2016-05-18 Wed

Napoleon Bonaparte also known as Napoleon I ended the French Revolution and declared himself the Emperor of France on 18th May in 1804.

He was a French military and political leader, a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul of the French Republic and Emperor of the First French Empire. Many consider Napoleon I to be a saviour, for he ended the French revolution and put in place a stable government. He brought stability and equality in a France and united it. His unification of France had a profound impact on not only Europe but in the entire world.

A Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist that he was, Napoleon successfully waged war against various European nations and expanded his empire.

Napoleon I is credited with the establishment of the Banque of France, the first Central Bank in French history on 18 January 1800. Napoleon I after declaring himself as the emperor of France issued a copper, silver and gold coins with his name and portrait. 20 franc gold coins issued by Napoleon I also called as “Napoleon” and it is a colloquial term for French gold coins.

After the conquest of Italy, Napoleon established an artificial entity called as the kingdom of Italy and issued coins as French Emperor and King of Italy with the crown of the Kingdom of Italy on the reverse.

The military campaigns developed by Napoleon and his tactics are studied at military academies from all over the world. He is regarded as one of the history’s greatest commanders. Though many considered him as a tyrant, he is remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative foundations for much of Western Europe.

Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo in June 1815 and spent the last years of his life under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821 ending a unique chapter of European history.