His Great Majesty, Grand Emperor Napoleon I

## Napoleon, Emperor of the French

Napoleon in 1804 coronation robes

2nd reign:20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815

### Spouse

Joséphine de Beauharnais (m. 1796; ann. 1810)​Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (m. 1810; sep. 1814)​

### House

House of Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte, also known by his regnal name of Emperor Napoleon I, was a French politician, emperor and general who rose through the ranks during the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars that followed.

Napoleon began his rise to power as a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment, but was promoted to Brigadier General after he retook the naval port of Toulon from the British. He then became a General after he helped the French Government put down pro-monarchy riots in Paris, and he was sent to support the French campaign in Italy.

At the Battle of Lodi, Napoleon himself was in the fray, aiming the cannons himself, and earning the total respect of his men. They admired him so much that when he ordered an almost suicidal assault on the only bridge separating them and the enemy Austrian Army, his men threw themselves at it and took the bridge despite great Austrian resistance. As he swept through Northern Italy, and began approaching Vienna, the exhausted Austrians were forced to surrender. France and Austria entered into peace talks, with Bonaparte overseeing negotiations himself. He had just single-handily made the massive Hapsburg empire that is Austria surrender.

Napoleon also attempted to invade Egypt to win more glory and possibly provide a route for the French to take British India, although that ended in failure after an Anglo-Ottoman force defeated Bonaparte’s army at Acre, and British Admiral Horatio Nelson beat the French on the sea at the Battle of the Nile, however, since he owned his own newspapers, he was hailed as a leader and a French saviour.

The French Government was extremely unpopular, and so, seeing the chance, he launched a coup, and overthrew the government. He named himself First Consul of the French Republic and the total dictator of France. In 1804, due to a few assassination attempts, Napoleon held apparent rigged referendums, which elevated him to the position of a monarch, and coronated himself as Emperor of the French, establishing the First French Empire. The following year, Napoleon crowned himself the King of Italy.

After the Battle of Austerlitz against Austria, the now Emperor Napoleon established a puppet state in Germany, the Confederation of the Rhine, with himself as Protector. Seeing his influence on the Germans crumbling, Francis II, Emperor of Austria and the last Holy Roman Emperor, officially dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, an entity that existed since the reign of Charlemagne, King of the Francs and the first Holy Roman Emperor.

Back in 1803, before he was crowned emperor, Napoleon sold the French colony of Louisiana to the United States of America to fund a French invasion of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Any hope of invading Britain was put to rest I n 1805, when the British Admiral Nelson engaged a Franco-Spanish navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Lord Nelson won. His victory ensured British domination over the sea, and his death during the battle elevated him to an icon in British culture.

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire caused Prussia to declare war, unfortunately, though, their army were outdated, and so, at the twin battles of Jena and Aurestedt, Prussia was destroyed. Even French Marshall Davout’s heavily outnumbered corp at Aurestedt sent the Prussians, lead personally by Frederick William III, King of Prussia, were defeated, and Emperor Napoleon carried out a pursuit of the Prussian Army, taking Berlin, and within a month, decimated the Prussian Army. This war would see parts of Prussia carved into a semi-independent Polish puppet state, the Duchy of Warsaw.

Napoleon’s biggest issue was Britain, and to inflict damage, he ordered the creation of a new Europe-wide blockade against Britain called the Continental System. Portugal, Britain’s closest ally, refused to accept it, and a combined French-Spanish force invaded and conquered Portugal, causing the country’s royal family to flee to the Portuguese colony of Brazil.

Spain was suspected of not properly enforcing the Continental System, and Napoleon invaded, placing his brother, Joseph as King of Spain. This was very unpopular with the Spanish people, not least because their invader was a country that had just recently removed the Catholic Church. The Spanish rebelled, aided by the British, who had just arrived in Portugal under the leadership of one Arthur Wellesley.

In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia through ten Duchy of Warsaw after they began to open up trade with Great Britain. This invasion would go all the way to Moscow, but the unstoppable French would be stopped in the Russian winter snows.

After the lost Battle of Leipzig, the French were defeated, European armies invaded France, and Napoleon was forced to abdicate as Emperor. Louis XVIII became the King of France and the old House of Bourbon was reinstated.

Napoleon was then exiled to the Island of Elba, just off the French coast. Napoleon then escaped his exile and was welcomed back as Emperor, and King Louis fled to Belgium.

The British, together with Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Austria declared war. Napoleon had to face Arthur Wellesley, now created as the Duke of Wellington for his efforts during the war. There, at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was defeated and sent into exile in St. Helena, a British island in the South Atlantic.

Napoleon would stay on St Helena until his death in 1821 at the age of 51 of stomach cancer. He was buried on the island. In 1840, his remains were exhumed and moved to Paris, where they now rest under the dome of the Hôtel des Invalides. The House in Bonaparte would continue to lead France when in 1948, Napoleon’s nephew, Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected President of France, and who would coronate himself as Emperor Napoleon III in 1852.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s legacy divides many today. On one hand, he brought many economic and social changes to Europe and the world and championed democracy. On the other, he left millions dead all over Europe, and as Emperor of the French, he restricted civil rights and even reinstated slavery in French colonies.