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Napoleon's full name in French is Napoléon Bonaparte and Napoleone Buonaparte in Italian. He was born in Ajaccio, Corsica.
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He was taught briefly at Autun, taught for 5 years at the military college of Brienne, and taught for 1 year at the military academy in Paris. He graduated in September of 1785. He joins the military and becomes an artillery officer.
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He is promoted to Brigadier General and becomes a respected advising member of the directory dealing with the military. In 1793 he forced British troops out of the port of Toulon. In 1794 he won against Austrian forces in Italy. In 1795 he fended off the Royalists for the Revolutionaries' cause, which rewarded him with the position and task of defending the French interior when he was only 26.
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The Directory placed Napoleon in command of French forces that were invading Italy. The troops were poorly fed, poorly clothed, and poorly equipped, but they could attack quickly because they weren't slowed down by a supply train. Napoleon went on to win against the Austrians and Italians to protect France's borders and acquire territory for France.
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Napoleon disrupted the trade between Great Britain and Egypt by defeating Egypt's Ottoman soldiers with French naval forces on the Mediterranean Sea. The French gained a lot of control over Egypt. The British Navy retaliated with Admiral Horatio Nelson and they wrecked most of the French fleet. Napoleon left his army with another commander and went back to France. He hid his defeat and exaggerated the victories of the French to the press, making him a national hero.
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Napoleon took advantage of his status as a national hero. He used it to obtain political power. The Directory was weak and ineffective. Armed Napoleon supporters forced the Directory to hand over their power to Napoleon in a forced transfer of power, called a coup d'etat. Napoleon promised stability and made himself a dictator with the title (first) Consul of France of the new French government, called the Consulate, made up of a group of 3 consuls. Napoleon crowns himself instead of the Pope.
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France declares itself an empire and expands its territory in the Americas. He sent an expedition to Saint Dominigue to try to quell the civil war, which failed. This results in Napoleon abandoning the dream of a French Empire in the Americas. Napoleon needed money and sold the Louisiana Purchase to get it from the United States.
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The French Empire falls more quickly than it is created. Napoleon loses the naval Battle of Trafalgar to the British fleet. He focuses on land battles instead of naval battles. Napoleon wins the Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz, Jena and Auerstädt, and Friedland. These battles result in the Treaties of Tilsit and the Treaty of Schönbrunn and give France some sort of influence over most of Europe (from the English Channel to the Russian border).
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This is the French civil code that is uniform across France.
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Napoleon sent French troops to Portugal to enforce his power, even though Portugal was neutral during the Napoleonic Wars, because they didn't comply with the Continental System. Napoleon quickly conquered the Spanish throne, but the Spanish revolted against their foreign ruler. Great Britain supported the Spanish revolt by sending troops. Napoleon sent Central European forces to combat the two, but was pinned when the peasants started a guerrilla war. The French eventually withdrew.
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He divorces his first wife, Joséphine Tascher de La Pagerie, and marries Marie-Louise, daughter of the emperor of Austria. She bears him a son and he becomes the future Duke von Reichstadt.
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Napoleon stationed troops by Russia's border and Czar Alexander I was nervous and started gathering troops. Napoleon punshed this behavior by invading Russia. Napoleon's troops were thinned from disease, malnourishment, and desertion. There was no one for him to fight and it was deserted. He went to Moscow and finally fought the Russians, winning with high casualties. The Russians retreated while Napoleon followed. The French army then retreated and was destroyed by the Russian winter.
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Enemies of France were bolstered by France's failed invasion of Russia. The Battle of Leipzig destroyed the rest of the French influence in Germany and Poland. France is invaded and Paris is captured.
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Napoleon is forced to give up his throne and exiled on Elba Island, west of Italy as one of the terms of surrender. Napoleon's enemies allowed him to keep his title, but now his empire was a tiny island. He was exiled with a small pension and 400 guards.
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The allies thought they erased all of Napoleon's influence when they exiled him but Napoleon comes back and reasserts his position as emperor for the Hundred Days. While the allies restored the monarchy in France, the citizens disliked the king and feared a return to the Old Order. After a year in exile, Napoleon managed to hire a ship and returned to France. He went to Paris. King Louis XVIII fled and the allies declared him an outlaw. Troops and citizens adored him still and were loyal to him.
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Napoleon comes back but loses at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon's troops fought against the Duke of Wellington's ranks. They fought all day, but Prussia came in and helped the British drive out Napoleon's army. Both sides sustained massive casualties, but this marked the end of his military career and the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
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He is exiled again to Saint Helena, an island about 1,200 miles from the nearest mainland in the South Atlantic Ocean. He dies on the island 6 years later. His cause of death has never been determined.
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He died on Saint Helena Island, when he was 51 years old, 6 years after he was exiled.