Napoleon Bonaparte

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Key People

Alexander I

Czar and emperor of Russia from 1801 to 1825. For a time he allied with Napoleon under the Treaty of Tilsit, but ultimately he joined the alliance that defeated Napoleon.
Gebhard Blucher

A Prussian Field Marshal who helped the British, led by Wellington, to defeat Napoleon's forces at Waterloo.
Jacques-Louis David

A Leading French artist of the Napoleonic period, painting in the "Neoclassical" style popular at the time. David painted many of Napoleon's most famous portraits, which portray the Emperor in an idealized, heroic manner.
Francis II

Francis II was the Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 when Napoleon dissolved the Empire and replaced it with the Confederation of the Rhine. Francis II then served as Emperor of Austria until his death in 1835.
Frederick William III

Prussian King from 1797 to 1840. Frederick William III was a weak king, manipulated alternately by the influence of Alexander I and Metternich.
Josephine

Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, in Martinique, Josephine had been married to Alexandre de Beauharnais, a French officer, prior to his execution in the French Revolution. In 1796 she married Napoleon. As Empress of France, she amassed an incredible fortune in jewels. In 1810, after she failed to bear an heir, Napoleon had their marriage annulled on the alleged grounds that no parish priest had been present at the wedding. Josephine died in 1814.
Marie Louise

After divorcing Josephine, Napoleon married Marie Louise, an Austrian Archduchess. She was 18 at the time. In 1811 she gave birth to a son, called the "King of Rome."
Clemens von Metternich

The Austrian foreign minister from 1809-1848. Metternich was highly conservative and a master diplomat, and was one of the key architects of the reorganization of Europe following Napoleon's fall.
Admiral Horatio Nelson

A brilliant British naval commander, who won crucial victories against the French fleet, including the Battle of Aboukir (The Battle of the Nile) in 1798 and Trafalgar in 1805. Although he won the battle, Nelson was killed at Trafalgar. Privately, Nelson was involved in an affair with a married woman, the affair was some of the leading gossip in England at the time.
Maximilien Robespierre

An especially radical Jacobin during the French Revolution, Robespierre served as chairman of the Committee of Public Safety, basically becoming a dictator. It was under Robespierre that Napoleon was first promoted in government, by virtue of his service in defense of the Republic. Robespierre is most remembered for being an overzealous revolutionary who instigated the so- called Reign of Terror.
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes

During the French Revolution, Sieyes was a Liberal member of the clergy, supporter of the Third Estate, and author of the fiery pamphlet What Is the Third Estate?. Sieyes led the coup that overthrew the Directory and replaced it with the Consulate, in which he served as one of the three consuls. Sieyes took on Napoleon as his "Saber."
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

As the French foreign minister under Napoleon, Talleyrand played politics so well that he managed to stay in office throughout the two following regimes.
Duke of Wellington

The British commander who, along with Blucher, took primary credit for defeating Napoleon at Waterloo. Earlier, Wellington had also led the British forces supporting the Spanish guerillas in the Peninsular War. Wellington later entered British politics and served as Prime Minister.

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