Napoleonic Wars
On May 18 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the French at Notre-Dame de Paris.  The following year, the Third Coalition startedin response, but he crowned himself King of Italy. Austrian Emperor Franz I angrily declared war on him and began the War of the Third Coalition. The British destroyed the French Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in October. In December the Austrians and the Russians allied and fought the French at the Battle of Austerlitz. The Russo-Austrian army suffered a devastating defeat and had to sign a treaty with Napoleon.