France at this time was governed by a Directory and a Council of Five Hundred. This was one of the forms of revolutionary government that had been adopted after the French had dethroned and slain their king.
Napoleon believed that the time had come for him to seize the chief position in the French Government, but he did not dare as yet openly to have himself proclaimed as King. With his brother Lucien, and his advisor Talleyrand—although Napoleon did not accept advice as a rule, but was guided by his own bold, brilliant ideas,—he overthrew the Council of Five Hundred and abolished the Directory. Then he established what was called the Provisional Government which was headed by a group of three men who were called Consuls. Naturally Napoleon was the first and most important of these, and took care to see that the bulk of the power wielded by the consuls should remain in his hands. Clever, bold and brilliant, stopping at nothing, with the solid backing of the army and a brain greater than any that has been known on this earth in hundreds of years, it seemed as though this superman could accomplish anything he desired.
After he had attained his ends in Paris he went again into the field to meet his enemies. There was no immediate fear that France would be invaded, for while the Austrians had won victories in Italy and freed that country from French control, for which they substituted their own, a French general named Massena had won a victory in Switzerland that had shaken the grip of his enemies. It was necessary, however, that Italy be invaded a second time. And this time Napoleon made his plans to cross the Alps as Hannibal had done two thousand years before.
With his supplies on pack mules, with cannon wheels carried by his soldiers and the men themselves drawing the cannon on rude sleds improvised from tree trunks, the indomitable commander crossed the mighty mountain range that stood in his way, and suddenly appeared on the Italian plains in a part of the country where the Austrians had not dreamed that he would arrive. Before they were able to collect and rearrange their forces, Napoleon struck and defeated them in the battle of Marengo, where his men fought against odds of three to one. Other battles followed, and French generals invaded Austria. There remained nothing for the Austrians to do but sue for peace. England soon followed her example and France was at peace with the world.
Then Napoleon busied himself with internal matters and set about reorganizing the French Government and framing a code of laws that might be used thereafter by the country that he had made his own. This was called the "Code Napoleon" and it is largely used to-day in France, for Napoleon's genius as a lawmaker and a ruler was almost as great as his power of generalship. He did not know such a word as failure but succeeded in everything he put his hand to. While whole libraries have been written about him there seem to be three main reasons for his gigantic successes. The first is that he was a natural genius, with far superior mental power to any other man of his time; the second is that he had wonderful ability to work hard, and the third is that he knew how to draw to himself the loyalty and affection of the ablest men of his day and make their achievements further stepping stones to his own successes. He had studied his trade of soldiering since he was old enough to talk. He had worked at it constantly and toiled so incessantly that he seldom slept more than three or four hours a night. Moreover, in the troubled times in which Napoleon appeared on the international stage, France was ripe for just such leadership and indomitable will power as he was able to supply. Fortune favored his efforts as much as he favored himself.
The peace that had come to Europe did not last long. In the treaties that had been framed Napoleon had taken care to include affairs that would furnish him with new excuses to make war whenever he desired. And now he went to war again with England and made plans for invading that country, which he hated above all others.
He had become so powerful by this time that he desired to wear the crown of France. Accordingly he made arrangements for a brilliant coronation and invited Pope Pius the Eighth to place the crown upon his head. As there was still much hatred in France of the word King, Napoleon decided to assume the title of Emperor.
On December 2, 1804, before a most brilliant assembly of people, Napoleon and Josephine were crowned. When the Pope approached to place the crown on Napoleon's head he rose quickly, took the crown from the Pope's hand and placed it on his head himself, while a gasp of astonishment ran through the audience. He then removed it and placed it on the head of Josephine who sat on the throne beside him.
As the crown touched Napoleon's brow Paris reechoed to the thunder of guns and to deafening cheers and cries of "Long live the Emperor!" Grim old soldiers, who had followed him in many bitter campaigns, embraced each other and got drunk in the wineshops. There was a wild time of revel and celebration. The French people forgot the Revolution in which thousands had died just to prevent the rule of kings. They thought of nothing but their new ruler who had made France the mistress of the world and was to lead his armies to even greater victories. And it seemed that Napoleon would need more victories to keep his power. Through the tireless efforts of the English statesman, Pitt, Russia and Austria had joined England against him. Other countries were secretly in league with these allies, and war was again to shake the entire world.
As we have said Napoleon had planned to invade England and so certain was he of success that he had a monument erected celebrating the future invasion. But to secure the results and to transport his army safely into England it was necessary for Napoleon to have mastery of the English Channel, which was controlled by British warships under Lord Nelson, who, as you remember, had cut off and defeated Napoleon at sea when he was engaged in the invasion of Egypt. And while arrangements were completed for carrying a large French army from Boulogne to the English shores, a mishap befell Napoleon that forever prevented him from realizing his dream of British invasion. The French fleet under Admiral Villeneuve met Lord Nelson off Trafalgar and was utterly defeated. Napoleon's chance to invade England was gone forever.