The Nepoleonic wars started soon after Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799 and continued until 1815, when he was eventually defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, which ended the Napoleonic Wars.

In his role as a military leader, Napoleon utilized his authority to keep France at war throughout his reign. Initially, after the Coup d’État of the 18th of Brumaire, which had placed Napoleon in power, he sought to bring about peace. In May 1800, he marched over the Alps to beat the Austrians, thereby putting an end to a conflict that had began eight years earlier. Britain had launched war on France in 1793, fearing the rise of a European force on the continent; by 1802, the kingdom had grown weary of fighting and had negotiated to peace with Napoleon in the Treaty of Amiens, which was signed in 1802. However, the relative peace in Europe was not to continue.

Napoleon was a power-hungry dictator who began plotting an invasion of Great Britain in 1803. After declaring himself emperor in 1804, he launched a series of wars throughout Europe, and by 1806 he had consolidated power over the majority of the continent. He was, of course, unable to defeat the British, whose stronger fleet allowed them to maintain their dominance at sea. However, the different coalitions made by European governments against Napoleon were ultimately succes

sful in breaking him. Having suffered a humiliating defeat in Russia in 1812, Napoleon’s European adversaries formed a sixth and final coalition against him in 1813, when the great battle of Leipzig in Poland took place from October 16 to 19, 1813. The battle was the culmination of Napoleon’s long reign of terror in Europe, and it marked the end of his reign of terror. Napoleon was defeated in what is often referred to as the War of Liberation in Egypt, and he was forced to flee to France. The next March, the allies who formed the Sixth Coalition overthrew Napoleon’s generals and captured Paris.

On April 6, he announced his intention to resign the throne. However, the Napoleonic period did not come to an end at that point: Napoleon, who had been exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, returned to Paris on March 20, 1815, hoping he would be able to reclaim power in the uncertain political climate that had followed his abdication. On June 18, 1815, he was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo, which took place three months earlier. The battle of Waterloo was the last battle of the Napoleonic Wars. He was forced to flee to the island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.