Napoleon´s Biography

Napoleon Bonaparte ;( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a military and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I, whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.


Napoleon was born in Corsica to parents of noble Genoese ancestry and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France.

After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe, and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states.

Napoleon's campaigns are studied at military academies the world over.

The French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in Napoleon's fortunes. His Grand Army was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba.