Conquests

The second coalition

Napoleon's victory in the campaign against the Austrians in northern Italy, ending the First Coalition. However, during his stay in Egypt formed the Second Coalition (December 24, 1798) composed of Russia, Britain, Austria, the kingdom of Naples, Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. The main battles of the war of the Second Coalition that began in late 1798, took place in northern Italy and Switzerland next year. The Austrians and the Russians, led by General Alexander Suvorov, defeated the French in northern Italy in the battles of Magnano (April 5, 1799), Cassano (April 27), the Trebbia (17-19 June ) and Novi (August 15). The Coalition also took Milan abolished the Cisalpine Republic, which had been formed under the auspices of the French government in 1797, occupied Turin and deprived France of its previous conquests in Italy.

The result of the fight in Switzerland was more favorable for the French. After being defeated in Zurich (June 7) by Charles of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, French forces led by General Andre Massena defeated the Russian troops of General Alexander Korsakov on 26 September. Suvorov and his forces left northern Italy across the Alps to join Korsakov in Switzerland, where his troops had scattered after being defeated. Suvorov's army had to take refuge in the mountains of Graubünden, which was decimated in the cold and hunger. The Russians withdrew from the Second Coalition on October 22, citing as reason the lack of cooperation by the Austrians.

When Napoleon returned to France from Egypt in October 1799 became the leader of the Consulate and offered peace to the Allies. The Coalition rejected the proposal and Napoleon planned a series of attacks against Austria in the spring of 1800.Bonaparte walked into Italy across the Alps with a new army of 40,000 men and defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June. Meanwhile, French troops of General Jean Victor Moreau had penetrated the south of Germany, crossing the Rhine and taking Munich. Moreau also had defeated the Austrian forces of the Archduke of Austria John of Habsburg Hohenlinden battle that took place in Bavaria on 3 December and had approached the city of Linz (Austria).

French victories forced Austria to sign the Treaty of Luneville February 9, 1801, by which Austria and its German allies ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France and recognized the republics Batavian, Helvetic, Cisalpine and Ligurian also to make other concessions. Moreover, this treaty marked the dissolution of the Second Coalition. The only ally who continued the struggle against France was Britain. British troops had fought unsuccessfully against the French on Dutch territory in 1799, but had gained some French possessions in Asia and elsewhere. Britain signed the March 27, 1802 Peace of Amiens with France.

However, this peace was a mere suspension of hostilities. In 1803 there was a dispute between two countries with regard to the clause in the agreement providing for the return of the island of Malta to the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Britain refused to surrender the island, so that a new war broke out against the French. An important consequence of this conflict was that Napoleon abandoned his plan to establish a large French colonial empire in North America, forced to concentrate their resources in Europe. So, he sold Louisiana to the United States. In 1805, Austria, Russia and Sweden joined the conflict in support of the British side, and Spain allied with France, this was the beginning of the war of the Third Coalition.

The Third Coalition

Napoleon was quick to take action against the new alliance. There was great pressure on Britain since 1798 to maintain an army concentrated at Boulogne, on the shores of the Channel, "which suggested to the British who was preparing an invasion of England. Bonaparte greatly increased the number of forces stationed in Boulogne when they began the strife that made the outbreak of war in 1803. Following the formation of the Third Coalition against France, his troops left Boulogne to meet the Austrians, who had invaded Bavaria with an army led by Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and General Karl von Mack Leiberich. Several German states, among whom were Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden, allied themselves with France.Napoleon defeated the Austrian forces at Ulm, captured 23,000 prisoners and then marched his troops along the Danube and conquered Vienna.

The Russian armies, led by General Mikhail Kutuzov and Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, supported the Austrians, but Napoleon defeated the Austro-Russian forces in the battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Three Emperors. Austria again surrendered and signed the Treaty of Pressburg on December 26, 1805. One of the clauses of the agreement stipulated that Austria would give France a zone of northern Italy and Bavaria part of Austrian territory, also, Austria recognized the duchies of Württemberg and Baden as kingdoms.

The Confederation of the Rhine

As the troops of General Massena had defeated the Austrian army commanded by Charles of Habsburg in Italy, Napoleon took the position to appoint his brother, Joseph I, King of Naples in 1806, also appointed another brother, Louis I Bonaparte, King of Holland (the former Batavian Republic), on 12 July established the Confederation of the Rhine, eventually formed by all German states except Austria, Prussia, Brunswick and Hesse.

The formation of this political entity ended the Holy Roman Empire and most of Germany was under the control of Bonaparte. However, the successes on the continent were largely offset by the defeat that the British Admiral Horatio Nelson inflicted on the combined force of French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Napoleon in 1806 introduced the so-called Continental System which ports across Europe were closed to British trade. The British naval superiority made it difficult to implement the scheme scuppered Continental and European economic policy of Bonaparte.

The Fourth Coalition

Prussia, to the increase of French power in Germany, he joined the Fourth Coalition consists of Great Britain, Russia and Sweden in 1806. Napoleon crushed the Prussians at the Battle of Jena on October 14 that year and took Berlin. He then defeated the Russians at the Battle of Friedland and forced to sign peace with Alexander I.

According to the principal terms of the Treaty of Tilsit, Russia had to surrender his possessions in Poland and an alliance with France, while Prussia lost almost half its territory, had to face a substantial compensation and imposed severe restrictions on the size its standing army. Russia and Denmark launched a military action against Sweden which led to his king, Gustav IV Adolf, to abdicate in favor of his uncle, Charles XIII, on condition that he appoint as his heir to General Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, one of the marshals Napoleon. Bernadotte was crowned in 1818 with the name Charles XIV Jean-Baptiste

- Bernadotte and was the founder of the Swedish current dynasty.

videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os9hQxg3qGM-Napoleon's life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHe49zFd1fo-History Channel
http://embedr.com/playlist/conquerors-napoleon-bonaparte-the-history-channel-Napoleon conquerer

Conflict with Britain

UK naval war resumed with France in April 1803. Until 1805 only Napoleon had to battle against the British. This year, Russia, Sweden, Austria and Naples joined Britain in the third anti-French coalition. To attack England, the problem was the same in 1798: to cross the Channel, the French had to take control of the sea. Napoleon dismissed his plan to invade England in an attack consisting of 2,000 ships between Brest and Antwerp and the concentration of the Grande Armée in the field of Boulogne (1803). Well below the British Navy, the French fleet needed the help of the Spanish, and even the two fleets together could not hope to defeat more than one of the British squad. Spain was induced to declare war on England in December 1804 and decided that the Spanish and French squadrons concentrated in the West Indies put a trap as a decoy, attracting a British squadron to the waters in order to balance the forces between Franco-Spanish vessel and the British. A battle at the entrance to the Canal could then fight with chances of success. The plan failed after the dramatic naval defeat of Trafalgar, where the British fleet commanded by Admiral Nelson destroyed much of the fleets of France and Spain and led his armies against the Austro-Russian forces, which defeated at the Battle of Austerlitz December 2, 1805. Conquered the kingdom of Naples in 1806 and appointed King to his brother, Joseph, was proclaimed King of Italy (1805), broke the United Provinces, which in 1795 was incorporated as Batavian Republic, and founded the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to face which stood to his brother Louis, and established the Confederation of the Rhine, which brought most of the German states which remained under his protection. Prussia and Russia forged a new alliance (Fourth Coalition) and attacked the confederation. Napoleon defeated the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstädt (1806) and the Russian Friedland. In July of 1807 established the Treaty of Tilsit with Tsar Alexander I fell on the territory of Prussia. In addition, Westphalia, ruled by his brother Jerome, and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and other states became part of the Empire. Having failed to defeat the British militarily, Napoleon imposed the embargo on British goods in order to ruin their trade. Portugal was one of the nations that has refrained from blocking, which is why Napoleon sought an alliance with Spain to invade Portugal. Due to the Spanish military weakness at the moment and after the loss of his fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, was signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, where Napoleon was allowed to enter Spain with his army to defeat Portugal and close routes English trade. After crossing the Spanish border, Napoleon decided to include Spain in their empire. Napoleon himself commanded the forces that invaded Spain and defeated the army of this country. He also defeated the British army who came to the aid of Spain. Finally conquered Portugal in 1807 and in 1808 placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain, left Naples as a monarchy run by his brother, Joachim Murat. Following the departure of Napoleon, the Spanish people revolted, beginning the war between the French and Spanish troops (supported by Britain), taking a key role guerrilla struggle. This conflict was a major human wear (it is estimated 300,000 casualties) and cost for France. It is estimated that 10% of the casualties of both the Spanish and French side during the two sites to the city of Zaragoza, between June 15, 1808 and February 21, 1809. Moreover, Austria broke the pact with France and Napoleon was forced to command their forces on the Danube and German fronts. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21 and May 22, 1809) near Vienna, Napoleon was about to lose his army, without the enemy does not achieve a victory. After a lull of nearly two months, the two armies clashed again, but this time the French defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Wagram, the July 6, 1809. After this victory, France became the territories conquered in the Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro) and conquered the Papal States. After allying again with Austria, Napoleon married Marie Louise, daughter of the Austrian monarch, Francis I of Austria, which belongs to the house of Habsburg, once divorced Josephine because they can not give him an heir.With this link linking his dynasty with the oldest of the royal houses of Europe with the hope that his son, born in 1811 and who was awarded the title of King of Rome as the heir of the Empire, was better accepted by the ruling monarchies . The Empire reached its greatest extent in 1810 with the addition of Bremen, Lübeck and other parts of northern Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, after forcing the abdication of his brother who had adopted the title of Louis Bonaparte.

The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon  for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815 (a period of 111 days). This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign and the Neapolitan War. The phrase les Cent Jours was first used by the prefect of Paris,Gaspard, comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the King.

Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting. On 13 March, seven days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw; four days later the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria and Prussia, members of the Seventh Coalition, bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. This set the stage for the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars, the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the restoration of the French monarchy for the second time and the permanent exile of Napoleon to the distant island of Saint Helena, where he died in May 1821.

Links of the Investigation

• http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/napoleon_bonaparte/index.html DEATH OF NAPOLEON
• http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/france/hundred.htm HUNDRED DAYS WAR
• http://www.biography.com/articles/Napoleon-I-9420291 BIOGRAPHY OF NAPOLEON
• http://www.napoleonguide.com/leaders_napoleon.htm MILITARY CAREER

Time Line of the most importants battles of Napoleon Bonaparte

The last Days of Napoleon

In 1812, Napoleon marched on Russia and met with disaster. He initially gained minor success, but when he entered the presumed to be abandoned city of Moscow, the Russian troops set it on fire. The Russians attacked head on and Napoleon was forced to abandon his army. He made it back to Paris safely, but all of Europe picked this moment to attack. Despite being hopelessly outnumbered, Napoleon fought on brilliantly. When his army refused to continue, Napoleon was forced to surrender and abdicate his throne. He placed his wife and son in the care of Austria and bid them farewell for the last time. In 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the Island of St. Elba. In 1815, he escaped from Elba and actually gained the support of the soldiers that were sent to recapture him. His old supporters returned to his side as he resumed rule in Paris for what is known as the "100 Days." He sought peace with the Allies, but when they proclaimed him an outlaw, he went for the preemptive strike. He was swiftly defeated at the battle of Waterloo on June 8, 1815. He was exiled to the remote south-Atlantic island of St. Helena. He wrote his memoirs between numerous escape attempts. He grew very sick in his last days and died on May 5, 1821. Stomach cancer was first believed to be the cause of his death, though there has been much speculation of poisoning and medical malpractice.

Napoleon's legacy is a mixed one. When he was exiled to St. Helena, Napoleon was easily the most despised person in the world. When his body was returned to Paris 50 years after his death, he was made a hero. He did indeed caused a great deal of bloodshed, but he believed it was all for a good cause. In his memoirs he reveals his belief that he was a pawn of history. He believed that there was a great deal of good left for him to accomplish. He may not have respected the Church, but he didn't persecute it either. He may have conquered many nations, but he did bring about some change for the good. Napoleon was a very complex man and even to this day historians are hesitant to draw any conclusions.