Who was Napoleon Bonaparte?

On August 15, 1769, Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The scion of an impoverished noble family, he was able to attend the Brienne military school thanks to a royal scholarship. Due to his Corsican accent, he was initially teased by his classmates, but his military acumen did not go unnoticed and Napoleon quickly gained respect.

Napoleon owed his stellar career to the French Revolution of 1789. Having successfully led the artillery of the revolutionary forces against the royalists in 1793, he was promoted to general and lauded as a young military genius. He was said to be unafraid of death as he believed himself chosen by God and hence immortal. Napoleon thus always went into battle ahead of his soldiers.

Napoleon cultured a unique style with his two-pointed hat, which, unlike his contemporaries, he wore crosswise on his head. Every year he orderws several of them from the hatter Poupard at a cost of 40 francs. When he was angry, Napoleon is said to have stomped on his hat. Some 19 of his headpieces have survived the centuries and fetch seven-figure sums at auction.

The cornerstone of the hero-worship cultured by Napoleon is the three-day Battle of Arcole in Italy against the Austrians in November 1796. The Corsican commander later commissioned this painting from the painter Horace Vernet. He is shown seizing a flag and, undaunted by the hail of bullets from the enemy, charges ahead of his soldiers. Napoleon would continue to self-promote his heroics.

Josephine de Beauharnais was six years older than Napoleon and divorced. The military general fell madly in love with her. She nearly followed her former husband, General Alexander de Beauharnais, to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, but was spared due to the fall of Robespierre, who had had countless nobles beheaded. Her aristocratic contacts proved to be a valuable asset for Napoleon.

In 1798, two years after their wedding, Napoleon set out on his infamous Egyptian expedition under the orders of the revolutionary government. The campaign on the Nile turned out to be a triumph: Napoleon managed to wrest the country from the Ottoman Empire. He was followed by scientists and artists who researched the history of the ancient pharaohs and triggered great interest in Egypt in Europe.

Napoleon was considered the strong man to save France from misrule. In 1799, he took power in a coup d'état and declared the Revolution over. He had himself elected as the First Consul of the Republic and initiated reforms of the judiciary, the military and education. In 1804, he enacted France's first coherent set of laws, the Napoleonic Code, which was adopted throughout Europe and beyond.

Being first consul was not enough: In 1804, Napoleon anointed himself emperor. In Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral, he even snatched the crown from the Pope and unceremoniously placed it on his own head. His role models: Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. He wanted to rule the world. He would later install his siblings as heads of state in the countries he conquered.

Napoleon's war campaigns pumped money into the French treasury. Until 1815, he waged constant war — against the Austrians, Prussians, Russians, and the British and its allies. He turned the whole of Europe upside down. The 900-year-old Holy Roman Empire collapsed, cities like Rome and Cologne became French. "The Corsican and his Bloodhounds" is the title of this contemporary political cartoon.

Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia in 1812 marked the start of his downfall. When his troops reached Moscow, they found an abandoned city. The Grande Armée soon perished in the freezing winter. Very few soldiers made it back to France. Russia's Tsar then allied himself with Prussia and Austria, who faced off the French at the "Battle of the Nations" in Leipzig in 1813. Napoleon admitted defeat.

After Napoleon's defeat, the victorious powers had convened the Congress of Vienna to reorganize Europe's military alliances and create a balance of power. But suddenly, the Frenchman reappeared, and battles were waged again. He won the first battle, but at Waterloo in Belgium, he was crushed by the troops of the English general, the Duke of Wellington.

The British then banished Napoleon to the island of St. Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic (this image, from 2012). The Frenchman was no longer able to surprise the Allies again. There, Napoleon died on May 5, 1821, presumably from stomach cancer. The enlightened despot who passed important judicial and civil reforms while wreaking death and destruction across Europe was just 51 years old.