The French Revolution of the late 1790's was one of the critical events in the history of Europe. It was the defining moment – a historic landslide that ushered the world into a new, completely different epoch. Alas, all such changes come at a great cost. In the wake of the Revolution, a series of large scale conflicts ensued, which are collectively known as the Napoleonic Wars. Their magnitude, their ferocity, and the loss of lives they caused were unprecedented up to that time, and shown to the observing world that the changing of a thousand year old history can be brutal, vicious, and tumultuous.