Napoleon Bonaparte
The life and career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).
Category: Figures
- August 15, 1769Napoleon Bonaparte is born in Ajaccio, Corsica
Napoleone Buonaparte was born on the island of Corsica. He later rose through the French army during the Revolution.
- April 1796 – 1797Bonaparte's first Italian campaign against Austria and Piedmont
Commanding the French Army of Italy, Bonaparte began a campaign in Italy in April 1796 (the Montenotte campaign) during the Revolutionary Wars, the first major step in his rise.
- 1798 – 1799Bonaparte invades Egypt and Syria
A French army under Bonaparte invaded Ottoman Egypt in 1798, fighting the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July. The army was cut off from France after the British naval victory at the Nile in August.
- August 1, 1798 – August 3, 1798Nelson destroys the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked the French fleet anchored at Aboukir Bay; its commander Brueys was killed and most ships lost. Bonaparte's army was left stranded in Egypt.
- November 9, 1799Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the Directory (18 Brumaire)
General Napoleon Bonaparte and conspirators dissolved the Directory in a coup and set up the Consulate, with Bonaparte as First Consul, ending the Revolution's republican phase.
- July 1801Toussaint Louverture promulgates a constitution making himself governor for life
A constitution proclaimed in July 1801 makes Saint-Domingue a self-governing French colony, bans slavery forever and names Toussaint Louverture governor for life. Napoleon sees it as a challenge to French authority.
- 1802French forces arrest Toussaint Louverture and deport him to France
In 1802 General Leclerc has Toussaint Louverture seized under Napoleon's secret orders and shipped to France with his family. He is jailed at Fort de Joux. Sources give May or June for the arrest.
- February 1802Napoleon's brother-in-law Leclerc lands a French army in Saint-Domingue
In early February 1802 General Charles Leclerc arrives at Saint-Domingue with a large expeditionary force sent by Napoleon to restore French control. Toussaint retreats to the mountains and war resumes.
- March 25, 1802Britain and France sign the Treaty of Amiens
The treaty, signed by Joseph Bonaparte and Lord Cornwallis, ended a decade of war between Britain and France. It was an uneasy truce, with each side later accusing the other of breaking its terms.
- May 20, 1802Napoleon's law of 20 May 1802 maintains slavery in the French colonies
The law of 20 May 1802 keeps or restores slavery in colonies where it had not been abolished in practice. Saint-Domingue is not named, but news of it fuels resistance to the French army there.
- April 7, 1803Toussaint Louverture dies in captivity at Fort de Joux
Toussaint Louverture dies on 7 April 1803 in the French fortress of Fort de Joux near Besançon, probably of pneumonia and the harshness of his imprisonment. The war in Saint-Domingue goes on without him.
- May 18, 1803Britain declares war on France, opening the Napoleonic Wars
Britain, citing French expansion in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands and a dispute over evacuating Malta, resumed war; Napoleon had in turn protested British occupation of Malta and Egypt.
- November 18, 1803Haitian army defeats the French at the Battle of Vertières
On 18 November 1803 Jean-Jacques Dessalines's forces defeat Rochambeau's army at Vertières near Cap-Français, the last major battle of the revolution. The French evacuate soon after.
- March 21, 1804The Napoleonic Code takes effect in France
The French civil code replaced a patchwork of feudal and regional laws with a single secular, written system. It affirmed property and legal equality for men but strengthened a husband's authority over his wife and children.
- May 18, 1804Napoleon is proclaimed Emperor of the French
Napoleon's reign as Emperor began on 18 May 1804, ending the Consulate. He crowned himself in December 1804.
- December 2, 1805Napoleon defeats Russia and Austria at Austerlitz
Outnumbered by about 85,000 to 72,000, Napoleon routed the Russian and Austrian armies of Alexander I and Francis II. Austria left the Third Coalition by the Treaty of Pressburg on 26 December.
- October 14, 1806Napoleon crushes the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt
On the same day, Napoleon beat Prince Hohenlohe at Jena and Marshal Davout, though outnumbered, defeated the main Prussian army at Auerstedt. Berlin fell to the French soon after.
- November 21, 1806Napoleon's Berlin Decree launches the Continental System
Napoleon banned British goods from France's allies and dependents to isolate Britain economically. Britain answered with blockading Orders in Council, and smuggling and hardship spread on both sides.
- July 7, 1807Treaties of Tilsit: France allies with Russia and cuts Prussia down
Napoleon and Alexander I agreed an alliance on the Neman river on 7 July. By the 9 July treaty Prussia lost about half its territory and population, including lands that formed the Duchy of Warsaw.
- May 2, 1808Madrid rises against French rule on the Dos de Mayo
After Napoleon forced Charles IV and Ferdinand VII to abdicate and installed Joseph Bonaparte, an uprising in Madrid began the Spanish rebellion against French occupation.
- April 1809 – October 1809Austria, with Britain and Spain, renews war against Napoleon
In April 1809 Austria launched the War of the Fifth Coalition. Napoleon defeated it at Wagram and imposed a harsh peace in October 1809.
- June 24, 1812 – December 24, 1812Napoleon invades Russia with the Grande Armée
Over 450,000 men crossed the Neman on 24 June 1812. Russia withdrew deeper, preserving its army and, at Borodino and Moscow, denying a decisive result; only about 120,000 of Napoleon's force survived. The campaign ended 24 December.
- September 7, 1812Napoleon fights the Russian army at Borodino
West of Moscow, Napoleon failed to destroy Kutuzov's Russian army in what was among the bloodiest single days of the wars. The Russians then withdrew and abandoned Moscow.
- September 14, 1812Napoleon enters a burning, deserted Moscow
French troops occupied Moscow, set ablaze under governor Rostopchin. Napoleon waited about five weeks for a peace offer that never came, then began the retreat in October.
- October 16, 1813 – October 19, 1813Battle of Leipzig: the Sixth Coalition defeats Napoleon
Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish armies under Alexander I, Schwarzenberg, Blücher and Bernadotte defeated Napoleon in the largest battle of the wars. France lost control of lands east of the Rhine.
- April 6, 1814Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
After the Sixth Coalition captured Paris, Napoleon's first reign ended on 6 April 1814. He was sent to the island of Elba, where he stayed from 30 May 1814 to 26 February 1815.
- March 20, 1815Napoleon returns from Elba: the Hundred Days begin
Napoleon left Elba and regained power in France, with his Hundred Days beginning on 20 March 1815. The Seventh Coalition of the allies ended it at Waterloo in June.
- June 18, 1815Wellington and Blücher defeat Napoleon at Waterloo
An Anglo-allied army under Wellington held until the Prussians under Blücher broke the French right flank. Napoleon abdicated again on 22 June and was exiled to Saint Helena.
- May 5, 1821Napoleon dies in exile on Saint Helena
Napoleon Bonaparte died at Longwood on the British-held island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he had been exiled since 1815.