him to ascend to the French throne. This short, stocky Corsican (Bonaparte’s height, according to various sources, is from 157 to 168 cm) was able to make European countries tremble before the majestic France. The biography of Napoleon Bonaparte is a story of great victories and, alas, equally great defeats.

He was born on the island of Corsica, studied at a military school and already youth became the breadwinner of his family, since he lost his father early. His military career was rapid - in addition to military school, Napoleon was constantly engaged in self-education, re-reading a large amount of military literature. We can say that he was born in right time- when there was a riot in Paris, he quickly took matters into his own hands, after which he was appointed commander of the army, under whose leadership France won many battles - in Italy, Austria, the Alps and the French colonies. But while he was away from France, the royalists began to gain strength in it. To prevent them from seizing the government, Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself ruler of France, gaining the full support of the army, which adored its commander.

For some time there was peace in France, but Napoleon's further policy of imperialism soon began to bear negative fruit. The war with Great Britain began. And after a while, with Russia, when Alexander I refused to tighten the blockade of Great Britain and introduced a duty on goods from France. This war was lost by Napoleon, which was the beginning of the fall of Bonaparte. In addition, during his reign, he managed to make many enemies in his own country, for which he was removed from the throne and sent into exile on the island of Elba. After a while, he tried to return to power with the help of the military and peasants who were still loyal to him, but, alas, he could not hold out for long and was again sent to exile on the island of St. Helena, where he died alone.

Napoleon's personal life was also full of failures. The first time he married Josephine de Beauharnais, who by the time of her marriage to Napoleon had already been married several times. Few people approved of this marriage, but Josephine and Napoleon were married for 13 years, Bonaparte even adopted Josephine’s children. But, alas, they never had a child together, which was one of the reasons for the divorce. Another reason was that in order to strengthen his power, Bonaparte still needed a marriage with a girl of royal blood. When he informed Josephine of his intention to divorce, she suffered a nervous breakdown. Alas, this sacrifice was in vain. Despite the fact that Napoleon had an heir from his second marriage, this did not bring him happiness and power. When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, it was Josephine who asked permission to accompany her former husband in exile, but she was not allowed. Napoleon outlived his beloved by seven years and loved her until the end of his life.

Napoleon's death occurred on May 5, 1821, Napoleon's funeral took place on the island of St. Helena. For several years, Napoleon's grave was located on an island in the Valley of the Lilies, until in 1840 his ashes were taken out and reburied in the Invalides in Paris.

Life line

August 15, 1769 Date of birth of Napoleon Bonaparte.
1785 Napoleon begins professional military service.
December 18, 1793 The capture of Toulon, after which Napoleon achieved the rank of brigadier general.
March 2, 1796 Napoleon's appointment as commander of the Italian army.
1798-1799 Expedition to Egypt led by Napoleon.
November 1799 A coup d'etat led by Napoleon, after which he was appointed first consul.
18 May 1804 Proclamation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor.
1805 Austrian campaign.
1806-1807 Prussian and Polish campaigns.
1809 Austrian campaign.
1812 Napoleon's defeat in the war against Russia.
1814 Forced abdication, exile to the island of Elba.
March 18, 1815 Return of Napoleon to the French throne.
June 22, 1815 Secondary abdication of the throne.
May 5, 1821 Date of death of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Memorable places

1. Ajaccio, Corsica, where Napoleon was born.
2. Military school of Paris, where Napoleon studied.
3. Elba Island, where Napoleon was exiled in 1814.
4. Saint Helena Island, where Napoleon died and where he was buried after his death.
5. Les Invalides in Paris, where Napoleon was reburied in 1840 and where the monument to Napoleon is located.

Episodes of life

When Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France and Josephine Empress, he refused to allow the Pope to place the crown on his wife. He took the crown from the Pope's hands and put it on Josephine's head himself.

Napoleon Bonaparte's last words before his death were: "France, army, head of the army, Josephine."

The governor of St. Helena did not allow the word "emperor" to be written on Napoleon's tombstone. Shortly before Napoleon's death, Count Bertrand, who was under Bonaparte, sent a request to the governor for medical assistance to the emperor, to which he received the answer: “There is no person on this island who bears the name Emperor.” Bonaparte himself would never have turned to the governor; he said: “You can kill me, but you cannot insult me.” Napoleon also once said that when he dies, the universe will breathe a sigh of relief. When news of Napoleon's death reached Paris, Talleyrand, who was Napoleon's first minister at the time, sarcastically remarked: "This is not an event, but just news."

Paul Delaroche's painting "Napoleon Crosses the Alps" (left), Jacques Louis David's painting "Napoleon at the Saint Bernard Pass" (right)

Covenant

“Impossibility is a word from the dictionary of fools.”

"There is no strength without skill"

Documentary film about Napoleon Bonaparte

Condolences

“He was alien to the world, everything about him was a secret.”
Mikhail Lermontov, poet

“Reflecting on his brilliant career, we are torn between indignation and admiration. Napoleon left France crushed, conquered, drained of blood, losing courage, becoming less than it was... But is it possible to discount the valiant glory that our army earned under him? How can one deny the reputation of a strong power that he has won for his homeland? The echo of this glory can still be heard today. And today, although much water has passed under the bridge since then, crowds of people from all over the world come to experience the awe of greatness near his tomb...”
Charles de Gaulle, 18th President of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a brilliant commander, diplomat, had excellent intelligence, phenomenal memory and amazing performance. An entire era is named after him, and his deeds came as a shock to most of his contemporaries. His military strategies are in textbooks, and the norms of democracy in Western countries are based on “Napoleonic Law”.

Napoleon Bonaparte on horseback

The role of this outstanding personality in the history of France is ambiguous. In Spain and Russia he was called the Antichrist, and some researchers consider Napoleon a somewhat embellished hero.

Childhood and youth

The brilliant commander, statesman, Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte was a native of Corsica. Born on August 15, 1769 in the city of Ajaccio into a poor noble family. The parents of the future emperor had eight children. Father Carlo di Buonaparte practiced law, mother Letizia, née Ramolino, raised the children. They were Corsicans by nationality. Bonaparte is the Tuscan version of the surname of the famous Corsican.

He was taught literacy and sacred history at home, and at the age of six he was sent to private school, at the age of ten - to Autun College, where the boy did not stay long. After college, Brienne continues her studies at military school. In 1784 he entered the Parisian military academy. Upon graduation, he received the rank of lieutenant and served in the artillery from 1785.

IN early youth Napoleon lived in solitude and was interested in literature and military affairs. In 1788, while in Corsica, he participated in the development of defensive fortifications, worked on a report on the organization of the militia, etc. He considered literary works to be of paramount importance and hoped to become famous in this field.

He reads books on history, geography, and sizes with interest. government revenues European countries, works on the philosophy of legislation, is interested in the ideas of Abbé Raynal. He writes the history of Corsica, the stories “Conversation of Love”, “The Prophet in Disguise”, “The Earl of Essex” and keeps a diary.

The works of young Bonaparte, with the exception of one, remained in manuscripts. In these works, the author expresses negative emotions towards France, considering it the enslaver of Corsica, and love for his homeland. The recordings of the young Napoleon are political in tone and permeated with a revolutionary spirit.

Napoleon Bonaparte greeted the French Revolution with enthusiasm, and in 1792 he joined the Jacobin Club. After the victory over the British for the capture of Toulon in 1793, he was awarded the rank of brigadier general. This becomes a turning point in his biography, after which a brilliant military career begins.

In 1795, Napoleon distinguished himself during the dispersal of the royalist rebellion, after which he was appointed commander of the army. The Italian campaign undertaken in 1796-1797 under his command demonstrated the talent of the commander and glorified him throughout the continent. In 1798-1799, the Directory sent him on a long-distance military expedition to Syria and Egypt.

The expedition ended in defeat, but it was not considered a failure. He voluntarily leaves the army to fight the Russians under the command of. In 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris. The Directory regime at this time was already at the peak of the crisis.

Domestic policy

After the coup and the proclamation of the consulate in 1802, he became consul, and in 1804 - emperor. In the same year, with the participation of Napoleon, a new Civil Code was published, based on Roman law.

The internal policy pursued by the emperor is aimed at strengthening his own power, which, in his opinion, guaranteed the preservation of the gains of the revolution. Carries out reforms in the field of law and administration. He undertook a number of reforms in the legal and administrative spheres. Some of these innovations still form the basis of the functioning of states. Napoleon ended anarchy. A law was passed to ensure the right to property. French citizens were recognized as equal in rights and opportunities.

Mayors were appointed to cities and villages, and the French Bank was created. The economy began to revive, which could not but please even the poor. Military recruitment allowed the poor to earn money. Lyceums opened throughout the country. At the same time, the police network expanded, a secret department began operating, and the press was subjected to strict censorship. Gradually there was a return to the monarchical system of government.

Biography of Napoleon Bonaparte

An important event for the French government was an agreement concluded with the Pope, thanks to which the legitimacy of Bonaparte’s power was recognized in exchange for the proclamation of Catholicism main religion the majority of citizens. Society was divided into two camps in relation to the emperor. Some citizens stated that Napoleon betrayed the revolution, but Bonaparte himself believed that he was a successor of its ideas.

Foreign policy

The beginning of Napoleon's reign occurred at a time when France was at war with Austria and England. The new victorious Italian campaign eliminated the threat at the French borders. The result of military action was the subjugation of almost all European countries. In territories that were not part of France, kingdoms subordinate to the emperor were created, the rulers of which were members of his family. Russia, Prussia and Austria form an alliance.

At first, Napoleon was perceived as the savior of his homeland. The people were proud of his achievements, and there was a national upsurge in the country. But the 20-year war tired everyone. The Continental Blockade proclaimed by Bonaparte, which led to the decline of the English economy and its light industry, forced the British to stop trade relations with European states. The crisis hit the port cities of France; the supply of colonial goods, to which Europe had already become accustomed, was stopped. Even the French court suffered from a lack of coffee, sugar, and tea.

The situation was worsened by the economic crisis of 1810. The bourgeoisie did not want to spend money on wars, since the threat of attack by other countries was a thing of the past. She understood that the goal of the emperor's foreign policy was to expand his own power and protect the interests of the dynasty.

The collapse of the empire began in 1812, when Russian troops defeated Napoleonic army. The creation of an anti-French coalition, which included Russia, Austria, Prussia and Sweden, in 1814 was the collapse of the empire. This year she defeated the French and entered Paris.

Napoleon had to abdicate the throne, but he retained the status of emperor. He was exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the exiled emperor did not stay there long.

French citizens and military personnel were unhappy with the situation and feared the return of the Bourbons and nobility. Bonaparte escapes and on March 1, 1815, moves to Paris, where he is greeted with enthusiastic exclamations from the townspeople. Hostilities resume. This period went down in history as the “Hundred Days”. The final defeat of Napoleon's army occurred on June 18, 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo.

The deposed emperor was captured by the British and sent into exile again. This time he ended up in the Atlantic Ocean on the island of St. Elena, where he lived for another 6 years. But not all the British had a negative attitude towards Napoleon. In 1815, impressed by the fate of the deposed emperor, he created the “Napoleonic Cycle” of five poems, after which the poet was reproached for being unpatriotic. Among the British there was another admirer of Napoleon - Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the future George IV, on whose support the emperor at one time counted, but she died in 1817 during childbirth.

Personal life

From a young age, Napoleon Bonaparte was distinguished by his amorousness. Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon's height was above average by the standards that existed in those years - 168 cm, which could not help but attract the attention of the opposite sex. His masculine features and posture, which are visible in the reproductions presented in the form of photographs, aroused the interest of the ladies around him.

The first lover to whom the young man proposed was 16-year-old Desiree-Evgenia-Clara. But at that time his career in Paris began to develop rapidly, and Napoleon could not resist the charm of Parisian women. In the capital of France, Bonaparte preferred to have affairs with older women.

An important event in Napoleon's personal life, which took place in 1796, was his marriage to Josephine Beauharnais. Bonaparte's beloved turned out to be 6 years older than him. She was born into a plantation family on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean. From the age of 16 she was married to Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais and gave birth to two children. Six years after marriage, she divorced her husband and at one time lived in Paris, then in her father’s house. After the revolution of 1789 she again went to France. In Paris, she was supported by her ex-husband, who by that time occupied a high political position. But in 1794 the Viscount was executed, and Josephine herself spent some time in prison.

A year later, having miraculously gained freedom, Josephine met Bonaparte, who was not yet so famous. According to some reports, at the time of their acquaintance she was a member of love affair with the then ruler of France, Barras, but this did not stop him from becoming a witness at the wedding of Bonaparte and Josephine. In addition, Barras granted the groom the position of commander of the Italian Army of the Republic.

Researchers claim that the lovers had many things in common. Both were born far from France on small islands, experienced hardships, were imprisoned, both were dreamers. After the wedding, Napoleon went to the positions of the Italian army, and Josephine remained in Paris. After the Italian campaign, Bonaparte was sent to Egypt. Josephine still did not follow her husband, but enjoyed social life in the capital of France.

Tormented by jealousy, Napoleon began to have favorites. According to researchers, Napoleon had from 20 to 50 lovers. A series of novels followed, which led to the emergence of illegitimate heirs. Two are known: Alexander Colonna-Walewski and Charles Leon. The Colonna-Walewski family has survived to this day. Alexander's mother was the daughter of a Polish aristocrat, Maria Valevskaya.

Josephine could not have children, so in 1810 Napoleon divorced her. Initially, Bonaparte planned to become related to the Romanov imperial family. He asked Anna Pavlovna's hand in marriage from her brother. But the Russian emperor did not want to become related to a ruler of non-royal blood. In many ways, these disagreements influenced the cooling of relations between France and Russia. Napoleon marries the daughter of the Emperor of Austria, Marie-Louise, who gave birth to an heir in 1811. This marriage was not approved by the French public.

Ironically, it was Josephine’s grandson, not Napoleon’s, who later became the French emperor. Her descendants reign in Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg. There are no descendants of Napoleon left, since his son had no children, and he himself died young.

After being deported to the island of Elba, Bonaparte expected to see his legal wife next to him, but Marie-Louise went to her father’s domain. Maria Valevskaya arrived to Bonaparte with her son. Returning to France, Napoleon dreamed of seeing only Marie Louise, but the emperor never received an answer to all the letters sent to Austria.

Death

After the defeat at Waterloo, Bonaparte whiled away his time on the island of St. Elena. The last years of his life were filled with suffering from an incurable disease. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon I Bonaparte died, he was 52 years old.

According to one version, the cause of death was oncology, according to another - arsenic poisoning. Researchers who support the version of stomach cancer appeal to the results of the autopsy, as well as to the heredity of Bonaparte, whose father died of stomach cancer. Other historians mention that Napoleon gained weight before his death. And this became an indirect sign of arsenic poisoning, since cancer patients lose weight. In addition, traces of high concentrations of arsenic were later found in the emperor’s hair.

According to Napoleon's will, his remains were transported to France in 1840, where they were reburied in the Parisian Invalides on the territory of the cathedral. Around the tomb of the former French emperor are sculptures made by Jean-Jacques Pradier.

Quotes

History is only a version of events that happened in our interpretation.

The depths of baseness to which a person can fall are immeasurable.

There are two levers that can move people - fear and self-interest.

Revolution is a conviction backed by bayonets.

It is more likely to meet a good ruler who came to power through inheritance than through elections.

The great French Emperor and commander was born in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica in mid-August 1769. He was the second of eight children in the family and was initially raised by his mother. Since his father was engaged in lawyering, he belonged to a noble family, but without an impressive income. Napoleon studied literacy and arithmetic from his mother until he was almost 6 years old, and after that he went to study at a private school. In 1779 he went to the military school in Brienne. But since I learned everything quickly, I didn’t stay there long. Then he goes to Paris and enters the military academy. After studying for about 1 year, he receives the rank of second lieutenant and serves in the artillery.

Napoleon's youth

Being a poor man, he leads a quiet and modest existence, studying literature and publications about military affairs. While on his native island of Corsica in 1788, he helped improve and fortify the land's defenses. But still, he considered literature to be his main thing, so he studied it constantly. The calculation was based on the fact that famous and venerable writers receive good fees and can manage expenses without taking them into account. But all the manuscripts, with the exception of the only one, remained unpublished and were filled with revolutionary content for France, forcibly holding the Italian island of Corsica.

Beginning of a military career

The Great French Revolution occurs in 1789. Bonaparte, meanwhile, is in the military division of Corsica, recruiting and forming soldiers of the national guard there. Having given himself up to the struggle for power on his native island, he enters into a fight with the patriot Paoli. But having lost the enterprise, he escapes to Paris, where he witnesses the lawlessness of the mob, who managed to take possession of the royal palace. Returning to Corsica again, he again became the leader of the National Guard troops with the rank of lieutenant colonel. There was a catastrophic lack of smart and thinking military men there, so they simply turned a blind eye to Bonaparte’s past failures and did not remember them.

After an unsuccessful attempt to take possession of the neighboring island of Sardinia, he and his family were declared traitors and traitors to their homeland. The family, which managed to hide in Toulon, lived there, and Napoleon was no longer in the mood to patriotically support his native island.

Later career in suppressing the uprising

The royalists and the bourgeoisie were preparing an uprising, which was supposed to serve as the beginning of similar actions throughout the country. The chief commander of the military forces, Barras, who knew Bonaparte from the old days, appoints him as his closest assistant. And he is not slow to take advantage of the situation. Artillery troops were effectively positioned on both banks of the Seine, stopping the rebels through terrible executions with grapeshot. After the events that occurred, Napoleon was immediately promoted to division general. and after the resignation of the commander-in-chief, he took over his post.

The provisional government of France, called the Directory, was already under the yoke of a critical situation. Having carried out a military coup, Bonaparte became consul in 1802, and then 2 years later Pope Pius 7 made him Emperor.

March on Russia

The result of the military actions of the new Emperor was the subjugation of Europe to him. Only a few form an alliance to stop the land invader. They become Russia, Prussia, and Austria. But Russian troops managed to defeat the French army advancing on them, and after the collapse of Napoleon’s empire, they exiled him to the island of Elba, where he briefly served his sentence. Having escaped, he again becomes the head of the army and this segment of the story is well known to everyone “100 days”. In a battle with numerous allies at Waterloo, Bonaparte lost the battle and was again captured. He spent the last 6 years of his life in exile on the island of St. Helena.

Napoleon's marriage

The wedding took place in 1796 and Josephine Beauharnais became the bride. After living together for several years, he admitted that his wife could not bear him a child. And in 1810 he decides to marry the daughter of the Emperor of Austria. A year later, the wife gives birth to the long-awaited heir. He died at a young age, without children of his own.

It is known for certain about Napoleon’s illegitimate children that there were two of them. One of the families continues to thrive to this day..

• Some historical facts about the Emperor
• He was a brilliant diplomat, politician and military leader.
• Possessing superior intelligence thanks to a phenomenal memory.
• Amazing performance. Could work for the benefit of the country 10-14 hours a day.
• I almost never got sick during my life.
• He loved hats and regularly added them to his collection. About 200 hats are known.
• At 24, young Napoleon became a brigadier general in the army.
• Nowadays, a variety of cognac and a cake are named after him.

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821 on the secluded island of St. Helens in the Atlantic Ocean, where the deposed emperor was sent into exile. He was buried on this island. Almost twenty years later, his remains were transported to France and now rest in the Paris Invalides.

As you know, Napoleon tried several times to escape from St. Helena, but all such attempts ended in failure. However, there is an assumption that Bonaparte still managed to escape. A similar version is shared by some historians, including the American researcher T. Wheeler. In 1974, his book “Who Lies Here” was published in New York. New research on the last years of Napoleon."

Wheeler's hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the following curious fact. A letter has been preserved from the wife of the French general Bertrand, who in August 1818 wrote from St. Helena to Paris: “Victory, victory! Napoleon left the island." This letter was intercepted by the British, and the prisoner's security was strengthened.

This is not the only legend associated with the mysterious rescue of Napoleon. On August 7, 1815, when the English ship with Napoleon was already approaching the island of St. Helena, a man calling himself Felix appeared in a village in the French Alps. He looked exactly like a deposed monarch. The peasants immediately notified the local authorities about this. The royal gendarmes quickly arrived, arrested Felix and put him in prison. No one else saw this mysterious man...

In 1822, the secretary of the prefecture of the city of Mand, Armand Marquise, reported that the new curate, Father Hilarion, who bought a dilapidated castle near the city, bore a striking resemblance to the deposed emperor. He had the opportunity to see this for himself. This story, however, had no continuation. Apparently, Father Hilarion managed to convince the authorities that he was not Bonaparte.

The French emperor had several doubles. Since 1808, one of them was Corporal François Rabot. After Napoleon's abdication and exile, Rabaud returned to his native village in the department of Meuse and took up peasant labor. In the fall of 1818, a richly dressed gentleman with a military bearing appeared in his village, looking for “his old friend Francois.” Soon Rabo and his sister disappeared from the village.

The police searched for the former corporal throughout France and finally found his sister in the city of Tours, who suddenly became rich. When asked where her brother was, she answered, laughing, that he became a sailor and went on a long voyage. They got nothing more from her...

According to Wheeler, Francois Rabaud was brought to St. Helena and replaced as the emperor. The corporal had successfully played the role of the French ex-emperor since the autumn of 1818; in any case, the British authorities did not seem to suspect anything. By the way, all that the English sentries could do was look through the window into Napoleon’s bedroom once a day to make sure that he was still there. Even the commissars of the allied powers could not visit the deposed emperor.

Outwardly, Napoleon did not change, but he became forgetful and was often confused about the obvious facts of his former life. And his handwriting became different. Some of his inner circle soon returned to France. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon (or Francois Rabaud) died, according to the official version from stomach cancer.

What about Bonaparte who fled, where did he go? According to Wheeler, Napoleon went to Italy, to Verona. Together with his companion, the Italian Petrucci, he opened a small optics and jewelry store there. The people of Verona rarely saw this Frenchman, who looked very much like Napoleon. His name was Monsieur Revard; he was almost never in the city or even in his store. Five years passed like this.

Another thirty years passed. Petrucci, already an old man, suddenly appeared before the magistrate and made a statement under oath that his companion in Verona for five years was Napoleon Bonaparte himself. So says the legend.

The letter that so suddenly moved Napoleon-Révard from his seat was supposedly from his wife Marie-Louise, the former French Empress, who, after her husband's expulsion, returned with her son to Vienna. In the letter, she wrote that his twelve-year-old son, Francois-Charles-Joseph, was seriously ill with scarlet fever. Napoleon immediately went to Vienna. On the night of September 4, 1823, he climbed over the stone fence of Schönbrunn Palace and was shot by sentries.

In the morning, the police arrived at the scene, drew up a report and left. Marie-Louise ordered to bury the murdered man in the park in an unmarked grave, but next to her family crypt...

In 1956, London officially announced that part of Napoleon's intestines with traces of a bayonet or bullet wound was kept in Britain. Perhaps these were traces of that tragic September night in 1823?

There is another version concerning the last years of Napoleon’s life and his death. In 1969, a book by two French historians entitled “The British, Give Us Back Napoleon” was published in France. It was stated there that in May 1821, it was not Napoleon or Rabo who was buried on St. Helena, but the former housekeeper of the emperor, the Italian Francesco Cipriani.

Now let’s move away from all kinds of legends and traditions concerning the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, and try to approach the events of almost two centuries ago somewhat objectively. Let's assume that in the fall of 1818 it was possible to replace the French emperor with his double, and Napoleon managed to escape from the island. In the United States, in New Orleans, there was then a large colony of French Bonapartists led by Napoleon's older brother. There Bonaparte could live quite legally, surrounded by honor and respect. What was he supposed to do in Europe, especially in Italy, which was then largely occupied by Austrian troops?

François Rabaud was indeed Napoleon's double, but after he returned to his village in 1815, traces of him were lost. Everything else is a legend, the authenticity of which can no longer be verified.

The papers that Napoleon Bonaparte wrote and dictated in the last years and even months of his life contain references to hundreds of things, many details that could only be known to the emperor. Napoleon did not experience any memory loss.

Apparently, the former Emperor of the French actually died in exile in 1821. He died quite early: he was not even 52 years old. His death on a distant Atlantic island gave rise to many rumors, and then legends that have survived to this day.