One of the most famous and notorious Frenchmen to have ever lived was Napoleon Bonaparte, a military leader, and politician. During his lifetime he waged multiple wars and changed the politics and culture of France forever. He was born Napoleon Buonaparte on August 15, 1769. Interestingly, Napoleon’s ancestral heritage is of Italian origins. On his paternal side, the Buonapartes were descendants of a Tuscan noble family. Sometime in the 16th century they emigrated to Corsica, an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, located southeast of the French mainland. On his maternal side, the Ramolinos came from Genoa, a small republic located north of Italy. Both sides of Napoleon’s family came from minor noble houses. As such, they were related to several influential families of Italian nobility from history. He was born at “Casa Buonaparte,” an ancestral home in Ajaccio maintained by his parents. Napoleon was the fourth child of Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino. He was their third son. Napoleon came from a large family. He had seven siblings. During his lifetime, his first and last names had different spellings. In his younger years, his first name would be spelled “Nabulione, Nabulio, Napolionne, and Napulione.” Though his last name was originally “Buonaparte” it was later changed to “Bonaparte.” This may have been done to minimize the fact of his Italian heritage as he rose to power in France. It could be said that Napoleon was conceived in war. Both of his parents joined the Corsican resistance when it was being ceded to France. His parents fought against the French, even as his mother was pregnant with him. Corsica was finally incorporated as a French province, four years after his birth. Shortly after that, Napoleon’s father, Carlo, became Corsica’s “representative to the court of Louis XVI.” As a member of the noble class, and coming from a family of moderate wealth, Napoleon had educational opportunities that exceeded what was available to most Corsican children at the time. His mother played a particularly influential role in molding him. In fact, Napoleon once said, “the future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.” At nine years of age, Napoleon traveled to the French mainland and attended a religious school. A few months later he transferred to a military academy, Brienne-le-Chateau. Napoleon was multi-lingual. He spoke and read Corsican, Italian, and French. He eventually became fluent in French but was never able to spell correctly in the language. He spoke with a strong Corsican accent. Because of his physical appearance and strong accent, Napoleon was often the subject of discrimination by his classmates. He was frequently bullied for a host of reasons: his short stature, where he was born, his foreign mannerisms, and his slow mastery of the French language. He was a Corsican nationalist and spoke in favor of Corsica’s independence. The frequent bullying drove Napoleon to become quiet and reserved. He was melancholy at times. He applied himself to his studies, particularly reading. He was once noted as being “distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography.” While at school, Napoleon showed early signs of his leadership skills when he lead younger students in a snowball fight against the more senior students, and ultimately won the childhood skirmish. He completed his studies at Brienne-le-Chateau at 15 years of age. He was then admitted to Ecole Militaire in Paris, France. He began training as an artillery officer. He completed the two-year course in a single year after his father died and his income was reduced as a result. After graduating, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment. In the few years that followed, Napoleon’s sympathies turned from a Corsican nationalist to a pro-French Revolutionist. As the conflict continued, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of captain. Napoleon and his family were driven out of Corsica and forced to move to Toulon, France due to the shift in Napoleon’s allegiance away from Corsican independence and toward the pro-French revolution. It was at this time that he first abandoned the original spelling of his name and adopted the spelling of “Napoleon Bonaparte.” Again, likely to cover his ties with his Italian-Corsican heritage. By this time, Napoleon’s military career was well underway. He was already climbing the ranks of the French army when his family relocated to Toulon. In July 1793, Napoleon published a pro-republican pamphlet. The pamphlet found its way to Augustin Robespierre, the brother of the leader of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre. He was given command of the artillery of the republican forces which had arrived at Toulon, in the buildup to the famous Siege of Toulon. During the siege, Napoleon’s forces captured a hill strategically located in such a way that his artillery could command control of the harbor. The British were forced to evacuate. During the assault to take the hill and capture the city, Napoleon was wounded in the leg. Because of his actions at the Siege of Toulon, and his growing leadership on the battlefield, Napoleon was placed over the artillery for France’s Army of Italy. An interesting bi-product of Napoleon’s military success during the revolution was that he was beginning to generate attention, which caused jealousy between The Army of the Alps and the Army of Italy (where he was second in command). For some time, Napoleon’s contemporaries alleged that he was placed under house arrest after the fall of the Robespierres for his association with them during the revolution. This was a very tumultuous time in the history of France, and as regimes changed hands, people involved in previous regimes were frequently maligned, or worse. This claim that Napoleon had been put under house arrest was later refuted by his secretary in his memoirs. In it, his secretary clarified the rumor, indicating that it was spread by those who were jealous of him in the Army of the Alps. His secretary indicated that Napoleon had written “an impassioned letter” to the commissioner, Saliceti, and was later acquitted of wrongdoing during the period of the French Revolution. In fact, Napoleon was asked to prepare a plan for the attack on Italian defenses in the Franco-Austrian war currently underway at the time. With his status in the military resecured, Napoleon continued his career. He was instrumental in ending an insurrection in Paris led by French royalists, in favor of the French monarchy. He used artillery to defend against the royalists, clearing the streets with a “whiff of grapeshot,” as one historian described it. Napoleon’s swift defeat of the royalist insurrection occurred in the fall of 1793. During this time, he became romantically involved with Josephine de Beauharnais, the mistress of a French politician, and the man who had looked to Napoleon to squelch the insurrection. Napoleon and Josephine were married in a civil ceremony in March of the following year. Two days later he left Paris to assume full command of the Army of Italy. An aggressive tactician, Napoleon immediately began an offensive campaign, wherein he hoped to overtake the forces of Piedmont before they could be reinforced by their Austrian allies. Within two weeks of intense action, Napoleon had completely removed Piedmont from the war. This began Napoleon’s involvement in what is called, “The First Italian Campaign.” This was a formative time for Napoleon. He drove deep into Austria and then negotiated hasty treaties with the Austrians, who were startled by his rapid and successful invasion. During this time, Napoleon studied successful military leaders from history. Specifically, Alexander, Ceasar, and Hannibal. He learned their tactics and applied them to his own repertoire. This ability to apply historical tactics to modern battlefields made him a formidable opponent. During the First Italian Campaign, Napoleon also marched on Venice and forced their surrender. This was a major historical event that ended 1,100 years of Venetian independence. With increasing victories abroad, Napoleon’s political influence at home in France was growing as well. He created two newspapers to expand his influence. One was for his soldiers. The other was for France. As Napoleon’s army continued to advance, it looted. It is estimated that his army looted $45 million in funds and an additional $12 million in precious metals and jewels from Italy during its campaign there. Aside from items of strictly monetary value, the army also confiscated hundreds of items of intrinsic cultural value such as paintings and sculptures. Losses of this type cannot be valued in a monetary calculation and are substantial in the impact they have on the people and cultures from which they are appropriated. At this point, Napoleon was gaining political and military power. He went to Paris and carried out a coup d’etat during which the remaining royalists were removed from power and returned power to the Republicans. However, they were now dependent on Napoleon to maintain their newly regained power. This put the Republicans in a precarious position and gave Napoleon great freedom. He began to plan an invasion of Britain. However, after two months of planning, he abandoned his design once he concluded that France’s naval power was not yet sufficient to contend with the might of the British navy. Instead, he opted to attack Egypt in a campaign to disrupt Britain’s substantial trade with India. Success in this campaign would expand French trade to include India and would deal a significant blow to the British economy, and its power in the region. Napoleon’s efforts in Egypt were a combination of success and failure. During the Battle of the Nile, France lost all but two of its Mediterranean fleet. During a ground campaign along the coastal cities of Egypt, Napoleon ordered the brutal killing of men, women, and children as well as the poisoning of his own men in order to speed up his army and conserve supplies. Ultimately, he did gain a meager foothold in the Mediterranean at a brutal cost. Napoleon made it a point to stay apprised of European affairs. During his conquests in Egypt, Napoleon was made aware that France had been defeated in multiple engagements during the War of the Second Coalition. Without having received explicit orders to do so, he departed Egypt to return to France. As it turned out, the Directory in Paris had, in fact, ordered his return to ward off possible invasions on French soil, but he had never received the message. Although he had technically suffered defeat in Egypt, he was welcomed back to Paris as a hero. He quickly aligned himself with several powerful French politicians and administrators. Together they overthrew the Directory and assumed control of France. Napoleon himself was made “First Consul” of France, with advisors whom he appointed himself, and who had no authority beyond their consultative roles. Napoleon’s control of France was made complete by a popular vote approving the adoption of the “Constitution of the Year VIII,” which kept the appearance of a republic, but which effectively cemented him as a dictator over France. The appointment was to be for a period of ten years. Napoleon wasted no time re-establishing French power in northern Italy which had eroded while he had been in Egypt. He personally led an army of 24,000 soldiers against 30,000 Austrian soldiers. Though it did not begin in his favor, Napoleon won the battle with decisive strategy and the Austrians agreed to vacate northern Italy and all of their fortresses in exchange for safe passage to friendly territory. After negotiations and an additional assault that led the French army through the heart of Bavaria, the Austrians recognized the territory as France’s. This critical victory fortified Napoleon’s popularity back in Paris, and also bolstered his authority. Once the treaty was signed and Austria displaced from northern Italy, it signaled a coming era of temporary peace for France, and Europe at large. France and Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the conflict between the two countries. Napoleon’s public approval soared to new heights. In the next plebiscite, the French people approved a revised constitution that made Napoleon a dictator for life. In the short peace that followed, Napoleon reasserted French power in all of its colonies. During this period of time, slavery and the slave trade were reinstated. Napoleon decided to reinstate slavery as a way of paying for France’s wars in Europe. After this, the slave trade lasted another 20 years, while slavery itself lasted another 50. As Napoleon’s rule continued, he survived multiple assassination attempts. He used these attempts on his life as a basis for expanding his power. In yet another referendum to the constitution, Napoleon was elected as “Emperor of the French” by a 99% vote. During his coronation, he was also crowned King of Italy. Though Napoleon was trying desperately to establish peace and security in France and Europe, it was not to be. Britain allied itself with countries throughout Europe and Russia. However, Napoleon had established an army of over 350,000 soldiers. France had become a massive and formidable fighting force. Under these conditions, the War of the Third Coalition began. Napoleon again humiliated the Austrians. He also won victories against the Russians, who treatied in order to be able to return to their homeland. However, he lost any sort of naval initiative after the British defeated the French in the battle of Trafalgar. Napoleon remained focused on the main European continent. He won another decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz wherein he feigned major tactical weakness in order to lure his opponents into battle. Through this battle and the following smaller engagements, Napoleon devastated the Allied army. Some historians speculate that Napoleon lost touch with reality after the Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon himself said, “The Battle of Austerlitz is the finest of all I have fought.” Austerlitz was the height of Napoleon’s military career but was certainly not the end of it. Over the next 13 years, he would lead France, and Europe, through a period known as the Napoleonic Wars. This is a series of wars during which the various powers in Europe tried to overthrow his power and reduce France’s reach back to within its original borders. They failed several times, but finally, in the War of the Sixth Coalition, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal defeated and isolate Napoleon and his armies. This was a major victory that finally brought a wave of more lasting peace to the European continent. As a condition of his surrender, Napoleon was forced to relinquish his throne and was forced into exile on the island of Elba, off of the Italian coast. He escaped Elba and tried to reclaim his throne, although he was quickly defeated again and his exile was moved to Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,870 km off the coast of Africa. Napoleon’s final exile was harsh. He was completely isolated, removed from his family, and had no communication with associates. His quarters on Saint Helena were damp and mold-infested. In his final few years, he fell into a severe depression, and we reduced to a fraction of the bold man he had been during the years of his glory. Napoleon died on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51. His final words were, “France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine” (France, the army, head of the army, Josephine). His tomb can be found at Les Invalides in Paris, France.One of the most famous and notorious Frenchmen to have ever lived was Napoleon Bonaparte, a military leader, and politician. During his lifetime he waged multiple wars and changed the politics and culture of France forever. He was born Napoleon Buonaparte on August 15, 1769. Interestingly, Napoleon’s ancestral heritage is of Italian origins. On his paternal side, the Buonapartes were descendants of a Tuscan noble family. Sometime in the 16th century they emigrated to Corsica, an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, located southeast of the French mainland. On his maternal side, the Ramolinos came from Genoa, a small republic located north of Italy. Both sides of Napoleon’s family came from minor noble houses. As such, they were related to several influential families of Italian nobility from history. He was born at “Casa Buonaparte,” an ancestral home in Ajaccio maintained by his parents. Napoleon was the fourth child of Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino. He was their third son. Napoleon came from a large family. He had seven siblings. During his lifetime, his first and last names had different spellings. In his younger years, his first name would be spelled “Nabulione, Nabulio, Napolionne, and Napulione.” Though his last name was originally “Buonaparte” it was later changed to “Bonaparte.” This may have been done to minimize the fact of his Italian heritage as he rose to power in France. It could be said that Napoleon was conceived in war. Both of his parents joined the Corsican resistance when it was being ceded to France. His parents fought against the French, even as his mother was pregnant with him. Corsica was finally incorporated as a French province, four years after his birth. Shortly after that, Napoleon’s father, Carlo, became Corsica’s “representative to the court of Louis XVI.” As a member of the noble class, and coming from a family of moderate wealth, Napoleon had educational opportunities that exceeded what was available to most Corsican children at the time. His mother played a particularly influential role in molding him. In fact, Napoleon once said, “the future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.” At nine years of age, Napoleon traveled to the French mainland and attended a religious school. A few months later he transferred to a military academy, Brienne-le-Chateau. Napoleon was multi-lingual. He spoke and read Corsican, Italian, and French. He eventually became fluent in French but was never able to spell correctly in the language. He spoke with a strong Corsican accent. Because of his physical appearance and strong accent, Napoleon was often the subject of discrimination by his classmates. He was frequently bullied for a host of reasons: his short stature, where he was born, his foreign mannerisms, and his slow mastery of the French language. He was a Corsican nationalist and spoke in favor of Corsica’s independence. The frequent bullying drove Napoleon to become quiet and reserved. He was melancholy at times. He applied himself to his studies, particularly reading. He was once noted as being “distinguished for his application in mathematics. He is fairly well acquainted with history and geography.” While at school, Napoleon showed early signs of his leadership skills when he lead younger students in a snowball fight against the more senior students, and ultimately won the childhood skirmish. He completed his studies at Brienne-le-Chateau at 15 years of age. He was then admitted to Ecole Militaire in Paris, France. He began training as an artillery officer. He completed the two-year course in a single year after his father died and his income was reduced as a result. After graduating, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment. In the few years that followed, Napoleon’s sympathies turned from a Corsican nationalist to a pro-French Revolutionist. As the conflict continued, Napoleon was promoted to the rank of captain. Napoleon and his family were driven out of Corsica and forced to move to Toulon, France due to the shift in Napoleon’s allegiance away from Corsican independence and toward the pro-French revolution. It was at this time that he first abandoned the original spelling of his name and adopted the spelling of “Napoleon Bonaparte.” Again, likely to cover his ties with his Italian-Corsican heritage. By this time, Napoleon’s military career was well underway. He was already climbing the ranks of the French army when his family relocated to Toulon. In July 1793, Napoleon published a pro-republican pamphlet. The pamphlet found its way to Augustin Robespierre, the brother of the leader of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre. He was given command of the artillery of the republican forces which had arrived at Toulon, in the buildup to the famous Siege of Toulon. During the siege, Napoleon’s forces captured a hill strategically located in such a way that his artillery could command control of the harbor. The British were forced to evacuate. During the assault to take the hill and capture the city, Napoleon was wounded in the leg. Because of his actions at the Siege of Toulon, and his growing leadership on the battlefield, Napoleon was placed over the artillery for France’s Army of Italy. An interesting bi-product of Napoleon’s military success during the revolution was that he was beginning to generate attention, which caused jealousy between The Army of the Alps and the Army of Italy (where he was second in command). For some time, Napoleon’s contemporaries alleged that he was placed under house arrest after the fall of the Robespierres for his association with them during the revolution. This was a very tumultuous time in the history of France, and as regimes changed hands, people involved in previous regimes were frequently maligned, or worse. This claim that Napoleon had been put under house arrest was later refuted by his secretary in his memoirs. In it, his secretary clarified the rumor, indicating that it was spread by those who were jealous of him in the Army