The son of an attorney, Napoleon Bonaparte had risen in the ranks of the French army through skill and perseverance. Capitalising on the turmoil following the French Revolution, and regarded as a hero after a series of military victories, he seized power in France in 1799. Napoleon ruled France as First Consul, then Emperor, and was regarded with justified suspicion by other European powers who were nervous of his expansionist ambitions. This print shows Napoleon in 1802, after negotiating the treaty of Amiens, a temporary peace between Britain and France. The peace was short-lived: by 1803, the two countries were again at war.