Napoleon, ruler of France from 1803 to 1815, rose to power by conquering most of Europe, creating an imperial monarchy and fashioning a set of laws that for the most part still stands in force today.

FORBES: Google's Napoleonic Moment

Members of British royalty, Napoleon Bonaparte, King Louis Philippe of France, Frederick II of Prussia and other dignitaries all drank wines from Constantia and served it to special guests in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

BBC: In Cape Town, really old New World wine

Napoleon III, the last monarch of France, was the nephew and heir of Napoleon.

FORBES: Connect

In 1815, Napoleon left the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

CNN: Thursday,

In 1815 Napoleon returned to France, landing at Golfe-Juan, and marched the length of the country building support.

WSJ: Complex Napoleon Rivalry Heads for Its Waterloo

France has dealt sensibly with its nastiest would-be separatist danger: Napoleon's native isle of Corsica, some fifth of whose people are nationalists of one kind or another, has been pacified with a mixture of subsidy and devolution.

ECONOMIST: Devolution can be salvation