Napoleon was a French military and political leader who is considered one of the most influential figures in European history. Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, he rose to prominence under the First French Republic. He distinguished himself as a military commander, fighting in Italy. In 1799, Bonaparte staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later he crowned himself Emperor of the French. In the first decade of the Nineteenth Century, he turned the armies of the French Empire against every major European power and dominated continental Europe, through a series of military victories - epitomised in battles such as Austerlitz. He maintained France's sphere of influence by the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states. It appeared that through Napoleon's tactical genius, nothing could stop the French as they won a series of military victories. However, in 1812, the French invasion of Russia, in 1812, led to a reversal of fortunes. His army succeeded in advancing to the outskirts of Moscow, but it was a hollow victory. The Russians had retreated into the interior, leaving a desolate and empty city. Cold and worn down with illness, his Grande Armée was forced into a long a painful retreat through the deep freeze of the Russian winter. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig, and the following year the Coalition invaded France, forcing Napoleon to abdicate and making him an exile in the island of Elba. However, less than a year later, Napoleon escaped Elba and dramatically returned to power. After his escape, an army was sent by Louis XVIII to arrest Napoleon, but, Napoleon was able to sway over his former army. On returning to power Louis XVIII fled, and Napoleon regained power. Almost straight away, he set off to try and defeat the coalition forces, led by the Duke of Wellington, ranged against him. Napoleon sought to drive a wedge between the British and their Prussian allies and set off in hot pursuit. It was at Waterloo, in June 1815, that the Duke of Wellington, decided to turn and fight Napoleon. The Battle of Waterloo was a close run affair, with the outcome uncertain at one stage. But, the arrival of the Prussian army helped to swing the battle against the French, and Napoleon was eventually decisively beaten and ousted from power. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena, where he died. His autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, though Sten Forshufvud and other scientists have since conjectured that he had been poisoned with arsenic.