Napolon Bonaparte (;[1] French: [naple bnapat]; Italian: [napoleoe baparte]; 15 August

1769 5 May 1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during
the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars.
As Napoleon, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815 (during
the Hundred Days). Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while
leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars
and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe
before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and
campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has
endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.[2][3]

He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (Italian: [napoleoe di bwaparte]) in Corsica, to a

relatively modest family from minor Italian nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789,
Napoleon was serving as an artillery officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities
presented by the Revolution, he rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, becoming a general
at age 24. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a
revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military
campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allieswinning virtually every battle, conquering
the Italian Peninsula in a year, and becoming a national hero. In 1798, he led a military expedition
to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799
and became First Consul of the Republic. His ambition and public approval inspired him to go
further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the
British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this
coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over Russia and
Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz, which led to the elimination of the thousand-year-old Holy
Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became
worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at
the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe and
annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. France then forced the defeated
nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace
to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians
and the British challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon
solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram in July.

Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland,
Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish
and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured
extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused
recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. Unwilling to
bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental
System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched a major invasion of Russia in
the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army and the
destruction of Russian cities, and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In
1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy
military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in
October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing
Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons
were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control
of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated
Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint
Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51.[4][5]

Napoleon had an extensive and powerful influence on the modern world, bringing liberal reforms
to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low Countries,
Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal
policies in France and throughout Western Europe.[note 1] His legal achievement, the Napoleonic
Code, has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian
Andrew Roberts stated, "The ideas that underpin our modern worldmeritocracy, equality before
the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on
were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he
added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of
science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall
of the Roman Empire"