“A Man of Destiny”  Poor family of Lesser Nobility  Born in Corsica  10 Yrs. Old - Military School  1783 Student at military academy in Paris

Napoleon’s Marriages  1 st Wife – Josephine  March 9, 1796 Married  Divorced 1809  2 nd Wife – Marie Louis  17 Year Old Hapsburg Princess

Early Military Career  1st Coalition  Command of French Army in Italy  Invaded Egypt  Discovery of Rosetta Stone  Military Set Back - still Hero

Early Military Career  2nd Coalition – Russia formed new alliance with Great Britain. Austria, Portugal, Naples and the Ottoman Empire joined  France suffered defeats in Italy and Germany  Weakened Directory

 1799 French wanted order  Coup d’etat - Napoleon ousted the Directory  Consulate Formed  Napoleon = 1st Consul [power concentrated in the 1st Consul]

 1800 defeated Austrians – dropped out 1801  March 1802 – Treaty of Amiens  Truce w/ Great Britain  France kept European Conquests

 1802 Plebicite made him consul for life  1804 Declared himself Hereditary emperor  1805 Took title, King of Italy  Stepson ruled as viceroy  Divorced Josephine

 Centralized Administration $Economic Reforms  Napoleonic Code  The Concordat of 1801  Reforms in Education

Centralized Administration Financial Reforms  System of Prefects and Subprefects  83 Departments run by Prefects  Subprefects administered districts  Economic Corruption and waste was Eliminated  Centralized tax collecting system  Paid off various economic obligations  Stabilized French Economic condition

 1800 appointed Commission to draft a new code of civil law  1804 Went into effect and in 1807 it became the Napoleonic code  Progressive in some ways  Less Progressive in others

 Third Coalition  Battle of Trafalgar  Victories in Europe  Continental System  The Peninsular War  The Invasion of Russia

 1805 – 3 rd Coalition Created for Balance of Power  1805 – Napoleon prepared to invade G.B.  October 21 – Lord Nelson found combined French and Spanish fleet at Cape Trafalgar.  British victory – France lost all hope of ever winning a naval battle

 Continental System was an effort to destroy British economy  Ordered all European nations to stop trading w/ G.B.  All European ports closed to British ships  Impossible to enforce – 2 “leaks” 1.Portugal and Spain - refused 2.Russia – resumed trade after 1810  Peninsular War (1808 – 1814)  Perhaps it was Napoleon’s Vietnam

 Response to Russia resuming trade with Britain  Sent 600,000 Men in, and 100,000 survived  Scorched Earth Policy  Lack of Preparation for the winter  Marked the beginning of his fall

 1813 – Russian, Prussian, and Austrians joined the most powerful coalition against Napoleon  Defeated at Leipzig – the Battle of Nations  1814 – abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba  March 1815 – escaped and returned to power for 100 Days.  Defeated at Waterloo – June 1815  Exiled to South Atlantic Island of St. Helena  Died 1821