Napoleon

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For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation).

Napoleon I
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by Jacques-Louis David, 1812
Emperor of the French
Reign	18 May 1804 – 11 April 1814 (&00000000000000090000009 years, &0000000000000328000000328 days) 20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815 (94 days)
Coronation	2 December 1804
Predecessor	None (himself as First Consul of the French First Republic; previous ruling monarch was Louis XVI)
Successor	Louis XVIII (de jure in 1814)
King of Italy
Reign	17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814
Coronation	26 May 1805
Predecessor	None (himself as President of the Italian Republic; previous ruling monarch was Emperor Charles V)
Successor	None (kingdom disbanded, next king of Italy was Victor Emmanuel II)
Spouse	Joséphine de Beauharnais Marie Louise of Austria
Issue
Napoleon II
Full name
Napoleon Bonaparte
House	House of Bonaparte
Father	Carlo Buonaparte
Mother	Letizia Ramolino
Born	15 August 1769(1769-08-15) Ajaccio, Corsica
Died	5 May 1821(1821-05-05) (aged 51) Longwood, Saint Helena, British Empire
Burial	Les Invalides, Paris
Religion	Roman Catholicism (but see Napoleon and religions)

Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt]; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for the wars he led against a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars, during which he established hegemony over much of Europe and sought to spread revolutionary ideals.
Napoleon was born in Corsica to parents of noble Italian ancestry and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. Bonaparte rose to prominence under the French First Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor. In the first decade of the 19th century, the French Empire under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—involving every major European power. After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states. Napoleon's campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world.
The French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in Napoleon's fortunes. His Grande Armée was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power, but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life in confinement by the British on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, though Sten Forshufvud and other scientists have since conjectured he was poisoned with arsenic.