🎖️ Napoleon

What you’ll learn

1. Corsica to Artillery OfficerUnderstand Napoleon's origins and how the Revolution turned a young artillery officer into a rising general.Born in Corsica in 1769, Napoleon trained as an artillery officer just as the Revolution shattered the old army. His decisive handling of the guns at Toulon in 1793 won him a generalship at 24, and a 'whiff of grapeshot' in 1795 won him command of the Army of Italy. Mastery of mobile artillery and speed of maneuver became his signature.
2. The Italian CampaignTrace how the 1796-97 Italian campaign made Napoleon a national hero and a political force.Taking command of the ragged Army of Italy in 1796, Napoleon beat larger Austrian and Piedmontese forces through speed and concentration, from Lodi to Arcole to Rivoli. He dictated the Treaty of Campo Formio largely on his own authority. Judging England unbeatable by sea, he then proposed the Egyptian expedition, sailing in 1798 with soldiers and a corps of scholars.
3. Egypt and the Rosetta StoneExplain the outcome of the Egyptian expedition and the discovery and significance of the Rosetta Stone.Napoleon won at the Pyramids but Nelson destroyed his fleet at the Nile, stranding the army. In 1799 French soldiers found the Rosetta Stone, whose trilingual text later let Champollion decipher hieroglyphs in 1822. Napoleon abandoned his army and slipped back to France, arriving as the crumbling Directory offered him the chance of a lifetime.
4. Coup and the Code NapoleonUnderstand the Brumaire coup, Napoleon's reforms as Consul, and the Code Napoleon's enduring, mixed legacy.The coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 made Napoleon First Consul. He reorganized France's administration, finances, schools, and church, and above all drove the creation of the Code Civil of 1804, which guaranteed legal equality and property rights and ended feudalism, while subordinating women and tolerating restored slavery. In 1804 he crowned himself Emperor of the French.
5. Austerlitz and the Grande ArmeeExplain the Grande Armee's corps system and how Napoleon won Austerlitz and dominated Europe by 1807.The Grande Armee's independent corps gave Napoleon unmatched flexibility. At Austerlitz in 1805 he baited the allies off the Pratzen Heights and split their army, destroying the coalition. He shattered Prussia at Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 and beat Russia at Friedland in 1807, meeting Tsar Alexander at Tilsit as master of Europe.
6. The Empire and Its ContradictionsExamine the structure, economics, and central paradox of the Napoleonic Empire at its peak.By 1810 Napoleon ruled or dominated most of Europe through satellite kingdoms led by relatives. The Continental System failed to bankrupt Britain and bred resentment, while Spain became a draining 'ulcer' of guerrilla war. The deepest flaw was philosophical: a revolutionary who made himself a hereditary emperor, spreading both reform and endless war.
7. Russia 1812: The CatastropheUnderstand why the 1812 invasion of Russia became one of history's great military catastrophes.Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 with roughly 600,000 men. The Russians retreated, scorching the earth, fought a bloody draw at Borodino, and burned Moscow. The winter retreat destroyed the Grande Armee through cold, starvation, and attacks; fewer than 100,000 escaped. Minard's famous 1869 map charts the collapse. The disaster brought all of Europe against Napoleon.
8. Elba, Waterloo, St. HelenaTrace Napoleon's fall, brief return, final defeat, exile, and how his record should be honestly judged.Abdicating in 1814, Napoleon was exiled to Elba, escaped in 1815 for the Hundred Days, and was finally defeated at Waterloo when Blucher's Prussians reinforced Wellington. Exiled to remote St. Helena, he died in 1821. His ledger balances lasting reforms, the Code, legal equality, ended feudalism, against wars that killed millions, restored slavery, and a police state.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• Fondation Napoléon
• British Museum
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Bibliothèque nationale de France

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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