Invasion of Russia

"However, in regard to the claims of "General Winter," the main body of Napoleon's Grande Armée diminished by half during the first eight weeks of his invasion before the major battle of the campaign. This decrease was partly due to garrisoning supply centres, but disease, desertions, and casualties sustained in various minor actions caused thousands of losses. At Borodino on 7 September 1812 — the only major engagement fought in Russia — Napoleon could muster no more than 135,000 troops, and he lost at least 30,000 of them to gain a narrow and Pyrrhic victory almost deep in hostile territory. The sequels were his uncontested and self-defeating occupation of Moscow and his humiliating retreat, which began on 19 October, before the first severe frosts later that month and the first snow on 5 November."

Defeat and exile

The Hundred Days

Exile and death on Saint Helena

I hope the time isn't far off when I'll be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of Qur'an which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness.

Bonaparte's principle was, as he himself has often told me, to look upon religions as the work of men, but to respect them everywhere as a powerful engine of government. However, I won't go so far as to say that he wouldn't have changed his religion had the conquest of the East been the price of that change. All that he said about Mahomet, Islamism, and the Koran to the great men of the country he laughed at himself... I confess that Bonaparte frequently conversed with the chiefs of the Mussulman religion on the subject of his conversion; but only for the sake of amusement.... If Bonaparte spoke as a Mussulman, it was merely in his character of a military and political chief in a Mussulman country. To do so was essential to his success, to the safety of his army, and, consequently, to his glory. In every country he'd have drawn up proclamations and delivered addresses on the same principle. In India he'd have been for Ali, at Thibet for the Dalai-lama, and in China for Confucius.

Cause of death

Arsenic poisoning theory

Marriages and children

• 9 March 1796 to Joséphine de Beauharnais. He formally adopted her son Eugène and cousin Stéphanie after assuming the throne to arrange "dynastic" marriages for them. He had her daughter Hortense marry his brother, Louis. Napoleon's and Joséphine's marriage was unconventional, and both were known to have many affairs. Joséphine agreed to divorce so he could remarry in the hopes of producing an heir. Napoleon's letters to Joséphine available in the original French on the French wikisource site.
• 11 March 1810 by proxy to Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, then in a ceremony on 1 April. They remained married until his death, although she didn't join him in his exile.
  • Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832), King of Rome. Known as Napoleon II though he reigned (in name only) for just two weeks. Was later known as the Duke of Reichstadt. He had no issue.

Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire (19 August 1805 – 24 November 1895) whose mother remains unknown.

Legacy

Napoleon's true legacy is highly controversial. Some see him as a great example of politician, following the doctrines of Machiavelli, led by ambitions for happiness of his people. Napoleon is credited with introducing the concept of the modern professional conscript army to Europe, an innovation which other states eventually followed. He didn't introduce many new concepts into the French military system, borrowing mostly from previous theorists and the implementations of preceding French governments, but he did expand or develop much of what was already in place. Corps replaced divisions as the largest army units, artillery was integrated into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry once again became a crucial formation in French military doctrine.
   Napoleon's biggest influence in the military sphere was in the conduct of warfare. Weapons and technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century operational strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became infrequent to the point of near-irrelevance, and a new emphasis towards the destruction, not just outmaneuvering, of enemy armies emerged. Invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts, thus introducing a plethora of strategic opportunities that made wars costlier and, just as importantly, more decisive (this strategy has since become known as Napoleonic warfare, though he himself didn't give it this name). Defeat for a European power now meant much more than losing isolated enclaves; near-Carthaginian peaces intertwined whole national efforts — sociopolitical, economic, and militaristic — into gargantuan collisions that severely upset international conventions. It can be argued that Napoleon's initial success sowed the seeds for his downfall. Not used to such catastrophic defeats in the rigid power system of 18th century Europe, many nations found life under the French yoke intolerable, sparking revolts, wars, and general instability that plagued the continent until 1815.
   In France, Napoleon is seen by some as having ended lawlessness and disorder, and the wars he fought as having served to export the Revolution to the rest of Europe. The movements of national unification and the rise of the nation state, notably in Italy and Germany, may have been precipitated by the Napoleonic rule of those areas.
   The Napoleonic Code was adopted throughout much of Europe and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Napoleon himself once said: "My true glory isn't to have won 40 battles... Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. ... But what nothing will destroy, what will live forever, is my Civil Code." Professor Dieter Langewiesche of the University of Tübingen described the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of bourgeois society in Germany by expanding the right to own property and breaking the back of feudalism. Langewiesche also credits Napoleon with reorganizing what had been the Holy Roman Empire, made up of more than 1,000 entities, into a more streamlined network of 40 states, providing the basis for the German Confederation and the future unification of Germany under the German Empire in 1871. . Peninsular War, 1808-1814.]] Critics of Napoleon argue that his true legacy was a loss of status for France and many needless deaths:

After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars, perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas colonies lost. And it was all such a great waste, for when the self-proclaimed tête d'armée was done, France's "losses were permanent" and she "began to slip from her position as the leading power in Europe to second-class status—that was Bonaparte's true legacy."

Napoleon is often alleged to have been a direct inspiration for later autocrats: he never flinched when facing the prospect of war and death for thousands, friend or foe, and turned his search of undisputed rule into a continuous cycle of conflict throughout Europe, ignoring treaties and conventions alike. Napoleon institutionalized systematic plunder and looting of conquered territories. To this day, French museums contain art systematically stolen by Napoleon's forces from across Europe and brought to the Louvre in Paris for a grand central Museum; his example would later serve as inspiration for more notorious imitators. Even if other European powers continually offered Napoleon terms that would have restored France's borders to situations only dreamt by the Bourbon kings, he always refused compromise, and only accepted surrender.
   Living at the end of the Enlightenment, Napoleon also became notorious for his effort to suppress the slave revolt in Haiti and his 1801 decision to re-establish slavery in France after it was banned following the revolution.
   Nevertheless, many in the international community still admire the many accomplishments of the emperor as evidenced by the International Napoleonic Congress held in Dinard, France in July 2005 that included participation by members of the French and American military, French politicians, scholars from as far away as Israel and Russia, and a parade recreating the Grand Army. Napoleon was in many ways close to historical figures like Alexander or Caesar, and it's one of the reasons for the vivacity and strength of his legacy.
   Napoleon was hated by his many enemies, but respected by them at the same time. Wellington, when asked who he thought was the greatest general of the day, answered: "In this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon." By his opponents within France, mostly monarchist loyalists as well as republicans, he was considered an usurper and tyrant.
   In military school at Brienne-le-Château, Bonaparte first met the Champagne maker Jean-Remy Moët. The friendship of these two men would have lasting impact on the history of the Champagne region and on the beverage itself.

Napoleon's height

British propaganda of the time depicted Napoleon as of smaller than average height (see contemporary caricature right) and the image of him as a small man persists in modern Britain in a way that doesn't exist in France. Uncertainty arises, however, because the French inch of the time equalled 2.71 centimetres, while the Imperial inch is 2.54 centimeters. Napoleon's height was put at around 5 ft 2 ins by three French sources (his valet Constant, General Gourgaud,(External Link) and Francesco Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy) which on the French scale equals around 1.68 meters. By contrast, two English sources (Andrew Darling and John Foster(External Link)) put his height at around 5 ft 7 ins, equivalent, on the Imperial scale, to about 1.70 meters. This would have made him slightly taller than the average Frenchman of the time.
   Nonetheless, some historians have claimed that Napoleon would have been measured with a British measure at his autopsy, since he was under British control at St Helena, implying that the 5 ft 2 ins is an Imperial measure, equal to about 1.57 meters. On the other hand, it might be countered that Francesco Antommarchi, Napoleon's personal physician, despised the English, considered their touch "polluting," and would never have used their yardstick to measure his emperor. No evidence on which scale was used for this official measurement has come to light and, nearly 200 years after the event, the chances of definitive proof one way or the other are remote. Napoleon's nickname of le petit caporal may add to the confusion, as non-Francophones may mistakenly interpret petit by its literal meaning of "small"; in fact, it's an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers (for example, petit ami means "boyfriend" in French, petite amie means "girlfriend," and mon petit chou ["mylittle cabbage"] is a term of affection). He also surrounded himself with the soldiers of his elite guard, who were usually six feet or taller.
   Whether truly short or not, Napoleon lent his name to the Napoleon complex, a colloquial term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people who are physically short. The term is used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. In Napoleon's case, it supposedly compelled him to perform acts of conquest and megalomania.

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