The Rise And Fall Of Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte rose through the military ranks and became one of the greatest military leaders in history. He was such a great military leader that 1800 to 1815 has been renamed the Napoleonic Era because off all he has conquered. Napoleon ruled France, and eventually most of Europe during this time. Before Napoleon’s reign France was struggling to recover from the government collapse during the French Revolution. The French government had gone through five different governments since the beginning of the revolution, and after the failure of the French Directory, the French desperately need a leader. In late 1799 Napoleon organized a coup d’état, and became first consul, then in 1802 he named himself consul for life. Napoleon wasn’t done yet; in 1804 he named himself emperor, which eventually led to him having most of Europe under his control.
Napoleon set out to build an empire. From 1805 to 1808 Napoleon fought in battles that left only Great Britain out of his control. He began to run into problems trying to capture Great Britain. Trying to destroy the British economy Napoleon put his Continental system into place, which was a plan to cut off British sea trade. The British Navy was superior and Napoleon lost. This is said to be the start of his downfall. The fall of Napoleon’s empire was caused by nationalism and his own greedy intentions.
France was still dealing with poverty and the aftermath of the Radical Phase of the French Revolution. This was not the best time to France to expand, but during this time Napoleon was at the pinnacle of his power, and he began to extend himself too far, the first of his greedy intentions. Napoleon’s problems were not just condensed in one area; they were spread out over the world...

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...leon deserted what was left of his army and rushed back to Paris when he heard of this. People who had once supported Napoleon’s rule, had gathered to get rid of it. Prussia cut its allegiance with Napoleon and signed a treaty with the tsar; Britain, Sweden, and Austria joined them, they were doing what was best for their country. Then on August 10, 1813 war was declared by Austria to make sure Austria was on the winning side to protect itself.
The fall of Napoleon’s empire was caused by nationalism and his own greedy intentions. He had set out to build a huge empire and conqueror most of the world, but his own greed with extending too far, invading and retreating from Russia, and refusing to settle, along with nationalism got in his way. Napoleon had spent sixteen years building his empire and rising to power, but in another sixteen months it had all fell.