Napoleon with a spyglass on a snowy hill at sunrise, French columns advancing through the fog below.

Napoleonic Wars map and timeline, 1789–1815

Napoleon Bonaparte was a young artillery officer from Corsica when the Bastille fell in 1789. Fifteen years later he crowned himself Emperor of the French, and by 1810 his empire and its allies covered most of continental Europe.

This map follows his rise and fall with the borders of each stage: Toulon, Italy, Egypt, Austerlitz, Tilsit, Spain, the march on Moscow and the last campaign that ended at Waterloo in 1815.

Open the mapSee the timeline

Interactive map · 1789–1815

Napoleonic Wars, step by step

Use Earlier and Later, or tap the bar, to move through 12 moments. Borders and labels change with each one.

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1769

The Outsider

This is the same 3D map, built from real terrain, that the Steel & Sovereigns app uses in every lesson.

Timeline

Napoleonic Wars timeline

A Corsican nobody rides a revolution to an imperial crown, then loses it all in an afternoon in Belgium.

  1. 14 July 1789

    The Bastille falls

    No home but the army.

    He lost Corsica, but the Revolution has opened every door in the army. Now a port in the south is about to be handed to the enemy, and France needs a gunner.

    In the app: lesson “The Outsider”

    At night on a rocky shore, a young officer with a lantern helps his mother and younger siblings into a small boat.

  2. Dec 1793

    Toulon retaken

    One hill, one city.

    Toulon made his name: he saw that the fleet, not the walls, was the target. Then politics nearly swallowed him. He needs one more chance, and Paris is about to give it to him.

    In the app: lesson “Toulon”

    A lean young officer with long hair studies maps by candlelight in a bare room.

  3. Oct 1797

    Peace of Campo Formio

    The hero of Italy.

    How did the outsider rise? The Revolution emptied the officer corps and rewarded winners, and he won every chance it gave him. At 28 he is the most famous man in France, and Paris fears him.

    In the app: lesson “Grapeshot and Italy”

    A young long-haired general holds a tricolour flag on a dyke above a marsh, smoke behind him.

  4. 1 Aug 1798

    Battle of the Nile

    Stranded.

    He won Egypt on land and lost the sea in one night. With no fleet, 35,000 men can't get home. What does a general do when his army is trapped?

    In the app: lesson “Forty Centuries”

    A slight British admiral with an empty right sleeve and a bandaged forehead stands on a deck lit by flames.

  5. 9–10 Nov 1799

    The coup of Brumaire

    The coup.

    He left an army in the sand and came home to take a country. The Revolution swore 'never again a king'. How long will that promise last?

    In the app: lesson “The Eighteenth Brumaire”

    A short-haired young man in a red, gold-embroidered coat stands at a desk while two older men wait behind him.

  6. 2 Dec 1804

    Napoleon crowns himself

    Emperor of the French.

    How does a general seize a republic? He came home from a lost war a hero, took power with bayonets, and had the voters hand him a crown. Now all of Europe's old crowns want his head.

    In the app: lesson “The Crown”

    In a cluttered room, a stocky, wild-haired composer angrily scratches a name off the title page of a score.

  7. 20–21 Oct 1805

    Ulm and Trafalgar

    Two days, two battles.

    At Ulm he won a campaign by marching; at Trafalgar he lost the sea for good. Now the Russians and the rest of Austria's army gather to the north of Vienna, and they think he's afraid of them.

    In the app: lesson “Six Hours”

    A slight British admiral with an empty right sleeve and stars on his coat stands on a warship's deck under signal flags.

  8. 2 Dec 1805

    Austerlitz

    The masterpiece.

    He won by looking weak: give up the hill, thin the flank, then strike the empty centre. Austria is out. Prussia, proud of Frederick the Great's legendary army, wants its turn.

    In the app: lesson “The Sun of Austerlitz”

    Out of the morning fog, French columns with eagle standards climb a bare hill under a breaking winter sun.

  9. July 1807

    Treaty of Tilsit

    Master of Europe.

    How did he beat all Europe? Speed and surprise: corps that marched apart and struck together. But Britain ruled the sea, so he fought it with trade, and a trade war needs every port. Portugal's will cost him dearly.

    In the app: lesson “The Raft on the Neman”

    Two emperors, one in a grey coat and one tall in a green Russian uniform, greet each other in front of a white pavilion on a raft in a river.

  10. 22 July 1808

    Surrender at Bailén

    The first wound.

    Spain swallowed hundreds of thousands of his soldiers year after year and gave Britain a foothold in Europe. In exile he called it the first cause of all his misfortunes. The second is coming from the east.

    In the app: lesson “The Spanish Ulcer”

    A lean British general with a hooked nose and a plain blue coat studies the hills through a telescope, a redoubt being built behind him.

  11. 14 Sept 1812

    Napoleon enters Moscow

    The Grande Armée is gone.

    In December he left the wreck of his army and raced to Paris by sleigh to raise a new one. But the legend that he could not be beaten died in Russia. Prussia and Austria are watching.

    In the app: lesson “1812”

    Napoleon in a grey coat stands at a tall Kremlin window, his face lit orange by a burning city outside.

  12. 18 June 1815

    Waterloo

    The nearest-run thing.

    What brought him down? His war on British trade dragged him into Spain and Russia, two wars he could not win, and at last all Europe united against him. Twenty-six years: from the Bastille to Waterloo.

    In the app: lesson “The Hundred Days”

    A heavy, tired man in a plain coat and white breeches stands on a windswept rocky island, staring out at a grey ocean.

Learn it in the app

Napoleon: From Revolution to Waterloo

Twelve five-minute lessons in four units, each with the map, hand-painted scenes, British narration and a few quick questions. Steel & Sovereigns is a history learning app for iPhone, built like Duolingo.

Unit 1

The Revolution That Made Him

  1. The Outsider
  2. Toulon
  3. Grapeshot and Italy

Unit 2

Egypt and the Crown

  1. Forty Centuries
  2. The Eighteenth Brumaire
  3. The Crown

Unit 3

Master of Europe

  1. Six Hours
  2. The Sun of Austerlitz
  3. The Raft on the Neman

Unit 4

The Fall

  1. The Spanish Ulcer
  2. 1812
  3. The Hundred Days
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