7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7Napoleon on the Battlefi eld at Eylau, February 1807, oil painting by
Antoine-Jean Gros, 1808; in the Louvre, Paris. © Photos.com/Jupiterimages
reformers throughout the world. He negotiated the
Concordat of 1801, which restored friendly relations with
the papacy.
After victory against the Austrians at the Battle of
Marengo (1800), he embarked on the Napoleonic Wars,
which lasted from 1799 to 1815. This series of confl icts pit-
ted France against shifting alliances of European powers.
The formation of coalitions of European countries against
him led Napoleon to declare France a hereditary empire
and to crown himself emperor in 1804. His greatest vic-
tory, the Battle of Austerlitz, against Austria and Russia,
came in 1805. In 1807 Napoleon was able to impose the
Treaty of Tilsit on Russia and Prussia.