Napoléon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 ~ May 5, 1821) was the French emperor (1804 ~ 1814) and military strategist who once occupied Western Europe and the Most of the territory of Central Europe.

Early Years

Napoleon (meaning Lion of the Wilderness) was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, in 1769. Corsica had just been sold to France. His family was a local aristocratic family. Under his father's arrangement, Napoleon went to France to receive education at the Brienne Military Academy when he was 9 years old. At that time, Napoleon's French was not very good and his speech was rather stuttering. His classmates often teased him: "Hey, Corsican, how do you say 'France'?" At this time, Napoleon would stutter and say: "French... ...Lan...Xi" "Hahaha..." Napoleon, who was ridiculed by his classmates, had very good grades, especially in mathematics and history.

Napoleon initially considered himself a foreigner and hoped to one day make Corsica independent from France. At the age of 16 he was awarded the title of artillery second lieutenant. After the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon returned to Corsica, hoping to promote Corsica's independence. However, he was squeezed out by another pro-British and anti-French Poly group, and finally his family fled to France. In July 1793, Napoleon led troops to capture the royalist stronghold Toulon, which was appreciated by the Jacobins. During the Thermidorian Coup of 1794, Napoleon was investigated due to his close relationship with the Robespierre brothers. Later, he was dismissed from the rank of brigadier general because he refused to serve in the infantry of the Italian Legion. In 1795, he was entrusted by Barras, the Governor of Paris, to successfully quell the royalist armed rebellion. He was promoted to lieutenant general of the army and commander of the Paris garrison overnight, and became prominent in the military and political circles.

Napoleon was an outstanding military strategist. He had a deep understanding of the military knowledge of the time and was good at applying various military strategies to actual combat. He especially advocated the concentrated use of artillery and the full use of cavalry. maneuverability. On March 2, 1796, the 26-year-old Napoleon was appointed commander-in-chief of the French and Italian Front. On March 9, he married his lover Josephine Beauharnais, and then hurried to the front line. In Italy, the army commanded by Napoleon repeatedly repelled the first anti-French alliance of Austria and Sardinia, and finally forced the other party to sign an armistice treaty in favor of France, and returned in triumph.

The Battle of Egypt and the Gain of Power

After winning the Battle of Italy, Napoleon's prestige increased and he became the new hero of the French. His rise made the Directory feel threatened, so he was appointed commander of the Egyptian Army and sent to the East to curb the expansion of British power in the region. In addition to 2,000 cannons, Napoleon's expeditionary force also brought 175 scholars from various industries and hundreds of boxes of books and research equipment. During the expedition, Napoleon once issued a famous instruction: "Let donkeys and scholars walk in the middle of the team." Napoleon himself was proficient in mathematics, and also loved literature and religion very much. He was greatly influenced by the Enlightenment.

However, the 1798 expedition to Egypt itself was a big failure. Napoleon's fleet was completely destroyed by the British Admiral Nelson, and his troops were trapped in Egypt. When he returned to China in 1799, only 2 small ships were left out of 400 warships. The original plan to invade India was blocked and suffered heavy casualties.

At this time, the European anti-French alliance was gradually formed, and the power of royalists in France was gradually rising. In August 1799, Napoleon finally decided to rush back to Paris. On November 9, 1799, Napoleon, who returned to France after abandoning his troops in Egypt, launched the Coup of Brumaire and succeeded. He became the First Consul of France, proclaimed himself "Consul", and was actually a dictator.

After Napoleon, he carried out a number of major reforms in politics, education, justice, administration, legislation, and economy. Among them, the most famous and still influential "Napoleonic Code" was written on the day of the coup. Napoleon ordered it to be drafted in the evening, and Napoleon himself personally participated in the discussions to finalize many of the articles, basically adopting the more rational principles put forward in the early days of the French Revolution.

The Code was formally implemented in 1804 and remains the current law of France more than a century later. The Code has an important influence on the legislation of Germany, Spain, Switzerland and other countries. In a proclamation issued by Napoleon to the people three weeks after the coup, he proudly declared: "Citizens, the Revolution has returned to the principles from which it began. The Revolution is over."

Conquer Europe, Become emperor

In 1800, Napoleon defeated the Austrian army again, and Britain had to sign a peace treaty with France, forcing the collapse of the second anti-French alliance. On May 18, 1804, Napoleon was proclaimed emperor of the First French Empire, but he was not crowned by Pope Pius VII, but brought the crown to his head himself (the pope at that time was old and trembling, Too slow), and then crowned his wife queen. A year later, he was crowned King of Italy by the Pope in Italy.

In August 1805, Austria, Britain, and Russia formed the third anti-French alliance. Napoleon left Paris on September 24 and personally led his army eastward. By October 12, the French army had Occupied Munich. After a fierce battle between France and Austria in Ulm on October 17, the Austrian army surrendered. After that, France won the Battle of Austerlitz, and the anti-French alliance collapsed again. Napoleon then united the vassal states in Germany to form the "Rhine League" and placed it under his protection. In the autumn of the following year, Britain, Russia, and Prussia formed the Fourth Anti-French Alliance. However, on October 14, the French army defeated the enemy in Jena and Auerstedt at the same time. The Prussian army was almost completely annihilated, and Napoleon gained victory. most of Germany. In June 1807, the French army defeated the Russian army in Poland. Napoleon met with the Russian Czar Alexander I, and the two sides signed a peace treaty. The previous year, Napoleon issued the "Berlin Amnesty", announcing a continental blockade policy and prohibiting the European continent from entering the country. any trade with England.

Turning point: Invasion of Spain, Austria and Russia

In late 1807, internal unrest broke out in Spain, and the Spanish king was spurned by the people. Napoleon then took the opportunity to invade Spain and made his eldest brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain. However, this move was opposed by the Spanish, and Napoleon was unable to quell the local riots. Britain intervened in the Spanish dispute in 1808. The British army landed in Montego Bay on August 8 and occupied the entire Portugal on August 30. Later, with the support of local nationalists, they gradually drove the French army out of the Iberian Peninsula.

Just as Napoleon was mired in Spain, the fifth anti-French alliance was formed in early 1809. Austria secretly attacked French territory in Germany from behind, and Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Spain and lead his army to the east. Although the Austrian army initially gained the upper hand, Napoleon soon turned defeat into victory, forcing Austria to cede land again.

By the end of 1811, relations between France and Russia had begun to deteriorate. Russian Tsar Alexander I refused to continue cooperating with France to resist the British, and war finally broke out. Napoleon led an army of 600,000 into Russia. The Russian army adopted the tactic of retreating without resistance until September 12, 1812, when the French army entered Moscow after experiencing the bloody battle of Borodino (70,000 French soldiers were killed and seriously injured). Napoleon thought that Alexander I would compromise, but he did not expect that the whole city of Moscow would be greeted by fire. At this time, someone in the country planned a failed coup, which forced him to rush back to France. In the end, only 20,000 people returned to France.

Napoleon once wanted to conquer Britain, but when faced with the steamship plan proposed by the American Fulton, Napoleon refused to believe it and missed a great opportunity.

Defeat, exile, The Hundred Days Regime and Waterloo

In 1813, Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria formed the Sixth Anti-French Alliance, and the two sides fought many fierce battles in Germany. Although the French army had won many victories, the pressure on Napoleon was increasing. Until the French army was defeated at the Battle of Leipzig in October, the vassal states also broke away from France and became independent, and the Allied forces began to advance towards Paris.

On March 31, 1814, Paris was occupied, and the Allies demanded France's unconditional surrender and Napoleon's abdication. On April 13, 1814, Napoleon signed an edict of abdication at the Palace of Fontainebleau in Paris, two days before Napoleon announced his unconditional surrender. After Napoleon abdicated, he was exiled to Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean. Napoleon retained the title of "Emperor", but his territory was limited to that small island.

Napoleon was almost assassinated on the way to Elba and attempted suicide himself. In Paris, Louis XVIII returned to France and became King of France again, and the Bourbon dynasty was restored. Napoleon's wife and son were imprisoned by the Austrians, and there were rumors that Napoleon would be exiled to a small island in the Atlantic Ocean. All this left Napoleon with no choice, and finally escaped from the island on February 26, 1815, and on March 1 Returned to France on the same day. The French troops sent to stop him instead continued to support Napoleon. When Napoleon returned to Paris on March 20, he already had a regular army of 140,000 people and a volunteer army of 200,000 people, and the Hundred Days Dynasty began.

But the good times did not last long, and European countries quickly formed the seventh anti-French alliance. On June 18, 1815, Napoleon's army was completely wiped out in the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium, and was defeated by his former defeated general, the British Duke Wellington. On July 15, he formally surrendered and was exiled to St. Helena Island. On May 5, 1821, Napoleon died on the island. On May 8, the conqueror was buried beside the Torbet Mountain Spring on the island of St. Helena amid the sound of a cannon salute. To this day, there are still different opinions on the cause of Napoleon's death. The British doctor's autopsy report showed that he died of severe gastric ulcer, but new research believes that Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning.

Nine years after his death, the new Orleans Dynasty re-erected Napoleon's statue on the Vend?me Column under the pressure of the people. In 1840, Louis Philippe of the French July Monarchy sent his son to retrieve Napoleon's body. On December 15 of that year, Napoleon's coffin was transported back to Paris and was buried after passing through the Arc de Triomphe to the Retirement Home for Old Disabled Soldiers (the Home of Honorary Soldiers) on the banks of the Seine.

Napoleon’s tomb in the dome hall of the Old Disabled Soldiers’ Retirement Home

Influence

Napoleon was an outstanding military strategist. He personally participated in 60 battles in his life. There are many, and the many battles he commanded are still of great significance in military history to this day. However, his campaign broke the balance of power in Europe, leading other European powers to form anti-French alliances seven times, and finally completely defeated Napoleon. At the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's defeat, a new European order and balance was quickly re-established.

Although Napoleon once dominated the world for decades, his achievements were short-lived. After he abdicated, France's territory quickly returned to what it was before he came to power. Napoleon's military career had an important impact on the future. European history has no major impact. The only thing that can make him go down in history is the Napoleonic Code, which he ordered to compile. This code is the prototype of the legal system of many modern democracies.

In addition, Napoleon was also the first person to propose the idea of ??a United States of Europe and try to realize it through force. Although he himself did not succeed in realizing this dream, today Europe is moving towards the goal of integration.

Napoleon brought glory to France, and the French people always loved this French soldier (interestingly, he always believed that France was not his motherland until he was 18 years old). In December 1840, his body was transported to France. After arriving in Paris, 900,000 Parisian citizens braved the severe cold to welcome him. Years later, Napoleon also won the respect of his opponents. In 1855, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom brought the Crown Prince (later Edward VII) to the Old Disabled Soldiers' Home. The Queen asked the prince to "kneel before the tomb of the great Napoleon."

"Who laughs last, laughs best." Napoleon wrote in a letter to his mother

It is only one step from greatness to ridiculous---- -Napoleon Quotes

"This is the end of an era. Napoleon's ambitions were so high that he was exhausted physically and mentally. If his men failed to serve him, it was he himself who was to blame . He is too conceited about his abilities and too contemptuous of others.

During his meteoric career, his military genius was dazzling and unparalleled, and his legendary aura still shines brightly today.

Six years later, when Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena, King Carl XIV John of Sweden, the former French Marshal Jean who had fought under Napoleon in the past and later led the army against him, ·Baptis Bernadotte once made the following comment:

Napoleon was not conquered by the world. He is greater than all of us. But God punished him because he only believed in his own intelligence and used his huge war machine to the limit. However, everything must be reversed, and this is no exception in ancient and modern times.

This is indeed a pertinent epitaph. ”

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·Napoleon bu ian dan Xue Chong_2007 07-22 15:06

·He He is an ambitious and contradictory person! And ambitious people are born tenaciously in contradictions! We are familiar with his military talent, but his literary talent is not inferior to anyone else! Sking222 07-21 23:01

·In this life, I only admire Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte! His achievements will never be forgotten! His talent is unparalleled! His ambition is what I admire! The world will never forget him! Until the destruction of the world!

Strongly introduce the classic book "The Biography of Napoleon", from which you can gain an in-depth understanding of this man's life

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