Napoleon Bonaparte
(French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt], Italian: Napoleone
Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter
stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe.
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again in 1815. He implemented a wide array
of liberal reforms across Europe, including the abolition of feudalism and the spread of religious toleration.[2] His legal code in
France, the Napoleonic Code, influenced numerous civil law jurisdictions worldwide. Napoleon is remembered for his role in leading
France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won the majority of his battles and seized control of most of
continental Europe in a quest for personal power and to spread the ideals of the French Revolution. Widely regarded as one of the
greatest commanders in history, his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide. He remains one of the most studied
political and military leaders in all of history.[3]
Napoleon was born in Corsica in a family of noble Italian ancestry that had settled in Corsica in the 16th century. He spoke French
with a heavy Corsican accent. Well-educated, he rose to prominence under the French First Republic and led successful campaigns
against the enemies of the French revolution who set up the First andSecond Coalitions, most notably his campaigns in Italy.
Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, after
which he was subsequently King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before his deposition and execution during the French
Revolution. His father, Louis, Dauphin of France, was the son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France. As a result of the Dauphin's
death in 1765, Louis succeeded his grandfather in 1774.
The first part of Louis' reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideals. These included
efforts to abolish serfdom, remove thetaille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the
proposed reforms with hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation; increased discontent among the common people
ensued. From 1776 Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great
Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime which culminated at the Estates-General
of 1789. Discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French
aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy, of which Louis and his wife, queen Marie Antoinette, were viewed as representatives. In
1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
Louis's indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the perceived
tyranny of the Ancien Régime, and his popularity deteriorated progressively. His disastrous flight to Varennes in June 1791, four
months before the constitutional monarchy was declared, seemed to justify the rumors that the king tied his hopes of political
salvation to the prospects of foreign invasion. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined and the abolition of the
monarchy and the establishment of a republic became an ever increasing possibility.
Maximilien François Marie Isidore Robespierre (IPA: [ma.ksi.mi.ljɛ ̃ fʁɑ̃.swa ma.ʁi i.zi.dɔʁ
də ʁɔ.bɛs.pjɛʁ]; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best-known and most influential
figures of the French Revolution.
As a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, he advocated against the death penalty and
for the abolition of slavery, while supporting equality of rights, universal suffrage and the establishment of a republic. He opposed
war with Austria and the possibility of a coup by the Marquis de Lafayette. As a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was
an important figure during the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended a few months after his
arrest and execution in July 1794.
Influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, he was a capable articulator of the
beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. His steadfast adherence and defense of the views he expressed earned him the
nickname l'Incorruptible (The Incorruptible).[1] His reputation has gone through cycles. It peaked in the 1920s when the influential
French historian Albert Mathiez rejected the common view of Robespierre as demagogic, dictatorial, and fanatical. Mathiez argued
he was an eloquent spokesman for the poor and oppressed, an enemy of royalist intrigues, a vigilant adversary of dishonest and
corrupt politicians, a guardian of the French Republic, an intrepid leader of the French Revolutionary government, and a prophet of a
socially responsible state.[2] In recent decades, his reputation has suffered from his association with radical purification of politics by
the killing of his enemies.[
