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Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.He was born Napoleone Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest Italian family from minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The French Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed the 13 Vendémiaire revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and the Italian monarchs aligned with the Habsburgs—winning virtually every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year while establishing "sister republics" with local support, and becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He orchestrated a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, Napoleon turned his attention to France's colonies. He sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States, and he attempted to restore slavery to the French Caribbean colonies. However, while he was successful in restoring slavery in the eastern Caribbean, Napoleon failed in his attempts to subdue Saint-Domingue, and the colony that France once proudly boasted of as the "Pearl of the Antilles" became independent as Haiti in 1804. Napoleon's ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched his Grande Armée deep into Eastern Europe and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high-water mark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram in July.

Napoleon then occupied the Iberian Peninsula, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, and declared his brother Joseph Bonaparte the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies against Napoleon. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. The Russians were unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade and routinely violated the Continental System, enticing Napoleon into another war. The French launched a major invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The campaign destroyed Russian cities, but did not yield the decisive victory Napoleon wanted. It resulted in the collapse of the Grande Armée and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in the War of the Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, but his tactical victory at the minor Battle of Hanau allowed retreat onto French soil. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, and the Bourbon dynasty was restored to power. Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51.

Napoleon's influence on the modern world brought liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low Countries, Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe. His Napoleonic Code has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian Andrew Roberts states: "The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire". Wikipedia  

✵ 15. August 1769 – 5. May 1821   •   Other names Bonaparte Napoleon I.
Napoleon I of France photo
Napoleon I of France: 259   quotes 280   likes

Napoleon I of France Quotes

“Policy and morals concur in repressing pillage.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“Never march by flank in front of an army in position. This principle is absolute.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“The religious zeal which animates priests, leads them to undertake labors and to brave perils which would be far beyond the powers of one in secular employment.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Animals

“The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense — he is always satisfied with himself.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Fools , Sense

“From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Men , Exercises , Memory

“The life of a citizen is the property of his country.”

Napoleon I of France

Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)

Life , Country

“The general of the sea has need of only one science, that of navigation. The one on land has need of all, or of a talent which is the equivalent of all, that will enable him to profit by all experience, and all knowledge. A general of the sea has nothing to divine. He knows where his enemy is, he knows his strength. A general on land never knows anything with certainty, never sees his enemy well, and never knows positively where he is.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Knowledge , Science , Sea

“The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement at Montereau (17 February 1814)

“A general must be a charlatan.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.”

Napoleon I of France

To Dr. Arnott (April 1821)

Life , Fate

“Necessity dominates inclination, will, and right.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“Wherever wood can swim, there I am sure to find this flag of England.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement at Rochefort (July 1815)

“It must be recognized that the real truths of history are hard to discover. Happily, for the most part, they are rather matters of curiosity than of real importance.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Truth , History , Parting

“The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. (La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.)”

Napoleon I of France

Italian saying, quoted by Bonaparte during the first Italian campaign to highlight the financial dependence of the Directoire on the plunder from the Army of Italy, according to Lucian S. Regenbogen, Napoléon a dit : aphorismes, citations et opinions, p. 82.
Attributed

“The people must not be counted upon; they cry indifferently : "Long live the King!" and "Long live the Conspirators!" a proper direction must be given to them, and proper instruments employed to effect it.”

Napoleon I of France

Source: Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848), p. 246

People , Cry , Indifference

“The military principles of Caesar were those of Hannibal, and those of Hannibal were those of Alexander — to hold his forces in hand, not to be vulnerable at any point, to throw all his forces with rapidity on any given point.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“The completest charlatan that ever existed.”

Napoleon I of France

Thomas Paine, as quoted in Thomas Paine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-670-03788-5, by Craig Nelson, p. 299.
About

“Unite for the public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.”

Napoleon I of France

Proclamation to the French People (22 June 1815)

“Muhammad was a prince; he rallied his compatriots around him. In a few years, the Muslims conquered half of the world. They plucked more souls from false gods, knocked down more idols, razed more pagan temples in fifteen years than the followers of Moses and Jesus did in fifteen centuries. Muhammad was a great man. He would indeed have been a god, if the revolution that he had performed had not been prepared by the circumstances.”

Napoleon I of France

Campagnes d'Egypte et Syrie, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1998, p. 275. Translated by John Tolan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tolan in European Accounts of Muhammad's Life http://www.academia.edu/1834648/European_Accounts_of_Muhammads_Life. Napoleon wrote his memoirs on the island of Saint Helena. It is here he develops his portrait of Muhammad as a model lawmaker and conqueror.

God , World , Soul , Falseness

“The praises of enemies are always to be suspected. A man of honor will not permit himself to be flattered by them, except when they are given after the cessation of hostilities.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Hostility

“Success is the most convincing talker in the world.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

World , Success

“There is only one favorable moment in war; talent consists in knowing how to seize it.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

War

“It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Men

“The usurper was seen sixty leagues from the capital.”

Napoleon I of France

Le Moniteur Universel, March 18, 1815.
About

“Gentleness, good treatment, honor the victor and dishonor the vanquished, who should remain aloof and owe nothing to pity — In war, audacity is the finest calculation of genius.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

War

“Sometimes a great example is necessary to all the public functionaries of the state.”

Napoleon I of France

Source: Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848), p. 248

“Man loves the marvelous. It has an irresistible charm for him. He is always ready to leave that with which he is familiar to pursue vain inventions. He lends himself to his own deception.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Love

“Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man. I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

Napoleon I of France

In a statement about Jesus Christ. While exiled on the rock of St. Helena, Napoleon called Count Montholon to his side and asked him, "Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?" Upon the Count declining to respond Napoleon countered. Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods http://books.google.com/books?id=jSI9HnMHdPsC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=napoleon+jesus+among+gods&source=bl&ots=CdsDSjamnm&sig=K3l7Ek972r7pyEFT681lbf3PVSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nBqhUf3RL4au9AS37ICwCQ&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA, p. 149, in Henry Parry Liddon (1868) The Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Eight Lectures. New edition. https://books.google.com/books?id=IcINAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA148&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false pp. 147-148, and in Henry Parry Liddon (1869) The Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Eight Lectures. Fourth edition. https://ia800203.us.archive.org/15/items/divinityofourlord00libbrich/divinityofourlord00libbrich.pdf pp. 147-148.
Attributed

Love , Men , Children , Soul

“I see that everybody has lost their head since the infamous capitulation of Bailén. I realise that I must go there myself to get the machine working again.”

Napoleon I of France

Said after Dupont's capitulation at w:Bailén to the Spanish (1808), as quoted in The Art of Warfare on Land (1974) by David G. Chandler, p. 164

“Jesus Christ was the greatest republican.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Christ

“Achilles was the son of a goddess and of a mortal; in that, he is the image of the genius of war. The divine part is all that that is derived from moral considerations of character, talent, the interest of your adversary, of opinion, of the temper of the soldier, which is strong and victorious, or feeble and beaten, according as he believes this divine part to be. The mortal part is the arms, the fortifications, the order of battle — everything which arises out of material things.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

War , Strong , Victory , Parting

“France will always be a great nation.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“I generally had to give in.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement on his relations with the Empress Josephine (19 May 1816), quoted in The Story of Civilization (1935) by Will Durant and Ariel Durant, p. 234

“The art of war consists in being always able, even with an inferior army, to have stronger forces than the enemy at the point of attack or the point which is attacked.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

War , Art

“Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement of 1812, quoted in Napoleon's Cavalry and its Leaders (1978) by David Johnson

Les hommes ordinaires ont succombé, disait-il; les hommes de fer ont été faits prisonniers; je ne ramène avec moi que les hommes de bronze.

Mémoires du colonel Combe sur les campagnes de Russie 1812, de Saxe 1813, de France 1814 et 1815. Paris 1853. p. 184 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=KhlYAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA184

Men

“In order not to be astonished at obtaining victories, one ought not to think only of defeats.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Thinking , Victory

“He found his best satisfaction not in pleasure but in toil. He could live with little food, little sleep - and very little dalliance. The one thing he could not dispense with was work, and work in prodigious quantities.”

Napoleon I of France

Tighe Hopkins in The Women Napoleon Loved
About

Pleasure , Food , Sleep

“My most splendid campaign was that of March 20; not a single shot was fired.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves; one must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Hostility , Forgiveness , Learning

“Malice delights to blacken the characters of prominent men.”

Napoleon I of France

Memoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)

Men

“There is nothing so imperious as feebleness which feels itself supported by force.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Feeling , Support

“A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people.”

Napoleon I of France

Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)

People

“Sentiment de Napoléon sur la divinité de Jésus-Christ (1841), p. 59. Translated: "From first day to the last, he is the same, always the same, majestic and simple, extremely severe and extremely mild in the business of public life, so to speak, Jesus does not hold to any criticism, his prudent manner so delighted admiration by a mixture of strength and gentleness."”

Napoleon I of France

Depuis le premier jour jusqu'au dernier, il est le même, toujours le même, majestueux et simple , infiniment sévère et infiniment doux ; dans un commerce de vie pour ainsi dire public, Jésus ne donne jamais de prise à la moindre critique; sa conduite si prudente ravit l'admiration par un mélange de force et de douceur.

Life , Business , Christ

“A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement (1803) as quoted in The Mind of Napoleon (1955) by J. Christopher Herold

Effort

“Unhappy the general who comes on the field of battle with a system.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“In civil war it is not given to every man to know how to conduct himself. There is something more than military prudence necessary; there is need of sagacity and the knowledge of men.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Men , War , Knowledge

“Europe has its history, often tragic, though at intervals consoling. But to speak of any universally recognized national rights or that these rights have played any part in its history, is to play with the powers of public credulity. Always the first duty of a state has been its safety; the pledge of its safety, its power; and the limits of its power, that intelligence of which each has been made the depository. When the great powers have proclaimed any other principle, it has been only for their own purposes, and the smaller powers have never received any benefit from it.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

History , Intelligence , Universe , Parting

“The truth is that one ought to serve his people worthily, and not strive solely to please them. The best way to gain a people is to do that which is best for them. Nothing is more dangerous than to flatter a people. If it does not get what it wants immediately, it is irritated and thinks that promises have not been kept; and if then it is resisted, it hates so much the more as it feels itself deceived.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Hate , People , Truth , Way