Military career of Napoleon Bonaparte
Encyclopedia
The military career of Napoleon Bonaparte spanned over 20 years. As emperor, he led the French Armies in the Napoleonic Wars
.
August 15 - Napoleon
born Nabulione di Buonaparte in Ajaccio
, Corsica
.
1778
December 15 - Napoleon leaves Corsica for France
.
1779
January 1 - Napoleon enters religious school at Autun
.
May 15 - Napoleon enters cadet school at Brienne.
1784
October 30 - Napoleon enters École Militaire
in Paris
.
1785
September 1 - Napoleon graduates from École Militaire
and is commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery.
October 30 - Napoleon reports to first posting with the La Fère Artillery Regiment at Valence-sur-Rhône
.
1786
September 1 - Napoleon goes to Corsica on long furlough until June 1788.
1788
June - Napoleon rejoins his regiment at Auxonne
, attached to School of Artillery.
1789
September 15 - Napoleon goes on second leave to Corsica, becomes involved in revolutionary activities and attempts to gain favour with Pasquale Paoli
.
1791
February 10 - Napoleon returns from Corsica to regimental duty at Auxonne.
April 1 - Napoleon promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
September 1 - Napoleon's third furlough to Corsica.
1792
February 6 - Napoleon promoted to Captain (antedated).
April 1 - Napoleon is elected Lieutenant Colonel, 2nd Battalion, Corsican Volunteers. Is implicated in a riot in Ajaccio.
May 28 - Napoleon returns to Paris, instead of rejoining his regiment.
September 15 - Napoleon escorts his sister, Elisa, back to Corsica.
1793
February 22–25 - Napoleon commands artillery during an abortive French landing on Maddalena Island
, Sardinia
.
March 3 - Napoleon breaks with Paoli, blaming the failed landing on him.
June 13 - Napoleon and his family arrive in Toulon
, having been banished from Corsica by Paoli.
August 27 - Toulon handed over to the British by Royalists
.
September 16 - Napoleon given command of artillery besieging Toulon.
October 18 - Napoleon promoted to Major.
December 17–19 - Successful recapture of Toulon from British and Royalists.
December 22 - Napoleon promoted to Brigadier General.
Defeats
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Early career
1769August 15 - Napoleon
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
born Nabulione di Buonaparte in Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
, Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
.
1778
December 15 - Napoleon leaves Corsica for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
1779
January 1 - Napoleon enters religious school at Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
.
May 15 - Napoleon enters cadet school at Brienne.
1784
October 30 - Napoleon enters École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
1785
September 1 - Napoleon graduates from École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
and is commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery.
October 30 - Napoleon reports to first posting with the La Fère Artillery Regiment at Valence-sur-Rhône
Valence, Drôme
Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...
.
1786
September 1 - Napoleon goes to Corsica on long furlough until June 1788.
1788
June - Napoleon rejoins his regiment at Auxonne
Auxonne
Auxonne is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in Bourgogne in eastern France.Auxonne is one of the sites of the defensive structures of Vauban, clearly seen from the train bridge as it enters the Auxonne SNCF train station on the Dijon - Besançon train line. It also was home to the Artillery...
, attached to School of Artillery.
1789
September 15 - Napoleon goes on second leave to Corsica, becomes involved in revolutionary activities and attempts to gain favour with Pasquale Paoli
Pasquale Paoli
Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli , was a Corsican patriot and leader, the president of the Executive Council of the General Diet of the People of Corsica...
.
1791
February 10 - Napoleon returns from Corsica to regimental duty at Auxonne.
April 1 - Napoleon promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
September 1 - Napoleon's third furlough to Corsica.
1792
February 6 - Napoleon promoted to Captain (antedated).
April 1 - Napoleon is elected Lieutenant Colonel, 2nd Battalion, Corsican Volunteers. Is implicated in a riot in Ajaccio.
May 28 - Napoleon returns to Paris, instead of rejoining his regiment.
September 15 - Napoleon escorts his sister, Elisa, back to Corsica.
1793
February 22–25 - Napoleon commands artillery during an abortive French landing on Maddalena Island
La Maddalena
La Maddalena is a town and comune located on the island with the same name, in northern Sardinia, part of the province of Olbia-Tempio, Italy.-The town:...
, Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
March 3 - Napoleon breaks with Paoli, blaming the failed landing on him.
June 13 - Napoleon and his family arrive in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, having been banished from Corsica by Paoli.
August 27 - Toulon handed over to the British by Royalists
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
.
September 16 - Napoleon given command of artillery besieging Toulon.
October 18 - Napoleon promoted to Major.
December 17–19 - Successful recapture of Toulon from British and Royalists.
December 22 - Napoleon promoted to Brigadier General.
Battles
Victories- Siege of ToulonSiege of ToulonThe Siege of Toulon was an early Republican victory over a Royalist rebellion in the Southern French city of Toulon. It is also often known as the Fall of Toulon.-Context:...
(1793) - 13 Vendémiaire13 Vendémiaire13 Vendémiaire Year 4 is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris...
(1795) - MontenotteBattle of MontenotteThe Battle of Montenotte was fought on 12 April 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, between the French army under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian corps under Count Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau. The battle was fought near the village of Cairo Montenotte, in northwestern Italy, and...
(1796) - Second DegoSecond Battle of DegoThe Second Battle of Dego was fought on 14 and 15 April 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars between French forces and Austro-Sardinian forces...
(1796) - MondovìBattle of MondoviThe Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Ligurian Alps behind them, while the plains of Piedmont lay...
(1796) - LodiBattle of LodiThe Battle of Lodi was fought on May 10, 1796 between French forces under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian rear guard led by Karl Philipp Sebottendorf at Lodi, Lombardy...
(1796) - LonatoBattle of LonatoThe Battle of Lonato was fought on 3 and 4 August 1796 between the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte and a corps-sized Austrian column led by Feldmarschallleutnant Peter Quasdanovich. A week of hard-fought actions that began on 29 July and ended on 4 August resulted in the...
(1796) - CastiglioneBattle of CastiglioneThe Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of Habsburg Austria led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at...
(1796) - BassanoBattle of BassanoThe Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The battle ended in a French victory...
(1796) - RoveretoBattle of RoveretoIn the Battle of Rovereto on 4 September 1796 a French army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated an Austrian corps led by Paul Davidovich during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars...
(1796) - Bridge of ArcoleBattle of the Bridge of ArcoleThe Battle of Arcole, or Battle of Arcola saw a bold manœuvre by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army of Italy to outflank the Austrian army under József Alvinczi and cut its line of retreat...
(1796) - RivoliBattle of RivoliThe Battle of Rivoli was a key victory in the French campaign in Italy against Austria. Napoleon Bonaparte's 23,000 Frenchmen defeated an attack of 28,000 Austrians under Feldzeugmeister Jozsef Alvinczi, ending Austria's fourth and final attempt to relieve the Siege of Mantua...
(1797) - MantuaSiege of Mantua (1796-1797)In the Siege of Mantua, which lasted from 4 July 1796 to 2 February 1797 with a short break, French forces under the overall command of Napoleon Bonaparte besieged and blockaded a large Austrian garrison for many months until it surrendered...
(1796-1797) - Chobrakit (1798)
- PyramidsBattle of the PyramidsThe Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. It occurred during France's Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where Napoleon put into use one of his significant...
(1798) - El ArishSiege of El ArishIn the Siege of El Arish French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Ottoman forces in the fortress in an eleven-day siege. It fell on February 19, 1799.-Forces:*French: 2,160 under General Jean Reynier....
(1799) - JaffaSiege of JaffaThe Siege of Jaffa was fought from 3 to 7 March 1799 between France and the Ottoman Empire. The French were led by Napoleon Bonaparte, and they captured the city.-Course:...
(1799) - Mount TaborBattle of Mount TaborThe Battle of Mount Tabor, or Skirmish of Mount Tabor, opposed French forces under General Kleber to an Ottoman force led by the Pasha of Damascus on 16 April 1799. General Bonaparte was besieging Acre, and Damascus sent its army to relieve the siege...
(1799) - AbukirBattle of Abukir (1799)The Battle of Abukir was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army on 25 July 1799 during the French invasion of Egypt...
(1799) - Marengo (1800)
- UlmBattle of UlmThe Battle of Ulm was a series of minor skirmishes at the end of Napoleon Bonaparte's Ulm Campaign, culminating in the surrender of an entire Austrian army near Ulm in Württemberg....
(1805) - AusterlitzBattle of AusterlitzThe Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
(1805) - Jena-AuerstedtBattle of Jena-AuerstedtThe twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
(1806) - Poland Uprising (1806)
- EylauBattle of EylauThe Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
(1807) - FriedlandBattle of FriedlandThe Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
(1807) - SomosierraBattle of SomosierraThe Battle of Somosierra occurred November 30, 1808 in the Peninsular War, when a French army under Napoleon I forced a passage through the Sierra de Guadarrama shielding Madrid....
(1808) - Teugn-HausenBattle of Teugen-HausenThe Battle of Teugen-Hausen or the Battle of Thann was fought on 19 April 1809 between the French III Corps led by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and the Austrian III Armeekorps commanded by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The French won a hard-fought victory over their...
(1809) - AbensbergBattle of AbensbergThe Battle of Abensberg took place on 20 April 1809, between a Franco-German force under the command of Emperor Napoleon I of France and a reinforced Austrian corps led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke Louis of Austria. As the day wore on, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller arrived with...
(1809) - LandshutBattle of Landshut (1809)The Battle of Landshut took place on April 21, 1809, between the French, Württembergers and Bavarians under Napoleon which numbered about 77,000 strong, and 36,000 Austrians under the General Johann von Hiller...
(1809) - EckmühlBattle of EckmühlThe Battle of Eckmühl fought on 21 April – 22 April 1809, was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign, also known as the War of the Fifth Coalition...
(1809) - WagramBattle of WagramThe Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
(1809) - SmolenskBattle of Smolensk (1812)The Battle of Smolensk, the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia took place on August 16–18, 1812, between 175,000 men of the Grande Armée under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Barclay de Tolly, though only about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged...
(1812) - BorodinoBattle of BorodinoThe Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
(1812) - BerezinaBattle of BerezinaThe Battle of Berezina took place November 26–29, 1812 between the French army of Napoleon, retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina , and the Russian armies under Mikhail Kutuzov, Peter Wittgenstein and Admiral Pavel Chichagov. The battle ended with a mixed outcome...
(1812) - LützenBattle of Lützen (1813)In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...
(1813) - BautzenBattle of BautzenIn the Battle of Bautzen a combined Russian/Prussian army was pushed back by Napoleon, but escaped destruction, some sources claim, because Michel Ney failed to block their retreat...
(1813) - DresdenBattle of DresdenThe Battle of Dresden was fought on 26–27 August 1813 around Dresden, Germany, resulting in a French victory under Napoleon I against forces of the Sixth Coalition of Austrians, Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Schwartzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory was not as complete as it could...
(1813) - HanauBattle of HanauThe Battle of Hanau was fought on between Karl Philipp von Wrede’s Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition....
(1813) - BrienneBattle of BrienneThe Battle of Brienne was fought on January 29, 1814, and resulted in the victory of Emperor Napoleon I's French forces over the Russian and Prussian forces commanded by the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Prince von Blücher....
(1814) - ChampaubertBattle of ChampaubertThe Battle of Champaubert was the opening engagement of the Six Days Campaign. It was fought on February 10, 1814 by a French force under Napoleon I against Russians and Prussians under General Olssufiev...
(1814) - MontmirailBattle of MontmirailThe Battle of Montmirail was a battle fought near Montmirail, France, during the Six Days Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on February 11, 1814, and resulted in the victory of the French under Emperor Napoleon I over the Russians under General Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken and the...
(1814) - Château-ThierryBattle of Château-Thierry (1814)The Battle of Château-Thierry occurred on 12 February 1814 between a Prussian army under Marshal von Blücher and the French under Emperor Napoleon I...
(1814) - VauchampsBattle of VauchampsThe Battle of Vauchamps, the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition, was fought on 14 February 1814...
(1814) - MormansBattle of MormansThe Battle of Mormans was fought on 17 February 1814 and resulted in the victory of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Russians and Württembergers under Count Petr Alekseevich Pahlen....
(1814) - MontereauBattle of MontereauThe Battle of Montereau was fought near Montereau-Fault-Yonne on 18 February 1814 and resulted in the victory of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Austrians and the Württembergers under the King of Württemberg.- Background :...
(1814) - CraonneBattle of CraonneThe Battle of Craonne was fought on March 7, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon I against Russians and Prussians under General Blücher.Craonne is a village on the Chemin des Dames, in the département of Aisne....
(1814) - Rheims (1814)
- Saint-DizierBattle of Saint-DizierThe Battle of Saint-Dizier was a battle during the War of the Sixth Coalition, fought on 26 March 1814, and is notable as Napoleon's last victory before he abdicated.-Context:...
(1814) - LignyBattle of LignyThe Battle of Ligny was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon I. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The bulk of the Prussian army survived, however, and...
(1815)
Defeats
- CaldieroBattle of Caldiero (1796)In the Battle of Caldiero on 12 November 1796, a Habsburg Austrian army led by Jozsef Alvinczi fought a First French Republic army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The French assaulted the Austrian positions, which were initially held by the army advance guard under Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of...
(1796) - Second BassanoSecond Battle of BassanoIn the Second Battle of Bassano on 6 November 1796, an Austrian army commanded by Jozsef Alvinczi repelled the attacks of Napoleon Bonaparte's French army. The engagement, which happened two months after the more famous Battle of Bassano, marked the first tactical defeat of Bonaparte's career and...
(1796) - AcreSiege of Acre (1799)The Siege of Acre of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman-defended, walled city of Acre and was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria.-Background:...
(1799) - Aspern-EsslingBattle of Aspern-EsslingIn the Battle of Aspern-Essling , Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles...
(1809) - KrasnoiBattle of KrasnoiThe Battle of Krasnoi was a series of skirmishes fought in the final stage of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. This encounter was noteworthy because of the heavy losses inflicted on the remnants of the Grande Armée by the Russians under General Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov...
(1812) - LeipzigBattle of LeipzigThe Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
(1813) - La RothièreBattle of La RothiereThe Battle of La Rothière was fought on 1 February 1814 between the French Empire and allied army of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and German States previously allies with France. The French were led by Emperor Napoleon and the coalition army was under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher...
(1814) - LaonBattle of LaonThe Battle of Laon was the victory of Blücher's Prussian army over Napoleon's French army near Laon.-Prelude:An Allied coalition attempted to complete the destruction of Napoleon's French Empire in 1814. France had been defeated in Russia in 1812 and in Central Europe in 1813...
(1814) - WaterlooBattle of WaterlooThe Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
(1815)