8.3 Napoleon

Notes

Napoleon Bonaparte, a successful general, took power in a coup d'état in 1799 and crowned himself emperor in 1804.

• The Napoleonic Code (1804) made laws uniform, promoted equality before the law and religious toleration, but limited women's rights.
• He made peace with the Church (Concordat of 1801), created a national bank and opened public schools (lycées).
• By 1812 he controlled most of Europe. The Continental System tried to hurt Britain by blocking its trade with Europe.
• Mistakes: the Continental System, the costly Peninsular War in Spain, and the disastrous invasion of Russia (1812), where retreating Russians used scorched-earth tactics and winter destroyed his army.
• He was exiled to Elba (1814), returned for the "Hundred Days," and was finally defeated at Waterloo (1815).
• His conquests spread revolutionary ideas and nationalism across Europe, partly as resistance to French rule.