The history of France and Europe during the period from 1799 to 1815 is largely the story of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte was born to a poor family of lesser nobles on the island of Corsica. Because France had annexed Corsica in the previous year, he went to French schools. Napoleon possessed a brilliant mind, tireless energy, and tremendous ambition. Indeed, Napoleon believed himself to be a "man of destiny."
 
 

    Josephine, the First Wife

    Josephine Beauharnais was thirty-two when she first met Napoleon. She was the widow of Vicomte de Beauharnais who had been arrested and executed at the height of the Terror in 1794. Though she was six years older than Napoleon, she had a youthful beauty that haunted his senses, and she represented everything that was feminine and elegant. Napoleon's early letters to Josephine show that he was passionately in love with her. They were married on March 9, 1796. Empress Josephine did not produce an heir. Therefore, Napoleon decided to divorce her and marry the seventeen year old Habsburg princess, Marie Louise. As desired, she very soon bore a little son.
 
 

   Early Military Successes

    Napoleon pursued a military career, and obtained a commission as a French
military officer. Rising rapidly to the rank of general, he was placed in command of French forces in Italy and won brilliant victories there, thus becoming a popular military hero.

   Napoleon's Rise to Power

    By 1799 the French people had become weary of Revolutionary disorder and were displeased with the corrupt and inefficient government known as the
Directory. They wanted a government that, while safeguarding Revolutionary
gains, would be competent and orderly. For such a government the French
were willing to accept the popular military hero Napoleon.

    The Consulate, 1799 - 1804

    Napoleon ousted the Directory by a coup d' etat in 1799. He prepared a new constitution establishing the regime known as the Consulate. The constitution
retained the form of a republic but concentrated governmental power in the First Consul. Napoleon ruled as first consul, with a term of ten years. There were two subordinate consuls who had no real authority. At age 30, Napoleon was the virtual dictator of France. In 1802, he had himself made First Consul for life. A plebiscite, or popular vote, overwhelmingly approved this move. Two years later, Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself "Emperor of the French."
 

  Emperor Napoleon I

    In 1804, Napoleon changed the Consulate into an empire and crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I. The painting (right) shows Napoleon about to place the crown on the head of his empress Josephine. Napoleon exercised the powers of an absolute monarch. He made the laws, decided on war and peace, censored speech and press, and ordered arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. While Napoleon deprived the French people of political liberty, he provided them with an orderly and efficient system of government and accomplished many legal, administrative, religious, and educational reforms.
 
 

                                                        Coronation of Napoleon
                                                                 A painting by
                                                            Jacques-Louis David