Napoleon was initially welcomed by many of the smaller European states, who saw the French as liberators. They soon became aware that they had just replaced one foreign ruler with another. Italy. Napoleon's stepson Eugene. Naples. Marshal Joachim Murat, the flamboyant cavalry leader.

Confederation of the Rhine. Set up by Napoleon as a series of buffer states between France and the empires of Austria and Prussia. Included Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia, Wurttemburg, Cleve-Berg, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt and many other small states.

Duchy of Warsaw. Named by Napoleon to avoid calling it Poland; for fear of upsetting Austria, Prussia and Russia too much. Most famous commander was Marshal Poniatowski. A Polish patriot, he served valiantly under Napoleon until drowned crossing a swollen river at Leipzig in 1813, when a bridge was blown too early by a nervous French engineer.