Monday, Feb. 08, 2010
Napoleon Bonaparte
The Lilliputian leader of France became a legend in the early 1800s — first as a war hero, then as Emperor. For eight straight years Napoleon Bonaparte dominated Europe, defeating the armies of Austria, Russia and Prussia. But after allied powers finally took France in March 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean. He escaped a year later and headed back to Paris, where he reclaimed power and reorganized the military and the government. This comeback was later dubbed the Hundred Days, because it only took that long until Bonaparte fell at the infamous Battle of Waterloo. He was imprisoned by the British on the island of Saint Helena, where he died six years later.