First French Empire

The First French Empire was the imperial regime established by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had risen to power as First Consul of the French Republic following the 1799 coup of 18 Brumaire and was crowned Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804 in a ceremony at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. At its territorial height around 1812 the empire directly controlled or dominated through allied and satellite states most of continental Europe, from Spain to the borders of Russia, achieved through a series of victories including the decisive Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 against Austria and Russia. Napoleon's rule brought lasting legal and administrative reforms, most notably the Napoleonic Code, which reshaped civil law across much of Europe, but his empire began to unravel after the catastrophic invasion of Russia in 1812 cost France the bulk of its army. Defeated by a coalition of European powers, Napoleon abdicated in 1814, briefly returned to power during the Hundred Days in 1815, and was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, ending the First French Empire and sending him into exile on the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.