Character Catalog

A landmark piece of legislation that unified French civil law, guaranteeing equality before the law, private property rights, and individual freedoms. Still in force in France today, it has influenced the civil codes of many countries around the world.

An agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII that reorganized the Catholic Church in France following the upheavals of the Revolution. It recognized Catholicism as the 'religion of the great majority of the French' while preserving freedom of worship.

A national order recognizing civil and military merit, regardless of birth or social rank. Still awarded today, the Legion of Honor is France's highest distinction.

Napoleon established the lycée as a public secondary school, then created the baccalaureate in 1808 as France's first formal secondary school diploma. Both institutions continue to shape the French education system to this day.

A financial institution tasked with managing currency and credit, stabilizing the French economy after the crises of the Revolutionary period. It played a key role in financing the Napoleonic Wars.

A colossal monument commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his victories, most notably Austerlitz. Completed after his death, it is today one of the most iconic landmarks in Paris.

A monumental 23-volume encyclopedia published following Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of 1798–1801, compiling the work of the scholars he brought with him. It laid the foundations of modern Egyptology.

I closed the abyss of anarchy and cleared the chaos. I uncovered the eyes of corruption, developed the strength of nations, and gave them new life.

Not a day goes by without my loving you; not a night passes without my holding you in my arms; I never drink a cup of tea without cursing the glory and ambition that keep me away from the soul of my life.

Soldiers, you are naked and poorly fed; the government owes you much but can give you nothing. The patience and courage you show among these rocks are admirable, but they bring you no glory.

There shall be a Civil Code of the French. Civil laws are made to protect the property, family, and individual freedom of citizens.

I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people whom I have loved so dearly.

Napoleon Bonaparte's birthplace, where he was born on August 15, 1769, into a family of minor Corsican nobility. The Bonaparte family home is today a national museum.

The official residence of Napoleon as First Consul and later as Emperor, at the heart of Paris. It was from this palace that he governed France and commanded his armies; the palace was burned down in 1871.

The site of Napoleon's most celebrated victory, on December 2, 1805, against the Russian and Austrian armies. This battle is still studied in military academies around the world.

The royal château where Napoleon abdicated for the first time on April 6, 1814. It was here that he bade farewell to his Imperial Guard in a speech that has since become famous: 'Farewell, my children!'

A village near Brussels where Napoleon suffered his final defeat on June 18, 1815, at the hands of the allied armies of Wellington and Blücher. This battle brought the Empire to a definitive end.

A remote British island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where Napoleon was exiled from 1815 until his death in 1821. There he dictated his memoirs, crafting the Napoleonic legend for posterity.