Key takeaways
- Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on 15 August 1769 and died on St Helena on 5 May 1821.
- He took power in the coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) and became First Consul under the constitution of 13 December 1799.
- The Empire was proclaimed on 18 May 1804 and he was crowned at Notre-Dame on 2 December 1804.
- Sources differ on the 1812 invasion force: the Fondation Napoléon gives 480,000 plus 120,000 in reserve; Wikipedia gives around 450,000 frontline troops.
- He abdicated in April 1814, returned from Elba on 1 March 1815, lost at Waterloo on 18 June and abdicated again on 22 June 1815.
Napoleon's rise and fall covers just over half a century: born in Ajaccio on 15 August 1769, Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804, forced to abdicate in April 1814, back for the Hundred Days in 1815, and dead on St Helena on 5 May 1821. This page lays it out as a dated sequence, using the Fondation Napoléon's chronology alongside Wikipedia, and marks the places where the two give different numbers.
The climb: Corsica to the Consulate, 1769–1799
Wikipedia records that Napoleon was born into a family of Italian origin, moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned in the Royal Army in 1785. His career was made by the Revolution. He rose quickly after the siege of Toulon in 1793 and after defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795; the Italian campaign against Austria in 1796 made him, in Wikipedia's words, a national hero; and the 1798 invasion of Egypt and Syria served as a springboard to political power.
The decisive step was a coup. By the Fondation Napoléon's account the Directory was in 1799 "a government in decline, corrupt and hated," and some Directors themselves asked Bonaparte to help overthrow it. On 18 Brumaire — 9 November 1799 — the assemblies were moved to Saint-Cloud on the pretext of a plot. Bonaparte gave a confused speech and was heckled; General Murat's troops restored order. Under the constitution of Year VIII, signed on 13 December 1799, the First Consul could name the Council of State, ministers, ambassadors, army officers and judges.
The phases of the Revolution that made all this possible are set out in the causes and phases of the French Revolution.
Consolidation: the Consulate and the crown, 1800–1804
The Fondation Napoléon credits the Consulate (1799–1804) with the Banque de France, a stabilised currency, the prefect system, the Civil Code and the Légion d'honneur — institutions it notes survive today. Wikipedia adds the victory at Marengo in 1800 and the sale of Louisiana to the United States in 1803.
The same years show the other side of the record. Wikipedia notes that the Convention had abolished slavery in February 1794 and that in May 1802 Bonaparte reintroduced it in the recovered colonies except Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe, then held by rebel generals, while an expedition was sent to retake Saint-Domingue — the story told from the other side in the Haitian Revolution explained.
The Empire was proclaimed by a vote of the Senate on 18 May 1804, and on 2 December 1804 he was crowned at Notre-Dame before, the Fondation says, over 12,000 people.
The height: Austerlitz to Wagram, 1805–1809
Wikipedia lists the run of victories: Austerlitz in 1805, which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire; Jena–Auerstedt against Prussia in 1806; Friedland against Russia in 1807; and Wagram against Austria in 1809. By 1806, the Fondation notes, he was Emperor of the French, King of Italy (from 1805) and, in its wording, Protector of the German Confederation.
The seed of decline was planted at the peak. To extend his trade embargo against Britain, Wikipedia records, he invaded Iberia and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain in 1808, provoking the Peninsular War. That Spanish crisis is also where the Latin American independence wars begin.
The fall: Russia, Leipzig and Elba, 1812–1814
Russia is where the sources part company on numbers, which makes it a useful worked example.
| Figure | Fondation Napoléon | Wikipedia |
|---|---|---|
| Invasion force, June 1812 | 480,000, plus 120,000 in reserve | around 450,000 frontline troops |
| Remnant crossing the Niemen | not given | about 75,000 |
Taking Wikipedia's own pair, 75,000 out of 450,000 is 16.7%, so roughly five in six of the frontline force did not come back as an army. Measured against the Fondation's 480,000, the same 75,000 would be 15.6%. Neither figure counts every soldier precisely; they are estimates, and the choice of baseline changes the percentage. Wikipedia adds that Russian military losses were up to 300,000 and total military deaths on both sides up to one million. When two sources disagree, quoting both is safer than averaging them.
After Russia came the coalition of 1813. At Leipzig on 16–19 October, the "Battle of the Nations," the Fondation counts nearly 200,000 men on the French side against more than 300,000 for the coalition. Paris fell on 31 March 1814; the Senate voted to depose him on 2 April; his abdication became unconditional by 6 April; and he was sent to Elba while Louis XVIII took the throne.
The Hundred Days and the second exile, 1815–1821
He landed at Golfe-Juan on 1 March 1815. Troops sent to stop him joined him instead, and he entered Paris on 20 March after Louis XVIII fled. The invasion force for Belgium is again given differently: about 124,000 men according to Wikipedia, 130,000 according to the Fondation. Defeat came at Waterloo on 18 June, when Blücher's Prussians reached the field; he abdicated for the second time on 22 June, surrendered to the British on 14 July and landed on St Helena on 17 October 1815.
Wikipedia notes that both autopsy reports concluded he died of stomach cancer; a later arsenic theory was weakened when high arsenic concentrations also turned up in hair samples from his childhood and from his son and Joséphine.
Walking the sequence yourself
World History Timeline Sim, our app, organises major events chronologically and by country, so 1799, 1804, 1812 and 1815 can be read in one run. Its Time Travel Mode is alternate history — what-if consequences are simulated, not what happened — and the app is meant to accompany coursework, not replace it. Related reading lives under education and brain training.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How did Napoleon become First Consul?
How many soldiers did Napoleon take into Russia in 1812?
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Sources
- Timeline: Consulate/1st French Empire (opens in a new tab)Fondation Napoléon (napoleon.org) — accessed
- Napoleon (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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