“The Rise and Fall of Napoleon”, cartoon drawn by Johann Michael Voltzfollowing the Treaty of Fontainebleau – on the lower side is seen the map of Elba

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The Treaty of Fontainebleau was an agreement established in Fontainebleau, France, on 11 April 1814 between Napoleon Bonaparte and representatives from the Austrian Empire, Russia, and Prussia. The treaty was signed at Paris on 11 April by the plenipotentiaries of both sides, and ratified by Napoleon on 13 April. With this treaty, the allies ended Napoleon’s rule as emperor of France and sent him into exile on Elba.

Le dernier lever des couleurs : La cession de la Nouvelle-Orléans.

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This painting, whose author is unknown depicts the official ceremony transfering Louisiana under the US sovereignty on the 10th of March 1804. 

Flacon à sels ayant appartenu à Joséphine, puis à son petit-fils le prince Louis-Napoléon-Bonaparte. Fin 18e siècle-début 19e siècle

(C) RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Yann Martin

Technique/Matière : cristal (matière), or (métal)

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Cristal flask that belonged to Joséphine and then Prince Louis Napoléon Bonaparte

‘Code Civil des Français, 1804, édition originale

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The Napoleonic Code—or Code Napoléon (originally, the Code civil des français)—is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs should go to the most qualified.

It was drafted rapidly by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on 21 March 1804. The Code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major step in replacing the previous patchwork of feudal laws. 

fapoleon-bonerparte:

Uniform worn by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Marengo.

[Source]

Divorce de Napoléon 1er et de Joséphine. Lettre de Joséphine de Beauharnais portant déclaration de son consentement au divorce. Sans date [15 décembre 1809]. 
Papier, manuscrit 19 × 13,5 cm 
Paris, Archives nationales, AE/I/11-12/6/4
© Archives nationales / France 

Divorce between Napoléon 1er and Joséphine: Joséphine’s letter about the declaration of her consent to divorce; 15th of December 1809

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Attentat de la rue Saint-Nicaise à Paris contre le 1er consul, le 3 nivôse au 9 (24 décembre 1800)

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The plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise, also known as the Machine infernale (English: Infernal machine) plot, was an assassination attempt on the life of the First Consul of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, in Paris on 24 December 1800. It followed the conspiration des poignards of 10 October 1800, and was one of many Royalist and Catholic plots.

The name of the Machine Infernale, the “infernal device”, was in reference to an episode during the sixteenth-century revolt against Spanish rule in Flanders. In 1585, during the Siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards, an Italian engineer in Spanish service had made an explosive device from a barrel bound with iron hoops, filled with gunpowder, flammable materials and bullets, and set off by a sawed-off shotgun triggered from a distance by a string. The Italian engineer called it la macchina infernale.

empire-biedermeier:

2 December 1805 ~ The battle of Austerlitz, also known as The Battle of the Three Emperors

The coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French, which took place on Sunday December 2, 1804 (11 Frimaire XIII according to French Republican Calendar), has been said to mark “the instantiation of modern empire”, representing a “transparently masterminded piece of modern propaganda”. On May 18, 1804, the Sénat conservateur vested the Republican government in an Emperor, and preparations for a coronationfollowed. Napoleon’s elevation to Emperor was overwhelmingly approved by the French citizens in a referendum. Among Napoleon’s reasons for coronation were the prestige in international royalist and Catholic milieux and the foundation for future dynasty.

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Adolph Northen (1828–1876)Titre

Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow

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The Battle of Berezina (or Beresina) took place from 26 to 29 November 1812, between the French army of Napoleon, retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina (near Borisov, Belarus), and the Russian armies under Mikhail Kutuzov, Peter Wittgensteinand Admiral Pavel Chichagov. The battle ended with a mixed outcome. The French suffered very heavy losses but managed to cross the river and avoid being trapped. Since then “Bérézina” has been used in French as a synonym for “disaster.”