About this picture: Napoleon Bonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821, was a military and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I, whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.
Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence under the First French Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France.
In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him Emperor.
In the first decade of the nineteenth century, the French Empire under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars involving every major European power.
After a streak of victories, France secured a dominant position in continental Europe and Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states.
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