«If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.»

Napoleon Bonaparte*

* (Ajaccio, Corsica, France 15-Aug-1769 / Longwood, Saint Helena 5-May-1821).
Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again in 1815. Napoleon maintained the French sphere of influence through the formation of fluctuating alliances and the elevation of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French vassal states. Napoleon was himself President (1802-1805), then king of Italy (1805-1814), Mediator of the Swiss Confederation (1803-1813) and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806-1813). When Napoleon placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the throne of Spain and tried to compel Portugal to follow his Continental System, it led to opposition in both countries and, with assistance of the British army, to the Peninsular War which drained French resources.