Napoleon controls almost the entire European continent.
Having defeated Prussia and Austria, he tries hard to dominate Spain.
In the west, the United Kingdom has always been his biggest opponent.
The island is well defended by its powerful Royal Navy.
The country sends an army to Portugal which with the help of local forces, chases away the French.
They now threaten to take over Spain.
To the east, Russia and France see a gradual weakening in their relationship,
although they are officially allied.
Russia has never backed Napoleon in his wars
and now refuses to implement the Continental Blockade imposed by Napoleon on the UK.
Having had enough, Napoleon plans to invade Russia.
He gathers more than 650,000 soldiers from all over Europe, and signs alliances with Prussia and Austria.
Meanwhile, Russia signs a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and prepares its troops at the border.
Napoleon hopes for a blitz and an easy victory that would force the Tsar to negotiate peace.
His army crosses the Niemen River toward the Russian armies.
Its south wing is constituted of an Austrian contingent and its north wing by Prussia.
But the Russian armies, largely outnumbered, avoid engaging in battle and retreat deep into the land.
Napoleon then accelerates the pace and tries and catch up.
His supply lines are stretched quickly, requiring excellent organization by many men.
The Russians deploy the scorched-earth tactic, burning down everything in their path while retreating.
Many soldiers die of exhaustion along the way.
Finally reaching the gates of Moscow, Napoleon and his 130,000 remaining soldiers
go face-to-face with 120,000 Russians.
The battle proves to be a bloody affair, which France wins with great difficulty.
Napoleon and his 100,000 men enter Moscow, which was evacuated.
A week later, Russian soldiers set fire to the city.
During five weeks, Napoleon tries to negotiate peace with the Tsar, but receives no response.
Eventually, as winter is coming, Napoleon is forced to retreat.
Along the way, the troops at the back of his formation are subject to constant attack.
Further west, two Russian armies prepare to block his retreat.
Napoleon understands that he must hurry if he does not want his army to be annihilated.
His troops, exhausted and starving, now suffer from the frost and snow.
Horses die of exhaustion and are eaten, while the artillery is abandoned.
When they reach the Berezina River, a Russian army is stationed in front of the bridge to block them.
Napoleon discreetly sends men further north to build two bridges.
Eventually, while the French troops cross the river,
the Russian battalion approaching from the north reaches them.
Bridges are burned to prevent the Russians from following them,
condemning the fate of the remaining 10,000 French soldiers who couldn not cross on time.
Only a few tens of thousands of French soldiers manage to leave Russia,
while Napoleon leaves alone for Paris.
Upon reaching Paris, Napoleon moves quickly to raise a new army.
Meanwhile the Tsar, despite being weakened by war,
continues the offensive knowing he has much to gain if he becomes the liberator of Europe.
The Tsar moves diplomatically closer to Prussia,
which considers the possibility of freeing the Confederation of the Rhine from Napoleon.
This would render Prussia as the new influential power in the region.
The King of Prussia discreetly prepares his armies.
Austria chooses to be neutral for the moment,
while the Confederation of the Rhine remains loyal to Napoleon.
Once the Russian army is at the gates of Berlin, Prussia declares war on France.
Together they leave for Saxony to fight what is left of Napoleon’s Great Army.
But the latter is joined by Napoleon’s new army,
and with a few victories they force Prussia and Russia to seek a truce.
Meanwhile in the Iberian Peninsula, Wellington's army,
along with the Portuguese and Spanish forces,
seizes Madrid and is preparing to expel the French from the country.
During the truce, while the armies are reinforced on both sides, the battle plays out on the diplomatic level.
Sweden joins the coalition while Austria offers mediation to Napoleon.
Austria suggests to restore the so-called natural frontiers of France in exchange for peace.
But Napoleon does not take up the offer, and Austria joins the coalition.
The truce is broken, causing the three great armies to march onto the Confederation of the Rhine.
Their advance forces Napoleon to play the defensive card.
He retreats to Leipzig, where a decisive battle involving half a million men takes place.
During three days, the French and their allies resist the offensive,
but besieged on three fronts, they finally must retreat.
During retreat, the only functioning bridge is destroyed too early, condemning a third of the French army.
Napoleon crosses the Rhine with only 70,000 men, while the Confederation of the Rhine joins the coalition.
Meanwhile in Spain, the French army, chased by Wellington, is pushed back to the borders.
France is besieged from all sides.
The French armies, completely outnumbered, resist as well as they can the advance towards the country.
But the coalition eventually enters Paris.
Napoleon, who is in Fontainebleau, is forced to abdicate.
Napoleon loses all powers.
He is then forced by the coalition to go into exile with a few hundred men on the island of Elba,
over which he has sovereignty.
In France, the monarchy is restored and King Louis XVIII accedes to the throne.
In Vienna, the victors meet for several months in order to redraw the new borders of the continent
and try to establish a long-term peace plan for Europe.
Representatives from small states are not given a voice in the negotiation.
Big powers lead the discussions and carve up territories.
The Duchy of Warsaw mainly becomes Congress Poland, in a personal union with the Tsar of Russia.
Prussia extends westwards while the Confederation of the Rhine becomes the German Confederation.
Austria recovers many lost territories, while old kingdoms are recreated in Italy.
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands and Sweden-Norway are created.
Finally, Switzerland's neutrality is recognized by all.
From his island, Napoleon follows closely developments on the continent, especially in France.
He knows that the return of the monarchy is little appreciated by the people.
For one last time, he would decide to try and regain power.
He secretly leaves for France.
Napoleon lands near Cannes with a few hundred men.
On his way to Paris, he receives a hero’s welcome in cities while French troops also join him.
When he reaches the capital, the king has already fled and Napoleon gets back power.
But in Vienna, heads of states form a seventh coalition.
Napoleon prepares the country for war.
In the Netherlands, an army under the Duke of Wellington's command is prepared,
while in Prussia, Blücher’s army goes to join him.
To the east, an Austrian army is waiting to be joined by the Russian army
which would arrive several months later.
Napoleon decides to make the first move.
If he can prevent the armies of Wellington and Blücher from joining forces,
he may then also be successful in preventing the Austrian and Russian armies from doing the same.
He leaves immediately with 125,000 men.
Upon arrival, the Prussian army finds itself stretched and disorganized,
while the army of the Duke of Wellington, consisting of soldiers
from Britain, the Netherlands and German states, is positioned near Brussels.
Napoleon just about manages to prevent both armies from joining forces
and pushes them both further north.
An army of 30,000 men chases the Prussian troops, while Napoleon advances towards Wellington
who has positioned himself on a ridge near Waterloo.
The next day, the French army, which is reaching Wavre,
sees most of the Prussian army leaving westward, and decides not to chase them,
instead preferring to attack the garrisons left behind in the city.
On the western front, Napoleon and Wellington engage in fierce battle.
In the afternoon, as Napoleon seems to be winning, the first Prussians arrive from the east.
Napoleon has no choice but to send some of his men on the eastern front, which leads to his defeat.
Napoleon goes back to Paris and tries for the last time to form an army, but the government refuses.
He then leaves incognito to Rochefort, where he hopes to board a ship for the United States.
But British soldiers are checking the port.
After wandering for several days, Napoleon, aware he’s a wanted man, tries his luck
and asks the British to take him to the United States.
But instead, they take him to the island of St. Helen, which would become Napoleon’s last prison.
Isolated and closely surveyed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,
he would not no longer be able to influence anyone anymore.
He writes his memoirs, eventually falls sick, dies on May 5th, 1821 and is buried in the island.
In 1840, his remains are unearthed and brought back to the Invalides in Paris.
To this day, it serves as Napoleon's Tomb.