Napoleon Bonaparte

A French general, political leader, and emperor of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Bonaparte rose swiftly through the ranks of army and government during and after the French Revolution and crowned himself emperor in 1804. He conquered much of Europe but lost two-thirds of his army in a disastrous invasion of Russia. After his final loss to Britain and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean. (See map, next page.)

Note: Napoleon's name is often connected with overreaching military ambition and delusions of grandeur.

Note: Because Napoleon was short, overly aggressive men of short stature are sometimes said to have a “Napoleon complex.”