Many people in the English speaking world fail to recognize the great contributions that Napoleon Bonaparte made to the world. Because he was an enemy of Great Britain his works and achievements have been minimized in our consciousness. If you ask most people what they know about Napoleon they will answer simply that he was short. Even that impression is false. Napoleon was in fact five feet six in a half inches tall, which was about average for a French man at the time. The other common statement that English speakers will make is that he lost the Battle of Waterloo to the Duke of Wellington. This also, is not quite accurate. Wellington and was on the verge of defeat when the Prussian General Blucher entered the battlefield from the east with 30,000 fresh troops and began to turn Napoleon's right flank. The British so feared and despised Napoleon that they painted him as a negative figure in history. Even after his defeat they feared to execute him because of the repercussions that would have had throughout Europe.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica in 1769. His family was Italian and his father was a lawyer who had fought for Corsican independence. Napoleon was sent to Paris to attend Military school. He graduated as a second lieutenant in the artillery at the age of sixteen. His first opportunity to show his skills came when, as a Captain, he replaced a wounded General in attacking Toulon in 1793. His outstanding tactical abilities allowed him to drive the British warships from the harbour and capture the town. As a result Napoleon was promoted four ranks to Brigadier General. His next chance to distinguish himself came in October 1795. The people of Paris were arming themselves and threatening to overthrow the revolutionary government. Napoleon was appointed to put down the rebels. He arranged his small force of 8,500 men to defend the Convention, the French legislative body, against 40,000 troops of the National Guard who, reflecting the sentiment of the people of Paris, were aligned against the government. Napoleon's resolve in firing on the counter-revolutionaries broke their spirit and they dispersed. After saving the government, he was appointed to command the Army of the Interior. It was during this time that a boy came to petition for the return of his father's sword. Napoleon was touched by the request and behaved so kindly to the boy that his mother, Josephine, came to thank the General. Within a short time Napoleon fell in love with the lady and married her.

Napoleon was twenty-six years old and his military career now really taking off. He was appointed to take command of the French army in Italy where he turned a disastrous campaign into a victory. Everywhere he commanded soldiers he inspired such personal loyalty and belief in his invincibility that his appearance on a battlefield convinced them that victory was assured. Napoleon was a military genius. He was particularly noted for his brilliant use of artillery.

His next campaign was to throw the British out of Egypt. He succeeded in this with his victory at the Battle of the Pyramids. Among his forces were teams of archeologists who made the first serious European studies of Egyptian antiquities. The discovery of the Rosetta stone was a direct result of Napoleon's interests in more than just military matters.

At home in France the government was again in trouble. Without orders, Napoleon returned to Paris. He was already France's greatest hero. For two weeks he studied the situation and made secret plans with members of the legislative body. On 18 Brumaire (10 November 1799), General Bonaparte was named as the commander of all the various military organizations in Paris. His first order was that the officers and soldiers should obey no order that did not come from him. He rode at the head of a column of officers and 3,000 cavalry to the Directory and dissolved that body. He now held the executive power of the Republic and was named First Consul. The people rejoiced while the rest of Europe trembled. In 1804 he crowned himself Emperor.

From 1799 to 1814 Napoleon fought battles across Europe. He built an empire that stretched from Spain and Portugal in the west to the Chech Republic in the east and from Italy to Holland. Everywhere he went he brought sweeping changes. He removed the kings of Europe and replaced them with members of his own family. His Code Napoleon ended serfdom, ensured religious freedom and established universal male suffrage with a Bill of Human Rights. Many countries today still base their legal systems on the principles Napoleon taught them. He was certainly a dictator, which today seems a bad word, but in his day it was an improvement from a king who got the job by birth to a dictator who got the job through his own abilities.

The beginning of the end came in 1812 when Napoleon invaded Russia. Rather than face Napoleon, the Russian commander Kutuzov fell back devastating the land as he went. One of Napoleons tactics in war was to have his soldiers live off of the lands they conquered. In Russia this was denied to him. His army reached Moscow on September 14th. The city was practically deserted and to make matters worse fire broke out on the 15th and raged for four days. Faced with little food and no winter quarters the French army left Moscow on October 19th to march back to Paris. By late November they reached the Berezina River. Here the Russian army fell upon them like wolves. Cannon fire broke the ice as the French soldiers tried to cross the river. The retreat from Moscow became a rout. Of the 500,000 men Napoleon took into Russia, only about 20,000 returned. 

Now Prussia and Austria rose to join Russia, Sweden and England in the War of Liberation that culminated in the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in October 1813. By March 31st, 1814 the allies had captured Paris and Napoleon's Marshall refused to continue the fight. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated on April 11th, 1814. His enemies confined him on the Island of Elba with a small personal guard. Here he remained for ten months.

Napoleon escaped from exile and landed at Cannes on March 1st, 1815. As he marched north toward Paris the people rallied to him. The newly restored King Louis XVIII sent an army to stop him. What took place was one of the most amazing feats of leadership ever. Upon meeting the king's army Napoleon, who was vastly outnumbered, stepped out before them and harangued them. Without a shot being fired he not only defeated the army he turned their loyalty from the king to him. The old soldiers of France knew and loved their old Emperor. With this new army he marched to Paris and began his reign of one hundred days.

Knowing his old enemies were forming against him, Napoleon marched toward the Belgian border. He defeated the Prussian army at Lingy on June 16th while Marshall Ney crushed a British advanced guard at Quatre Bras on the same day.
Sending 30,000 troops to pursue the retreating Prussians, Napoleon marched his remaining 69,000 men toward a little town called Waterloo where the Duke of Wellington and 120,000 men of the British army were waiting for him. On June 18th, 1815, possibly the most important battle in European history was fought around the farmhouses of Hougoumont and La Heye Stainte. By nightfall the French army was in retreat and by June 22nd Napoleon had abdicated. This time he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic. There he lived out the rest of his days under British guard. He died on May 5th, 1821.

Napoleon Bonaparte's power was finally ended but his influence is still felt today. The legal system he established in France is still in use with only minor changes. Even the Paris Fire Service proudly traces its history to the first battalion of Firefighters that Napoleon created on September 11th, 1811.