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Napoleon is born
This is Napoleon's birthday. -
Start of the French Revolution
This is the day that is widely accepted to be the beginning of the French Revolution. It is the day when the storming of the Bastille occured, and is now celebrated as Bastille day. -
Battle of Toulon
This was Napoleon's first miitary victory. They forced and fought the Anglo-Spanish who occupied Toulon to take over the city and its major naval base. -
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The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of violence following the start of the French Revolution. It was started by two political parties, the Girondins and the Jacobins and was a time where they would hold mass executions of all who opposed the revolution. -
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Egyptian Campaign
At the time, Great Britain ruled overseas trade. So, Napoleon decided to disrupt the British trade routes and show French dominance in the eastern countries at the same time. He did this by invading Egypt, where they captured Alexandria easily and defeated the Mamelukes in the Battle of the Pyramids in an hour. Then, the British found the French fleet off the coast of Egypt and blew it up, leaving Napoleon and his army stranded in Egypt. There, he built himself a palace in Cairo. -
18 Brumiare Coup
This was the council meeting when Napoleon was brought to power as First Council of France. It also was when the coup d'état overthrew the Directory and replaced it with the French Consulate. Most historians see this as the end of the French Revolution. -
First Consul for Life Plebiscite
This is when Napoleon held a plebiscite, or popular vote by ballot for the First Consul of life. The French majority voted for him and so he was appointed the title. -
Napoleonic Code
This is the French civil code that Napoleon established. It included privledges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and said that government jobs should go to the most qualified not the highest estate. This improved the French way of life tremendosly and it influenced many surrounding countries who were looking to modernize. -
Battle of Trafalgar
This was a naval battle between the UK's Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish. The French and Spanish lost twenty-two ships while the British lost none. This showed Britain's dominance over the navy. -
Napoleon's Coronation
This was the day when Napoleon was coronated as the Emperor of the French in the Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. This made the French citizens very happy. -
Battle of Austerlitz
This was also known as the "Battle of Three Emperors" and was one of Napoleon's greatest victories. It was between the French army and a Russo-Austrian army, the French coming out victors after nine hours of battle. This victory is what brought the Third Coalition to an end. -
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Continental System
This was when Napoleon put an official ban on trade with the British. He did this because of the naval blockade of the French coasts the British enacted. This ended up hurting French's economy because they needed the goods from Britain and all it's allying countries. -
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Peninsular War
This was a war between the French, Spanish, British and Portuguese over control of the Iberian peninsula. In this war, France turned on its previous ally Spain, and the Spanish, British and Portuguese ended up defeating the French. -
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Invasion of Russia
This was when Napoloen and his army attemped to travel all the way to Russia, making stops in villages on the way, to invade them. To the French's surprise, the Russian army used scorched earth tactics to burn down all the villages on their route. This caused the French to have to survive with very little resources, which resulted in most of them dying. -
Retreat from Moscow
This was when Napoleon and his army were forced to retreat out of Russia because the entire population of Moscow was evacuated and the Russian army set fires in the city. After a month of waiting for a surrender that never came Napoleon had to take himself and and starving troops back to France, defeated. -
Battle of Leipzig
This was a battle (also called the battle of the nations) between the combined armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden led by Alexander l and the French army with Polish, Italian and German troops also led by Napoleon. This was the largest battle in Europe prior to World War l, and Napoleon and his army lost big time. -
Exile to Elba
Napoleon was exiled to Elba by the allied powers because they belived he was "the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe." They gave him control of the island, and let him keep his title as emperor. -
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Hundred Days
This was sometimes known as "The Hundred Days of Napoleon" and marked the period between his return from exile on Elba and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII. -
Battle of Waterloo
This was a battle between Napoleon's French army and the Seventh Coalition which was a group of the many states that opposed him. Napoleon's army was defeated and this ended his rule as Emperor and his hundred days return from exile. -
Exile to St Helena
This is when they really wanted to send Napoleon away for good. St Helena was a tiny, barren island in the South Atlantic ocean. There, he got close to some people and always was thinking of when he was going to get out or escape. -
Death
On this day Napoleon died while exiled in St Helena. His death was caused by the poor conditions there, and his health rapidly declined. He ended up dying of stomach cancer.
