Background:
Napoleon Bonaparte was the fourth born among his eight siblings, born from a noble family. His father was Carlo Bonaparte, who was a gentleman of Ajaccio, Corsica, whose family of Tuscan origin had settled there and later on married him to Laetitia Ramolino who was a young girl of the island. His father had inherited a lawsuit which focused on the task of recovering an estate which the French church had taken possession of. His mother, Madame Bonaparte, played a significant role in the shaping and upbringing of Napoleon as she was a firm and determined lady who was extremely thorough when it came to matters of order and economy amongst her family. (Markham, 1966)

“I was born,” said Napoleon, “when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand Frenchmen were vomited upon our soil. Cries of the wounded, sighs of the oppressed, and tears of despair surrounded my cradle at birth.”

During the time of his birth, the Corsicans who were led by the Patriot Paoli led a revolt against the French, who at that time were the masters of the island. Napoleons father was part of the revolt and played a significant role by sharing his fortunes of his chief to the end of the struggle of 1769. They were defeated and they, including Napoleons Family fled to the mountains. As time passed by, the Corsicans submitted and the Bonaparte’s went back to Ajaccio where Napoleon was born. (Markham, 1966)
In order for his father to gain support from the French government, he humbled himself to the French government, who in return gave him benefits such as free education for his children, a good office with its salaries and honors and the maintenance of his claims against the Jesuits. Napoleon was secured a place at the military school at Brienne due to the benefits that his father got from the French Governor of Corsica, Monsieur de Marbeuf. In order for him to be accepted in the school, he had to know how to read and write French and to pass a preliminary examination in that language. Due to his Italian origin, Napoleon could not meet the qualifications and as a result, he was taken to Autun in January 1779, where his brother Joseph was studying. He schooled for three months and made progress to fulfill the requirements at Brienne. (Sloane, 1916)
The school at Brienne was mostly composed of students who were supported by the government and included sons of nobles who had little but their great names. The motto Napoleon saw practiced during his lessons was “the end justifies the means.” The military schools of France were, at that time, in the hands of religious orders, and the Minim Brothers who had charge of Brienne were mostly celebrated for their ignorance at that time as they could not change the views of the aristocratic young pupils. This was a dangerous experiment for Napoleon as he still had bitter blood towards the French. In his school, Napoleon faced social class differences as his classmates were rich, while he came from a poor background. During his stay, Napoleon wrote letters to his father and to his administrator begging them to take him out of the school, but his pleas always fell on deaf ears. At the end of five and a half years in Brienne, Napoleon was promoted to a military school in Paris by an Inspector, Chevalier de Keralio. Before his death, he recommended Napoleon praising him for his excellent performance in Mathematics, Geography and History and also pointed out that Napoleon would make an excellent sailor. (Sloane, 1916)
In October 1784, Napoleon attended the Ecole Militaire at Paris. He detested the school more than the previous one he was in as the pupils of the school were the sons of soldiers and provincial gentlemen who paid for their privileges. One year after his military education, Napoleon was appointed as second lieutenant of the artillery in the regiment stationed at Valence at just the tender age of sixteen. He did not make much with his first position but made many acquaintances. Madame Colombier was the first one to receive him and introduce him to many powerful people in their society. (Sloane, 1916)
Napoleon’s father later on died a few months before February 1785. He took responsibility of his family after the passing away of his father. He left his regiment in February 1787 to better his family’s situation but later on returned to the regiment that was stationed in Auxonne. He participated in writing literature which he submitted to Abbe Raynal. The revolution of 1789 turned Napoleon to an even more ambitious man whose main priority was to free Corsica. The National Assembly at that time had lifted the Island from its inferior relation and made it a department of France.
He took a leave from his work and spent most of his town in his home town but later on was sucked from the French Army when the inhabitants of the island made a complaint to the French Army complaining of how he had handled his battalion of National Guard in a riot at Ajaccio. Later on during the massacres that came about when the king was deposed Napoleon realized that the Revolution which he admired so much needed a head. (Sloane, 1916)
In France, Napoleon became associated with Augustin Robespierre (1763-1794), the brother of revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), a Jacobin who was a key force behind the Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a period of violence against enemies of the revolution. During this time, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the army. However, after Robespierre fell from power and was guillotined (along with Augustin) in July 1794, Napoleon was briefly put under house arrest for his ties to the brothers. In 1795, Napoleon helped suppress a royalist insurrection against the revolutionary government in Paris and was promoted to major general.
Napoleon’s Rise to Power
Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French.
The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798; soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman-ruled Syria, which ended with the failed siege of Acre, located in modern-day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon his army in Egypt and return to France.
Success
One of Napoleon’s successes can generalized as the Napoleonic Wars which were a series of conflicts fought between France and a number of European nations under his leadership that took place between 1799 and 1815. The first campaign of the Napoleonic wars was the War of the second Coalition - with Bonaparte absent in Egypt fighting the British a new coalition formed against the French in 1798. This consisted of Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Portugal, The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Naples. The fighting took place mainly in Northern Italy and Switzerland, with the Russians under General Aleksandr Suvorov being successful at first undoing the damage done by Napoleon's victories in Italy. The French defeated the Russians who pulled out of the coalition. Bonaparte offered peace but the coalition refused and in 1800 he crossed the Alps and defeated the Austrians at the battle of Marengo 1800. Other French victories followed and soon only Britain remained to stand against the French. After a failed attack in Holland, Britain made peace (1802). This was not to last long. (Dugdale-Pointon, 2000)

In 1805 the War of the Third Coalition broke out, with Britain joined by Russia, Austria and Sweden. Napoleon defeated the Austrians at Ulm (1805) and finally at Austerlitz in 1805 (known as the battle of the three Emperors). Once again the coalition reformed this time with Prussia but without Austria in 1806. Napoleon quickly moved against the Prussians and crushed them at the battle of Jena in 1806. By 1808 Napoleon was master of all Europe but he was now to begin a series of mistakes that would lead to his defeat. Dethroning King Charles IV of Spain he made his brother Joseph Bonaparte King, causing a revolt and what was to be known as a Guerrilla war in Spain. (Dugdale-Pointon, 2000)
During the Peninsular war (1808-1813) the Spanish Guerillas aided by British troops under Wellington and Portuguese allies drove the French out and eventually invaded southern France. A fifth Coalition formed but the Austrians were defeated at the battle of Aspern and Wagram in 1809. With large numbers of his troops tied down in Spain, Napoleon decide to invade Russia in 1812 with an Army of 500,000 men and although he defeated the Russians at the battle of Borodino in 1812 and took Moscow he was forced to retreat due to weather, costing him most of his army and marking the beginning of the end. Surrounded by enemies on all sides with his best troops dead Napoleon was forced to abdicate in 1814.
As the members of the Fifth coalition decided the fate of Europe, Napoleon staged a daring return to power and tried to reverse the outcome of the war at the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815). Waterloo was a bloody battle which saw his remaining elite guard destroyed and Napoleon exiled to St Helena from where he was never to return, marking the end of the Napoleonic wars. (Dugdale-Pointon, 2000)
Another one of Napoleon’s successes includes his rise to power as the Emperor of France. His political ambition begun in France, 1799 where he secured his own election as first consul after overthrowing the previous Directory in a coup d'état. After an assassination attempt on his life in January 1804 supported by the former rulers of France, Napoleon was able to prove the worth of restoring monarchy and place himself as Emperor.
Failures
Despite great achievements, Napoleon also succumbed to great failures first being the Peninsular War. What Napoleon planned to be a minor campaign resulted in one of the key areas of conflict in the Napoleonic Wars. After a few unsuccessful attempts to bring the war to Napoleon on mainland Europe, the Peninsular was to prove the forging ground for the British Army and after a mixed start, the one area in which the allies represented by Britain could win victories against Imperial France. For the French it became the 'Spanish ulcer' as Napoleon called it, draining resources both in troops and money but also in Napoleon's time, for at the end of the day no matter how great a general Napoleon was, he could not be everywhere at once. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
The war originated from Napoleon's wish to extend the Continental system throughout Europe. Apart from smuggling, which was rife, Portugal remained the only country that would still openly accept British imports. To prevent this Napoleon planned to invade Portugal by first taking control of Spain and then controlling the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. In November 1807 General Junot led a French army through Spain and into Portugal occupying Lisbon on 1st December 1807. The Portuguese Royal family fled to Brazil, at that time a Portuguese colony and appealed to Britain for help. Napoleon then over played his hand, as he was to do often in the future, sending Marshal Murat into Spain with a large French army in March 1808. Following Napoleon's wishes the weak Spanish King Charles IV and his son were deposed and Napoleon's brother Joseph was 'elected' to the Spanish throne. By May many insurrections had broken out against French Rule. These were Guerrilla or small wars and although this form of warfare has existed for thousands of years it is from this period that we get the term Guerrilla warfare. With the regular Spanish forces largely ineffective this became the only form of warfare left to the Spanish people, it was characterized by acts of brutality by both sides, but was to create the conditions for future British victories and finally led to the liberation of Spain many years later. In June/August 1808 the Spanish city of Saragossa held out against French attempts to recapture it after a local uprising. This was quickly followed by the surrender of Gen Dupont's French army at Baylen. For the time being Junot was cut off in Portugal and to make matters worse for the French a British expeditionary force under the temporary command of Sir Arthur Wellesley (later to become the Duke of Wellington) landed in Portugal on 1st August 1808. Wellesley quickly gained two victories, first at Rolica on 17 August 1808 and then at Vimerio (or Vimiero) on 21st August 1808, but these gains were reversed when his superiors arrived (the inept Hew Dalrymple and Harry Burrard). Still believing in war as the sport of nobility these two foolishly signed the Convention of Cintra which by allowing Junot's army home in British ships caused an outrage back home. All three British Generals were recalled home but only Wellesley was cleared. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
While this was taking place Sir John Moore had taken command of the British Army in Portugal and started working much more closely with the Spanish. The Spanish were not yet ready to move from insurgency to conventional war and when Moore advanced into Spain he found himself facing the French alone. To make matters worse Napoleon himself led the French armies. Napoleon quickly retook Madrid and forced the British into a terrible retreat through the Spanish mountains. Convinced the war in the Peninsula was over, Napoleon left Marshall Soult to finish Moore off and returned to France as 1809 began to prepare for war against Austria. Moore was far from finished and he made a stand at Corunna defeating Soult on 16th January although Moore died during the battle the remains of the British Army were able to escape by sea. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
Lisbon was still free from French control and became the base of British operations when Wellesley returned, now with Portuguese allies under the command of William Beresford. Soult crossed into Portugal in the spring of 1809 but was defeated again by Wellesley at Oporto on 12th May. Wellesley now advanced into Spain with Spanish allies who proved unreliable. When Marshal Victor and Joseph Bonaparte attacked at Talavera on 28th July 1809 they took no active part in the battle at all. Despite this Wellesley defeated the French but determined not to make Moore's mistake retreated back into Portugal until he could be sure of his Spanish allies and was better prepared. For Talavera Wellesley became known as Wellington as his reward, but would not become a Duke until 1814. The remains of the Spanish army were forced back to defend Cadiz as the free capital of Spain while Wellington prepared defences in Portugal for the expected French invasion. These became known as the Lines of Torres Vedras. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
By early 1810 two French armies were on the border, the Army of Portugal under Marshall Andre Massena and the Army of Andalusia under Marshall Soult. The personal dislike both men had for each other was to prevent any coordinated action. In July 1810 Massena advanced and was defeated by Wellington at Buscao on 27th September. Wellington refused to be draw out from his defences by this victory and Massena's forces spent a long harsh winter starving outside the British and Portuguese lines. Despite unsuccessful French attempts to retake Cadiz by 1811 the situation in the Peninsular had changed very little. Wellington defeated Massena again at Fuentes de Onoro in May 1811 and the Allied army under Beresford attacked the border fortress of Badajoz with little success and much butchery. Elsewhere Spanish regulars and irregulars suffered setbacks at the hands of the French including their defeat at Valencia on 9th January 1812, proving once again that insurgents have little chance of repelling invaders until they are able to fight and win a conventional war. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
In January of 1812 Wellington decided that it was the right time to go on the offensive. First he took the two border forts which were the gateway to Spain, Ciudad Rodrigo (19th Jan) and Badajoz (19th April). Lacking any real siege train, or the time to reduce the fortresses through starvation these were taken by bloody assaults. Wellington continued to make his name defeating Massena's replacement Marshall Marmont at Salamanca on 22 July. Madrid was briefly liberated but the lack of siege train this time made taking Burgos impossible and Wellington retreated back to Portugal rather than risk being cut off by superior French forces. Although forced back into Portugal the Peninsular war had turned in favour of the British. Wellington had made his reputation, smashing all the French Marshals and armies sent against him and just as importantly Napoleon had drained Spain of the best of the French forces for the invasion of Russia. Napoleon had expected to return to Spain after the Russians had been dealt with and crush the British forces but of course few of his troops returned from the lethal 1812 campaign. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
In 1813 Wellington led a much more confident Allied army into Spain, once again facing Joseph Bonaparte and once again smashing the French army, this time at the battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813. Marshal Suchet tried to hold the mountain passes but after several hard fought engagements Wellington's army entered France. Wellington's army drove northwards, defeating Soult at Orthez in February 1814 and capturing Bordeaux. The last battle of the Peninsular war was fought at Toulose on 10th April 1814 where Soult was once again defeated. Sadly this was a pointless battle and wasted many lives needlessly as Napoleon had abdicated on 6th April 1814, but the news had yet to reach the combatants in the south. The Peninsular war proved a fatal drain to Napoleon's resources both in his time and in men and materials. It also helped forge a British army capable of beating the French and proved British commitment to the war against Napoleon to the European Allies throughout this turbulent period. Most importantly it brought to the fore one of the great Generals of the period, the duke of Wellington, although it is important to note that Wellington and Napoleon never fought against each other during this campaign - that would have to wait until the Hundred Days campaign and Napoleon's last desperate gamble. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
Another one of Napoleon’s failures was the Invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812 was one of the greatest disasters in military history. Napoleon invaded Russia at the head of an army of over 600,000 men but by the start of 1813 only 93,000 of them were still alive and with the army. The Russians had prevented Napoleon from fighting the decisive battle he wanted until he was at the gates of Moscow, and their refusal to negotiate after he captured the city eventually forced the French to carry out a lengthy and very costly retreat, harassed by the cold and by Cossacks. The retreat from Moscow was one of the defining images of the Napoleonic period, and the disaster in Russia helped convince many of Napoleon's former allies to turn against him, especially in Germany. Within two years Napoleon went from the master of most of Europe to abdication and his first exile. (Rickard, 2014)
Another failure by Napoleon was the devastating battle of Waterloo. Waterloo is one of the most famous battles in European history, even today, nearly 200 years after the battle the site is a very popular attraction for visitors from all over Europe. In April 1814 when Napoleon finally abdicated it seemed that the Napoleonic wars were finally over. By the end of the war the European armies had started to adopt French tactics and strategies and the myth of Napoleon's invincibility had been shattered. Despite this the restored French monarchy was soon in trouble and the victors were more interested in dividing the spoils than watching out for the now exiled Napoleon. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)
Landing in France on 26th February 1815 with a handful of troops, Napoleon was within 23 days returned to power. The allies were alarmed and quickly united for the final campaign, a campaign which both sides knew would finally decide the future of Europe. Napoleon decided to strike quickly, for to delay would gain the Allies time to muster vast forces and Napoleon's public support would soon evaporate. Napoleon's forces crossed the border into Belgium on 15th June and despite early surprise delay and confusion slowed the French advance. His plan was simple - destroy Prussian and British forces before the Austrians and Russians could arrive. The Waterloo campaign is made up of two sets of double battles, Quatre Bras and Ligny, and Wavre and Waterloo, (only Waterloo will be dealt with here). (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002)

The Battlefield at Waterloo is small only 3 miles east/west and 1 1/2 miles deep on which massed nearly 70,000 allies and 71,000 French troops, an area which would be defended by a modern infantry company. Wellington had chosen his ground carefully since he had seen the battlefield previously. He deployed the allies on a reverse slope of a ridge to protect them from artillery fire but with a wood behind which would delay any retreat if things went badly. Two strong points would dominate the battlefield, the farm houses of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, these would break up the force of the French attack throughout the day. Wellington had been promised help from the Prussian General Blucher and it would be the arrival of these reinforcements late in the battle which would finally turn the tide. On such a small and muddy battlefield there was little prospect of manoeuvres so the battle became a series of brutal frontal assaults by the French showing none of Napoleon's skill. By four in the afternoon, the Prussians had started to arrive and the French had made little progress but attrition was starting to tell on the Allied forces. A last attack by the Imperial guard was routed and panic started to spread through the French forces. The battle was finally over. The allies lost 55,000 men and French 60,000, a horrendous cost prompting Wellington to say "Nothing save a battle lost is as terrible as a battle won". Napoleon's last great gamble had failed and he was exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic where he died 6 years later. (Dugdale-Pointon, Peninsular War (1807-14), 2002).
Napoleon was exiled to the island of St Helena after his defeat. Waterloo was a bloody battle which saw his remaining elite guard destroyed and Napoleon exiled to St Helena from where he was never to return, marking the end of the Napoleonic wars and his final resting place. (Dugdale-Pointon, Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), 2000).
On October 15, 1815, Napoleon disembarked in St. Helena with those followers who were voluntarily accompanying him into exile: General Henri-Gratien Bertrand, grand marshal of the palace, and his wife; the comte Charles de Montholon, aide-de-camp, and his wife; General Gaspard Gourgaud; Emmanuel Las Cases, the former chamberlain; and several servants. After a short stay at the house of a wealthy English merchant, they moved to Longwood, originally built for the lieutenant governor. (Godechot, 2014)
Napoleon showed the first signs of illness at the end of 1817; he seems to have had an ulcer or a cancer of the stomach. The Irish doctor Barry O’Meara, having asked in vain for a change in the conditions under which Napoleon lived, was dismissed; so also was his successor John Stokoe, who was likewise thought to be well-disposed toward Napoleon. The undistinguished Corsican doctor who took their place, Francesco Antommarchi, prescribed a treatment that could do nothing to cure his patient. It is uncertain, however, whether Napoleon’s disease was curable at all, even by 21st-century methods. There has been continuing controversy about the cause of his death, but the evidence used by some to support the theory that Napoleon was poisoned is not considered conclusive by many scholars. (Godechot, 2014)
From the beginning of 1821, the illness became rapidly worse. From March, Napoleon was confined to bed. In April he dictated his last will:

“I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of that French people which I have loved so much…I die before my time, killed by the English oligarchy and its hired assassins.”

On May 5 he spoke a few coherent phrases: “My God…the French nation…my son…head of the army.” He died at 5:49 pm on that day, not yet 52 years old. His body was dressed in his favourite uniform that of the Chasseurs de la Garde, covered by the grey overcoat that he had worn at Marengo. The funeral was conducted simply, but with due propriety, in the Rupert Valley, where Napoleon had sometimes walked, beside a stream in which two willows were reflected. The stone covering his tomb bore no name, only the words “Ci-Gît” (“Here Lies”). (Godechot, 2014).

References
Dugdale-Pointon. (2000, December 23). Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815. Retrieved from historyofwar.org: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_waterloo.html
Dugdale-Pointon. (2000, November 16). Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). Retrieved from historyofwar.org: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_napoleonic.html
Dugdale-Pointon. (2002, March 3). Peninsular War (1807-14). Retrieved from historyofwar.org: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_peninsular.html
Godechot, J. (2014, July 7). Napoleon I. Retrieved from britannica.com: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/402943/Napoleon-I/16227/Exile-on-St-Helena
Markham, F. H. (1966). Napoleon. New York: Penguin Group.
May, G. (1977). Stendhal and the Age of Napoleon. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rickard. (2014, June 2). Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812. Retrieved from historyofwar.org: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/campaign_russia_1812.html
Saint-Amand, I. D. (1910). Private Life of Napoleon His Family and His Court (Vol. III). (E. G. Martin, Trans.) New York: The Century.
Sloane, W. M. (1916). The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Vol. IV). New York: The Century CO.
TheBiography.com. (2014). Napoleon Bonaparte. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from TheBiography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/napoleon-9420291