| | Napoleon made other strategic mistakes also. His blockade against Great Britain in 1806, known as the Continental System, did not help him. His Peninsular War against Spain from 1808 to 1813 was hurtful also. | | Napoleon made other strategic mistakes also. His blockade against Great Britain in 1806, known as the Continental System, did not help him. His Peninsular War against Spain from 1808 to 1813 was hurtful also. |
| − | By 1813 Napoleon’s army was weak enough for the Fourth Coalition to defeat it, at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]. By 1814 Napoleon could see that he would have to give up his throne, and his opponents sent him off to an island in Mediterranean known as Elba. Napoleon remained banished there for a year, but escaped in March 1815 to grab power over France again for “The Hundred Days.” But in June 1815, the Prussia and Great Britain defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and this time Napoleon was shipped to the distant island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. In a fascinating historical investigation about ten years ago, scientists analyzed hair samples from Napoleon’s corpse and found arsenic. This led the scientists to conclude that Napoleon died from poisoning. But then other scientists said that the arsenic was from hair tonic, not poisoning, and that no one had murdered Napoleon after all. | + | By 1813 Napoleon’s army was weak enough for the Fourth Coalition to defeat it, at the [[Battle of Leipzig]]. By 1814 Napoleon could see that he would have to give up his throne, and his opponents sent him off to an island in Mediterranean known as Elba. Napoleon remained banished there for a year, but escaped in March 1815 to grab power over France again for “The Hundred Days.” But in June 1815, the Prussia and Great Britain defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and this time Napoleon was shipped to the distant island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. |
| | + | In a fascinating historical investigation about ten years ago, scientists analyzed hair samples from Napoleon’s corpse and found arsenic. This led the scientists to conclude that Napoleon had died from poisoning. But then other scientists said that the arsenic was from hair tonic, not poisoning, and that no one had murdered Napoleon after all. |