It is even claimed that his alleged fear stemmed from a wildcat attack when he was an infant. Now held in the British Museum in London, the Rosetta Stone is a granite slab carved in three scripts: hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic Egyptian and ancient Greek. It played a vital part in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs and has long been considered a hugely important artefact. It is said that Napoleon carried a vial of poison, attached to a cord he wore around his neck, that could be swiftly downed should he ever be captured.
Apparently, he did eventually imbibe the poison in , following his exile to Elba, but its potency was by then diminished and only succeeded in making him violently ill. An aerial view of the island where Napoleon lived out his final years. Following his defeat at Waterloo , Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, a small island in the South Atlantic, 1, miles from the nearest land.
Escape from such isolated incarceration was reckoned to be near-impossible. Even so, numerous plans were hatched to rescue the exiled Emperor, including an audacious plan involving two early submarines and a mechanical chair. Napoleon has become synonymous with shortness. But in fact, at the time of his death, Napoleon measured 5 feet 2 inches in French units — the equivalent of 5 feet 6.
Napoleon died, aged 51, on the island of Saint Helena after a long, unpleasant illness. In , the Directory the French Revolutionary government took control of the country, a power it would it assume until After falling out of favor with Robespierre, Napoleon came into the good graces of the Directory in after he saved the government from counter-revolutionary forces.
For his efforts, Napoleon was soon named commander of the Army of the Interior. In addition, he was a trusted advisor to the Directory on military matters. In , Napoleon took the helm of the Army of Italy, a post he'd been coveting. The army, just 30, strong, disgruntled and underfed, was soon turned around by the young military commander. Under his direction, the reinvigorated army won numerous crucial victories against the Austrians, greatly expanded the French empire and squashed an internal threat by the royalists, who wished to return France to a monarchy.
All of these successes helped make Napoleon the military's brightest star. Napoleon's image - and that of France - were greatly harmed by the loss, and in a show of newfound confidence against the commander, Britain, Austria, Russia and Turkey formed a new coalition against France.
In the spring of , French armies were defeated in Italy, forcing France to give up much of the peninsula. In October, Napoleon returned to France, where he was welcomed as a popular military leader. Following his return to France, Napoleon participated in an event known as the Coup of 18 Brumaire, a bloodless coup d'etat that overthrew the French Directory. The Directory was replaced by a three-member consulate after a series of political and military machinations orchestrated in large part by Napoleon's brother Lucien Bonaparte.
Additionally, with the Treaty of Amiens in , the war-weary British agreed to peace with the French although the peace would only last for a year. Napoleon then returned to war with Britain, Russia and Austria. In , the British registered an important naval victory against France at the Battle of Trafalgar , which led Napoleon to scrap his plans to invade England.
Instead, he set his sights on Austria and Russia, and beat back both militaries in the Battle of Austerlitz. Other victories soon followed, allowing Napoleon to greatly expand the French empire and paving the way for loyalists to his government to be installed in Holland, Italy, Naples, Sweden, Spain and Westphalia. On March 21, , Napoleon instituted the Napoleonic Code, otherwise known as the French Civil Code, parts of which are still in use around the world today.
The Napoleonic Code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and stated that government jobs must be given to the most qualified.
The Napoleonic Code followed Napoleon's new constitution, which created the first consul — a position which amounted to nothing less than a dictatorship. Following the French Revolution, unrest continued in France; in June of , a coup resulted in the left-wing radical group, the Jacobins, taking control of the Directory. Working with one of the new directors, Emmanuel Sieyes, Napoleon hatched plans for a second coup that would place the pair along with Pierre-Roger Ducos atop a new government called the Consulate.
With the new guidelines, the first consul was permitted to appoint ministers, generals, civil servants, magistrates and even members of the legislative assemblies. Napoleon would, of course, be the one who would fulfill the first consul's duties. In February , the new constitution was easily accepted. He also negotiated a European peace, which lasted just three years before the start of the Napoleonic Wars.
His reforms proved popular: In he was elected consul for life, and two years later he was proclaimed emperor of France. In Napoleon became first consul for life, and in , at age 35, he crowned himself emperor. In Pope Pius VI publicly condemned the revolutionary government of France for, among other things, guaranteeing its citizens freedom of religion and seizing church property. In exchange for peace, Pius VI agreed to hand over land, money and a treasure trove of art.
Nonetheless, the French went ahead and occupied Rome anyway in following the assassination of a general there. Pius VI was deposed and taken back to France a prisoner, where he died in August Legend holds that at the last instant he snatched the crown from the surprised pope who had intended to crown Napoleon emperor and placed it on his head himself.
Whether strictly true or not, their relationship deteriorated from that point forward, particularly after Napoleon annexed the Papal States in Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon, after which the emperor had him abducted and placed under house arrest. After taking power, Napoleon piled up one military victory after another against Austria, Prussia and other enemies.
But his good fortune ran out during an invasion of Russia, which he initiated to punish Czar Alexander I for not complying with his embargo of British trade. For the campaign, Napoleon raised an estimated , to , troops, likely the largest European army ever seen to that date. Rather than stand their ground in the face of such overwhelming force, the Russians retreated, torching the cities, crops and bridges in their path.
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