Though the Corsican eventually met his match at Waterloo, he is still regarded as one of the most romantic glamorous and important figures in history. From a bony provincial youth to a Warrior-Emperor ruling from Portugal to Russia, Napoleon’s story is an extraordinary one, and two of its finest and most famous moments happened on this day.

From outsider to emperor

After seizing control of France in 1799 Napoleon had ruled as First Consul – which effectively amounted to being a dictator over his adopted nation. Born in Corsica, which had only become a French possession on the year of his birth in 1769, he was – like Stalin the Georgian and Hitler the Austrian – an outsider.

Nevertheless, his youth, glamour and almost immaculate record of military success ensured that he was the darling of the French people, and this knowledge caused the young general to consider creating a new office that would serve as a more concrete reminder of his power and prestige.

As in ancient Rome, the word King was a dirty one after the Revolution, and again taking inspiration from the Caesars (who he greatly admired) Napoleon began to toy with the idea of crowning himself Emperor.

Despite his obvious vanity, he was not a blind megalomaniac, however, and was aware that after bloody fighting and revolution in order to depose and behead a King, replacing one title of autocrat with another might not be the best idea.

Napoleon in his less ostentatious role as First Consul.

He knew that firstly, he would have to test public opinion, and secondly, the ceremony of being crowned Emperor would have to be different and distanced from those of the Bourbon Kings. In 1804 he held a constitutional referendum asking the people to approve the new title of Emperor, which came back with 99.93% in favour.

Slightly dubious though this “democratic” vote may have been, it was enough to reassure the First Consul that the people would support him.

The Revolution at its most radical had resulted in a bloody period known as “the Terror,” and the anti-monarchical fervour of a decade ago had long-since fizzled out as the revolution produced weak and incompetent leaders. France was enjoying strong rule under a figure of huge popularity, and if being lorded over by an “emperor” was the price they had to pay for their new-found success and prosperity, then so be it.

Following in the footsteps of Caesar and Charlemagne

Unlike the 20th century dictators to which Napoleon has often been compared, he was a genuinely effective ruler who cared for his people, and many of his reforms, such as the Bank of France, stand to this day.

Full of confidence and sure of his own popularity, Napoleon began to plan every stage and symbol of his coronation in meticulous detail. At 9 A.M on 2 December he set out in a great procession to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which he entered in his full Imperial finery of regal red and ermine.

Eager to disassociate himself with the hated Bourbon Kings, however, his Imperial symbol of the bee replaced the royal Fleur-de-Lis on all the regalia. The bee had been a symbol of the ancient Frankish King Childeric, and was a carefully managed attempt to associate Napoleon with the austere military values of France’s first monarchs rather than the effete and despised Bourbon dynasty.

In accordance with this, he had a new crown made, based on that of Charlemagne, the last master of Europe, a thousand years earlier. In a breathtaking and era-defining moment, Napoleon carefully took the crown off the Pope, eased the Roman-style laurel leaves off his head, and crowned himself.

The impact of this moment, at a time where Kings, Lords and even politicians came from aristocratic lineages, cannot be imagined today.

This was the ultimate moment of the self-made man, placed on his throne not by divine right but by his own brilliance, and by the love of his people. Napoleon then crowned his beloved wife Josephine as Empress and left the cathedral as the first Emperor of France, the latest in a line that stretched from Caesar to Charlemagne, and now to this upstart Corsican.

His new image. The Imperial robes and the carpet are decorated with the symbol of the bee.

The road to Austerlitz

He would not have long to enjoy his new position however. After a relatively quiet period on the foreign stage the British broke the Peace of Amiens in 1803, and over the next two years were busy creating a coalition of powers arrayed against France.

Anxious to defeat his most bitter enemy, Napoleon began training a powerful army on the Channel, intending to invade and subjugate England. He never got the chance however, for upon hearing that the Russians were heading to support their Austrian allies in Germany, he lead his troops east in a lightning march to defeat his nearest continental enemy before Tsar Alexander’s forces arrived.

Marching his army at an astonishing pace and in total secrecy, he was able to surprise General Mack’s Austrian army in what is known as the Ulm Manouvre, and surround his forces so completely that the Austrian was forced to surrender his entire army. Having lost just 2000 men, Napoleon was then able to march on and take Vienna unimpeded.

Having suffered this disaster, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and Tsar Alexander I of Russia wheeled their huge armies to face Napoleon. He met them at Austerlitz, in what is known as the Battle of the Three Emperors.

Napoleon’s tactics at Austerlitz are rightly regarded to be among the most masterful in the history of warfare. Deliberately leaving his right flank looking weak, the Emperor of France fooled his enemies into making a full-blooded attack there, not knowing that the excellent Marshal Davout’s corps were there to plug the gap.

With the enemy engaged on the French right their centre was weakened, allowing Napoleon’s crack troops to overwhelm it and then mop up the rest of the enemy army from their new commanding tactical position. Simple enough tactics, but unbelievably effective as the enemy army of 85,000 men was put to flight.

After Austerlitz, success followed success, with the defeat of Prussia in 1806 followed by victory over Russia again the following year. After the Russians sued for peace at the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon really was the master of Europe, ruling over lands far more extensive than Charlemagne ever had.

The Emperor surrounded by chaos at Austerlitz.

Napoleon’s legacy

Though it would all come tumbling down eventually, Europe’s old feudal regimes could never return after Napoleonic rule. The world had changed, and the events of 2 December were pivotal in that change. The French people always loved their Emperor, especially after the Bourbons were restored after his fall. It required yet another revolution to once again oust them from power, and in 1852, a new Emperor was crowned.

He was none other than Napoleon’s nephew, a man who owed his popularity and power to his uncle’s brilliance rather than any great ability himself. Napoleon III was crowned Emperor of France exactly 48 years after Napoleon I, on 2 December.

The new Napoleon.

From conjuring up a phantom aircraft carrier at the mouth of the River Plate to enlisting a corpse into the Royal Marines. The lengths of British trickery knew no bounds.

In 1944, the art of deception was employed again as the Allies prepared to launch the greatest amphibious invasion in history.

Operation Bodyguard

The obvious route into Nazi occupied Europe was across the Straits of Dover. It was the narrowest point between Britain and the Continent; furthermore the crossing would prove easy to support from the air. The First United States Army Group – FUSAG – dutifully assembled in Kent ready for action.

Aerial reconnaissance reported mass formations of tanks, transport and landing craft. The airwaves buzzed with orders and communications. And the formidable George S. Patton was placed in command.

Utterly believable and completely fake: a complex diversion, designed to conceal the true target of Operation Neptune, the beaches of Normandy.

The divisions were fiction. Their barracks were constructed by set designers; their tanks were drawn out of thin air. But the deception campaign designed to support Operation Overlord, code-named Operation Bodyguard, didn’t end there.

Window and Ruperts

As zero hour approached, the Royal Navy deployed diversionary forces in the direction of the Pas de Calais. 617 Squadron, the Dam Busters, dropped aluminium foil – chaff, then code-named Window – to create vast blips on German radar, indicating an approaching armada.

To draw yet more German strength away from the beaches, an airborne assault was conducted north of the Seine on 5 June that saw hundreds of paratroops land behind enemy lines. But these were no ordinary soldiers.

At 3 feet they were a little on the small side. And though you could never normally accuse a paratrooper of lacking guts, in this case you’d be right because these guys were made of sand and straw.

They were known as Ruperts, an elite division of brave scarecrows, each fitted with a parachute and an incendiary charge that ensured they’d burn up on landing. They were accompanied on their first and only jump by ten SAS soldiers, eight of whom never returned.

The full scale of Operation Bodyguard encompassed decoy operations and feints across Europe. The British even dispatched an actor to the Mediterranean, because he bore a striking resemblance to Bernard Montgomery.

M. E. Clifton James in the guise of Montgomery.

The spy network

At every stage the operation was supported by espionage.

Germany had established a network of spies in Britain in the early years of the war. Unfortunately for the German military intelligence, the Abwehr, MI5 had succeeded in rooting out and in many cases recruiting not just elements of the network but in fact every spy the Germans had sent.

Even as the Allies were establishing a bridgehead in Normandy, double agents continued to feed intelligence to Berlin about the coming attack further north.

The success of Bodyguard was such that over a month after the D-Day landings, German forces were still poised to face an invasion in the Pas de Calais.

The current conflict began in the early 20th century, when Jews fleeing persecution wanted to establish a national homeland in what was then an Arab – and Muslim – majority territory. The Arabs resisted, seeking the establishment of their own state after years of rule by the Ottoman and later British Empire.

An early UN plan to portion some of the land to each group failed, and several bloody wars were fought over the territory. Today’s boundaries largely indicate the outcomes of two of those wars, one waged in 1948 and the other in 1967.

Here are 15 key moments in this long-running conflict:

1.  First Arab-Israeli War (1948-49)

The First Arab Israeli War commenced following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine on 14 May 1948, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence that had occurred that same day.

After 10 months of fighting, armistice agreements left Israel with more territory than was allocated in the 1947 Partition Plan, including West Jerusalem. Jordan took control and subsequently annexed the remainder of the British Mandate territories including much of the West Bank, while Egypt occupied Gaza.

Of a total population of around 1,200,000 people, around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs either fled or were driven out of their territories.

2. Six Day War (1967)

In 1950 Egypt blocked the the Straits of Tiran from Israeli shipping, and in 1956 Israel invaded the Sinai peninsula during the Suez Crisis with the objective of reopening them.

Though Israel was forced to retreat, they were assured that the shipping route would remain open and a United Nations Emergency Force were deployed along the border of the two countries. In 1967 however, Egyptian President Nasser once again blocked the Straits of Tiran to Israel and replaced the UNEF troops with his own forces.

In retaliation Israel launched a pre-emptive airstrike attack on Egypt’s air bases, and Syria and Jordan then joined the war.

Lasting 6 days, the war left Israel in control of East Jerusalem, Gaza, Golan Heights, Sinai and all of the West Bank, with Jewish settlements established in these areas to help consolidate control.

As a result of the Six-Day War, Israelis gained access to important Jewish holy sites, including the Wailing Wall. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

3. Munich Olympics (1972)

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, 8 members of the Palestinian terrorist group ‘Black September’ took the Israeli team hostage. 2 athletes were murdered at the site and a further 9 were taken hostage, with the group’s leader Luttif Afif demanding the release of 234 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel and the founders of the Red Army Faction who were being held by the West Germans.

A failed rescue attempt by the German authorities ensued in which all 9 hostages were killed alongside 5 members of Black September, with the Israeli government launching Operation Wrath of God to hunt down and kill anyone involved in the plot.

4. Camp David Accord (1977)

In May, Menachem Begin’s right-wing Likud party won a surprise election victory in Israel, bringing religious Jewish parties into the mainstream and encouraging settlements and economic liberalisation.

In November, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem and began the process that would lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai and Egypt’s recognition of Israel in the Camp David Accords. The Accords also pledged Israel to expand Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank.

5. Invasion of Lebanon (1982)

In June, Israel invaded Lebanon in order to expel the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) leadership after an assassination attempt on the Israeli ambassador to London.

In September, the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut by Israel’s Christian Phalangist allies led to mass protests and calls for the Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, to be removed from office.

A hung-parliament in July 1984 led to an uneasy coalition between Likud and Labour, and in June 1985 Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon but continued to occupy a narrow ‘security zone’ along the border.

6. First Palestinian Intifada (1987-1993)

In 1987 Palestinians in Israel began to protest their marginalised position and agitated for national independence. With Israel’s settler population in the West Bank almost doubling in the mid-1980s, a growing Palestinian militancy agitated against the de-facto annexation that seemed to be taking place.

Although around 40% of the Palestinian workforce worked in Israel, they were mostly employed in jobs of unskilled or semi-skilled nature.

In 1988 Yasser Arafat formally declared the establishment of a Palestinian state, despite the fact that the PLO had no control over any territory and was held to be a terrorist organisation by Israel.

The First Intifada became a largely spontaneous series of demonstrations, nonviolent actions like mass boycotts and Palestinians refusing to work in Israel, and attacks (such as with rocks, Molotov cocktails and occasionally firearms) on Israelis.

During the six-year Intifada, the Israeli army killed from 1,162-1,204 Palestinians – 241 being children – and arrested more than 120,000. One journalistic calculation reports that in the Gaza Strip alone from 1988 to 1993, some 60,706 Palestinians suffered injuries from shootings, beatings or tear gas.

7. Oslo Declaration (1993)

Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took steps toward peace between their two countries, mediated by Bill Clinton.

They planned Palestinian self-government and formally concluded the First Intifada. Violence from Palestinian groups who reject the Declaration continues to this day.

Between May and July 1994, Israel withdrew from most of Gaza and Jericho, allowing Yasser Arafat to move the PLO administration from Tunis and to establish Palestinian National Authority. Jordan and Israel also signed a peace treaty in October.

In 1993 Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took steps toward peace between their two countries mediated by Bill Clinton.

The Interim Agreement for the transfer of further autonomy and territory to the Palestinian National Authority in September 1995 paved the way for the 1997 Hebron Protocol, 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 2003 ‘Road Map for Peace’.

This was despite Likud’s electoral success in May 1996 which saw Benjamin Netanyahu come to power – Netanyahu did pledge to halt further concessions and settlement expansion resumed however.

8. Pullout from Lebanon (2000)

In May, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon. Two months later however, talks between Prime Minister Barak and Yasser Arafat broke down over the timing and extent of proposed further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

In September, Likud leader Ariel Sharon visited the site in Jerusalem known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Arabs as Al-Haram-al-Sharif. This highly-provocative visit sparked new violence, known as the Second Intifada.

9. Second Palestinian Intifada – 2000-2005

A new wave of violent protests erupted between the Palestinians and Israelis following Sharon’s visit to Temple Mount/Al-Haram-al-Sharif – Sharon then went on to become Prime Minister of Israel in January 2001, and refused to continue peace talks.

Between March and May in 2002, the Israeli army launched Operation Defensive Shield on the West Bank after a significant number of Palestinian suicide bombings – the largest military operation on the West Bank since 1967.

In June 2002 the Israelis started to build a barrier around the West Bank; it frequently deviated from the agreed pre-1967 ceasefire line into the West Bank. The 2003 Road Map – as proposed by the EU, the USA, Russia and the UN – attempted to resolve the conflict and both Palestinians and Israelis supported the plan.

Israeli soldiers in Nablus during Operation Defensive Shield. CC / Israel Defence Force

10. Withdrawal from Gaza (2005)

In September, Israel withdrew all Jewish settlers and military from Gaza, but maintained control over airspace, coastal waters and border crossings. At the start of 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian elections. Rocket attacks from Gaza escalated, and were met with rising Israeli violence in retaliation.

In June, Hamas took Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, hostage and tensions rose sharply. He was eventually released in October 2011 in exchange for 1,027 prisoners in a deal brokered by Germany and Egypt.

Between July and August, there was an Israeli incursion into Lebanon, which escalated into the Second Lebanon War. In November 2007, the Annapolis Conference established a ‘two-state solution’ for the first time as a basis for future peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

11. Gaza Invasion (2008)

In December Israel launched a month-long full-scale invasion to prevent Hamas staging further attacks. Between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinians were killed; the Israeli’s lost 13 men.

12. Netanyahu’s fourth government (2015)

In May, Netanyahu formed a new coalition government with the right-wing Bayit Yehudi party. Another right-wing party, Yisrael Beitenu, joined the following year.

In November, Israel suspended contact with European Union officials who had been in talks with Palestinians over the decision to label goods from Jewish settlements as coming from settlements, not from Israel.

In December 2016 Israel broke ties with 12 countries that voted for a Security Council resolution condemning settlement building. This occurred after the US abstained from its vote for the first time, rather than using its veto.

In June 2017 the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank for 25 years started construction. It followed after a law was passed that retroactively legalised dozens of Jewish settlements that were built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.

13. US raised the military aid package to Israel (2016)

In September 2016 the US agreed a military aid package worth $38bn over the next 10 years – the largest deal of its kind in US history. The previous pact, which expired in 2018, saw Israel receive $3.1bn each year.

14. US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (2017)

In an unprecedented move, Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital, causing further upset and divides in the Arab world and drawing condemnation from some Western allies. In 2019, he declared himself ‘history’s most pro-Israel U.S. president’.

15. A ceasefire between Israel and Palestine was brokered (2018)

The UN and Egypt attempted to broker a long-term ceasefire between the two states, following a steep rise in bloodshed on the Gaza border. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman resigned in protest at the ceasefire, and withdrew the Yisrael Beteinu party from the coalition government.

For two weeks after the ceasefire a number of protests and minor incidents took place, however their intensity gradually decreased.

16. Renewed violence threatens war (2021)

In Spring 2021, the site of Temple Mount/Al-Haram-al-Sharif again became a political battlefield when a number of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians ensued over Ramadan.

Hamas issued the Israeli police an ultimatum to remove their forces from the site which, when unmet, was followed by rockets fired into southern Israel – over the coming days over 3,000 continued to be sent into the area by Palestinian militants.

In retaliation dozens of Israeli air strikes on Gaza followed, destroying tower blocks and militant tunnel systems, with many civilians and Hamas officials killed. In towns with mixed Jewish and Arab populations mass unrest broke out in the streets causing hundreds of arrests, with Lod near Tel Aviv declaring a state of emergency.

With the easing of tensions unlikely, the UN fears a ‘full scale war’ between the two sides may loom on the horizon as the decades-old crisis continues.

The Allies had now turned their attention north, to securing a series of islands that
were situated between the Philippines and the Japanese mainland. These included
the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Just as they had done defending islands in previous years (like Peleliu), the
Japanese transformed Iwo Jima and Okinawa into bastions of defence. The Second
World War in Europe may have been coming to a close, but the Pacific War in early
1945 was to be marked by some of the bloodiest military conflicts of the 20th
century.

Any invasion of the Japanese mainland ultimately never came to fruition, partly due
to the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago
this month (the Soviet declaration of war on Japan on 9 August was also significant).
The Japanese government and Allied forces would sign the Japanese Instrument of
Surrender on 2 September 1945.

From Iwo Jima to the Bombing of Hiroshima this eBook explores the Pacific War
theatre of World War Two in 1945. Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from
various History Hit resources.

Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by some of the world’s
leading World War Two naval and aviation historians, including Thomas Cleaver and
Tim Hillier-Graves. Features written by History Hit staff past and present are also
included.

A sleek, modern luxurious liner that was offering a safe and fast crossing of the
Atlantic Ocean. Titanic was said to be invincible.

She cruised down Southampton waters on her maiden voyage to North America,
watched by large crowds. But she would never reach New York.

Barely 5 days after leaving Southampton she was gone, swallowed up by the Atlantic
after striking an iceberg. The maritime disaster that struck Titanic has made her the
most famous ship in history, with many myths emerging about what happened that
fateful night on 14/15 April.

This eBook aims to sort the fact from the fiction about this maritime disaster.
Included also are two articles about the actual worst maritime disaster in history: the
sinking of ‘Hitler’s Titanic’, the Wilhelm Gustloff, 75 years ago.

Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources.
Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by leading historians
including Titanic expert Tim Maltin and World War Two author Roger Moorhouse.
Features written by History Hit staff past and present are also included.

From Caesar first setting eyes on this ‘unknown’ island’s shoreline to the fall of the Brigantes Queen Cartimandua this eBook tells the tale of the Roman invasion of Britain. Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources. Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by historians specialising in Roman Britain, as well as edited transcripts of History Hit podcasts featuring archaeologist Dr Simon Elliott.

It was a time epitomised by the wide scale introduction of machinery, the
transformation of cities and significant technological developments. Many modern
mechanisms have their origins from this period.

From Josiah Wedgwood to William Morris, J.M.W Turner to Isambard Kingdom
Brunel’s SS Great Western, this eBook focuses on some of the remarkable inventions
and inventors of this age.

Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources.
Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by authors such as Martin
Easdown and Martyn Pring. Features written by History Hit staff past and present
are also included.

He is remembered for failing to recognise the importance of Parliament and refusing to compromise with dissident MPs. He antagonised Parliament by his attempts to rule without them throughout the 1630s.

When war with the Scots forced him to recall Parliament, Charles found himself forced to go along with a series of measures – including the arrest of some of his key advisers. However, as soon as the opportunity arose, he attempted to have his opponents arrested.

When that failed Charles panicked and, believing his life was in danger, fled north and raised his royal standard at Nottingham – the moment war was declared between the King and the parliament. It was the start of The Civil War, or English Civil War (historians disagree over what title we should give it).

The Civil War was in fact a series of wars that pitted supporters of the monarchy, known as “Royalists” or “Cavaliers”, against supporters of the English parliament, known as “Parliamentarians” or “Roundheads”.

Ultimately, the war was a struggle over how much power parliament should have over the monarchy and would challenge forever the idea that an English monarch had the right to rule without the consent of their people.

From the 11 Years’ Tyranny to the development of propaganda this eBook explores the life and portrayal of King Charles I, as well as certain events during the Civil War. Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources.

Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by leading Stuart historian Leanda de Lisle. Features written by History Hit staff past and present are also included. You can access all these articles on historyhit.com. Charles I and the Civil War was compiled by Tristan Hughes.

By 10:30 am Franz and Sophie had already survived one assassination attempt. But
at 10:45 am they decided to leave the safety of Sarajevo City Hall to visit Franz’
comrades – injured from the attack – at the Sarajevo hospital. They never made it,
assassinated en-route by 19 year old Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip.

The murder of Franz Ferdinand 106 years ago this week proved one of the seminal
moments of 20th century European history, sparking the July Crisis that ultimately
led to the outbreak of the First World War.

This eBook explores the complex causes of the First World War. Detailed articles
explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources. Included in this eBook
are articles written for History Hit by leading World War One historian Margaret
MacMillan. Features written by History Hit staff past and present are also included.

The middle decades of the 15th century were filled with ambitious men and women, nobles and queens, all keen to exert influence over a weak king whilst his kingdom’s fortunes at home and abroad were faltering. It was a time of turmoil, but also of opportunity for whoever dared seize it. Richard was one such man.

From Richard’s early years fighting in France to his surprising sally from Sandal Castle on 30 December 1460 this eBook provides an overview of the Duke of York’s career and his significant role in igniting the Wars of the Roses.

Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from various History Hit resources. Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by Matt Lewis, Wars of the Roses historian and biographer of Richard, Duke of York, as well as features provided by History Hit staff past and present.