Napoleon Bonaparte

Biography

Napoleon I was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and North Africa during the Napoleonic Wars. He was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. As a statesman, he enacted the Napoleonic Code, which continues to influence legal systems worldwide, and reformed education by establishing state lycées.