Napoleon and his French Empire (from the rise of his power in Europe to his fall from his throne.)
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in 1769. He was sent to military school in northern France by his parents when he was nine years old. He finished school at the age of 16, and became a lieutenant in the artillery. Napoleon joins the army of the new government when the Revolution of France had begun.
Napoleon defended the new government's delegates in October of 1795 when royalist rebels (people who wanted the monarch to rule again) marched on the National Convention. Napoleon and his troops waited for the royalists, and opened fired on them with cannons. The attackers started fleeing within minutes of the assault, as Napoleon had defended the delegates successfully. Napoleon was celebrated as a hero to the new French government.
Napoleon was then approved by the Directory to command a French army to oppose the Austrian forces and the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1796. He then crushed any hopes of Austrian troops of invading France by successfully winning battles in Italy. Trying to secure French trade interests and at the same time mess up Britain's trade with India, Napoleon decides to lead his forces toward Egypt. This expedition was a failure as his army was pinned down, and his naval forces were being destroyed by Britain's naval forces that were under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson. Somehow he kept the reports of the defeat from the French press, and by 1799 whenever the words "the general" were used, the French knew that they were referring to Napoleon.
The Directory then lost control of the political situation, and confidence of the French people in 1799. The French army was the only thing that kept the Directory in power. After returning from Egypt, Napoleon was encouraged by the Abbie Sieyes to capture and control political power. Napoleon started to meet up with influential people to start discussing about what he...