Napoleon Bonaparte

Bonaparte planned to capture forts l'Éguillette and Balaguier on the hill of Cairo, severing maritime resupply to the besieged.

Federalists expelled Toulon's Jacobins but were supplanted by Royalists, who proclaimed Louis XVII king.

After Republican reprisals at Marseille, Royalist commander d'Imbert requested Coalition aid and surrendered the port and fleet.

After Dugommier took command, Republican troops captured Fort Mulgrave—'Little Gibraltar'—during the night of 17–18 December 1793.

The Allies evacuated Toulon, sinking hulks including the Montréal and Iris, but their demolitions were incomplete, allowing France to rebuild a Mediterranean squadron in 1794.

Bonaparte's promotion to brigade general on 22 December 1793 placed him, at age 24, among the Republic's senior officers.

Bolstered Royalist troops began marching on Paris in early October 1795, amid rumours of National Guard defection.

At 1 am on 13 Vendémiaire, Bonaparte overrode Barras; Murat's squadron retrieved cannons, which Bonaparte placed with effective fields of fire.

On 13 Vendémiaire (5 October 1795), French Revolutionary troops battled Royalist forces in the streets of Paris, defeating them.

Officers had to account for their whereabouts on 19 October; Royalists nicknamed Bonaparte Général Vendémiaire; Carlyle recorded a "Whiff of Grapeshot".

The French Army of Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte fought a corps-sized Austrian column led by Lieutenant General Peter Quasdanovich on 3 and 4 August 1796.

On 5 August 1796 Napoleon's Army of Italy attacked Wurmser's Habsburg army at Castiglione, ending four months of rapid French advances and anchoring the front around Mantua.

Fought on 8 September 1796 in Venetian territory between Napoleon's French army and Austrian forces under Count Dagobert von Wurmser, during the second relief of Mantua.

On 12 November 1796 the Habsburg army led by József Alvinczi fought a First French Republic army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte at Caldiero.

The Battle of Arcole (15–17 November 1796) was fought between French and Austrian forces 25 kilometres southeast of Verona during the War of the First Coalition.

Bonaparte arrived in Nice on 27 March 1796 to assume his first army command, amid mutinies and orders revised by the Directory.

On 12 April 1796 Bonaparte fought his opening engagement of the Italian Campaign near Montenotte Superiore, in the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Napoleon's forces entered Milan in May 1796; revolts in Pavia and Milan were put down before the focus shifted to Mantua.

On 10 May 1796 French forces under Bonaparte defeated an Austrian rear guard under Sebottendorf at Lodi in Lombardy.

After Borghetto, Beaulieu's Austrians left a strong garrison in Mantua and retreated to Trento; the French invested the fortress in early June 1796.

In late July 1796, new Austrian commander Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser led a three-pronged attack by 49,000 men to relieve Canto d'Irles's garrison.

During the fourth relief attempt, Bonaparte deployed divisions at Rivoli, Verona, Legnago, west of Lake Garda, and Mantua, while Sérurier's 10,000 men blockaded the city.

With no hope of further help, Wurmser surrendered Mantua in early February 1797, ending the siege that had lasted from 4 June 1796 to 2 February 1797.

The Fourteenth Parliament of the Cispadane Republic decreed the green, white and red flag in Reggio Emilia, the first such national flag of a sovereign Italian state.

Napoleon decreed the birth of the Cisalpine Republic on 12 Messidor (29 June) 1797, creating a Directory and appointing its ministers.

After the merger of the Cispadane and Transpadane Republics, the Cisalpine Republic adopted a vertical square tricolour without badge in 1798.

Outflanked along successive positions, Archduke Charles pulled his main body back behind the Tagliamento River near Valvasone.

On 16 March 1797 the French vanguard reached the Tagliamento; Bonaparte used a ruse, and Bernadotte and Guieu's columns crossed under Austrian counter-charges.

After the crossing, Bonaparte pressed on to prevent Charles from reforming along the Isonzo; Bernadotte pursued retreating Austrians toward Gradisca d'Isonzo on 17 March.

Documentation of Pichegru's activities supplied by Bonaparte led republican Directors to accuse the legislature of plotting against the Republic.

April 1797 elections reversed the legislative majority toward royalists and moderate republicans, threatening a monarchy restoration.

Three Directors, backed by Talleyrand and the military, staged the coup, annulled election results, and ousted monarchists from the legislature.

At dawn on 4 September 1797, Paris was declared under martial law, with a decree ordering royalists shot without trial.

Verona's inhabitants rose against French occupation on 17 April 1797 and were crushed by 25 April.

Bonaparte and Habsburg representatives signed a preliminary peace near Leoben on 18 April 1797.

The Republic of Venice was dissolved on 12 May 1797, ending about 1,100 years of independence.

Bonaparte decreed the Cisalpine Republic on 29 June 1797, creating a Directory and appointing ministers.

The armistice of Leoben, forced on the Habsburgs by Napoleon's Italian victories, set the terms later reflected at Campo Formio.

Bonaparte and Cobenzl signed the treaty on 17 October 1797 at Campo Formio, ending the War of the First Coalition.

Secret articles committed Austria to cooperate with France at the congress, which failed to secure peace before war resumed in 1799.

Italian states formally ceased owing fealty to the Holy Roman Emperor, ending the de jure Kingdom of Italy.

The French introduction of conscription sparked the Peasants' War in the Southern Netherlands in 1798, a consequence of the treaty.

Austrian troops entered Venice on 18 January 1798 and held a reception at the Doge's Palace three days later, honouring Ludovico Manin.

Nelson's fleet attacked the anchored French line at Aboukir Bay on 1 August 1798, decisively defeating Brueys' force in a fierce engagement.

Napoleon's army defeated Mamluk forces near Embabeh on 21 July 1798, a victory named after the Great Pyramid.

During the occupation, the French established a constitutional tradition, granted free education, and theoretically established freedom of the press.

A French fleet sailed from Toulon on 19 May 1798, escorting an expeditionary force of over 30,000 men under General Napoleon Bonaparte.

Following the French landing in June 1798, the Knights Hospitaller surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte.

The coalition assembled slowly, starting with Naples allying with Austria and Russia, while Pitt and Thugut failed to bring Prussia in.

From October 1798 to March 1799 France and Austria avoided armed conflict but remained skeptical, with diplomatic incidents eroding their agreement.

In May 1800 Napoleon led his troops across the Alps through the Great St. Bernard pass during the Italian campaign.

In February 1801 the Franco-Austrian Treaty of Lunéville confirmed France's previous gains and added new lands in Tuscany.

After joining the Directory in May 1799, Sieyès consolidated power and, following Joubert's death at Novi, turned to Napoleon on Moreau's advice.

On 9 November 1799 the conspirators launched a bloodless coup; the next day grenadiers forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory.

The coup replaced the Directory with the French Consulate, bringing Napoleon to power as First Consul and, in most historians' view, ending the French Revolution.

Napoleon's forces besieged Ottoman-held Acre during his invasion of Egypt and Syria, but the city did not fall.

After a failed final assault on 10 May, Napoleon lifted the siege and withdrew to Egypt on 21 May 1799.

French forces under Napoleon besieged Ottoman-held Jaffa from March 3 to March 7, 1799, capturing the city.

After capturing Jaffa, French troops pillaged the city, murdered civilians, and executed 4,100 Ottoman prisoners of war.

Bonaparte led the Army of the Reserve over the Alps in mid-May 1800, reaching Milan on 2 June and threatening Melas' communications.

French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Austrian forces near Alessandria on 14 June 1800, sealing the success of the Italian campaign.

Following the victory, the Austrians capitulated and signed the Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801, securing France's success in the war.

The Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800 near Alessandria preceded the armistice negotiations.

Austria agreed to evacuate to the left bank of the Bormida with a forty-eight-hour ceasefire, formalized as the Convention of Alessandria.

Austria agreed to evacuate Italy as far as the Mincio, surrender strongholds, and cede territory between the Chiesa, Oglio, and Po rivers.

Austrians gave up strongholds listed in the convention, and the French dismantled their fortifications, including Genoa on 24 June.

Thugut and the Austrian government refused the terms; Francis II signed a British subsidy treaty hours before receiving the convention.

The Convention of Castiglione extended the armistice on 29 September, but Lunéville negotiations failed and fighting resumed on 22 November 1800.

In May 1800, First Consul Napoleon led a French army across the Swiss Alps via the Great St Bernard Pass into Italy.

In June 1800 the Austrians, unable to concentrate, were beaten piecemeal at Montebello and then decisively at Marengo.

A public referendum on 7 February 1800 confirmed the new constitution of the Consulate established after the coup of 18 Brumaire.

In November 1800 police arrested Metge and the chemist Chevalier, whose explosives experiments raised bomb suspicions later disproven for the rue Saint-Nicaise device.

Royalist plotters detonated a bomb on Napoleon's route through Paris on Christmas Eve 1800; he escaped but five died and twenty-six were injured.

Twelve days after the attempt, Napoleon and the other Consuls exiled 130 Jacobins from France on January 4, 1801.

On January 8, 1801, Carbon was identified by Lamballe, who sold or rented the cart, and by the blacksmith who shod the mare.

Chevalier, innocent of the machine infernale, was executed January 11, 1801; Saint-Régeant was guillotined April 20, 1801 at the Place de Grève.

On January 30, 1801, the four conspirateurs des poignards, convicted of plotting to murder the First Consul, were guillotined.

Between 1801 and 1804, various silver and gold coin denominations were introduced, including the five-franc and 40-franc coins.

In 1803, the franc germinal was established, defining the gold franc's weight. This occurred during the Consulate, following earlier decimal reforms.

First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII signed the Concordat in Paris, establishing an agreement between the French Republic and the Holy See.

The Concordat was published in April 1802, accompanied by the Organic Articles which increased state control over the French Church.

Pius VI's body was removed from Valence on 24 December 1801 and buried at Rome on 19 February 1802.

Louverture and his nephew General Hyacinthe Moïse invaded the Spanish territory in January 1801, taking possession from the governor, Don Garcia, with few difficulties.

Olivenza was occupied by Spanish forces in May 1801 and ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz, ending Portuguese sovereignty held since 1297.

Portugal and Spain signed the Treaty of Badajoz on 6 June 1801, ending the War of the Oranges.

A referendum ratified the Constitution of Year X, confirming Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul for life on 10 May 1802.

Michel Ney commanded French troops in Switzerland from September 1802, performing diplomatic duties during the political instability.

Napoleon Bonaparte established the Legion of Honour in May 1802 to encourage civilian and military achievements.

First Consul Napoleon passed a decree reinstating slavery in colonies that had not implemented the 1794 abolition, linked to the Treaty of Amiens.

A consular decree on 16 July 1802 formalized the reestablishment of slavery in Guadeloupe.

Slavery was restored in Cayenne by a consular decree on 7 December 1802.

Napoleon offered an amnesty to most émigrés who wished to return to France, aiming to reconcile revolutionaries with Catholics and stabilize his regime.

Prime Minister Addington secured an unfavorable peace in 1802 and used the resulting interval to rebuild British strength.

Joseph Bonaparte and Charles Cornwallis signed the definitive peace treaty in Amiens on 25 March 1802, ending the Second Coalition.

The canton of Aargau was formed in 1803 by combining the Helvetic cantons of Aargau, Baden, and Fricktal.

Napoleon issued the Act of Mediation on 19 February 1803 to dissolve the Helvetic Republic and replace it with the Swiss Confederation.

Boulogne-sur-Mer became a staging area for Napoleon's troops for several months during the planned invasion of the United Kingdom.

Napoleon ordered a large-scale test of invasion craft despite advice from naval commanders, revealing design flaws.

Napoleon considered using troop-carrying balloons for the invasion, appointing Sophie Blanchard as chief.

The Convention of Artlenburg was signed on 5 July 1803, formalizing the surrender of the Electorate of Hanover to French forces.

Exiled Hanoverian soldiers formed the King's German Legion, a combined arms corps established in late 1803.

On April 11, 1803, days before Monroe's arrival, Barbé-Marbois offered Livingston all of Louisiana for $15 million.

The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on April 30, 1803, at the Hôtel Tubeuf in Paris.

The treaty was announced on July 4, 1803, after Monroe and Livingston returned from France.

Napoleon issued the Act of Mediation on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic and replace it with the Swiss Confederation.

Graubünden, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Ticino, and Vaud were admitted as Swiss cantons under the terms of the Act.

The Napoleonic Code was enacted in 1804 after a few years of preparation, reflecting the ideals of the French Revolution.

The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804, formalizing the transition from the Consulate to the Empire.

31 December 1805 marked the last day the French Republican Calendar was officially used before the transition to the Gregorian system.

Napoleon crowned himself King of Italy at Milan Cathedral on 26 May 1805, using the Iron Crown and a specific liturgical formula.

Napoleon marched his Grande Armée into Berlin following the victory at Jena-Auerstedt, granting the city self-government.

A demoralized Prussian garrison surrendered Stettin to a smaller French cavalry brigade without fighting.

Napoleon replaced the Batavian Republic with the Kingdom of Holland, appointing his brother Louis as king on 5 June 1806.

Camillo Borghese sold 344 antiquities to the French state in 1807 due to financial pressure from Napoleon.

The Antinous Mondragone was sold to Napoleon in 1807 and transferred to the Louvre in Paris.

The Niépce brothers powered a boat upstream on the Saône to prove the Pyréolophore's utility for patent approval.

Napoleon Bonaparte signed a patent for the Pyréolophore on 20 July 1807 following the boat demonstration.

Ferdinand VII abdicated as King of Spain on 6 May 1808, after Charles IV had renounced his rights to the crown in favor of Napoleon.

Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute in July 1808 as the intended basis for his rule as King of Spain.

On 14 January 1809 the British government acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king of Spain, after the Council of Castile had declared the Bayonne abdications null and void.

Marie Louise married Napoleon by proxy at the Augustinian Church in Vienna on 11 March 1810, following negotiations with the Austrian ambassador.

Russian troops and most civilians abandoned Moscow on 14 September 1812; during the French occupation a fire burned from 14 to 18 September and destroyed the city.

Napoleon successfully took Moscow in September 1812, but the Russians refused to acknowledge defeat and prepared to fight on through the winter.

On 19 October 1812 Napoleon retreated from Moscow and marched south-west toward Kaluga, with Eugène de Beauharnais leading the advance.

The Battle of Maloyaroslavets on 24 October 1812 was an inconclusive encounter that led Napoleon to retreat along the same line as his advance, with disastrous results.

The Battle of Vyazma on 3 November 1812 (22 October old style) occurred at the beginning of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow; the retreating army's rearguard was defeated.

From 15 to 18 November 1812 Kutuzov attacked the remnants of the Grande Armée at Krasnoi, defeating Napoleon's retreating army in a series of skirmishes.

Napoleon's French forces defeated the Russo-Prussian coalition army near Lützen in Saxony on 2 May 1813.

The siege of Cattaro lasted from 14 October 1813 to 3 January 1814, ending with the French surrender.

Blücher's Army of Silesia crossed the middle Rhine on 1 January 1814, after Napoleon rejected the Frankfurt proposals.

On 29 January 1814 Napoleon's French army attacked Prussian and Russian forces under Blücher at Brienne.

Coalition forces defeated Napoleon's army at La Rothière on 1 February 1814.

The Congress of Châtillon was a peace conference held from 5 February to 5 March 1814.

The Battle of Champaubert on 10 February 1814 opened the Six Days' Campaign.

Napoleon arrived at Portoferraio on 4 May 1814, following his forced abdication and the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

The treaty ending the war between France and the Sixth Coalition was signed on 30 May 1814, restoring French borders to their 1792 extent.

Louis XVIII sent the Count of Artois to France in January 1814, appointing him Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom by letters patent in the event of his restoration.

The Allied blockade of Metz was lifted on 10 April 1814, without the city being taken by Coalition forces.

Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau on 11 April 1814, forcing his unconditional abdication as Emperor of the French.

Louis XVIII issued the Declaration of Saint-Ouen on 2 May 1814, supporting representative government while claiming monarchical sovereignty.

The Siege of Antwerp ended in a French capitulation on 4 May 1814, closing the campaign's sieges.

The Siege of Mainz ended on 4 May 1814 as French forces left the fortress, concluding the campaign.

Napoleon abdicated for the second time in favour of his four-year-old son, Napoleon II, who was disputed Emperor for two weeks.

Wellington commanded a British-led army that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, after which the French army surrendered Paris under the Convention of Saint-Cloud.

Louis XVIII was restored as King of France on 8 July 1815, ending the Hundred Days.

Napoleon surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815.

Napoleon was transferred to HMS Northumberland for his final exile on Saint Helena.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on 20 November 1815, formally ending the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleon escaped Elba on 26 February 1815 with about 1,000 men, motivated by rumors of banishment and financial issues.

Wellington and Blücher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815, ending his rule.

Napoleon died on 5 May 1821 at Longwood House, Saint Helena, aged 51, from stomach cancer.

Pius VII died in Rome on 20 August 1823 after a long reign, following a hip fracture in July.