World · History1798 – 18157 events
The Age of Napoleon
From Egypt to Waterloo — the age of Napoleon, who swept Europe with the armies of the Revolution, crowned himself emperor and fell
Jacques-Louis David / Georges Rouget · Public domain · Source
The theme on the map
7 events in this theme
- 1798 – 1801French Campaign in Egypt
To cut Britain’s route to India, Napoleon invaded Egypt; he won the Battle of the Pyramids but lost his fleet at the Battle of the Nile and was cut off.
Back from Egypt, Napoleon joined Sieyès to overthrow the Directory; the Consulate was set up with Napoleon as First Consul.
- 1803 – 1815Napoleonic Wars
The wars between Napoleon's France and coalitions of Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. France came to dominate most of the Continent but collapsed after the failed invasion of Russia.
Having seized power in a coup, Napoleon became emperor with the approval of a plebiscite and was crowned in Notre-Dame Cathedral (the First Empire). The same year he issued the Napoleonic Code.
With the Berlin Decree Napoleon banned trade between continental Europe and Britain, hoping to bring down by economics the country he could not defeat at sea.
Napoleon led a vast army to punish Russia for breaking the Continental System and reached Moscow, but scorched-earth tactics and the winter cold destroyed most of his army on the retreat.
Napoleon, who had escaped Elba and become emperor again, was defeated at Waterloo in Belgium by Wellington’s Anglo-allied army and Blücher’s Prussians. The Hundred Days and the Napoleonic era came to an end.
Key people
- Duke of Wellington1769 – 1852
Arthur Wellesley, British general and statesman who drove the French out of the Iberian Peninsula and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815; later prime minister
- Alexander I of Russia1777 – 1825
Emperor of Russia (1801–1825) who defeated Napoleon's invasion, attended the Congress of Vienna in person and proposed the Holy Alliance
- Mikhail Kutuzov1745 – 1813
Russian field marshal who fought Napoleon's army at Borodino in 1812, gave up Moscow and then pursued and shattered the retreating French
- Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès1748 – 1836
Cleric and political theorist whose pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? opened the Revolution and who plotted the coup of Brumaire with Napoleon in 1799
- Paul Barras1755 – 1829
Convention deputy who led the Thermidorian Reaction and became the strongman of the Directory until the coup of Brumaire