Napoleon Ascendant

CHAPTER 6 · 1796–1807 · The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848

Follow the red arrows in order — they are one career. 1796: an unknown 26-year-old takes the Republic’s neglected Army of Italy over the coastal hills and, in a year of improvised battles, knocks Austria out of the war (watch northern Italy turn tan: the Cisalpine Republic, first of the “sister republics”). 1798: Egypt — strategic fantasy, tactical victory at the Pyramids, naval catastrophe when Nelson burns the fleet at Aboukir; the general abandons the army and sails home to a hero’s welcome, because news of victories travels faster than accounts. 1799: the coup of 18 Brumaire. The Revolutio

The turn: Austerlitz, 2 December 1805.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.