Napoleon Bonaparte is in power for less than 15 years. His empire lasts for less than 10. But in that time the continent of Europe is utterly transformed. Not even the reaction that will follow his defeat and final exile in 1815 can turn back the transformational tide. Reform and the rise of the modern nation state will eventually follow everywhere.

Napoleon, although he rules as a dictator and even establishes his own family dynasty, ensures that the absolute monarchy swept away by the French Revolution in 1789 will never return in that form. Throughout Europe, the pressure will grow for independent nationhood, efficient government and status based on ability rather than inheritance. If it's not quite 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité', it's a considerable advance on the divine right of kings.

The rise to power
Bonaparte, already a phenomenally successful general in the French army, comes to power in November 1799 in the Coup de Brumaire. He plans the coup with Emmanuel Sieyès, a member of the Directory (the French government), even though the two men can't stand each other. As well as the backing of his fellow generals and troops, he makes sure of the support of Joseph Fouché, the minister of police.

The coup comes about as a result of the failure of the Directory to overcome corruption within its own ranks and provide stable government for France. The Directory is made up of five directors, elected by the bicameral legislature, consisting of the Council of Ancients (les Ancients) and the Council of the Five Hundred (Cinq-cents). It had been created in a new constitution established in 1795 following the overthrow and execution of Robespierre, who led the revolutionary Terror, in which an estimated 40,000 died.

Even so, the coup might have failed if, on 24 December 1800, Bonaparte had not been allegedly attacked by neo-Jacobins (radical supporters of the French Revolution) when he had turned up to address the Council of the Five Hundred (the attackers were actually royalists). Outraged at what they are told has been an attempt on the life of their general, troops march into the chamber where the council is meeting. The Directory is replaced by the Consulate – a new government run nominally by three consuls (Bonaparte, Sieyès and Roger Ducos) but actually by Bonaparte alone as first consul.

A continent at war
Napoleon's Europe is a continent at war. Not one war but a series of wars, with no fewer than seven different coalitions lining up at different times against France. It is the closest that Europe has yet come to the world wars that will ravage the continent and much of the rest of the world in the next century. In total, it is estimated that up to a million combatants are killed in battle during those years of Napoleon's rule. The formation of the First Coalition predates Napoleon's emergence as a national figure, but its defeat propels him to national glory for his role in the Italian campaign in 1797. The Coalition comes together to fight France as Europe's rulers panic in the face of the spread of its revolutionary ideas. The Coalition's principal supporters include the monarchs of Austria and Prussia, Frederick William III and Leopold II, who sought to restore Louis XVI to the French throne. They are to be at war with France for most of the next two decades.

The Coalition's other members include Britain (at war with France for all but a very brief period up to 1815), the United Provinces (the northern, Protestant parts of Belgium and Holland), Portugal, Spain, Piedmont-Sardinia, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Collapse of empire
The Second Coalition, boosted by British-led victories against the French in Egypt, lasts from 1799 to 1801. Its supporters are Britain, Austria, Russia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Ottoman empire. The Third Coalition, formed in 1805, is made up of Britain, Austria, Russia and Sweden. The Fourth Coalition, in 1806, consists of Britain, Russia and Prussia. The Fifth Coalition, in 1808, brings together Britain and Austria with Spain. The Sixth Coalition of 1813 – the first to be victorious – comprises Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia and Sweden. The Seventh Coalition, during the Hundred Days after Napoleon's return from Elba, comprising the same partners, brings about his final defeat.

At its peak, Napoleon's empire controls – either directly or through states under his sway – France, Portugal, Spain, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands, and large parts of modern Italy, Germany and Poland. Alliance with Russia between 1807 and 1812, and dominance over the remaining continental powers of Austria and Prussia, sees the empire at its peak.

The invasion of Russia marks Napoleon's high-water mark. The subsequent catastrophic failure sees the collapse of his empire, but not the disappearance of many of the ideas that it brought with it (see Liberté, égalité, fraternité).

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