Napoleonic Wars
A series of conflicts involving Napoleon I's French Empire against shifting European coalitions that reshaped the political map of Europe.
Preceding Causes
French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon's ambition for European hegemony, and coalitions of monarchies threatened by French revolutionary ideas.
Historical Consequences
Spread of Napoleonic Code, nationalism across Europe, Concert of Europe system, and eventual decline of French power.
Latin American Independence Movements
A wave of independence movements liberated most of Latin America from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule, beginning with Haiti's revolution (1804, the world's only successful slave revolt) and ending with the independence of mainland Spanish colonies by 1830.
Congress of Vienna
A conference of European ambassadors that redrew the continent's political map after Napoleon's defeat, establishing the Concert of Europe and 40 years of relative peace.