Napoleon I, Emperor of The French

Napoleon Bonaparte (original Italian, Napoleone Buonaparte), a French general, was first consul and then emperor of the French and carried out many reforms that left a lasting mark on the institutions of France and of much of western Europe. But his driving passion was the military expansion of French dominion, and, though at his fall he left France smaller than it had been at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, he was almost unanimously revered during his lifetime and until the end of the Second Empire under his nephew Napoleon III as one of history's great heroes.

He was indeed exceptionally intelligent, prompt to make decisions, and indefatigably hardworking, but also insatiably ambitious. He seemed to be the man of the Revolution because it was due to the Revolution that he had climbed at so early an age to the highest place in the state. He was not to forget it: but more than a man of the Revolution, he was a man of the 18th century, the most enlightened of the enlightened despots, a true son of Voltaire. He did not believe in the sovereignty of the people, in the popular will, or in parliamentary debate.

After the Russia incident Napoleon's empire fell apart. England, Russia, Prussia, and Austria allied together to fight the French. Napoleon did not win to many victories against them. In a three-day battle at Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, the French were outnumbered in every way. The French had to retreat. Then on March 30, 1814 the allies captured Paris. Even Napoleon's generals realized it was a lost fight and gave up. Napoleon was forced to abdicate the throne on April 6, 1814.

Here are some more pictures of Napoleon