Napoleonic Era

Napoleon Bonaparte took power in France on November 9th/10th 1799, but how did his rise overthrow the revolution?

David Chandler tells how Napoleon’s first battle with the British saved the vital port of Toulon – and opened the door to a glittering military career.

Michael Broers describes Napoleon’s efficient police-state and shows how the system became a model for rulers throughout Europe.

Prince Louis Napoleon was forty when he won the election for the French presidency on December 10th, 1848.

The battle between the British Navy and that of the French Republic took place on August 1st, 1798.

Bonaparte has sometimes been acclaimed as the greatest military commander in history. In our final article in this series, David Gates reviews his contribution to the art and science of warfare.

Poland is the only country in the world to invoke Napoleon in its national anthem. Andrzej Nieuwazny explains how Bonaparte has retained a hold over Polish imagination throughout the last two centuries.

How Napoleon laid up trouble for future generations of Frenchmen by kick-starting Prussian and German domination of Eastern Europe.

Jeremy Black tells how the delicate system of international relations and ancien regime diplomacy was shattered by the Emperor’s arrogance and refusal to play by the rules.

Charles Esdaile explores grass roots opposition to Napoleonic rule, the forms it took and how the empire fought back.