Na ‧ po ‧ le ‧ on /nəˈpəʊliən/ BrE AmE , Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769–1821) the ↑ emperor of France from 1804 to 1815. He was a great and very skilful military leader and his armies took control of many European countries, which then became part of his ↑ empire . His biggest failure was in 1812, when he unsuccessfully attacked Russia, and most of the men in his army died from cold and hunger on the way back to France. In 1815 he was finally defeated (↑ defeat ) at the Battle of Waterloo and was forced to spend the rest of his life on the island of St Helena. Napoleon also changed the way that France was organized, and established a new system of laws, called the ‘Napoleonic Code’, on which modern French law is based. He is often shown in pictures wearing military uniform, with one hand placed across his chest and inside his coat. ⇨ ↑ Josephine