Leader of the French Conquest of Europe

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was the military and political leader who directed the French conquest of much of Europe in the early 19th century.

Key Campaigns

• Italian Campaigns (1796–97, 1800): Crushed Austrian/Sardinian forces; established French dominance in north Italy.
• War of the Second Coalition (1799–1802): Marengo, Hohenlinden.
• War of the Third Coalition (1805): Ulm, Austerlitz (masterpiece), dissolution of Holy Roman Empire.
• War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–07): Jena-Auerstedt (Prussia crushed), Eylau, Friedland; Treaties of Tilsit.
• Peninsular War (1808–14): Spain/Portugal—guerrilla war drained resources.
• War of the Fifth Coalition (1809): Wagram.
• Russian Campaign (1812): Borodino, Moscow, catastrophic retreat.
• War of the Sixth Coalition (1813–14): Leipzig (Battle of Nations), abdication, Elba.
• Hundred Days (1815): Waterloo, final defeat.

At its peak (1810–12), the French Empire and client states controlled ~70M people across Europe from Madrid to Warsaw.