Napoleon Bonaparte (5)

Emperor of France
1769-1821

12 Portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon not murdered, say scientists

Worse was to come as a French army was forced to surrender to a Spanish force at Bailen, destroying the notion of French invincibility, and Britain landed a small army under Arthur Wellesley in Portugal.

It quickly defeated General Junot's Army of Portugal and forced Bonaparte to return to the field at the head of a hastily assembled force.

His campaign was highly successful, defeating the Spanish and putting down the major revolt and he managed to force the British, now under Sir John Moore, into a scrambling retreat to Corunna and evacuation by ship.

Bonaparte's success, however, failed to impress the Austrians and, by 1809, the leaders in Vienna felt confident enough to form the Fifth Coalition with Britain and move against France's Bavarian allies.

Caught by surprise the French, under Marshal Berthier, initially were in serious trouble against the capable Archduke Charles, but the arrival of the emperor bolstered confidence and began to set things to rights.

The French won the battles of Abensberg and Eckmuhl, almost lost Aspern-Essling after Bonaparte's advanced units became trapped against the flooded Danube River with the entire Austrian army bearing down on them, and then defeated Charles at Wagram.

Peace followed and was cemented when Bonaparte, now divorced from Josephine, married Marie-Louise of Austria.

Between 1810 and 1812 tensions between France and Russia kept increasing and, when Tsar Alexander refused to back down despite an army of 600,000 men on his border, Bonaparte ordered an invasion.

Despite being well planned the campaign was doomed by the sheer distances that had to be marched.

Bonaparte was hoping to force a decisive battle soon after entering Russia, but the defenders traded space for time by reteating. There were bloody, but indecisive, battles at Smolensk and Borodino and, when the French finally reached Moscow, they found that the Russians had preferred to set fire to it rather than let the French have it.