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Napoleon was born in 1769 in Corsica.
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Napoleon became a captain in 1792. He was only 22 years old.
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At age 24, the Committee of Public Safety
made him a brigadier general. -
In 1796 he became commander of
the French armies in Italy. -
In 1797 he returned to France as a hero. He was a hero to France because of his many victories that he lead.
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Napoleon came to power in 1799
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By 1799, the British had defeated the French naval forces supporting Napoleon’s army in Egypt. Seeing certain defeat, Napoleon abandoned his army and returned to Paris.
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In Paris, Napoleon took part in the coup
d’état of 1799 that overthrew the Directory
and set up a new government, the
consulate. -
In 1801 Napoleon came to an agreement with the pope, which recognized Catholicism as the religion of a majority of the French people. In return, the pope would not ask for the return of the church lands seized in the revolution.
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In 1802 Napoleon was made consul for life.
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In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I.
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Napoleon hoped to invade Britain, but the British defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805.
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From 1807 to 1812, Napoleon was the
master of Europe. His Grand Empire was
composed of three major parts: the French
Empire, dependent states, and allied states. -
Between 1808 and 1814, Napoleon created
about 3,200 nobles. Nearly 60 percent were
military officers, while the rest were civil
service or state and local officials. Socially,
only 22 percent of this new aristocracy were
from noble families of the old regime; about
60 percent were middle class in origin. -
Napoleon’s downfall began in 1812
when he decided to invade Russia. Within
only a few years, his fall was complete. -
In June 1812, a Grand Army of more than 600,000 men
entered Russia. -
As the winter snows began, Napoleon led the “Great Retreat” west across Russia. Thousands of soldiers starved
and froze along the way. Fewer than 40,000 of the original
600,000 soldiers arrived back in Poland in January 1813. -
At Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815, Napoleon met
a combined British and Prussian army under the Duke of
Wellington and suffered a bloody defeat.