At Waterloo, Napoleon is shot through his hat on the left (his right). Later on, the hole is on the right (his left).
After being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon surrendered to the British on-board HMS Bellerophon. Although receiving many guests, he never met the Duke of Wellington face-to-face in real life.
Napoleon is shown charging with his troops at the end of the Battle of Waterloo. This absolutely never happened; not only had Napoleon been running his army from the rear for years, he was also reportedly physically sick during the battle and could barely ride a horse.
The movie accurately portrays the British fleet at Toulon, but fails to show presence of another key player: Spain. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the occupation of Toulon was a joint operation, and almost half of all ships present at the port were Spanish, along with troops from Naples, Sicily and Sardinia.
Napoleon's decision to abandon his Egyptian campaign was not directly linked to concerns about his wife Josephine's fidelity. The main reason for his departure from Egypt was the deteriorating military and political situation. Napoleon faced challenges such as the defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 by the British under Admiral Nelson, as well as a lack of reinforcements and supplies.
During Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, the top of pyramids are shown to be targeted by cannon fire. There is no proof Napoleon's army targeted the pyramids. Napoleon himself was a great admirer of Ancient Egypt and its pyramids, and would have unlikely ordered to damage them.
During Napoleon's exile on Elba, there is a shot of him overlooking the harbour with an artistically placed dead tree to his left. As the camera cranes up you can see that the trunk of the tree has been crudely wedged in between a few casually placed rocks.
When Napoleon has an argument with Josephine at a table, the shoes she is wearing are too big for her feet. One would expect an emperor's wife to own hand-made shoes that fit her feet.
A Belgian flag is seen in one of the battle squares, but it was not created until 1830, fifteen years after Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo and nine years after his death.
French battle flags depicted in the film have a modern appearance. Flags from that era would typically have had honors or regiment names sewn into them.
A British marksman at the Battle of Waterloo is seen using a scoped rifle. Iron sights were common but scopes on rifles were rare and not practical due to poor optics and range. The first reliable tube scopes were made after 1835, 20 years after Waterloo, by US manufacturer Chapman-James.
At the siege of Toulon, the British three deck ship of the line that Napoleon focuses on is HMS Victory, as she has her distinctive coat of arms figurehead, held by cupids, and a characteristic stern in black and gold with the name of the ship. HMS Victory was not present at Toulon, being decommissioned at the time, and only recommissioned fourteen years later in1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar.
When Napoleon asks Emperor Francis if he can marry his younger sister, he's told she is only 15. At the time this scene is set the age of consent in France was 11.
Marie-Antoinette was executed at place de la Concorde not at Le Palais des Tuileries and Napoleon wasn't there to see the execution.
The pyramids were more than 10 miles away from the battleground of the Battle of the Pyramids in 1798. Even with large siege cannons it wouldn't be possible to hit a pyramid.
Belgium is mentioned but didn't exist in time of Waterloo.Belgium came into existence at least 15 years after Waterloo.
Poland was mentioned several times in the movie. Poland, as an independent and sovereign state, did not exist during much of this time. By the late 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been partitioned by neighboring powers, including Russia, Prussia, and Austria. During his rule, Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 from parts of the Prussian-occupied territories.
Napoleon eats breakfast on a ship with his knife in his left hand and his fork in his right hand. This is normal for most Americans but the French in that time were raised with etiquette dictating fork left and knife right.
At 49, Phoenix is too old for the part. Napoleon was 24 at Toulon, 27 when he commanded the Army of Italy, and 35 when he crowned himself Emperor.