Why did Napoleon divorce Josephine?

Answer 1

Napoleon divorced her to marry an Austrian princess.

In 1796 he married Joséphine de Beauharnais, he was in love with her but the marriage was childless, so he divorced her to marry the Austrian princess Marie-Louise in 1809.

Answer 2

Napoleon married Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796, when he was 26; she was a 32-year old widow whose first husband had been executed during the Revolution. Until she met Bonaparte, she had been known as 'Rose', a name which he disliked. He called her 'Joséphine' instead, and she went by this name henceforth. Bonaparte often sent her love letters while on his campaigns. He formally adopted her son Eugène and cousin Stéphanie, and arranged dynastic marriages for them. Joséphine had her daughter Hortense marry Napoleon's brother, Louis.

Joséphine had lovers, including a Hussar lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles, during Napoleon's Italian campaign. Napoleon learnt the full extent of her affair with Charles while in Egypt, and a letter he wrote to his brother Joseph regarding the subject was intercepted by the British. The letter appeared in the London and Paris presses, much to Napoleon's embarrassment. Napoleon had his own affairs too: during the Egyptian campaign he took Pauline Bellisle Foures, the wife of a junior officer, as his mistress. She became known as Cleopatra after the Egyptian ruler.

While Napoleon's mistresses had children by him, Joséphine did not produce an heir, an impossibility due either to the stresses of her imprisonment during the Terror or to an abortion she may have had in her twenties. Napoleon ultimately chose divorce so he could remarry in search of an heir. In March 1810, he married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, by proxy; thus he had married into the German royal family. They remained married until his death, though she did not join him in exile on Elba and thereafter never saw her husband again. The couple had one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (1811-32), known from birth as the King of Rome. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children.

Answer 3

Josephine couldn't bear children anymore and Napoleon needed a heir to his empire. He married Marie-Louise of Austria mentioning that he only married a womb.

Answer 4

Napoleon's first wife, Josephine, died of pneumonia in 1814 at the age of 50.

Answer 5

Josephine died of pneumonia.