page_title: House of Bonaparte
section_title: Imperial House of France
hierarchical_section_title: House of Bonaparte / Imperial House of France
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Les Quatre Napoléon, imagerie de propagande exaltant la dynastie napoléonienne sous le Second Empire. Deutsch: Die vier Napoleons (Propagandabild, um 1858)
context_page_description: The House of Bonaparte is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of Italian origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Genoese nobleman Carlo Buonaparte. Napoleon was a French military leader who had risen to power during the French Revolution and who in 1804 transformed the First French Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799. Napoleon turned the Grande Armée against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, extending the power of the dynasty.
  The House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the French Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In addition to holding the title of Emperor of the French, the Bonaparte dynasty held various other titles and territories during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland, and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll.
context_section_description: Napoleon I is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family, because he conquered much of Europe during the early part of the 19th century. Due to his indisputable popularity in France both among the people and in the army, he successfully took part in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, overthrew the Directory with the help of his brother, Lucien Bonaparte, president of the Council of Five Hundred, and participated in the creation of a new Constitution, which allowed him to become the First Consul of France on 10 November 1799. 2 December 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804 to 1814, and again in 1815 during the "Hundred Days" after his return from Elba.
  Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, Napoleon I made his elder brother Joseph (1768–1844) king first of Naples (1806–1808) and then of Spain (1808–1813), his younger brother Louis (1778–1846) King of Holland (1806–1810; subsequently forcing his abdication after his failure to subordinate Dutch interests to those of France), and his youngest brother Jérôme (1784–1860) King of Westphalia, the short-lived realm created from some of the states of northwestern Germany (1807–1813).
  Napoleon's son Napoléon François Charles Joseph (1811–1832) was created King of Rome (1811–1814) and was later styled as Napoléon II by loyalists of the dynasty, though he only ruled for two weeks after his father's abdication.
  Louis-Napoléon (1808–1873), son of Louis, was President of France (1848–1852) and then Emperor of the French (1852–1870), reigning as Napoleon III. His son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–1879), died fighting the Zulus in Natal, today the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. With his death, the family lost much of its remaining political appeal, though claimants continue to assert their right to the imperial title. A political movement for Corsican independence surfaced in the 1990s which included a Bonapartist restoration in its programme.
caption: The Four Napoleons
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