In 1815 nearly a month after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon, ending over 13 years of war.
The French revolution began in 1787 with peasant revolts which grew into battles with other European nations and a new constitution. The development of the European battles led to the growing power of one of Frances most successful military commanders, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon gained extensive power through his victories in Europe and by On the 9th of November 1799 a coup made Napoleon the leader of France and on the 24th of December a new constitution was signed giving Bonaparte the powers of a Dictator. The French revolution was over and on the 18th of May 1804 the people of France had replaced a king for an emperor.
Napoleon continued to expand the French Empire, taking control of many countries including Spain, where he replaced their King for his brother. With Napoleon invading and conquering much of Europe Britain strengthened its seafront defences with over a hundred towers and many forts covering the south coast in anticipation of an invasion. But its greatest defence was the Royal Navy and on the 21st of October 1805 Lord Horatio Nelson led the Royal Navy to defeat the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies; paying with his life Lord Nelson saved Britain.
In 1808 Sir Arthur Wesley, The duke of Wellington, took control of the British, Portuguese and Spanish forces in the ‘Peninsular War’ and by 1814 he had defeated Napoleon and his forces on land, and returned Spain to the Spanish King. Napoleon was again defeated by the combined forces of Russia, Austria and Prussia in the battle of Paris. On the 11th of April 1814 Napoleon abdicated as emperor and as per the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba. One year later Napoleon returned to France and amassed an army once more. In response many nations created the seventh coalition in order to defeat him once and for all. Wellingtons Army with support from Prussian forces under the leadership of Gebhard Von Blucher amassed on the border of Northern France. Napoleon advanced to their position expecting to crush the army before their allies could come to their aid but this would not be the case. On the 18th of June the two armies met at Waterloo (in modern day Belgium) and in a very close run battle Napoleon was defeated. Napoleon fled but became under increasing pressure from the French government to leave France. Napoleon had wanted to escape to the United States but was being hunted by the powers of Europe. HMS Bellerophon was one of the British ships in search of Napoleon and on the 10th of July Napoleon sent a request to the captain, Frederick Maitland, to let Napoleon escape to the United States. Maitland sent a reply explaining that this would not be possible but requested he surrender. Napoleon had no options left and so agreed to the surrender. On the 15th of July he came aboard the Royal Navy ship and surrendered to Captain Maitland. He was then exiled as a British prisoner to the Island of Saint Helena and died on the 5th of May 1821. Napoleon is considered one of histories greatest military minds but his ambition and thirst for power caused the deaths of millions during the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). Estimates of those killed in the wars range from 4 to 7 million people, a death toll that had been seen before in warfare in such a short space of time.
In 1799 a stone tablet was discovered in Rosetta, Egypt that would unlock Egyptian Hieroglyphs. It became known as the “Rosetta Stone”.
During Napoleon’s Campaign of Egypt and Syria (1798-1801), Pierre-Francois Bouchard was ordered to rebuild Fort Julien in the town of Rosetta (now called Rashid) in Egypt. While rebuilding the fortifications he discovered the stone tablet and knew it was important. The “Rosetta Stone” turned out to be much more important than he could have realised.
On the 19th of April 1801 British troops defeated the French forces and took Fort Julien. British and Ottoman forces continued to defeat the French forces in Egypt. The French Campaign of Egypt and Syria came to an end on the 30th of August 1801 when the remaining French forces were under siege at Alexandria and surrendered. Under the French terms of surrender (the capitulation of Alexandria) France agreed to hand over all artefacts they collected and so the British took possession of several artefacts, collected by the French, including the Stone. The Rosetta stone was sent to the British Museum where it has remained since 1802.
Inscribed on the stone was a royal decree from King Ptolemy V in 196 BC. The decree was in three separate languages for the various civilisations at the time. It was written in three languages with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in the first section, followed by Demotic (an Egyptian script) and finally Ancient Greek. As the decree was identical, and just changed in language, the Rosetta Stone proved to be the key for unlocking the language of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Until its discovery there had been no way of unlocking the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs as the language had remained dead for centauries.
