1.Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt], Italian: Napoleone Bonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a military and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I, whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century. Napoleon was born in Corsica, France to parents of minor noble Italian ancestry and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. Bonaparte rose to prominence under the French First Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor.Napoleon's campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world. While considered a tyrant by his opponents, he is also remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative and judicial foundations for much of Western Europe.
URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I
2.Arthur Wellesley, the son of the Earl of Mornington, was born in Dublin in 1769. After being educated at Eton and a military school at Angers he received a commission in the 73rd Infantry. Eventually Wellesley obtained the rank of captain and became aide-de-camp to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1797 Wellesley was sent to India. With Napoleon gaining victories in Egypt, Wellesley was dispatched to deal with Tippoo Sahib of Mysore


Wellington attended the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway but was deeply upset by the way he was booed and hissed by the crowds as his train entered Manchester. This was a reaction to his views on the Peterloo Massacre and his opposition to the 1832 Reform Act. This experience made him hostile to the railways and he warned that cheap travel may result in revolution. However, Wellington later changed his mind about the railways after he developed a close relationship with George Hudson. Hudson helped Wellington make a great deal of money by advising him when to buy and sell railway shares.

Wellington retired from public life in 1846 but in 1848 he organised a military force to protect London against possible Chartist violence at the large meeting at Kennington Common.

Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington died in 1852 and is buried in St Paul's Cathedral.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRwellington.htmMaximilien Robespierre (Maximilien 3.François Marie Isidore de Robespierre) was born on May 6th, 1758, in Arras where his father was based as an advocate. Robespierre and his three younger siblings were brought up by diverse relatives after their father dramatically lost his way in life after the death of his wife in childbirth in 1767.Robespierre qualified as an advocate in 1781 and sought to establish a legal practice at his home town of Arras. He became known both as a successful advocate and as a participant in local literary and philosophic circles. He was elected as a "Third Estate" (i.e. a Commoner rather than an Aristocratic or Clerical) deputy of Artois to the Estates-General that convened at the Palace of Versailles, on May 5th 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, and subsequently served in the National Constituent Assembly, where his earnest and skillful oratory shttp
URL:://www.age-of-the-sage.org/historical/biography/maximilien_robespierre.htmloon commanded attention.


4..Born at Arcis-sur-Aube, in France, his family was respectable, though not wealthy. They managed to give him a good education, and he was launched in the career of an advocate at the Paris bar. He first appears in the Revolution as president of the popular club or assembly of the district in which he lived. This was the famous club of the Cordeliers, so called because its meetings were held in the old convent of the order of the Cordeliers.In April of 1792, war was declared against Austria, and to the confusion and distraction caused by the immense civil and political changes of the past two years was now added the ferment and agitation of war with an enemy on the frontier. The distrust felt by Paris for the court and its loyalty at length broke out in insurrection. On August 10, 1792 the king and queen took refuge with the Legislative Assembly from the violence of the popular forces who were marching on the Tuileries. Danton's role in this uprising is unclear. He may have been at its head;
On March 30, Danton, Desmoulins and others of the party were suddenly arrested. Danton displayed such vehemence before the revolutionary tribunal, that his enemies feared he would gain the crowd's favour. The Convention, in one of its worst fits of cowardice, assented to a proposal made by St. Just that, if a prisoner showed want of respect for justice, the tribunal might pronounce sentence without further delay. Danton was at once condemned, and led, in company with fourteen others, including Camille Desmoulins, to the guillotine. "I leave it all in a frightful welter," he said; "not a man of them has an idea of government. Robespierre will follow me; he is dragged down by me. Ah, better be a poor fisherman than meddle with the government of men!"
]URL;http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/George_Danton/
B.The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789.Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France. The wars resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and sowed the seeds of nascent nationalism in Germany and Italy that would lead to the two nations' consolidation later in the century., the Spanish Empire began to unravel as French occupation of Spain weakened Spain's hold over its colonies, providing an opening for nationalist revolutions in Spanish America. As a direct result of the Napoleonic wars, the British Empire became the foremost world power for the next century,^[1] thus beginning Pax Britannica.
URL;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars
C.
1.he Spanish nobles had become very powerful during the reign of John II. They did not wish to have Henry as their king. They felt that he was not very smart and would not be a good leader. They hoped to make Isabella's other brother, Alfonso, their king, but he died on July 5, 1468. Some people thought that he might have been poisoned to prevent him from being made king. The nobles then approached Isabella who by now was 17. She refused the throne saying that she would never become queen while her brother was alive. Although he had a daughter, King Henry declared Isabella to be the heir to the throne when he died. It is thought that he did this to make peace with the nobles who had wanted Isabella to be made queen. They knew that she would be the next ruler of Spain and King Henry knew that he could continue to rule. But soon Isabella would be at odds with her brother over her impending arranged marriage.
URL;http://www.ctspanish.com/legends/isabella1.htm
2.In his words: "Paris is not a city, but a universe" (Lutetia non urbs, sed orbis). But Charles also inherited the tradition of political and dynastical enmity between the Royal and the Burgundian lines of the Valois Dynasty. This conflict was amplified by his accession to both the Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of Spain.
Though Spain was the core of his kingdom, he was never totally assimilated and especially in his earlier years felt like and was viewed as a foreign prince. He could not speak Spanish very well, as it was not his primary language. Nonetheless, he spent most of his life in Spain, including his final years in a Spanish monastery.
In his youth, Charles was tutored by Adrian of Utrecht, later Pope Adrian VI. His three most prominent subsequent advisors were Lord Chièvres, Jean Sauvage and Mercurino Gattinara.
URL:http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f190/king-carlos-i-or-charles-karl-karel-v-and-queen-isabel-15811.html
3.King Phillip II of Spain played a major role in English history at the time of the Tudors. King Phillip had been married to Mary I and was a staunch Catholic. It was the quarrel between Phillip of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I that led to the Spanish Armada being sent to England. Phillip of Spain was a very powerful emperor, his lands spreading not only throughout Spain but also throughout much of Europe:
URL;http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/phillipofspain.htm
4.Ivan the Terrible assumed the throne in 1547 at the age of seventeen and immediately proclaimed himself “Tsar” (Czar) , instead of Grand Duke. In the same year Ivan married Anastasia Romanov. When Anastasia died in 1560, he remarried. Among his wives are Marie Tscerkaski (1561) and Maria Sobakina (1571). In 1582, in an attack of unexplained rage, Ivan had killed his eldest son, Tsarevich Ivan, by striking him with an iron rod. He died on March 18, 1584. Although the transition from Ivan to his son and successor, Feodor I, was relatively easy and quiet, Moscow was, according to most observers, on the verge of anarchy as a result of Ivan The Terrible's policies.


URL:
http://www.guidetorussia.com/ivan-the-terrible.asp
5.Peter the Great is credited with dragging Russia out of the medieval times to such an extent that by his death in 1725, Russia was considered a leading eastern European state. He centralised government, modernised the army, created a navy and increased the subjugation and subjection of the peasants. His domestic policy allowed him to execute an aggressive foreign policy.With such chaos at government level, Peter the Great felt strong enough to challenge Golitsin. This he did in August 1689 aged 17 when he removed both Sophia and Golitsin from power and ruled as Russia’s sole leader. In theory he shared the throne with Ivan until Ivan died in 1696, but in reality, Ivan played no part in the government of Russia.
URL:http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/peter_the_great.htm
6 When Peter Ulrich was ten years old, his father died, and the claims to the throne of Sweden passed to his son. As the only surviving male descendent of Peter the Great, he was also potentially heir to the throne of Russia. In November 1741, Elizabeth seized the throne with the help of the Imperal Guards, overthrowing the Empress Anna Leopoldovna, who was regent for the infant Ivan VI. This line of succession stemmed from Peter the Great's older half-brother and co-ruler from 1682-1696..The Empress Elizabeth formally declared her nephew Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp heir to the throne, brought him to St. Petersburg and changed his name to Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Tsar Peter III. Peter was now 14 years old and it was time to look for a bride for him. Elizabeth had always remembered the family of her dead fiancee with fondness, and having heard Princess Sophia's name from the Prussian ambassador, she made a decision.
URL;http://nevermore.tripod.com/CGREAT.HTM
7. Maria Theresa was endowed with brilliant gifts, with beauty, amiability and intelligence, and was universally admired as a girl. She married Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who by the Peace of Vienna, in 1738, received Tuscany instead of Lorraine.In 1740 her father died unexpectedly at the age of 56, and Maria Theresa came into possession of the territories of Austria without having any political training. Her husband was an amiable man, but of mediocre mental endowments and consequently of little assistance to her. Charles, moreover, left the internal affairs of his monarchy, particularly the finances and the army, in a lamentable condition. His family regarded the future with misgiving and perplexity. She was the last and beyond doubt the greatest of the Habsburgs, the foundress of the Austrian monarchy, which with a skillful hand she built up out of loose parts into a well riveted whole, while in all essential respects she left the administration radically improved. She was intelligent affable, cheerful, pleasant, fond of music, and at the same time thoroughly moral and deeply religious.
URL:http://www.otto-graph.com/samples/4/mariatheresa.html