The spine
Timeline
Everything on the site hangs off one chronology, from Ajaccio to St Helena. Some stretches are told in depth; the rest will fill in over time.
Corsica and the Revolution
1769–1796
Napoleon
Born in Ajaccio, Corsica
Napoleone di Buonaparte is born a year after France takes Corsica from Genoa.
Napoleon · Brienne
Enters the military school at Brienne
Nine years old, he begins five years at the royal school. In 1814 he will fight a battle there.
Napoleon
Commissioned in the artillery
Second lieutenant at sixteen.
Battle
Toulon retaken
His guns drive the British from Toulon. He is made a brigadier general at twenty-four.
Politics · Paris
13 Vendémiaire
He scatters a royalist rising in Paris with artillery fire.
Italy and Egypt
1796–1799
Napoleon · Paris
Marries Joséphine de Beauharnais
Two days later he leaves to command the Army of Italy.
Battle
Battle of Lodi
The bridge at Lodi: the first legend of the Italian campaign.
Battle
Battle of Arcole
Three days in the marshes, and the famous charge on the bridge.
Battle
Battle of Rivoli
Austria’s last attempt to relieve Mantua fails.
Battle
Battle of the Pyramids
The Mamluk cavalry break against French squares outside Cairo.
Battle
Battle of the Nile
Nelson destroys the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, stranding the army in Egypt.
First Consul
1799–1804
Politics · Paris
Coup of 18 Brumaire
He seizes power and becomes First Consul.
Battle
Battle of Marengo
Near defeat turned to victory in the afternoon. Northern Italy is his again.
The Empire at its height
1804–1812
Politics · Paris
Crowned Emperor
At Notre-Dame he crowns himself Emperor of the French.
Battle
Battle of Trafalgar
Nelson destroys the Franco-Spanish fleet. Britain rules the sea.
Battle
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of the Three Emperors. Austria and Russia are beaten in a day.
Battle
Jena and Auerstedt
Prussia’s army is shattered in a single day.
Battle
Battle of Friedland
Victory over the Russians, then peace at Tilsit.
Politics
Treaty of Tilsit
Napoleon and Alexander meet on a raft on the Niemen and divide Europe.
Politics
Rising in Madrid
The Dos de Mayo begins the long war in Spain.
Battle
Battle of Wagram
A hard-won victory over Austria on the Marchfeld.
Napoleon · Paris
Marries Marie-Louise of Austria
He has divorced Joséphine to secure an heir.
Napoleon · Paris
Birth of the King of Rome
His son and heir, Napoléon François Charles Joseph.
Russia and Germany
1812–1813
Manoeuvre
The invasion of Russia
The Grande Armée crosses the Niemen, about 450,000 men in the first wave.
Battle
Battle of Borodino
The bloodiest day of the wars. The road to Moscow is open.
Manoeuvre
Enters Moscow
The city burns. Five weeks later the retreat begins.
Battle
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of the Nations. Napoleon is driven back to the Rhine.
The Campaign of France
1814
Napoleon · Paris · France, 1814
Napoleon leaves Paris for the front
Napoleon leaves Joseph in charge of the capital, the Empress and the King of Rome, and sets out for Châlons. He never sees his wife or son again.
Battle · Brienne · France, 1814
Battle of Brienne
Napoleon attacks Blücher at the town where he went to military school as a boy. Blücher and Gneisenau only just escape capture in the château. Each side loses about 3,000 men.
Battle · La Rothière · France, 1814
Battle of La Rothière
Some 85,000 Allied troops attack around 45,000 French in falling snow. It is Napoleon’s first defeat on French soil. He loses about 6,000 men and 50–60 guns, and falls back on Troyes.
Politics · Châtillon-sur-Seine · France, 1814
Congress of Châtillon opens
Peace talks open at Châtillon-sur-Seine, with Caulaincourt negotiating for France. After La Rothière the Allies harden their terms and demand France’s frontiers of 1789.
Manoeuvre · Vertus · France, 1814
The Allies divide
Schwarzenberg moves down the Seine while Blücher swings north to the Marne and races for Paris. By the evening of the 8th, Blücher’s column is strung out over about forty-four miles of road.
Battle · Champaubert · France, 1814
Battle of Champaubert
Napoleon comes north out of the marshes at Sézanne and falls on Olsufiev’s isolated Russian corps of about 4,000 men. Only 1,600–1,700 escape, and Olsufiev himself is captured.
Battle · Montmirail · France, 1814
Battle of Montmirail
Napoleon turns west and defeats Sacken around Marchais, while Yorck’s Prussians arrive too late to save the day. Sacken loses about 2,800 men and 13 guns.
Battle · Château-Thierry · France, 1814
Combat of Château-Thierry
In the pursuit, Sacken and Yorck are driven back across the Marne and lose about 2,750 men between them. The French lose no more than 600.
Battle · Vauchamps · France, 1814
Battle of Vauchamps
Blücher himself advances on Marmont and runs into the Emperor, the Guard and Grouchy’s cavalry. He retreats on Étoges, losing about 6,000 men. In four victories Napoleon has cost the Army of Silesia more than 16,000 men.
Battle · Mormant · France, 1814
Combat of Mormant
Napoleon has marched south to rejoin his marshals on the Seine. Gérard, leading his advance, routs Pahlen’s Russians, who lose about 2,000 men and 10 guns.
Battle · Montereau · France, 1814
Battle of Montereau
The Crown Prince of Württemberg holds the heights of Surville with the river behind him. Pajol’s charge goes across both bridges, and the Allies lose nearly 5,000 men and 15 guns.
Manoeuvre · Troyes · France, 1814
Napoleon re-enters Troyes
Schwarzenberg retreats up the Seine and the Aube. February ends with the Army of Bohemia falling back. Bourrienne notes that it was a retreat but "not a rout".
Politics · Chaumont · France, 1814
Treaty of Chaumont
Austria, Prussia, Russia and Britain bind themselves to keep fighting until Napoleon is defeated. The treaty is dated 1 March and signed in the days that follow.
Battle · Craonne · France, 1814
Battle of Craonne
Napoleon has followed Blücher north across the Marne and the Aisne, and wins a costly victory on the Chemin des Dames plateau. Marshal Victor and General Grouchy are both wounded.
Battle · Laon · France, 1814
Battle of Laon
Blücher, now heavily reinforced, holds the hilltop city. Marmont’s corps is surprised and routed in a night attack, and Napoleon breaks off and falls back on Soissons.
Battle · Reims · France, 1814
Reims retaken
In a lightning stroke, Napoleon recaptures the coronation city of the French kings from a Russo-Prussian corps under Saint-Priest. It is his last clear victory of the campaign.
Politics · Châtillon-sur-Seine · France, 1814
Congress of Châtillon breaks up
Napoleon has not accepted the Allied terms, and the negotiations end. The war will now be decided on the battlefield.
Battle · Arcis-sur-Aube · France, 1814
Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube
Napoleon strikes at Schwarzenberg and finds himself facing the whole Army of Bohemia. He withdraws over the Aube and decides to march east against the Allied communications.
Battle · Fère-Champenoise · France, 1814
Battle of Fère-Champenoise
The Allies ignore Napoleon’s move east and march on Paris. On the way, Allied cavalry catch Marmont and Mortier, along with Pacthod’s National Guards, in the open.
Politics · Paris · France, 1814
The Empress leaves Paris
On Joseph’s advice, and against the wishes of several members of the council, Marie-Louise and the King of Rome leave the capital for Blois.
Battle · Paris · France, 1814
Battle of Paris
Marmont and Mortier fight for the heights of Montmartre and Belleville, and Moncey’s National Guards defend the barrier of Clichy. Joseph authorises the marshals to negotiate, then leaves the city.
Politics · Paris · France, 1814
Paris capitulates
Tsar Alexander and the King of Prussia ride into Paris. That same night Napoleon, hurrying back, learns at Juvisy that he is too late, and he falls back on Fontainebleau.
Politics · Paris · France, 1814
The Senate deposes the Emperor
Talleyrand’s provisional government is already in place, and the Senate now declares Napoleon deposed.
Politics · Fontainebleau · France, 1814
The marshals’ revolt
At Fontainebleau, Ney and the other marshals refuse to march on Paris. Napoleon abdicates conditionally, in favour of his son. That night Marmont’s corps marches into the Allied lines, and the condition can no longer be enforced.
Napoleon · Fontainebleau · France, 1814
Unconditional abdication
Napoleon renounces the thrones of France and Italy for himself and his heirs.
Politics · Fontainebleau · France, 1814
Treaty of Fontainebleau
The Allies grant Napoleon the island of Elba as a sovereign principality, with an income and a guard. Marie-Louise receives the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla.
Napoleon · Fontainebleau · France, 1814
A night at Fontainebleau
On the night of 12–13 April, Napoleon takes poison he has carried since the Russian campaign. It fails to kill him. Caulaincourt is with him through the night.
Napoleon · Fontainebleau · France, 1814
Farewell to the Old Guard
In the Cour du Cheval-Blanc at Fontainebleau, Napoleon embraces General Petit, kisses the eagle, and leaves for the south.
Politics · Paris · France, 1814
Louis XVIII enters Paris
The Bourbon monarchy is restored, twenty-one years after Louis XVI was executed.
Napoleon · France, 1814
Napoleon lands on Elba
He arrives at Portoferraio aboard the British frigate HMS Undaunted to take up his tiny new realm. Ten months later he will escape.
Politics · Paris · France, 1814
First Treaty of Paris
France makes peace with the Allies and is reduced to roughly its frontiers of 1792. The Congress of Vienna is to settle the rest of Europe.
The Hundred Days
1815
Napoleon
Returns from Elba
He lands at Golfe-Juan with about a thousand men. The Hundred Days begin.
Battle
Battle of Waterloo
Defeated by Wellington and Blücher. He abdicates four days later.
St Helena
1815–1821
Napoleon
Arrives on St Helena
Exile on a remote island in the South Atlantic.
Napoleon
Dies at Longwood
He dies on St Helena, aged fifty-one.