Napoleon Quiz
Corsica, Austerlitz, Elba, Waterloo: 15 questions on the soldier who crowned himself Emperor of the French.
On which Mediterranean island was Napoleon Bonaparte born in 1769?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Corsica
Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on Corsica on 15 August 1769, only a year after Genoa had handed the island to France, so he grew up a French subject with Italian roots.
His family name was originally spelt Buonaparte, and he dropped the u in the 1790s to make it sound more French.
At which battle in June 1815 was Napoleon finally defeated?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Waterloo
Napoleon lost to Wellington's Anglo-allied army and Blücher's Prussians at Waterloo, south of Brussels, on 18 June 1815, and abdicated for the second time four days later.
The battle was fought in what is now Belgium, and the Lion's Mound monument built on the field in the 1820s reshaped the ground itself.
In which year did Napoleon crown himself Emperor of the French at Notre-Dame?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1804
On 2 December 1804 Napoleon took the crown from Pope Pius VII and placed it on his own head in Notre-Dame, then crowned Joséphine as empress, a scene painted by Jacques-Louis David.
He had already been First Consul for life since 1802 and chose a Roman-style eagle and Charlemagne's bees as imperial symbols.
On which remote South Atlantic island did Napoleon spend his final exile, dying there in 1821?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Saint Helena
After Waterloo the British shipped Napoleon to Saint Helena, roughly 1,900 km (1,200 miles) from Africa, where he lived at Longwood House until his death on 5 May 1821.
His remains were brought back to Paris in 1840 and now rest in a huge porphyry sarcophagus under the dome of Les Invalides.
Which British commander led the Anglo-allied army against Napoleon at Waterloo?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, had never faced Napoleon in person before, yet held the ridge at Mont-Saint-Jean all day against repeated French cavalry and infantry attacks until the Prussians arrived.
Wellington later served twice as British prime minister and reportedly called Waterloo the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.
Who was Napoleon's first wife, crowned Empress of the French in 1804?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Napoleon married the widow Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796, and she was crowned empress at his coronation, but he had the marriage annulled in 1810 because she had given him no heir.
Her first husband had been guillotined during the Terror, and her daughter Hortense later became the mother of Napoleon III.
At which battle in December 1805 did Napoleon rout the combined armies of Austria and Russia?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Austerlitz
At Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 Napoleon deliberately weakened his right flank to lure the Allies off the Pratzen Heights, then split their army in two with a devastating central attack.
Because Tsar Alexander I and Emperor Francis II were both present it is remembered as the Battle of the Three Emperors.
Which British admiral destroyed the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in October 1805?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Horatio Nelson
Nelson broke the enemy line in two columns at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, capturing or destroying 22 ships without losing one, but he was shot by a French marksman and died during the battle.
Trafalgar ended any realistic hope of a French invasion of Britain and made the Royal Navy dominant for the next century.
Napoleon's 1812 invasion of which country ended in a catastrophic winter retreat?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Russia
Napoleon crossed the Niemen in June 1812 with more than 600,000 men, reached Moscow in September, and retreated through snow and starvation with only a small fraction of his army intact.
The Russians set fire to Moscow after the French arrived, leaving Napoleon in a burnt out capital with no one to negotiate with.
Which Mediterranean island was Napoleon given to rule after his first abdication in 1814?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Elba
The Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814 made Napoleon sovereign of Elba, a small island off Tuscany, where he reformed the mines and roads before escaping in February 1815.
He spent just under ten months on Elba and slipped away with about a thousand men while the British commissioner was off the island.
What name is given to the period of Napoleon's renewed rule between his return from exile and his final abdication in 1815?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
The Hundred Days
The Hundred Days ran from Napoleon's arrival in Paris on 20 March 1815 to the restoration of Louis XVIII in early July, with Waterloo fought in the middle of it.
Marshal Ney promised the king he would bring Napoleon back in an iron cage, then switched sides and joined him instead.
Napoleon's Continental System, launched in 1806, tried to cripple which country by banning its trade with Europe?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Britain
The Berlin Decree of November 1806 ordered all territory under French control to stop trading with Britain, hoping to wreck its economy since Napoleon could not defeat the Royal Navy at sea.
Smuggling and Russia's refusal to keep enforcing the blockade helped push Napoleon into the fateful 1812 invasion.
Which of Napoleon's brothers did he install as King of Spain in 1808?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Joseph
Napoleon forced the Spanish Bourbons to abdicate in 1808 and moved his elder brother Joseph from the throne of Naples to Madrid, sparking a revolt that became the Peninsular War.
Louis was made King of Holland and Jérôme King of Westphalia, so for a time three Bonaparte brothers wore crowns.
The Battle of the Nations in October 1813, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, was fought near which German city?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Leipzig
Around 560,000 soldiers fought at Leipzig from 16 to 19 October 1813, where Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden together drove Napoleon out of Germany and back across the Rhine.
The Völkerschlachtdenkmal, a 91 metre (299 foot) monument completed in 1913 for the centenary, still towers over the battlefield.
Which Prussian field marshal's army arrived late in the day at Waterloo to seal Napoleon's defeat?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, aged 72, had been beaten at Ligny two days earlier but marched his Prussians to Waterloo and struck Napoleon's right flank at Plancenoit in the late afternoon.
His soldiers nicknamed him Marschall Vorwärts, Marshal Forwards, for his habit of attacking regardless of the odds.
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All History quizzes →About the Napoleon Quiz
Napoleon Bonaparte rose from an artillery officer born on Corsica to Emperor of the French in barely fifteen years, crowning himself at Notre-Dame in 1804 and crushing two emperors at Austerlitz exactly a year later. His armies reached Moscow, his legal code still shapes the law in dozens of countries, and his career ended on a windswept rock in the South Atlantic.
These 15 questions cover his birthplace, his great battles, his two marriages, the disastrous Russian campaign, the exile on Elba, the Hundred Days and the final showdown at Waterloo. The opening questions suit anyone who paid attention in school, while the later ones reward readers who know their marshals from their monarchs.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Hard. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
How hard is the Napoleon Quiz?
It is rated Hard. The first few questions cover famous facts such as Waterloo and Corsica, while the later ones ask about Leipzig, Blücher and the Continental System.
Does the quiz cover Napoleon's early life?
Yes. It opens with his Corsican birth and his 1804 coronation, then follows his campaigns through to the exile on Saint Helena.
Are the answers explained?
Every question comes with an instant explanation and an extra fact, so you learn something whether or not you picked the right option.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- On which Mediterranean island was Napoleon Bonaparte born in 1769?
Corsica Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on Corsica on 15 August 1769, only a year after Genoa had handed the island to France, so he grew up a French subject with Italian roots. His family name was originally spelt Buonaparte, and he dropped the u in the 1790s to make it sound more French. - At which battle in June 1815 was Napoleon finally defeated?
Waterloo Napoleon lost to Wellington's Anglo-allied army and Blücher's Prussians at Waterloo, south of Brussels, on 18 June 1815, and abdicated for the second time four days later. The battle was fought in what is now Belgium, and the Lion's Mound monument built on the field in the 1820s reshaped the ground itself. - In which year did Napoleon crown himself Emperor of the French at Notre-Dame?
1804 On 2 December 1804 Napoleon took the crown from Pope Pius VII and placed it on his own head in Notre-Dame, then crowned Joséphine as empress, a scene painted by Jacques-Louis David. He had already been First Consul for life since 1802 and chose a Roman-style eagle and Charlemagne's bees as imperial symbols. - On which remote South Atlantic island did Napoleon spend his final exile, dying there in 1821?
Saint Helena After Waterloo the British shipped Napoleon to Saint Helena, roughly 1,900 km (1,200 miles) from Africa, where he lived at Longwood House until his death on 5 May 1821. His remains were brought back to Paris in 1840 and now rest in a huge porphyry sarcophagus under the dome of Les Invalides. - Which British commander led the Anglo-allied army against Napoleon at Waterloo?
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, had never faced Napoleon in person before, yet held the ridge at Mont-Saint-Jean all day against repeated French cavalry and infantry attacks until the Prussians arrived. Wellington later served twice as British prime minister and reportedly called Waterloo the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. - Who was Napoleon's first wife, crowned Empress of the French in 1804?
Joséphine de Beauharnais Napoleon married the widow Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796, and she was crowned empress at his coronation, but he had the marriage annulled in 1810 because she had given him no heir. Her first husband had been guillotined during the Terror, and her daughter Hortense later became the mother of Napoleon III. - At which battle in December 1805 did Napoleon rout the combined armies of Austria and Russia?
Austerlitz At Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 Napoleon deliberately weakened his right flank to lure the Allies off the Pratzen Heights, then split their army in two with a devastating central attack. Because Tsar Alexander I and Emperor Francis II were both present it is remembered as the Battle of the Three Emperors. - Which British admiral destroyed the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in October 1805?
Horatio Nelson Nelson broke the enemy line in two columns at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, capturing or destroying 22 ships without losing one, but he was shot by a French marksman and died during the battle. Trafalgar ended any realistic hope of a French invasion of Britain and made the Royal Navy dominant for the next century. - Napoleon's 1812 invasion of which country ended in a catastrophic winter retreat?
Russia Napoleon crossed the Niemen in June 1812 with more than 600,000 men, reached Moscow in September, and retreated through snow and starvation with only a small fraction of his army intact. The Russians set fire to Moscow after the French arrived, leaving Napoleon in a burnt out capital with no one to negotiate with. - Which Mediterranean island was Napoleon given to rule after his first abdication in 1814?
Elba The Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814 made Napoleon sovereign of Elba, a small island off Tuscany, where he reformed the mines and roads before escaping in February 1815. He spent just under ten months on Elba and slipped away with about a thousand men while the British commissioner was off the island. - What name is given to the period of Napoleon's renewed rule between his return from exile and his final abdication in 1815?
The Hundred Days The Hundred Days ran from Napoleon's arrival in Paris on 20 March 1815 to the restoration of Louis XVIII in early July, with Waterloo fought in the middle of it. Marshal Ney promised the king he would bring Napoleon back in an iron cage, then switched sides and joined him instead. - Napoleon's Continental System, launched in 1806, tried to cripple which country by banning its trade with Europe?
Britain The Berlin Decree of November 1806 ordered all territory under French control to stop trading with Britain, hoping to wreck its economy since Napoleon could not defeat the Royal Navy at sea. Smuggling and Russia's refusal to keep enforcing the blockade helped push Napoleon into the fateful 1812 invasion. - Which of Napoleon's brothers did he install as King of Spain in 1808?
Joseph Napoleon forced the Spanish Bourbons to abdicate in 1808 and moved his elder brother Joseph from the throne of Naples to Madrid, sparking a revolt that became the Peninsular War. Louis was made King of Holland and Jérôme King of Westphalia, so for a time three Bonaparte brothers wore crowns. - The Battle of the Nations in October 1813, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, was fought near which German city?
Leipzig Around 560,000 soldiers fought at Leipzig from 16 to 19 October 1813, where Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden together drove Napoleon out of Germany and back across the Rhine. The Völkerschlachtdenkmal, a 91 metre (299 foot) monument completed in 1913 for the centenary, still towers over the battlefield. - Which Prussian field marshal's army arrived late in the day at Waterloo to seal Napoleon's defeat?
Blücher Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, aged 72, had been beaten at Ligny two days earlier but marched his Prussians to Waterloo and struck Napoleon's right flank at Plancenoit in the late afternoon. His soldiers nicknamed him Marschall Vorwärts, Marshal Forwards, for his habit of attacking regardless of the odds.
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