Napoleon Bonaparte, a low-ranking soldier from Corsica, became Napoleon, Emperor of the French. Follow his meteoric rise from Arcole to Saint Helena, via Austerlitz and Waterloo. A young, unloved general in 1795, and a hero in Italy the following year, Napoleon BONAPARTE set out to conquer Egypt before taking the helm of the state in 1798. A strategic genius and reformer, he became Emperor of the French in 1804. The meteoric rise of the heir to the Revolution was unacceptable to neighboring monarchies, which formed a coalition and vowed to bring about his downfall. For ten years, Napoleon would fight against them all. And for ten years, he would impose his ambitions, his loves, and his Empire upon them, before facing defeat and exile. Napoleon died in solitude in 1821. But his extraordinary destiny would usher Europe into a new era: that of modern times.
