Napoleon Bonaparte biography

Dromo's Den

Napoleon Bonaparte Biography

Napoleon Bonaparte, or Napoleon I, Emperor of the French; was born Aug. 15, 1769, at Ajaccio, Corsica, and was the son of Charles Bonaparte, an advocate. and of Letizia Ramolino. (See BONAPARTE). In his 10th year he was sent to the military school of Brienne, and after a short time spent at that of Paris he received, in 1785, his commission as lieutenant of artillery. In 1792 he became captain of artillery, and in 1793 he was sent, with the commission o€ lieutenant-colonel of artillery, to assist in the reduction of Toulon, then in the hands of the British. The place was captured (December 19) entirely through his strategic genius; and in the following February he was made a brigadier general of artillery. In 1795, when the mob of Paris rose against the Convention, Napoleon was made commander of 5,000 troops provided for its defense, and ended the outbreak. [see French Revolution] On March 9, 1796, he married Josephine Beauharnais, and soon after he had to depart to assume the command of the army of Italy against the forces of Austria and Sardinia. After a series of victories, Naples, Modena, and Parma hastened to conclude a peace; and the whole of Northern Italy was in the hands of the French. Army after army sent by Austria was defeated; Napoleon carried the war into the enemy's country; and by the Peace of Campo Formio, which followed (Oct. 17, 1797), Austria ceded the Netherlands and Lombardy, and received the province of Venetia.

In December, 1797, Napoleon returned to Paris. About this time the Directory determined to invade Egypt. Napoleon was put in command of the expedition, and on the 1st of July, 1798, he landed at Alexandria. This city fell on July 4, and Cairo was taken on the 24th, after the sanguinary battle of the Pyramids. On Aug. 4 Nelson annihilated the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir. All means of return to Europe seemed thus cut off. Napoleon having suppressed with rigor a riot in Cairo, advanced to attack the Turkish forces assembling in Syria. He took El Arish and Gaza, but after 60 days' siege he was compelled to abandon the attempt to capture Acre, and returned to Cairo. On the 22d of August he abandoned the command of the army to Kleber, and embarking in a frigate landed at Frejus, Oct. 9, having eluded the English cruisers. He hastened to Paris, secured the cooperation of Moreau and the other generals then in the capital, and abolished the Directory on the 18th and 19th Brumaire (November 9-10). A new constitution was then drawn up chiefly by the Abbe Sieyes, under which Napoleon was made first consul, with Cambaceres and Lebrun as second and third consuls. From this time he was virtually ruler of France.

Napoleon's government was marked by sagacity, activity, and vigor in the administration of civil affairs, and so far was beneficial to France, but England was determined to destroy him, and assisted Austria to fight France. Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Marengo, and after the decisive battle of Hohenlinden Austria obtained peace by the Treaty of Luneville, 1801. Treaties were subsequently concluded with Spain, Naples, the Pope, Bavaria, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, and finally, on March 27, 1802, the treaty known as that of Amiens was signed by Great Britain.

In 1802 Napoleon was proclaimed by a decree of the senate consul for life, and in 1804 he had himself crowned as emperor, upwards of 3,000,000 votes of the people being given in favor of this measure. To this period belongs the famous body of laws known as the Code Napoleon.

In 1805 Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Sweden united against Napoleon who marched at once across Bavaria at the head of 180,000 men, and compelled the Austrian General Mack to capitulate at Ulm with 23,000 men. On December, having crossed the Danube, he completely routed the allied Russian and Austrian armies at Austerlitz. The Austrian emperor instantly sued for peace, giving up to France all his Italian and Adriatic territories. In February, 1806, a French army occupied the continental part of the Neapolitan states, of which Joseph Bonaparte was declared king on the deposition of their former sovereign. Another brother of the emperor, Louis, become King of Holland. Various districts in Germany and Italy were erected by the conqueror into dukedoms and bestowed on his most successful generals.

This brought the victorious ruler into collision with Prussia, and war was declared on Oct. 8. On the 14th Napoleon defeated the enemy at Jena, while his general Davout, on the same day gained the victory of Auerstadt. On the 25th Napoleon entered Berlin and issued the celebrated Berlin decrees, directed against British commerce. He then marched northward against the Russians, who were advancing to assist the Prussians. At Pultusk, and at Eylau he met with severe checks, but on June 14 was fought the battle of Friedland, which was so disastrous to the Russian arms that Alexander was compelled to sue for an armistice. On July 7 the Peace of Tilsit was concluded, by which the King of Prussia received back half of his dominions, and Russia undertook to close her ports against British vessels. As Portugal had refused to respect the Berlin decrees, Napoleon sent Junot to occupy Lisbon (Nov. 30, 1807).

Taking advantage of the decayed condition of the Spanish monarchy, Napoleon sent an army under Murat into that kingdom, which took possession of the capital, and by the Treaty of Bayonne Charles IV. resigned the Spanish crown, which was given to Joseph Bonaparte, Murat receiving the vacant sovereignty of Naples. The great body of the Spanish people arose against this summary disposal of the national crown, and Great Britain aided them in their resistance. Thus was commenced the Peninsular war, which lasted seven years. A French squadron was captured by the British at Cadiz (June 14, 1808); General Dupont surrendered at Baylen with 18,000 men (July 22); Junot was defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley (Wellington) at Vimeira (Aug. 21). But Napoleon rushed to the scene of action in October at the head of 180,000 men, and entered Madrid in spite of all resistance by the Spaniards on Dec. 4. The British troops now under Sir John Moore, were driven back upon Corunna, where they made a successful stand, but lost their general, (Jan. 16, 1809).

In the meantime the Austrian emperor again declared war and got together an army in splendid condition under the Archduke Charles. Napoleon hurried into Bavaria, encountered the archduke at Eckmuhl (April 22), and completely defeated him; on May 13 he again entered Vienna. On May 21 and 22 he was himself defeated at Aspern and Esslingen; but on July 6 the Austrians were crushed at Wagram, which enabled Napoleon to dictate his terms of peace. On his return to Paris Napoleon was divorced from Josephine, who had borne him no children, and on April 2, 1810, he was married to the Archduchess Maria Louisa of Austria. The fruit of this union was a son. It was a most unhappy marriage for Napoleon, as Maria Louisa proved both heartless and dissolute.

The years 1810 and 1811 were the period of Napoleon's greatest power. On the north he had annexed all the coast-line as far as Hamburg, and on the south Rome and the southern papal provinces. But now the tide began to turn. Russia found it impossible to carry out the continental blockade and give due effect to the Berlin decrees; so in May, 1812, Napoleon declared war against that country, and invaded it with a grand army of about 500,000 men. The French pushed rapidly forward, and entered Moscow, the greater part of which was soon laid in ashes, and the remainder made uninhabitable. With disquieting news from Paris, and fearing that his army would perish if cooped up in Moscow, Napoleon decided on a retreat. The winter was very severe, and swarms of mounted Cossacks incessantly harassed the French, now sadly demoralized by cold, famine, disease, and fatigue. Of the invaders only about 25,000 left Russia. Napoleon immediately ordered a fresh conscription, but the spirit of Europe was now fairly roused. Another coalition, consisting of Prussia, Russia, Great Britain, Sweden, and Spain, was formed, which early in 1813 sent its forces toward the Elbe. Napoleon still had an army of 350,000 in Germany. He defeated the allies at Lutzen, at Bautzen, and at Dresden; but

the last was a dearly bought victory for the French, who were now so outnumbered that their chief was compelled to fall back on Leipsic. There he was completely hemmed in, and in the great "Battle of Nations," which was fought on Oct. 16, 18, and 19, he was completely defeated. He succeeded in raising a new army, and from January to March, 1814, he confronted the combined hosts of allies. But numbers were against him, and Wellington rapidly advanced upon Paris from the south. On March 30 the allies captured the fortifications of Paris, and on the 31st the Emperor Alexander and Wellington entered the city. On April 4 Napoleon abdicated at Fontainebleau. He was allowed the sovereignty of the island of Elba, with the title of emperor and a revenue of 6,000,000 francs, and Louis XVIII. was restored.

After a residence of 10 months in Elba, Napoleon made his escape from the island, and landed at Frejus on March 1, 1815. Ney and a large part of the army joined him, and he made a triumphal march upon Paris; but it was mainly the army and the rabble that he now had on his side. The allied armies once more marched toward the French frontier, and Napoleon advanced into Belgium to meet them. On June 16 he defeated Blucher at Ligny, while Ney held the British in check at Quatre-Bras. Wellington fell back upon Waterloo, where he was attacked by Napoleon on the 18th the result being the total defeat of the French. The allies marched without opposition upon Paris. Napoleon abdicated in favor of his son, and tried to escape from France to the United States, but failing he surrendered to the captain of a British man-of-war. He was conveyed to the island of St. Helena, where he was confined for the rest of his life. He died May 5, 1821, and was buried in the island, but in 1840 his remains were transferred to the Hotel des Invalides at Paris.

Peoples Cyclopedia, Vol. III (New York: Syndicate Publishing, 1914) n.p.