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The First French Empire [4] [a] or French Empire (French: Empire français; Latin: Imperium Francicum) and also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century.
The precise extent of either empire at its greatest territorial expansion is a matter of debate among scholars. Several empires in human history have been contenders for the largest of all time, depending on definition and mode of measurement.
Encompassing approximately 5.5 million square kilometers at its height in 500 BC, [23] [24] the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of antiquity. [ dubious – discuss ] In its time it had political power over neighboring countries, and had high cultural and economic achievements during its lengthy rule over a vast region ...
France through its French colonial empire, became a superpower from 1643 until 1815; [3] [4] from the reign of King Louis XIV until the defeat of Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars. [5] The Spanish Empire lost its superpower status to France after the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees (but maintained the status of Great Power until the ...
The empire of Charles V at its peak after the Peace of Crépy in 1544. The later Austrian Habsburgs from Ferdinand I were careful to maintain a distinction between their dynastic empire and the Holy Roman Empire.
The first French colonial empire reached its peak in 1680 at over 10,000,000 km 2 (3,900,000 sq mi), which at the time, was the second largest in the world behind the Spanish Empire. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire.
[citation needed] The Napoleonic era from 1799 to 1815 was marked by Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power in France. He became Emperor in 1804 and sought to expand French influence across Europe. Major events include the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and Napoleon's exile to Elba and later to Saint Helena.
Napoleon Bonaparte [b] (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; [1] [c] 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military officer and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of successful campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815.