Bonaparte at once became the head of a very powerful party, and, aided by Sieyes, his brother Lucien and General Leclerc, he overthrew the Directory on the famous 18th Brumaire, year 8, of the Republic (Nov. 9, 1799), caused him self to be named First Consul, having for his colleagues Cambaceres, and Lebrun, each also dignified by the title of consul, but mere tools to his ambition. In 1800 he placed himself at the head of the army of Italy, crossed the Alps, and gained the battle of Marengo. General Moreau having about the same time beaten the Austrians at Hohenlinden, the peace of Luneville was signed with Aus tria in 1801, and in the following year the treaty of Amiens with England con cluded the second war of the French Revolution. In the same year he was proclaimed consul for life. The peace, however, proved only an armed truce. Both parties were only gaining breath for a renewal of the fight. Napoleon did great things during its continuance. He reformed the whole civil administration of the country, pacified Vendee, recalled Lie émigrés, reopened the churches, con :fluded a new Concordat with the Pope, created the Order of the "Legion of Honor," instituted the Bank of France, and urged the Code Napoleon to an end. In 1804 he became Emperor of the French. Six months later he erected the latter, 80,000 strong, had advanced to Ulm, in Wiirttemberg. Crossing France and the S. of Germany with incredible rapidity, Napoleon defeated the Aus trians in several actions, and at length shut up 30,000 in Ulm, where they were forced to capitulate the very day before the battle of Trafalgar. Advancing then at the head of 180,000 men down the valley of the Danube, he captured Vienna and totally defeated the combined Aus Cis-Alpine Republic into a kingdom, and crowned himself King of Italy at Milan. In the meantime, England, after having refused to execute the treaty of Amiens, had again commenced hostilities in 1803, as also did Austria, Russia, and the Two Sicilies in 1807. Napoleon, who was meditating an invasion of England, had the mortification of seeing the combined fleets of France and Spain destroyed by Nelson at Trafalgar; but on the conti nent of Europe he compensated this loss by a succession of triumphs. Russia had joined Austria, and the army of the trian and Russian armies, under the Em peror Alexander in person, on Dec. 2. This catastrophe drove Austria to a sep arate peace. In the next year Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena and Auerstadt. Prussia was speedily over run, Berlin taken, and the remnant of their armies driven back to the Vistula, where they were supported by the Rus sians, who now came up in great strength. The victories of Eylau (Feb. 8, 1807), and Friedland (July 14) led to the treaty of Tilsit, which, virtually de stroying all lesser powers, in effect divided the whole continent of Europe between Napoleon and Alexander. Napo leon now seized on Portugal without a good pretext, and decoyed the king, queen and heir-apparent of Spain to Bayonne where he succeeded in extract ing from them all a renunciation to the throne of Spain, on which he immediate ly placed his brother Joseph, and at the same time gave the throne of Naples to his brother-in-law, Murat. But
Spain resisted the French invaders, and the defeat and capitulation of Dupont at Baylen, and Junot at Cintra, were the commencement of the declining for tunes of the emperor.
Meanwhile, Josephine, having given no heir to the empire, was divorced by Napoleon in 1809, and Maria Louisa, daughter of his old enemy the Emperor of Austria, became Empress of the French. The fruit of this union was a son, who, at his birth, was styled King of Rome. Having drained France of her treasure, Napoleon next conceived a formidable invasion of Russia. In 1812 he assembled the largest army that was ever led by a European general, and, at the head of 500,000 men passed into Russia, whose army he defeated in sev eral engagements. In September he entered Moscow, which had been previ ously evacuated, and almost totally con sumed. After spending a month there, in expectation of overtures of peace from St. Petersburg, the frost and snow of a Pussian winter compelled him to commence a precipitate retreat. Harassed by innumerable foes, the French army, deprived of everything, perished in the snow, or found a grave in the icy waters of the Beresina. Hastily returning to France, the em peror succeeded in creating another army, and opened the campaign in Germany with the victories of Liitzen, Bautzen, and Dresden; but Russia, Prus sia, Austria, and Sweden were now in arms against him; and at Leipsic, where, in three days, the French lost upward of 50,000 men, his power re ceived a death-stroke. The allies en tered France, and Napoleon, finding his army disorganized and most of his min isters and generals disaffected toward him, abdicated the throne of France, at Fontainebleau, April 4, 1814. The Bour bons were re-established in France, Na poleon accepting the island of Elba for his retreat. In less than a year he again appeared in France, and, by the time he had reached the capital, the whole army had declared for him. Immediately the coalition that had dethroned him was renewed, but Napoleon at the head of his brave and enthusiastic troops, took the initiative, and de feated the Prussians at Ligny, June 16; but. betrayed by Bourmont, and de prived by a fatal misunderstanding, of the division and artillery under Grouchy. he was beaten by Wellington and Blucher at Waterloo, June 18. This de feat was decisive. Napoleon returned to Paris, and abdicated in favor of his son, June 22, 1815, 100 days after his land ing from Elba. Napoleon went then to Rochefort, and embarked voluntarily on the English vessel the "Bellerophon." He was declared a prisoner by the British and was taken to St. Helena, where he remained until his death, on May 5, 1821.