On this day, 204 years ago, May 5, 1821 (April 4, 1821 in the lunar calendar), Napoleon I, Emperor of the First French Empire, passed away. Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was Napoleon I, Emperor of the First French Empire (reigned from 1804 to 1814). Soldiers who did not want to be marshals were not good soldiers-Napoleon; the glory of life is not never to fail, but to be able to rise repeatedly-Napoleon; A great commander should ask himself several times a day, what should he do if an enemy appears in front of or around him? If he was at a loss, he would be incompetent-Napoleon Napoleon was born in Corsica, which is why he was later called a "Corsican monster" by the opposition. One year before Napoleon was born, France had just purchased Corsica from Genoa, but this did not affect Napoleon's national identity with France. Napoleon was born into a declining aristocratic family. He entered the Reserve Military Academy at the age of 10 and entered the Paris Artillery School to study command at the age of 15. He soon interrupted his studies due to the death of his father. His mediocre and unobtrusive achievements in his military career do not seem to have come mainly from this. But his studies at the military academy earned him the rank of second lieutenant, which was also the starting point of his lifelong career. If he had lived in an era like Louis XV, Napoleon would have ended his life as an underrated junior officer. But he was lucky. He encountered an era of the Great Revolution full of opportunities and challenges. Napoleon was familiar with the works of Rousseau, Voltaire and others. He also published radical pamphlets during the Great Revolution and was regarded as a member of the Jacobins. He has the spirit of dissatisfaction with reality and desire for change that most young people have. But for an ambitious doer like Napoleon, his political ideals were not important and would not really affect his practice. What was really important was how to make use of the current situation and continuously improve his power position. The French Revolution that broke out in 1789 was probably the most influential popular movement in human history. The king was guillotine and the entire political superstructure was demolished and rebuilt in accordance with the ideals of the "revolutionaries". However, as a "small democratic island surrounded by a sea of monarchy," France was quickly hit by the surging waves around it. The ideological slogans of the Great Revolution were used as a plague, and "anti-French alliances" were organized time and time again. It was in this situation that Napoleon entered the historical stage as a general who supported the Great Revolution. In December 1793, the commander of the artillery regiment achieved the first important victory in his life-the victory at the Battle of Toulon. The gold finally shone. As a result, he was appreciated by Robespierre's brother and promoted to the rank of Artillery Brigadier General. Soon after, Robespierre was guillotined in the "Thermidor coup", and Napoleon also fell into trouble and spent ten days in prison. However, an excellent military commander was necessary for every government in that turbulent era. Napoleon was entrusted with an important task in suppressing the "Puyue Riots" more than a year later, and he did not fail his mission. As a result, he became a household name in France. Napoleon was appointed commander-in-chief of the Italian Front Army by the governor and achieved one glorious victory after another. In 1898, he made an expedition to Egypt. At the same time, the domestic situation is deteriorating. There have been years of inflation and food shortages. The French army has been repeatedly retreating under the pressure of the Anti-French Alliance. Domestic riots have continued. After ten years of turmoil, the French people have become extremely disgusted with the government and political situation that has changed rapidly. Their political enthusiasm has dropped to freezing point. They only long for the emergence of a strong and powerful regime that can establish stable order. Siayes, the powerful figure in the governor's government, urgently needed a military strongman to stabilize his rule. This was the situation before Napoleon came to power. In November 1899, Napoleon abandoned the Egyptian army and returned to the country, and was immediately welcomed like thunder. With the support of Siayes, he subdued the Senate, and used the army to subdue the Senate of Five Hundred People, formulating a new constitution. The new constitution stipulates that Napoleon is the first in power and has the power to propose bills, approve bills, appoint members of the Senate and local administrative officials. The incident was known in history as the "Brumaire coup". It was a bloodless coup supplemented by force and finally whitewashed in a legal form. In his ruling palace, Napoleon showed that he was not only a military genius, but also a political master. He appointed the controversial but capable Fouché as Minister of Police to suppress Royal Party forces and radicals; signed a "Academic Agreement" with the Pope, recognizing Catholicism as "the religion of the majority of French people" and restoring religious rituals, but at the same time getting the church to give up property confiscated during the Revolution, which in turn won over domestic conservatives. More importantly, he appointed Gordon, a financial expert, as Minister of Finance, implemented fiscal and tax reforms, established a state-controlled Bank of France, and implemented a silver standard currency. He used his prestige to enhance investors 'confidence and enabled the government to issue promissory notes. The situation of national treasury enrichment, currency stability, and fiscal balance that had not been seen since the era of Louis XV was realized by Napoleon. Starting from 1800, Napoleon organized a drafting committee for the Civil Code and personally presided over many discussions on the formulation of the Civil Code. Finally, in 1804, the French Civil Code was promulgated. This code incorporated many ideas from the Great Revolution era, such as All people are born equal, all people enjoy civil rights, private property is inviolable, freedom of contract, etc., which recognized the order changed by the Great Revolution in the form of law. Although Napoleon's dictatorship was contrary to the spirit of the Great Revolution, his Civil Code became a masterpiece of the Great Revolution and influenced the laws of many countries later. Napoleon once said proudly: "My real glory is not I have won more than 40 battles, but my Civil Code." Of course, the reason why Napoleon was able to establish a stable rule and leave such a great reputation for future generations was mainly due to his military achievements. Even when he came to power, he faced the anti-French alliance of Britain, Austria and Russia. He led 40,000 reserve troops across the Alps from the snowy mountain pass and unexpectedly appeared behind the Austrian army, defeated 130,000 Austrian troops, and forced Austria to seek peace. Then, he successively withdrew Russia and Britain from the war. In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens was signed, giving France a break after 10 years of war. Napoleon, who was outstanding in civil governance and martial arts, had become the savior of France and a hero of the Great Revolution. From 1799 to 1804, his prestige increased in days, and his ambition expanded at a speed that was not inferior to this. In 1802, he won the lifelong ruling position with a support rate of 99.77%, which was only a step forward. Two years later, his approval rating of 99.93% made him the emperor of the French Empire. The tame of the whole country made future generations feel incredible, but it came so naturally in that era. The presence of Britain at sea was a thorn in Napoleon's side. At the instigation of England, the Third Coalition against France was organized. Napoleon had spent two years preparing to cross the sea to attack Britain, but in 1805, the French fleet was defeated by the British navy in a fierce battle at the Cape of Trafalgar, and Napoleon completely abandoned this dream and turned to the development of his continental empire. The very day before this terrible news, Napoleon had surrounded the unprepared 30,000 Austrian troops at the Ulm Fortress with a 20-day march, made them surrender, initiated a special practice of "fighting with two legs," and then went straight to Vienna. Faced with the Russian army coming to reinforce him, Napoleon lured it into a decisive battle quickly and achieved a perfect victory in the Battle of the Village of Austerlitz (historically known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors"). This was the greatest of all Napoleon's victories. Napoleon built the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In 1806, the Fourth Anti-French Alliance composed of Britain, Prussia and Russia lost even more completely. Facing the Prussian army, which claimed to be "the most efficient army in Europe," Napoleon took 20 days to capture Berlin and defeat Russia, which came to the rescue, and occupied all of Prussia. In 1807, in order to build his "continental blockade system," Napoleon staged a European version of "borrowing roads to attack Guo", forcing Spain to agree to the French army to attack Portugal through its territory. He then took the opportunity to enter Spain, driving out the Spanish royal family, and making his brother Joseph King of Spain. The entire Iberian Peninsula was incorporated into Napoleon's empire. But later facts proved that this was Napoleon's mistake. The Spaniards, unwilling to surrender, continued to resist and delay Napoleon's hundreds of thousands of troops. After defeating Austria again in 1809 and ending the Fifth Anti-French Alliance, Napoleon's empire reached its peak of strength. Napoleon himself was the emperor of France, the king of Italy, and the protector of the Rhine Confederation. His three brothers were the kings of Spain, the Netherlands, and Westphalia. The Grand Duchy of Poland, the Swiss Confederation and many small German states were also under his control. Austria and Prussia were defeated countries dejected before him. The "sense of orthodoxy" in Napoleon's thoughts also increased day by day. He abandoned the infertile Queen Josephine and married the princess of the Austrian emperor, in an attempt to join the ranks of traditional European emperors through marriage. However, no matter how big the Napoleonic Empire became, there were two dark shadows pressing on his heart that could never be defeated. Britain and Russia were the staunch main forces of all anti-French alliances. When Napoleon was helpless against Britain at sea, he wanted to build a "continental blockade system" to force Britain to surrender. However, the long coastline of Europe made it impossible for him. What angered him most was that Tsar Russia violated the covenant in 1812 and fully resumed trade with Britain. Coupled with the contradictions over Poland, Napoleon was determined to give the polar bear a fatal blow to establish true hegemony on the European continent. But it was this adventure that finally brought Napoleon to disaster. After a long journey, although the 700,000 army once occupied the empty city of Moscow, after a rare winter, typhus and attacks by the Russian army, only tens of thousands of scattered soldiers were left in chaos. Then, in the Battle of Leipzig, known as the "War of the European Nations," Napoleon was defeated due to the defection of the Saxon army. In the end, amid the sound of war drums of allied forces from various countries marching into Paris, Napoleon was forced to sign an edict of abdication and was placed under house arrest on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Although Napoleon took advantage of the opportunity of dignitaries from European countries gathering in Vienna to hold a "spoil-sharing conference" to sneak back home and restore his 100-day glory, after the disastrous defeat at Waterloo, his political life was completely over and he ended the rest of his life on a small island in the South Atlantic. After Napoleon's defeat, the international order established by him was completely subverted. Except for a few changes, the borders of various countries were basically restored to the status quo before 1789, and those who ruled these countries were basically the original families. However, Napoleon had spread the revolutionary spirit to all parts of Europe through his expansion. Throughout the 19th century, thoughts of freedom, democracy, and human rights rose one after another, and the revolutionary movement rose one after another. It was no longer the Europe that was satisfied with "enlightened autocracy" in the 18th century. Napoleon's influence on America was even greater than in Europe, though purely inadvertent. His invasion of Spain and Portugal caused them to lose effective control over the American colonies. The Spanish and Portuguese American colonies were actually in a state of autonomy, and then the Latin American independence movement broke out. He sold Louisiana to the United States for a "low price" of US$15 million, opening the way for the United States to move westward. Without this deal, the United States might be very different from what it sees today. Although Napoleon was ultimately a loser, as a subversive of the European ideological landscape and the American political landscape, his influence was enough to rank among the top ten emperors. Comments: Napoleon took advantage of the ten years of chaos and peace of mind to seize power, played the banner of safeguarding the Great Revolution, practiced autocracy, and used the French nationalism that was burned to the boiling point during the Great Revolution to show off aggressive and expansionist ambitions. He had advanced military ideas and indomitable fighting spirit. Unfortunately, in the end,"there was only one step away from being great and noble to absurd and ridiculous." He used the French army as a gamble and lost in a war beyond his strength. In the end, he had to take more courage than death to endure the pain of subjugation.On this day, 204 years ago, May 5, 1821 (April 4, 1821 in the lunar calendar), Napoleon I, Emperor of the First French Empire, passed away. Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was Napoleon I, Emperor of the First French Empire (reigned from 1804 to 1814). Soldiers who did not want to be marshals were not good soldiers-Napoleon; the glory of life is not never to fail, but to be able to rise repeatedly-Napoleon; A great commander should ask himself several times a day, what should he do if an enemy appears in front of or around him? If he was at a loss, he would be incompetent-Napoleon Napoleon was born in Corsica, which is why he was later called a "Corsican monster" by the opposition. One year before Napoleon was born, France had just purchased Corsica from Genoa, but this did not affect Napoleon's national identity with France. Napoleon was born into a declining aristocratic family. He entered the Reserve Military Academy at the age of 10 and entered the Paris Artillery School to study command at the age of 15. He soon interrupted his studies due to the death of his father. His mediocre and unobtrusive achievements in his military career do not seem to have come mainly from this. But his studies at the military academy earned him the rank of second lieutenant, which was also the starting point of his lifelong career. If he had lived in an era like Louis XV, Napoleon would have ended his life as an underrated junior officer. But he was lucky. He encountered an era of the Great Revolution full of opportunities and challenges. Napoleon was familiar with the works of Rousseau, Voltaire and others. He also published radical pamphlets during the Great Revolution and was regarded as a member of the Jacobins. He has the spirit of dissatisfaction with reality and desire for change that most young people have. But for an ambitious doer like Napoleon, his political ideals were not important and would not really affect his practice. What was really important was how to make use of the current situation and continuously improve his power position. The French Revolution that broke out in 1789 was probably the most influential popular movement in human history. The king was guillotine and the entire political superstructure was demolished and rebuilt in accordance with the ideals of the "revolutionaries". However, as a "small democratic island surrounded by a sea of monarchy," France was quickly hit by the surging waves around it. The ideological slogans of the Great Revolution were used as a plague, and "anti-French alliances" were organized time and time again. It was in this situation that Napoleon entered the historical stage as a general who supported the Great Revolution. In December 1793, the commander of the artillery regiment achieved the first important victory in his life-the victory at the Battle of Toulon. The gold finally shone. As a result, he was appreciated by Robespierre's brother and promoted to the rank of Artillery Brigadier General. Soon after, Robespierre was guillotined in the "Thermidor coup", and Napoleon also fell into trouble and spent ten days in prison. However, an excellent military commander was necessary for every government in that turbulent era. Napoleon was entrusted with an important task in suppressing the "Puyue Riots" more than a year later, and he did not fail his mission. As a result, he became a household name in France. Napoleon was appointed commander-in-chief of the Italian Front Army by the governor and achieved one glorious victory after another. In 1898, he made an expedition to Egypt. At the same time, the domestic situation is deteriorating. There have been years of inflation and food shortages. The French army has been repeatedly retreating under the pressure of the Anti-French Alliance. Domestic riots have continued. After ten years of turmoil, the French people have become extremely disgusted with the government and political situation that has changed rapidly. Their political enthusiasm has dropped to freezing point. They only long for the emergence of a strong and powerful regime that can establish stable order. Siayes, the powerful figure in the governor's government, urgently needed a military strongman to stabilize his rule. This was the situation before Napoleon came to power. In November 1899, Napoleon abandoned the Egyptian army and returned to the country, and was immediately welcomed like thunder. With the support of Siayes, he subdued the Senate, and used the army to subdue the Senate of Five Hundred People, formulating a new constitution. The new constitution stipulates that Napoleon is the first in power and has the power to propose bills, approve bills, appoint members of the Senate and local administrative officials. The incident was known in history as the "Brumaire coup". It was a bloodless coup supplemented by force and finally whitewashed in a legal form. In his ruling palace, Napoleon showed that he was not only a military genius, but also a political master. He appointed the controversial but capable Fouché as Minister of Police to suppress Royal Party forces and radicals; signed a "Academic Agreement" with the Pope, recognizing Catholicism as "the religion of the majority of French people" and restoring religious rituals, but at the same time getting the church to give up property confiscated during the Revolution, which in turn won over domestic conservatives. More importantly, he appointed Gordon, a financial expert, as Minister of Finance, implemented fiscal and tax reforms, established a state-controlled Bank of France, and implemented a silver standard currency. He used his prestige to enhance investors 'confidence and enabled the government to issue promissory notes. The situation of national treasury enrichment, currency stability, and fiscal balance that had not been seen since the era of Louis XV was realized by Napoleon. Starting from 1800, Napoleon organized a drafting committee for the Civil Code and personally presided over many discussions on the formulation of the Civil Code. Finally, in 1804, the French Civil Code was promulgated. This code incorporated many ideas from the Great Revolution era, such as All people are born equal, all people enjoy civil rights, private property is inviolable, freedom of contract, etc., which recognized the order changed by the Great Revolution in the form of law. Although Napoleon's dictatorship was contrary to the spirit of the Great Revolution, his Civil Code became a masterpiece of the Great Revolution and influenced the laws of many countries later. Napoleon once said proudly: "My real glory is not I have won more than 40 battles, but my Civil Code." Of course, the reason why Napoleon was able to establish a stable rule and leave such a great reputation for future generations was mainly due to his military achievements. Even when he came to power, he faced the anti-French alliance of Britain, Austria and Russia. He led 40,000 reserve troops across the Alps from the snowy mountain pass and unexpectedly appeared behind the Austrian army, defeated 130,000 Austrian troops, and forced Austria to seek peace. Then, he successively withdrew Russia and Britain from the war. In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens was signed, giving France a break after 10 years of war. Napoleon, who was outstanding in civil governance and martial arts, had become the savior of France and a hero of the Great Revolution. From 1799 to 1804, his prestige increased in days, and his ambition expanded at a speed that was not inferior to this. In 1802, he won the lifelong ruling position with a support rate of 99.77%, which was only a step forward. Two years later, his approval rating of 99.93% made him the emperor of the French Empire. The tame of the whole country made future generations feel incredible, but it came so naturally in that era. The presence of Britain at sea was a thorn in Napoleon's side. At the instigation of England, the Third Coalition against France was organized. Napoleon had spent two years preparing to cross the sea to attack Britain, but in 1805, the French fleet was defeated by the British navy in a fierce battle at the Cape of Trafalgar, and Napoleon completely abandoned this dream and turned to the development of his continental empire. The very day before this terrible news, Napoleon had surrounded the unprepared 30,000 Austrian troops at the Ulm Fortress with a 20-day march, made them surrender, initiated a special practice of "fighting with two legs," and then went straight to Vienna. Faced with the Russian army coming to reinforce him, Napoleon lured it into a decisive battle quickly and achieved a perfect victory in the Battle of the Village of Austerlitz (historically known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors"). This was the greatest of all Napoleon's victories. Napoleon built the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In 1806, the Fourth Anti-French Alliance composed of Britain, Prussia and Russia lost even more completely. Facing the Prussian army, which claimed to be "the most efficient army in Europe," Napoleon took 20 days to capture Berlin and defeat Russia, which came to the rescue, and occupied all of Prussia. In 1807, in order to build his "continental blockade system," Napoleon staged a European version of "borrowing roads to attack Guo", forcing Spain to agree to the French army to attack Portugal through its territory. He then took the opportunity to enter Spain, driving out the Spanish royal family, and making his brother Joseph King of Spain. The entire Iberian Peninsula was incorporated into Napoleon's empire. But later facts proved that this was Napoleon's mistake. The Spaniards, unwilling to surrender, continued to resist and delay Napoleon's hundreds of thousands of troops. After defeating Austria again in 1809 and ending the Fifth Anti-French Alliance, Napoleon's empire reached its peak of strength. Napoleon himself was the emperor of France, the king of Italy, and the protector of the Rhine Confederation. His three brothers were the kings of Spain, the Netherlands, and Westphalia. The Grand Duchy of Poland, the Swiss Confederation and many small German states were also under his control. Austria and Prussia were defeated countries dejected before him. The "sense of orthodoxy" in Napoleon's thoughts also increased day by day. He abandoned the infertile Queen Josephine and married the princess of the Austrian emperor, in an attempt to join the ranks of traditional European emperors through marriage. However, no matter how big the Napoleonic Empire became, there were two dark shadows pressing on his heart that could never be defeated. Britain and Russia were the staunch main forces of all anti-French alliances. When Napoleon was helpless against Britain at sea, he wanted to build a "continental blockade system" to force Britain to surrender. However, the long coastline of Europe made it impossible for him. What angered him most was that Tsar Russia violated the covenant in 1812 and fully resumed trade with Britain. Coupled with the contradictions over Poland, Napoleon was determined to give the polar bear a fatal blow to establish true hegemony on the European continent. But it was this adventure that finally brought Napoleon to disaster. After a long journey, although the 700,000 army once occupied the empty city of Moscow, after a rare winter, typhus and attacks by the Russian army, only tens of thousands of scattered soldiers were left in chaos. Then, in the Battle of Leipzig, known as the "War of the European Nations," Napoleon was defeated due to the defection of the Saxon army. In the end, amid the sound of war drums of allied forces from various countries marching into Paris, Napoleon was forced to sign an edict of abdication and was placed under house arrest on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Although Napoleon took advantage of the opportunity of dignitaries from European countries gathering in Vienna to hold a "spoil-sharing conference" to sneak back home and restore his 100-day glory, after the disastrous defeat at Waterloo, his political life was completely over and he ended the rest of his life on a small island in the South Atlantic. After Napoleon's defeat, the international order established by him was completely subverted. Except for a few changes, the borders of various countries were basically restored to the status quo before 1789, and those who ruled these countries were basically the original families. However, Napoleon had spread the revolutionary spirit to all parts of Europe through his expansion. Throughout the 19th century, thoughts of freedom, democracy, and human rights rose one after another, and the revolutionary movement rose one after another. It was no longer the Europe that was satisfied with "enlightened autocracy" in the 18th century. Napoleon's influence on America was even greater than in Europe, though purely inadvertent. His invasion of Spain and Portugal caused them to lose effective control over the American colonies. The Spanish and Portuguese American colonies were actually in a state of autonomy, and then the Latin American independence movement broke out. He sold Louisiana to the United States for a "low price" of US$15 million, opening the way for the United States to move westward. Without this deal, the United States might be very different from what it sees today. Although Napoleon was ultimately a loser, as a subversive of the European ideological landscape and the American political landscape, his influence was enough to rank among the top ten emperors. Comments: Napoleon took advantage of the ten years of chaos and peace of mind to seize power, played the banner of safeguarding the Great Revolution, practiced autocracy, and used the French nationalism that was burned to the boiling point during the Great Revolution to show off aggressive and expansionist ambitions. He had advanced military ideas and indomitable fighting spirit. Unfortunately, in the end,"there was only one step away from being great and noble to absurd and ridiculous." He used the French army as a gamble and lost in a war beyond his strength. In the end, he had to take more courage than death to endure the pain of subjugation.