Current World Leaders
Was Napoleon short?
Napoleon was 5’6”
The average height for a
man in the 1800s was
5’6”
 The average height for a
man in Canada today is
5’9”
 The myth is likely do to
two things:
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› His bodyguards were
particularly tall
› British propaganda
portrayed him as short
Born in Corsica August 15 1769, the
second son of a lawyer
 Spent 5 years at the military college in
Brienne
 Graduated early after 1 year at military
academy in Paris
 His father died while he was in Paris
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Napoleon spent much of his early military
career on leave or AWOL in his in Corsica
where he was involved in both sides of
their revolution
 Early on in the revolution Napoleon was
sponsored by the brother of Maxmilien
Robespierre
 When Robespierre was executed
Napoleon was briefly placed under
house arrest
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Siege of Toulon
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Recaptured the port city from the British
Was wounded in capturing a hill for his artillery
Made very effective use of his artillery
Promoted to Brigadier General
Came to the attention of the Robespierre brothers
Italy
› Defeated Austria forcing them to sign a peace giving
France much of Northern Italy
› Refused the request of the Revolutionary leaders to attack
Rome
› Made creative use of artillery and mobile forces to support
infantry
› Also made excellent use of espionage
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Egypt
› Goal was to disrupt British trade and hook up
with an enemy of Britain in India
› Napoleon had become a member of the
French Academe of Sciences and as such his
forces also included a large scientific expedition
› In spite of being severely out numbered most
often Napoleon was able to defeat Egypt’s
military forces several times with hardly any
casualties
› His forces were eventually hampered by disease
and lack of supplies forcing a retreat back into
Egypt
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The Coup of 18 Brumaire
› Napoleon was approached by 2 Directors
and the speaker of the Council of 500 and
his brother to overthrow the government
› Napoleon used troops to run off council
members
› Quickly Napoleon and the two Directors
were named as Consuls and put in charge
of the government
› Napoleon then out maneuvered the
Directors and was elected First Consul
After taking control of France Napoleon
then turned his attentions to Austria and
Britain who were at war with France
 By 1801 Napoleon, with a great deal of
help from his generals, had defeated
Austria and forced them to sign a peace
treaty
 By 1802 France and Britain both tiring of
war agreed to a peace treaty
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On May 10, 1802 Napoleon was elected
First Consul for Life with a popular vote of
99.76%
 In the Law of 20 May 1802 Napoleon reestablished slavery in the colonies where it
had been banned during the Revolution
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› This led to a rebellion in Haiti which France lost
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Britain had also declared war against
France again in 1803
› Facing financial issues and war with Britain,
Napoleon sold France’s territory in North
America to the US
As first Consul Napoleon faced several plots
to kill him from the Jacobins and Royalists
 In 1804 Napoleon used a Royalist plot to kill
him to re-establish a hereditary monarchy
with himself as Emperor
 The idea was put to a vote of the French
people and Napoleon won with a vote of
99.93%
 Napoleon was crowned Emperor on
December 2 1804 by the Pope in Paris
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Continental System
› Was a response to the British naval blockade of
France
› In 1806 & 1807 Napoleon passed several
decrees demanding that allies of France and
nations that wanted to be neutral were to stop
all trade with Britain
› Goal was to cripple Britain financially and at the
same time turn France into a commerce hub
› Was never truly effective and in fact hurt France
and her allies economically
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Spanish Ulcer
› Portugal refused to take part in the continental
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system
Napoleon sent troops to deal with Portugal but
on the way occupied parts of Spain
Britain came to the support of Portugal
French occupation spurred a Spanish civil war
against the monarch who supported the French
The conflict tied up French resources and troops
that were needed else where
Spanish would finally defeat the French at
Toulson, AFTER Napoleon had abdicated
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Russian Campaign
› Came about in large part to Russia’s withdrawal
from the Continental System
› Russian’s used a combination of scorched earth
tactics and retreat to frustrate Napoleon
› While Napoleon was victorious at Moscow it was
NOT the decisive victory he needed
› Napoleon had hoped the capture of Moscow
would force Russia to surrender instead they
burned the city and after a month Napoleon
was forced to return to France
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Heartened by France’s defeat in Russia, Prussia
joined with Austria, Sweden, Russia, Spain,
Portugal and Great Britain to form the Sixth
Coalition
In spite of several successes Napoleon was
severely outnumbered and eventually Paris
surrendered
Along with surrendering Paris deposed
Napoleon as Emperor
Napoleon purposed attempting to recaptured
Paris at which time his general’s mutinied
Napoleon was exiled to Elba
Napoleonic Code was the unification of
French civil law
 The code remains in use in France and in
various nations across the world
 The Napoleonic Code and its protection
of property ownership would help lead
to the development of Nation States of
Italy and eventually Germany
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Metric System
› Similar to prerevolutionary measuring units but
based on the kilogram, metre
› This would eventually lead to the adoption of
the metric system throughout Europe and later
much of the world
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Concordat
› Recognized the Catholic Church as the church
of the majority and gave back much of its civil
status
› Balance of power remained in favor of the state
Central Bank – basis of modern national
financing
 New tax code – unfair taxation had
been the basis of both the French and
American revolutions
 Emancipation of the Jews
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