NAPOLEON
1769 – Napoleon is born into an undistinguished political family later enrolling in the army
1795 – Napoleon’ s leftist leanings bring him close to the Jacobin cause, but when the
“Directory” needs to suppress a Royalist revolt his “whiff of Grapeshot” renders
him valuable.
1796-99 – Napoleon is given command of armies in Italy and Egypt, as well as serving to foil
further Royalist plots.
1799 – organizes a coup along with his brother Lucien and Abbe Sieyes whose French
Revolutionary experience had changed him into an advocate for authoritarian rule.
With Napoleon as first consul they justified their coup by promising to implement
the ideals of the early revolution. He immediately created a constitution based on
the declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. It guaranteed the existence of
representative institutions but the government was very centralized and virtually all
power lay in his hands.
1801 – In 1801 Napoleon negotiated the Concordat which brought the state and the Pope
back together. The French state was required to pay the clergy, Catholic seminaries
were allowed to reopen and the clergy was once again responsible to the papacy. In
return, lands seized from the Church and purchased during the revolution were not
to be returned, the State could chose its bishops, and the Pope recognized Napoleons
legitimacy.
1801 - Napoleon signs the treaty of Luneville ending the war with the second coalition who
had continued war against France in a n attempt to curb the spread of the
Revolution.
1802 – Napoleon was elected Consul for life by a 3 million to 8 thousand vote.
1803 – War breaks out again as France and England when Napoleon attempted to create a
European empire with France at its center.
1804 – He passed the Napoleonic Code based on property rights and legal equality for all
citizens and remains the basis of civil law in at least 25 countries today.
1806 – Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine after defeating the Prussians at
Jena.
1806 - He also enacts the Continental system, attempting to bar England from any trade on
the continent in order to limit their exports and cripple their industry. He hoped
too isolate England, but it created some resentment among European nations who
desired access to cheap English goods.
1807 – Russia and Prussia are defeated and forced to enter the Continental system.
1807 – Napoleon states that the Code of Napoleon must be enacted in satellite states of
France.
180 – Napoleon places his brother on the throne of Spain leading to rebellion and British
assistance through French occupied Portugal.
1810 – Russia leaves the Continental system, leading France to re-declare war.
1812 – Napoleon begins his disastrous Russian campaign returning 18,000 of 600,000 men
due to the weather and the Russian Scorched Earth policy.
1811-1813 – Napoleon loses Spain and Portugal under British pressure.
1814 – Napoleon is forced to abdicate after being defeated at the Battle of Nations leading to
his exile on Elba.
1815 – the Congress of Vienna gathers European leaders to decide how to reorganize
Europe. Napoleon escaped, gathers an army and is defeated at the Battle of
Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington and others. He is then exiled to St. Helena
where he dies under mysterious circumstances.