La Revolution Francaise (in IvanF's piss poor, completely incomprehensible form of fraudulent French...
... voila and enjoy!)

-vers les annees 1780, une grande partie de la population aspirait au changement; son roi, Louis XVI, ne traitait pas avec equite les differentes classes de la societe
-les paysans (farmers), sur les terres des nobles, avaient faim a chaque mauvaise recolte; its payaient une contribution a l'Eglise et etaient soumis a des servitudes feodales telles que corvees et redevances diverses au profit de leur seigneur
-les bourgeois etaient mieux lotis, mais s'irritaient d'etre soumis a un impot que, depuis 175 ans, les rois avaient pris l'habitude de lever sans consulter les Etats generaux; ils sont enthousiastes de la democratie americaine
-en 1788, le roi convoqua (summon) les Etats genereux que rassemblait les representants des trois Etats ou groupes sociaux, l'Eglise, la noblesse et le Tiers Etat (bourgeois et paysans)
-le Tier Etat se mit aussitot a proposer une forme de gouvernement gui restreignait le pouvoir royal; le roi a choisi de deployer des troupes pour maintenir l'ordre dans Paris
-le 14 juillet 1789, une foule prit d'assaut la prison fortifiee de la Bastille; les Parisiens priprent la Bastille parce qu'elle etait le symbole de l'Ancien Regime
-apres, les partisans de la revolution attaquerent les chateaux des nobles pendant crierent <<Liberte, egalite, fraternite>>
-les revoltes dans les champagnes firent monter le prix du pain; Paris souffrait de la faim mais le roi vivait retire dans son palais de Versailles; au matin du 5 octobre, une grande foule marcha sur Versailles; une jeune femme exposa au monarque les souffrances des citadins affames
-durant la nuit, la foule tua plusieurs gardes royaux; Louis XVI retourna au palais des Tuileries et peu apres, it dut abandonner son pouvoir absolu
-en 1791, l'Assemblee nationale (le revolutionnistes) devint l'Assemblee legislative; les paysans et le petit peuple des villes n'y etaient pas representes
-les deux principaux groupes etaient celui des Girondins et celui des Jacobins; le premier reassemblait des deputes des provinces qui voulaient porter la revolution au-dela des frontieres et faire declarer la guerre aux pays qui aidaient les armees royalistes; les Jacobins etaient opposes a la guerre et preferaient etablir un programme de reformes internes
-parmi les premiers chefs de la revolution, figurent Talleyrand, une ancien eveque, Lafayette et Mirabeau, tous deux des nobles, Madame Roland, une Girondine, Danton et Robespierre, des hommes de loi, dirigeants de groupes rivaux, Marat, un journaliste, et l'ecrivain Olympe de Gouges
-en avril 1792, le France declara la guerre a l'Autriche et a la Prusse dont les armees tentaient de restaurer le pouvoir royal
-les citoyens de Paris realiserent qu'en cas de victoire des armees royalistes, ils en seraient les premieres victimes; leur nouvelle autorite municipale, la Commune, fit pression sur les deputes et mena (to lead) campagne contre le roi
-beaucoup de gens blamerent Marat pour les <<Massacres de septembre>> que compta quelque 1200 victimes; des rumeurs circulaient disant que des brigands allaient etre liberes pour tuer les citoyens de Paris; la foule fit irruption dans les prisons et egorgea les detenus
-en Paris, lorsque devalua l'argent-papier, les assignats, emis par le gouvernement revolutionnaire, les paysans refuserent de vendre leur recolte (harvest)
-en septembre 1792, la France fut proclamee Republique et Louis XVI devint le citoyen Louis Capet; it ne realisait pas la portee des evenements, se montrait hesitant et refusait d'ecouter ses conseillers; il fut guillotine le 21 janvier 1793
-en juillet 1793, Charlotte Corday de Normandie a assassine Marat dans sa baignoire; il soignait une penible maladie de la peau et le poignarda sans hesiter; pendant son proces et son execution, Charlotte resta parfaitement calme, convaincue d'avoir bien agi et esperant que d'autres voix s'eleveraient pour exprimer leur opposition aux massacres
-apres la guillotine, la France fut assaillie de toutes parts par les armees autrichienne, prussienne, angalise, et hollandaise
-les Jacobins craignirent un renversement de la situation et creerent le Comite de Salut public; il a apprehende, juge, et execute quiconque n'etait pas partisan enthousiaste de la revolution
-cette preiode, appelee la Terreur, dura de l'ete 1793 a l'ete 1794; on envoya 2638 partisans a la guillotine; le nombre des <<ennemis de la revolution>> est estime a 40 000; c'etaient un majorite de simples citoyens
-en 1794, Mme Tussaud fut obligee de faire les masques mortuaires de victimes de la guillotine; elle promenera ensuite sa collection de figures de cire en Grand-Bretagne et en Irlande
-la Republique appela tous les hommes celibataires ages de 18 a 25 ans; it recruta ainsi 750 000 hommes; en printemps 1794, les Anglais etaient repousses a la mer et les forces royalistes caincues a Fleurus
-la nouvelle armee triomphait parce qu'elle choisisait ses chefs uniquement pour leur talents, sans considerations de fortune ou de relations; par exemple, Carnot, le genial organisateur de l'effot de guerre, n'avait jamais pu obtenir de l'avancement dans les forces du roi parce qu'il n'etait pas noble
-La Marseillaise fut compose, un soir de 1792, par Claude Rouget de Lisle qui eprouva le besoin de doter l'armee du Rhim d'un chant de guerre qui lui soit propre; des volontiers marseillais le chanterent avec tant de brio en se rendant a Paris qu'il prit le nom de Marseillaise; en 1795, ce chant fut adopte comme hymne national
-la republique avait accorde la liberte des cultes; Juifs et protestants acquirent ainsi les memes droits que les catholiques
-pour encourager cette <<Republique de la vertu>>, Robespierre instaura le culte d'Etre Supreme; en juin 1794, dans les jardins des Tuileries, il mit le feu a la statue de l'Atheisme et de ses cendres naquit la <<Sagesse>>; cette religion d'Etat ne fut guere (hardly) populaire
-en octobre 1793, un nouveau calendrier fut adopte qu'avoir une semaine de dix jours don’t un de repos; 22sept-21oct, Vendemiaire(vendange), 22oct-20nov, Brumaire(brume), 21nov-20dec, Frimaire(frimas), 21dec-19jan, Nivose(neige), 20jan-18fev, Pluviose(pluie),19fev-20mars, Ventose(vents), 21mars-19avril, Germinal(germination), 20avril-19mai, Floreal(fleurs),20mai-18juin, Prairial(prairies), 19juin-18juil, Messidor(moissons), 19juil-17aout, Thermidor(chaleur), 18aout-16sept, Fructidor(fruits)
-en juillet 1794, Robespierre prononca un discours qui semblait menacer de mort tous les opposants; les Thermidoriens arreterent Robespierre et ses amis et les envoyerent a la guillotine dans les jours qui suivirent
-apres la chute de Robespierre, 80 000 prisonniers furent liberes; a Paris, la jeunesse doree fit la chasse aux Jacobins et se livra a des demonstrations anti-republicaines
-les Thermidoriens devinrent fort impopulaires; le gourvernement fut confie a cinq deputes <<directeurs>>; nombre de fontionnaries se laissaient corrompre; le chaos regnait dans le pays
-le fils de Louis XVI et de Marie Antoinette, le Dauphin, mourut en juin 1795 dans la prison du Temple a l'age de dix ans; son oncle se fit appeler Louis XVIII et declara vouloir restaurer l'autorite royale
-<<Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite>> fut clamee partout en Europe ou rois et souverains craignirent pour leur couronne; en 1848, beaucoup de villes d'Europe connurent des troubles revolutionnaires, car le proliferation de nouvelles usines (factories) et le devloppement urbain avaient modifie les manieres de vivre traditionnelles; en Allemagne, en Hongrie et on Boheme, la Revolution francaise fit souffler un vent d'independence; les revolutions est arrive en Espagne et au Portugal en 1820
-Karl Marx et Friedrich Engels publierent le Manifeste du parti communiste qui eut un retentissement mondial; ses idees inspireront la Revolution russe de 1917
-Beethoven dedia sa Troisieme symphonie (la Symphonie de l'empereur) au Napoleon, mais il a declare que <<Un jour cet homme deviendra un tyran>>…
-le journal des patriotes en Paris etait L'ami du peuple
-le 21 septembre 1792, la republique est proclamee et le roi et sa famille sont emprionnes
-il y a des hommes qui repete <<Je suis un bon patriote>> parce qu'ils craignaient d'etre denonce comme suspect
-La Marseillaise est depuis 1879 l'hymne national francais
-toutes les recoltes en Paris etaient reservees aux armees
-dans les rues de la Paris: <<Portugal, Portugal!>> crient les marchandes d'oranges, un fruit venu de bien loin; <<Pluie, pluie!>> chantent les vendeurs de parapluie, et il y a aussi le marchand de coco qui porte sure le dos une fontaine de fer-blance remplie de tisane a l'eau de reglisses: <<A la fraiche, co-co!>>
-les revolutionnaires a appelle <<'l'armee des sans-culottes>>; ils ne manque pas de valeur
-les parlements sont supprimes et remplaces par des tribunaux composes de magistrates, d'officiers municipaux et, dans certain cas, d'un jury
-a partir de l'automne 1792, les delits politiques sont juges par un Tribunaux criminel, dont la mission est de punir les <<ennemis de la liberte>> et ceux de la Republique; la Convention le remplace bientot par le Tribunal revolutionnaire, charge de juger tout individu suspecte d'attitudes ou de paroles hostiles a la Revolution
-le suffrage universal, institue a la meme epoque pour elire la Convention; les departements, crees en 1790 afin de simplifier l'incroyable complexite administrative de la France d'Ancien Regime; le divorce, introduit par une loi de 1792; le papier-monnaie, n'avec la creation d'assignats en 1789; le jury, cree en 1790 pour rendre la justice aux cotes des juges lors des proces criminels; le systeme metrique, base sur le calcul decimal, adopte par la loi du 7 avril 1795, et qui fait naitre le litre, le gramme, le metre, le stere, l'are et une nouvelle unite monetaire: le franc

• August 1793, British Fleet controlled the essential French city of Toulon
• French Revolution had begun 4 years earlier in which the French Republic caused King Louis XVI's head to have a disagreement with his shoulders and parted ways
• His decapitation in January 1793m led to anarchy and revolts against the French Republic; a horrified Britain, Holland, Spain, Austria, and Prussia formed a coalition to conquer France while it was weak
• Royalist supports in Toulon had welcomed the British into their city to defend against the French Republic; the Republic had few cannons, untrained soldiers, and short military and food supplies
• On his way for a minor post on the Italian front, a 24-year old Captain Napoleon Bonaparte stopped by Toulon to see a friend
• "Christianity declares that its kingdom is not of this world; how then can it stimulate affection for one's native land, how can it inspire any feelings but skepticism, indifference and coldness for human affairs and government?" Napoleon 1786
• Napoleon found the Republic's commanding officer to be injured; Napoleon took command of the artillery and moved the cannons to better positions; he then brought in food, horses, ammo, and firearms
• Napoleon began training his men and directed them to focus all firepower on a single weak spot in the British defense
• The first time the British were beaten back, Napoleon was promoted to major; the second time, he became and adjutant general
• In December, he sieged the British for 5 days with cannon fire, burned British ships and armories, and successfully moved his men into Toulon; he then became a brigadier general (a general had to be 25 years old, so he had to lie to get the post)
• He was 5'3"; his uniform was much too big for him, so he looked even smaller; he spoke French with a weird accent, and he was laughed at since his crumpled boots looked huge compared to his skinny legs
• The French Revolution consisted of peasants who were starved and abused by tyrant kings and of middle class who were tired of being rejected from the aristocracy; the Revolution led to a new, more organized, efficient, and centralized state; it brought the masses into power (they even invented their own religion with a "Supreme Being" and a new calendar with 12 renamed months)
• "When I had the honour to be a second lieutenant, I ate dry bread, but I never let anyone know that I was poor." Napoloeon
• Revolution was end of gentlemanly warfare; it was won by a savage army fueled by patriotism and were taught concepts such as massive troop concentrations and mobile warfare
• Napoleon's quick success is attributed to the fact that he was skilled in both of the new concepts
• "My success, and everything good that I have done, I owe it to my mother." Napoleon
• he was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica in the Mediterranean; 768, Genoa had given Corsica to the French - it was on the day of Napoleon's birth that Corsica was forced to celebrate its first year of being French
• his father, Carlo Maria Buonaparte (the U was dropped in 1796 to make it look French) was a lawyer; he and his wife, Letizia were members of petty nobility and had 8 children, with Napoleon being the second
• Napoleon, or Nabulio as he was called, had a terrible temper and constantly fought with other boys; his oversized head often threw him off balance
• At age of 10, Napoleon was granted a free education at the military academy of Brienne by his father's new assessor job
• Napoleon was laughed at for his poor French accent and the fact that he was not of French aristocracy; they nicknamed him the "little corporal"
• He was good at math because he was able to study all night since he had no friends; he never learned how to spell and write well (even when he was old, not even he could read his own writing)
• At age of 15, he was accepted to Ecole Militaire in Paris (founded by Louis XV); his classmates called him an uncivilized savage; Napoleon criticized everyone out of spite, including the teachers
• 1785, Napoleon was ready to take the exams to join the Navy when the exams were cancelled; at age 16, he chose to join the artillery and was commissioned as a second lieutenant (he was ranked 42^nd out of 56 artillery graduates by Louis XVI)
• his dad had died while Napoleon was in Paris; Napoleon took a post in Valence after graduation to send money to his mother, and later even when home to help his mother
• June 1788, he returned to the French regiments and was assigned to study "the throwing of bombs with cannons"; his young age and technical plans astonished his commanding officers
• July 14, 1789, a Paris mob stormed Bastille prison which stood as a symbol of tyranny; the French gov't was soon overthrown
• The New Republic passed laws that allowed petty nobility to join the aristocracy; Napoleon was thrilled
• He returned home again in 1789 in hope to join the Corsican aristocracy, then returned to the regiment to become a First lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery regiment, and returned home again in September 1791
• He joined the Corsican National Guard and attacked a royalist fortress; he did not return to France when called and he was charged with desertion in January 1792
• His brother urged him to return to Paris and plead with the minister of war; in Paris, Napoleon wrote back, "This country is being torn apart by some ferocious parties. It is hard to figure out what is going on among all the different factions. I do not know how things will turn out, but they will take a very revolutionary turn."
• Napoleon evaded punishment and was promoted to captain; his comission, July 30, 1792, was one of the last papers that King Louis XVI ever signed
• August 10, 1792, Napoleon watched in Paris as "the rabble" invaded Tuileries Palace and imprisoned the king; Napoleon later said that if he were king, he would not tolerate such unruly behaviour; this attack led to the creation of the National Convention
• October, Corsica entered Civil War to earn independence from the National Convention; Napoleon first fought on the side of the New Republic, then in April 1793, left for France with his family
• "In my family we kneel only to God." Napoleon as a cadet
• after victory at Toulon, as Inspector of Italian coasts, Napoleon met the aristocractic Desiree Clary; at fist, his baggy uniform made her laugh, but soon they were engaged to be married; she was his first great love
• her parents would not allow them to marry because Napoleon was only a minor general; they did not think that he would amount to anything more; however, the couple remained secretly engaged
• Napoleon returned to Nice and lived with the wealthy Joseph Laurenti who helped him get in touch with Maximilien Robespierre, who was the leader of the National Convention now that the king was dead
• To control the public, Max had established a Committee of Public Safety which executed anyone suspected of being an enemy of the Convention; this led to 50 000 deaths during the Reign of Terror
• Max accepted Napoleon as a commanding general after Napoleon showed him his plan to cross the Alps and take Italy from the Austrians
• Napoleon fell in love with 15 year old Emilie Laurenti who made him forget about Desiree; again, his marriage proposal was rejected by the Laurenties because of Napoleon's low wages; Napoleon never mentioned Emilie to Desiree at all
• July 1794, Napoleon returned to France after being in Genoa to find the Robespierre had been guillotined; the new, liberal French government suspended and arrested Napoleon for his relationship with Robespierre; an investigation cleared hi, but it took a long time until Napoleon got another post
• Meanwhile, emigres (royalists who fled France) were plotting to bring back the monarchy; Toulon and Lyon were in open rebellion; some regions, such as Vendee, had joined the royalists because the French Revolutionaries were against the Roman Catholic Church
• Napoleon was assigned to slaughtering the poor peasants of Vendee because there would be no use for artillery and it would not bring him fame; Napoleon took this to the minister of war who was so disgusted by Napoleon's bad accent that he cut his wages in half
• August, Napoleon was ordered to go to Vendee or be replaced; Napoleon pleaded to use the French army of Italy against Austria; the Committee assigned him to work on maps instead in the topographic bureau
• This is when he met Marie Josephe Reose de Beauharnais, his aristocratic "incomparable Josephine"; she was the widow of a man beheaded during the Reign of Terror and had two children, Hortense and Eugene; Napoleon forgot about Desiree again and fell for the flirtations of Josephe
• 1795, Convention drafts new constitution to consolidate power that would establish a 5-member ruling called the Directory; royalists attacked the Convention in hope to prevent the signing of the new constitution
• General Paul Barras asked Napoleon for help to fight the royalists; October 5, 1795, Napoleon's artillery killed 600 people and saved the Convention; Barras then appointed Napoleon deputy commander
• Barras became a director and resigned his military post; Napoleon succeeded him as Army of the Interior; March 1796, he was named commander in chief of Army of Italy; a week later, he married Josephine de Bauharnais
• They married on March 9, 1796 with Napoleon believing that Josephine was rich; Napoleon wrote that he was 2 years older than he really was, so Josephine took 4 years off of hers to 29
• Desiree threatened suicide when she found out; she later married a young captain named Bernadotte, a friend of Napoleon
• Napoleon was asked to plunder Italy because France had no money; France hoped to threaten Austria out of war by taking Italy (Austria declared war when Prussia gave the land west of the Rhine to France)
• The 27 000 man army that he was given had been sitting by the alps for 3 years; there was no food, no ammo, no money; Napoleon did not impress his generals by showing a picture of Josephine and forcing them to complement it
• Somehow, within 6 days, he got enough bread, meat, and brandy to last the army for 6 days; he spread out the rebellious soldiers throughout the battalions to diffuse their combined anger
• He gave them a speech: "Soldiers, you are naked and undernourished. The government owes you much, but can give you nothing… Your patience in bearing all privations and your courage in facing all kinds of danger have won the admiration of France. She is a witness to your hardships. You have no shoes or coats or shirts, and almost no food. Our supply depots are empty, while the enemy's still stuffed. It is up to you to capture them. You want to do it, and you can do it. Let's go!"
• April 2, 1796, Napoleon avoids a heavily protected pass through the Alps and instead attacked Genoese territory; he beat the Austro-Sardinian forces 4 times and on April 28, Sardinia agreed to a truce; Austrians retreated to Milan
• Napoleon then said to his men: "Soldiers! Up to this time you have fought for nothing better than barren rocks - which although made famous by your courage, are useless to the fatherland… Lacking everything, you have made up for everything you lacked. You have won battles without cannon, crossed rivers without bridges, made forced marches without boots, and bivouacked without brandy and often without bread. Only the soldiers of liberty could have endured what you have endured! For all this, my thanks… You still have battles to fight, cities to take, and rivers to cross. You have done nothing, since you have everything to do…"
• Napoleon tricked the Austrian forces into thinking he would cross the Po River at Valenza by writing it in his Sardinian treaty; he instead crossed the Piacenza river and at the battle of Lodi, the province of Lombardy became his; Archduke Ferdinand soon left Milan and abandoned it to Napoleon
• With the help of the citizens of Milan, Napoleon conquered the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the duchies of Modena and Parma, and Bologna and Ferrara
• The Directory was growing concerned because the soldiers loved Napoleon and did not care that he was making every treaty by himself
• Napoleon had more than a month of trouble in the conquest of Mantua; January 1797, the Austrians divide their Mantua troops into two; Napoleon quickly wiped out the left flank and the right flank fled
• April 1797, treaty of Leoben made peace with Napoleon just days before he was ready to march into Vienna
• When the Directors complained about his actions in Italy, Napoleon reminded them how much money they were earning from him and usually threatened to return to France; the Directors didn't want Napoleon to return or else the French may revolt for him
• In the next French election, the royalists were elected to nearly as many seats as the Directors; the Directors called for Napoleon's help to save their Republic with force
• Other famous French revolutionary generals were Louis Hoche, Jean Victor Moreau, and Charles Pichegru
• Karl Marx, German philosopher, said "Napoleon created inside France the conditions that made it possible for free competition to develop, for the redistributed land to be exploited, and for the newly liberated productive energy of the nation to be put to use; beyond the borders of France, he swept away the feudal institutions"
• Instead of going himself, Napoleon sent his general, Pierre Augereau; by September 4, he had defeated the royalists
• October 17, 1797, Treaty of Campo-Formio is signed; Austria was left control of most of Italy, French took Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands) and much of Italy, and France got the left side of the Rhine; during negotiations; Napoleon told an Austria ambassador who broke a dish that "I will break you in the same way"
• When Napoleon the hero returned to France, the Directors quickly got rid of him and gave him the Army of England; since the soldiers given to him were so poor, Napoleon recommended that he conquer Egypt and Malta instead
• May 19, 1798, with 300 ships and 30 000 soldiers, he set sail for Egypt; British Lord Horatio Nelson tried to intercept the fleet but accidentally sailed right by; Napoleon took over Malta and Alexandria within a few days
• Jacques-Louis David was Napoleon's First Painter of the Empire; one of his paintings was Napoleon Crossing the St. Bernard Pass
• Napoleon once said "I treat politics like war. I hoodwink one flank so as to trounce the other"
• Napoleon easily gained the support of the Egyptians by making him seem as their saviour against the Mamelukes; he told Alexandria, "Peoples of Egypt, you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion. Do not believe it! Reply that I have come to restore your rights and to punish the usurpers, and that I respect God, his prophet, and the Koran more than the Mamelukes do… What wisdom, what talents, what virtues distinguish the Mamelukes, so that they have exclusive possession of everything that makes life sweet and enjoyable? Is there a beautiful slave girl, a fine horse, a handsome house? Those things, too, belong to the Mamelukes. If Egypt is their farm, let them show us the lease that God gave them on it"
• Although Napoleon lost many soldiers in the desert, he easily defeated the Mamelukes in the Battle of Pyramids and took Cairo; Napoleon said "Soldiers, consider that from the summit of these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you"
• However, Admiral Horatio Nelson then found the French fleet at Aboukir Bay and sunk most of the fleet, stranding Napoleon in Egypt
• Napoleon soon ran out of money and food and made enemies out of the Egyptians by heavily taxing them; December 1798, bubonic plague struck; meanwhile, Napoleon's scientists uncover mummified cats and birds, oriental music, maps, the Rosetta Stone (has Greek translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs that Champollion used in 1821 to decipher the ancient language), and made plans for the Suez Canal (to be built in 1859)
• February 1799, Napoleon invades Syria but is defeated by Turks and British at Acrea; he once said "Unavoidable wars are always just"
• July, the Turks invade Alexandria but are repelled by the plague-ridden French; after, Napoleon got hold of a French newspaper that reported Austria, Russia, Britain, and Turkey had formed into a second coalition and pushed the French out of Italy, and conquered Germany and Switzerland; he also learned that the royalists had gotten back into power
• August 22, 1799, Napoleon sneaked out of Egypt with 5 generals and 2 scientists; when he arrived, he learned that the Directory member Emmanuel Sieyes wanted to limit parliament power and make the Directory stronger through a coup d'etat (takeover supported by the army); Sieyes enlisted Napoleon, Foreign Minister Charles Talleyrand, and Napoleon's brother Lucien (president of Council of 5 Hundred) to overthrow the Directory
• November 9, 1799, Lucien uses the excuse of terrorism to force the entire parliament to the palace of Saint-Cloud near Paris; this was the beginning of the coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire (18^th day of the month of mists)
• Angered at Saint-Cloud, the parliament attacked Napoleon who had to be rescued by his general; outside, he faintly said, "They wanted to kill me; they wanted to outlaw me"
• To restore order, Lucien told the legislative guards that lunatics were threatening to kill the parliament; the guards rushed inside with bayonets raised; in sight of armed men, the parliament jumped out of the windows
• In fear, parliament decided to annex the Directory and replace it with a Consulate composed of Sieyes, Napoleon and Roger Ducos
• Although Sieyes drafted the new constitution, the people loved Napoleon; he threatened that unless he was given his way, Sieyes would be knee deep in blood; Napoleon was then named Fire Consul for 10 years
• Napoleon then said "Being in the Tuileries is not everything: what matters is to stay here"
• February 7, 1800, Consulate holds a plebiscite; 3 million + voted for Napoleon and the new constitution, 1500 did not
• While in his new home of the Tuileries, he filled the treasury and made plans to conquer Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy
• He took 22000 men across the frozen Alps over the Great St. Bernard pass into North Italy but was ambushed by 35000 Austrian troops; by afternoon of June 14, 1800, it seemed as if Napoleon would lose the Battle of Marengo
• Then French reinforcements led by General Desaix arrived; Desaix said "It is 3 o'clock. The battle is lost. But we have time to fight another"; Napoleon won the battle by the end of the day, and this decisive defeat broke apart the Second Coalition
• As First Consul, Napoleon said "All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity"; Napoleon used his popularity to give himself incredible political power; he invited back the royalist emigres to unite France
• Pope Pius VI had condemned French for stealing Church land; 1801, Napoleon signs the Concordat agreement with Catholic Church to please the religious French; it gave freedom of religion with Catholicism as the official one; French would pay the clergy and Pope gave its land in France to what they now recognized as a republic
• Napoleon set up the Council of State as his head of gov't, set in all of its sessions, and countersigned every decision; Napoleon divided France into today's 98 administrative departments to establish an efficient gov't
• Napoleon prevented members of gov't to take whatever they wanted from the treasury; he created the Bank of France that loaned money to every Frenchman, rich or otherwise; he said "Clever policy consists of making nations believe that they are free"
• Napoleonic Code (rephrased and clarified old laws) laid the foundation for most of modern Europe's laws
• Napoleon filled the Louvre with bronze horses of St. Mark's Cathedral, Venus of Medici, & Raphael's Transfiguration; he then kept making treaty after treaty that gave more and more to France
• 1801, Austria signs Treaty of Luneville; Napoleon makes peace with USA and persuades Tsar Paul I of Russia to leave Britain's coalition; 1802, Britain signs Treaty of Amiens; Napoleon set up parks, roads, schools, and encouraged science and technology
• he portrayed himself as guardian of the Revolution: "We have finished with the romance of the revolution, we must now begin its history. We must see what was real and politically possible in its principles, instead of grasping at their speculative and hypothetical side"
• 1800, a wagon filled with explosives blew up near Napoleon on his way to the opera; he was furious and blamed left-wing radicals; he executed many suspects, closed down 64 of 73 French newspapers, censored the theatre, was informed of the info of every released book, journal, and announcement; private letters were opened, people were jailed without trial; yet after Treaty of Amiens, France voted Napoleon as First Consul for life
• once, Napoleon asked his soldiers why they fidgeted with their necks but they would not answer honestly; he told them to not be afraid to complain to him, and their admitted that the collars were too tight; Napoleon instantly ordered new uniforms
• 1804, Napoleon discovers that the émigré Georges Cadoudal was plotting against his life; Napoleon had him executed and sent his men into Germany to kidnap the duke of Enghiem; the duke was innocent of helping in the Cadoudal plot but because he was part of the Bourbon family, he was executed by firing squad
• 1804, Parliament declares Napoleon emperor of France and his title was to be hereditary, and the French vote overwhelmingly for him, now Emperor Napoleon I
• Napoleon revived the symbols of Charlemagne's reign; he carried his sword and set up court at Charlemagne's capital, Aix-la-Chapelle
• Napoleon convinced the Pope to coronate him in Paris; Pope Pius advised Napoleon to have a religious wedding with Josephine before the coronation
• December 2, 1804, Napoleon and Josephine arrive 2 hours late at the cathedral of Notre Dame; when Pius raised to crown to coronate, Napoleon seized it and crowned himself; he sat in his throne, crowned Josephine, looked at his brother and said "If only our father could see us!"; meanwhile, he mother Letizia said "So long as it lasts…"
• Napoleon also stated "In the eyes of those who found empires, men are not men but tools"
• He would wake at 7 am and read letters well past midnight everyday; he dictated all his memos, attended every Council of State meeting; once when his ministers fell asleep, he woke them up and told them to earn their money; he misses so many meals that chickens were cooked right after the other so a warm one would be ready when he finally does come
• 1803, Britain declares war again on France; Napoleon then massed his troops at Bologna on English Channel; he ordered his engineers to dig a tunnel under the channel or invade Britain by hot air balloons; Napoleon feared England because he was not a naval specialist
• October 1805, Admiral Horatio Nelson traps French navy at Cape Trafalgar; his outnumbered fleet crushes the French fleet but though only one British ship is sunk, Nelson lost his life
• 1805, Napoleon conquers Genoa and declares himself king of Italy, which causes Holy Roman Emperor Francis II of Austria to fear Napoleon ; also, Tsar Alexander I of Russia was outraged at duke of Enghien's death; in summer, Britain unites with Russia, Austria, Sweden and Naples to form the Third Coalition
• Napoleon matched 200 000 soldiers of his "Grand Army" into Germany and easily beats Austrians at Ulm; November, he marches into Vienna; December 2, he wipes out the combined forces of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz
• Russia retreated soon after and Austria signs the Treaty of Pressburg in which they recognize Napoleon as Emperor of Italy; 1806, Francis II gives up his title and Germany (including the Confederation of the Rhine) and Austria join France
• With Austria's defeat, Prussia declares war; October 14, 1806 the Prussians lose to Napoleon's shifting tactics at battle of Jena and Auerstadt; Napoleon was proud that he had beaten the army formed by one of his heroes, the Prussian Frederick the Great, and conquered Prussia
• Napoleon realized that he could not defeat Britain at sea so he began the Continental System; he ordered a boycott of all British imports and all exports leaving for England through it was not successful due to smuggling
• Meanwhile, Napoleon marched into Poland to find that there were no farms there to feed his soldiers during the winter; it was here that Napoleon had a love affair with Maria Walewska, an 18-year old Pole who was one of many Polish who demanded liberation by the French
• They met when she appeared by his carriage and begged for liberty; by the time she disappeared in the crowds, Napoleon was in love; he ordered a large search and found her in Warsaw; he invited her to a ball, she refused, but all of Poland pressured her to go in hope it'll make Napoleon free them; she then fell in love with him and left her husband in the winter of 1806-1807
• February 8, 1807, Napoleon now had only 55 000 troops and Russia arrived with 80 000 at Eylau; Napoleon was very disorganized and because the ground was covered in snow and mud, he would have lost the battle if two fresh French battalions hadn't arrived; he later said "For Poland, God created a fifth element: mud"
• By the way, 1806 was the year of British PM William Pitt died
• News reached France that Napoleon had reached a stalemate; Napoleon instantly demanded for more men and in May 1807, he invaded Russia; June 14 on 7^th anniversary of superstitious Napoleon's victory at Marengo, Napoleon defeats Russians at Friedland; Tsar Alexander agreed after to negotiate
• The two leaders met on a raft on Nieman River; they grew great respect for each other and Napoleon even said "Were Alexander a woman, I think I should fall madly in love with him!"
• 1810, Maria has a son with Napoleon - Count Alexandre Walewski, who later fought for Polish independence
• July 1807, Napoleon, Alexander, & Frederick William of Prussia sign the Treaty of Tilsit; Prussia lost half of its population and territory and was forced in participating in Continental System; Russia lost some land along the Mediterranean and recognized Grand Duchy of Warsaw, a state created by Napoleon out of the Prussia part of Poland; Alexander also promised to ally with France if Britain does not agree to peace
• Because his kingdom was so vast, he split it up; he gave Naples to his brother Joseph; he gave the Netherlands to his brother Louis who had married Josephine's daughter Hortense; he gave Westphalia (Prussia) to his brother Jerome who married Catherine, the daughter of the king of German Wurttenberg; General Murat who had married Napoleon's sister Caroline was given Berg (a part of Germany); Tuscany was given to his sister Elisa; his sister Pauline was given Guastalla; Josephine's son Eugene de Beauharnais served as vice-roy of Italy; and Count Bernodotte, the husband of Desiree Clary, was given Ponte Corvo and Sweden
• Napoleon owned Spain, parts of Portugal, France, Italy, the Papal States, Milan, Genoa, Corsica, Belearic Islands, Confederation of the Rhine, Austria, Germany, Westphalia, Prussia, Ukraine, Western Russia, Sweden, and Poland
• Napoleon's foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand believed that power had gotten to Napoleon's head and began to plot behind his back; he made Tsar Alexander hate Napoleon and helped rebuild the army of Austria
• Shortly after battle of Austerlitz and Jena, Napoleon learned that he had a son through his short affair with Eleonore Revel and that Maria Walewska was pregnant; Napoleon wanted an heir so he decided to divorce his closest friend, Josephine; when he told her of this, she threw a tantrum and fainted
• 1808 in meeting with Tsar Alexander of Erfurt, Napoleon asked for hand of Grand Duchess Anna but due to Talleyrand, the Tsar declined
• 1807, Napoleon decides to invade Portugal who would not join the Continental System; Charles IV of Spain permitted Napoleon to march his armies through Spain to invade Portugal and Napoleon kept sending more and more troops into Spain; 1808, Ferdinand VII rose against Charles and Napoleon lured them both to Talleyrand's chateau; he forced to them to give up their throne, locked them in the castle, and pronounced his brother Joseph as king of Spain
• soon, the Ferdinand-loyal Spaniards revolted; Spain was too poor to supply the French soldiers and supply lines were always collapsing; the French could not defeat Spain because of the Spanish guerilla warfare; 1808, Britain then sent soldiers to Portugal where the French were defeated in August; Napoleon immediately sent most of his soldiers to reinforce Spain and this Peninsular War became a stalemate
• 1809, Austrian Archduke Charles attacked Bavaria and took Napoleon by surprise; although Bavaria had barely any French soldiers left, Napoleon still pushed the Austrians back and actually reinvaded Vienna; July 1809, Napoleon pushes the Austrians out of Aspern and barely defeats the Austrians at Wagnam; October, the Austrians sign Treaty of Schonbrunn
• December 1809, he divorced Josephine to marry 18-year old Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria to soften Austrian hatred against him; also, he liked how she had already had 13 children
• To impress the princess, he redecorated his castle, hired new shoemakers and tailors, and learned the waltz; Marie Louise hated Napoleon the Austrian conqueror and could not stand how short he was; they married in spring of 1810 and she soon grew fond of him; March 20, 1811, she gave birth to Francois-Charles Joseph who was named the new king of Rome
• His brother Lucien who defend him at Council of Five Hundred in 1799 turned on him after he became First Consul; Lucien left for Italy and became prince of Canino; Pope Pius was furious when Napoleon took over Rome and excommunicated him; Napoleon arrested Pius and the Pope's friend Lucien ran away to Britain
• As for Napoleon's other brothers, Louis left the Netherlands to get away from the Continental System, Joseph did not care about the Peninsular war and only acted as King of Spain because Napoleon wanted him to; and brother Jerome, king of Westphalia, hated politics and state affairs
• His sisters were not helpful either; princess Pauline got into one scandal after another; Grand duchess Elisa only governed Tuscanny to gain popularity; Queen Caroline wanted to kill Napoleon and his son so her son could earn the throne
• 1810, Bernadotte forgot about his loyalty to Napoleon and chose to make Sweden his heart
• Continental system was a failure because it did not hurt Britain but it hurt France's economy and made France look like a tyrant
• 1811 when Russia went into economic recession, Tsar Alexander defied Continental System; December, Napoleon assembled an army of half a million to invade Russia
• June 24, 1812, Napoleon crosses Nieman River with his Grand Army; however, Russia was so large that the French soon had no food and those who searched for farms were caught by Cossacks, peasant calvary of Ukraine
• Horses became diseased and 10000 died in the hot summer; Russia was also burning crops, filling wells, and burning towns with their scorched-earth policy; after more than 2 months, Napoleon still hadn't met the Russians, could no longer move his artillery, and had only taken scorched land
• September 7, 1812, Napoleon meets Russians at Borodino 70 miles west of Moscow; his army was only 250000 and he had a bad cold and a bladder infection (Tiger said he had herpes); Napoleon soon lost interest in the battle and left his generals to fight; Russia was defeated but Napoleon had lost 40000 men
• September 14, Napoleon with 100000 men marched into Moscow to find the Kremlin as a ghost town; as soon as his men moved into the empty homes, the Russians burnt the whole city to the ground
• Napoleon waited in Moscow for Alexander to surrender but no response came; October 18, it began to snow and Napoleon decided to retreat; Napoleon tried to use Kaluga road to France which had food and water, but on October 23, Russians forced him back onto Smolensk road, the road he had used to get to Russia
• Soon, the cold was at 20 below zero and soldiers dropped dead from starvation; all the treasures of Moscow were left behind with artillery and men
• November 26, 1812, the remaining 26000 troops reached the frozen Bersina River; the bridges had all been destroyed and it took 3 days to cross with Russians and Cossacks constantly attacking; Napoleon himself had been captured but was released because he was of small stature and was not identified; he vowed to never be captured again and wore a dose of poison in a silk pouch around his neck
• Talleyrand meanwhile worked hard to restore the monarchy, and General Malet staged a nearly successful coup d'etat of his own
• Though Napoleon only had 10000 men left, he merely said "My army took some losses"; "My star was fading. I felt the reigns slipping out of my grasp, and could do nothing to stop it"; he had laid out his own downfall by giving organized governments to Italy and Germany and united their people together
• Napoleon commented about the Germans "The Empire is an old serving woman who is used to being raped by everyone"
• Due to revolts, Prussian King Frederick William ended his alliance with Prussia and joined the Russians; Britain and Bernadotte's Sweden joined in as well; Austria declared on August 10, 1813 their fifth war since Napoleon's plebiscite; a fourth coalition had been formed
• Napoleon won major battles against Russia and Prussia in spring of 1813 but was driven out of Spain by Arthur Wellesley of England in June; Britain was by the Pyrenees in October to invade France and Germany had revolted against Napoleon as well
• Napoleon made his stand at Leipzig, Germany on October 16, 1813, against Austria, Russia, and Prussia; at this Battle of the Nations, Napoleon inflicted huge amounts of damage on the enemy but was too outnumbered and was forced to retreat
• 1813, Britain offers peace if France returned to its borders of 1792; Napoleon refused and assembled an army of teenagers; they were completely inexperienced yet in 1814, they waged an impressive campaign
• March 30, 1814 while Napoleon was in battle with his young troops in east France, the British sneaked into Paris and took it over; Napoleon immediately wanted to retake his capital, but his generals refused
• Talleyran convinced the English to recognize Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, as king of France; April 6, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and the Bourbon family was back on the throne; Bonaparte said "After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune, the man of genius always gets back on his feet"
• Napoleon took the poison he wore since 1812 but it was now too weak to kill; he was forced into exile on the tiny island of Elba; as he walked through the streets of France, he was called "tyrant" and "butcher" and was forced to travel to Elba is disguise; Elba was an 86 mile squared island off the coast of Corsica and Napoleon kept with him several hundred loyal soldiers
• February 26, 1815, Napoleon escapes from Elba with 1000 men; at Grenoble, he told them "If any one of you wishes to kill his general and emperor, let him do it here; here I am" - the soldiers instead cheered; at Grenoble, Napoleon was greeted by men bringing the shattered gates of the city who said "They would not give you the keys, so we brought you the door"
• France did not trust the Bourbon family and the emigres; in Lyon, he assembled an army of 14000 with his former General Ney who had deserted him when he wanted to take back Paris; Napoleon arrived in Paris on March 20, 10 months after he left, to a cheering crowd
• The English were prepared, however; they allied with the Prussians and landed their troops in Belgium; Napoleon assembled an army of 128 000 men that was dwarfed by the 200 000 English in Belgium; nevertheless, Napoleon chose to make his stand at Waterloo
• The English were commanded by Wellesley, the new duke of Wellington; Napoleon's generals were afraid of him so he said "Because you have been beaten by Wellington, you consider him a great general. And I tell you that Wellington is a bad general, that the English are bad soldiers, and the whole thing will be a walkover… We shall sleep in Brussels tonight"
• June 8, 1815, Napoleon faces Wellington at Waterloo and Napoleon was on the verge of victory when he said "I've got them. They're ours"; however, Prussian reinforcements arrived while no more French did and by nightfall, Napoleon was forced to race back to Paris in tears - his hundred days of power were over; Wellington won because he had nearly twice as much artillery as Napoleon with twice as many men (30000 of Napoleon's men were out fighting Prussians); England also had high ground advantage and perfect field position, yet Wellington called Waterloo a "damned nice thing" because it was so close
• June 22, 1815, Napoleon is caught trying to escape for America; in October 1815, Napoleon was transported by the British ship Bellerophon to St. Helena, a tiny island in the middle of the South Atlantic; Josephine had died in 1814 and Marie Louise had run away when Paris was taken by the British; his beloved heir, Francois-Charles-Joseph, lived a short life; when he learned of his exile, Napoleon cried "I appeal to history!"; he spent the rest of his life dictating his memoirs and fighting with his British governor who would not accept packages addressed to "Emperor Napoleon"
• Napoleon wrote "I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of that French people which I have loved so much… I die before my time, killed by the English oligarchy and its hired assassins"
• May 5, 1821, Napoleon died and was buried on St. Helena; it was thought that he died of stomach cancer like his father but chemical analysis by Sten Forshufvud showed that Napoleon died of Arsenic poisoning, most likely by Charles-Tristan de Montholon, a Bourbon prince who became King Charles X in 1824
• Arsenic poisoning was a slow killer that was mistaken for other illnesses; the treatment of these illnesses was calomel, which sped up the killing process and wiped out most traces of arsenic; 40 years after his death, his coffin was moved to Paris and opened - the crowds were shocked to see that Napoleon was perfectly preserved; the cause of this was the Arsenic, because it acts like a preservative
• Napoleon had made united the people of Italy and Germany, made USA into a power by selling Louisiana, he weakened Spain and allowed Latin America to revolt, and restrengthened the power of the Catholic Church; 1852, Napoleon's nephew took the tile of Napoleon III and proclaimed the Second Empire; he began Bonapartism - belief in dictatorship elected by the people - which continues to be a power political power in France today
• Thomas Jefferson said "There was no safety to nations while he was permitted to roam at large. But the putting him to death in cold blood by lingering tortures of mind, by vexations, insults, and deprivations was a degree of inhumanity o which the poisonings and assassinations of the school of Borgia and the den of Marat never attained"; John Adams put in "I hope that Reason will never again rashly and hastily create such Creatures as him. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, and Humanity will never again, I hope, blindly surrender themselves toi an unbounded Ambition for national conquests"
• Napoleon said shortly after the battle of Waterloo: "I felt that fortune was abandoning me. I no longer had the feeling that I was sure to succeed… When a man does not act boldly, he never does anything at just the right moment; and a man does not act boldly unless he is convinced that luck is on his side…"

IvanF's Happy Millenium! Top 7 places to be in the world when 1999 turned to 2000 (I have no idea why this is here; it just is...):

1. Paris, France - had huge Ferris-Wheels that looked like a moving train; as the seconds of the millenium

decreased, golden sparks climbed up the Eiffel Tower

2. Sydney, Australia - big explosion, I love nukes, nuff said
3. Athens, Greece - blue women holding blue candles sang around the Parthenon
4. Toronto, Ontario - the CN Tower burst into green flames, and the fireworks from Canada's destroyers stayed

visible in the air for minutes at a time; Oh, Canada!

5. London, England - nothing special here but about 400 tons of fireworks that lit up the entire Thames River
6. New York - 4 tons of special, glittery confetti and a glowing, crystal time ball
7. Madrid, Spain - sorry, Berlin; your laser shows were beaten out by Spain's holographic earth; and sorry, Washington DC, but your hologram of the world 2000 just stunk

IvanF Y2kk 2000