| Unit 9: Paris of Napoleon Bonaparte (1799–1814)
In this unit, you will learn about the influence on Paris of Napoleon Bonaparte, ursurper of the First French Republic and later Emperor of France .
By the age of 27, in 1796, the Corsican-born Napoleon Bonaparte, whom we saw arrive in Paris in 1784 as a student at the École Militaire, had already risen through the ranks of the French army to become commander of the army of Italy. In 1798 he led a successful French expedition into Egypt . Thus he felt confident enough to engineer a coup d'état in November 1799, which effectively ended the First French Republic .
The newly established French government in 1799 was the Consulate, a triumvirate in which virtually all of the power was held by the First Consul—Napoleon! In 1802 Napoleon was voted Consul for Life, and two years later he was made Emperor of the French. Consequently, the First Empire began in France in December 1804 with the coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I in Notre-Dame cathedral. |
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Napoleon Bonaparte by Jacques-Louis David, 1803, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (RMN). |
Between 1805 and 1810, in a series of successful wars waged against neighboring European states, Napoleon vastly increased the size of his empire and dependent states to include most of the continent. By the time Napoleon had ended his childless first marriage with Josephine de Beauharnais in 1809, had remarried in 1810, this time with Marie-Louise daughter of the Austrian emperor, and had seen the birth of an heir whom he named King of Rome in 1811, he was at the apogée of his power.
However, his desire to add the Russian empire to his own with his consequent invasion of Russia in 1812 proved to be the beginning of his downfall. The Russian campaign was a disaster; and soon Russia , Great Britain , Prussia , and Austria combined to liberate Europe from Napoleon's grip. On March 30, 1814 , Paris was attacked and capitulated, and the Tsar of Russia and the King of Prussia entered the city with their troops. Napoleon, outside the city at Fontainebleau , abdicated and left for the island of Elba in the Mediterranean .
WEBSITE: A more detailed but concise history of Napoleon's career is available at http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/REV/NAPOLEAN.HTM .
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