| Napolean I Bonaparte (Ital: Napoleone Buonaparte, French: Napoléon Bonaparte, born August, 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica – died on May 5, 1821, Longwood, Saint Helena) was the Emperor of France from 1804 to 1815, a French military commander and statesman, who laid the foundation for the modern French state.
Napoleon Bonaparte started his professional military service in 1785 in the rank of second lieutenant in the artillery regiment; pulled out during the period of the Great French Revolution; he was made a Brigadier in the Directorate (after the siege of Toulon on December 17, 1793, the appointment was made on January 14, 1794) and then Major General and Commander of the military forces of rear services (after the defeat of rebellion 13 Vendemiaire 1795) and then Commander of the Italian Army (appointed on February 23, 1796).
In November, 1799 he completed a coup’de etat (state revolt), as a result of which he was made first consul, actually thereby taking all power into his hands. On May 18, 1804, he proclaimed himself Emperor. Bonaparte established a dictatorial mode of ruling. He took up a series of reforms (the acceptance of civil code (1804), foundation of French Bank (1800) etc.).
The victorious Napoleonic wars, especially the first Austrian campaign in 1805, the Prussian campaign in 1806, the Polish campaign in 1807, promoted the transformation of France into a major power in the continent. However, Napoleon's unsuccessful rivalry with the “Empress of the Seas”, Great Britain did not allow this status to consolidate completely. The defeat of Grand Armee in the war in 1812 against Russia was the beginning of the fall of the empire of Napoleon I. After the “Fight of People” near Leipzig, Napoleon could not resist the allies in any way. The arrival of the Anti France Coalition army into Paris in 1814 compelled Napoleon I to renounce the throne. He was sent to the island of Elba in exile. Once again, Napoleon I grabbed the French throne in March 1815 (Hundred days). After the defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he once again renounced the throne (June 22, 1815). He spent the last years of his life on the Saint Helena island as a captive of the British Army. Since 1840, his ashes were stored in the Home for the Disabled in Paris.
Titles:
General of French Revolutionary Army, First Consul of France (November 9, 1799 - March 20, 1804), Emperor of France (May 18, 1804 - April 11, 1814, March 12, 1815 - June 22, 1815), President of Republic of Italy (January 26, 1802 - March 17, 1805), King of Italy ( March 17, 1805 - April 11, 1814), Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine (July 12, 1806 - October 19, 1813), Mediator of Swiss Confederation (February 19, 1803 - October 19, 1813), Grand Duke of Берга (1808 -1809).
Biography:
Childhood:
Napoleon was born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, which was under the control of the Genoese Republic for a long time. In 1755, Corsica toppled the Genoese domination and since then, it actually existed as an independent state under the leadership of Pasquale Paoli, a local landowner, the secretary of whom was Napoleon's father. In 1768, the Republic of Genoa had sold its rights on Corsica to French king, Louis XV. In May of 1769, French troops killed the Corsican insurgents at the Battle of Ponte Novu and Paoli emigrated to England. Napoleon was born 3 months after these events. Until the 1790s, Paoli was his idol.
Napoleon was the second of 13 children of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, five of them died at an early age. The family belonged to small-time aristocrats and lived on the island since the beginning of the 16th century. Though Carlo Buonaparte was one of the drafters of Constitution of Corsica in the past, he obeyed the French supremacy with an aim to provide education to his children in France. Initially, the children studied in the Ajaccio City School, later, Napoleon and some of his brothers and sisters were taught writing and mathematics at abbot. Napoleon was very good in mathematics and ballistics.
Youth:
Thanks to his association with the French, Carlo Buonaparte succeeded in obtaining royal stipends for the two eldest sons, Joseph and Napoleon (the family had five sons and three daughters). While Joseph was preparing to become a priest, a military career was destined to Napoleon. In December 1778, both the boys left the island and were admitted to college in Autun, mainly, with an aim to learn the French language, although, Napoleon spoke with a strong accent throughout his life. The following year, Napoleon took admission to the military school in Brienne. In college, Napoleon had no friends, because he came from a family which wasn't wealthy and moreover, he was Corsican and with a strong patriotism for his native island and a hostility to the French for being conquerors of Corsica. It was at Brienne, Napoleon Buonaparte's name was pronounced "Napoleon Bonaparte" in a French style. |
August 15 is the birthday of one of the greatest military masterminds of all times, Napoleon Bonaparte. His military genius was accompanied by his ambitions to conquer the whole world. French empire has seen the rise and the blossom under Bonaparte's rule, controlling the whole continental Europe. While Napoleon is mostly remembered as a conqueror and a tyrant emperor, he also developed the Napoleonic code, which laid the juridical and administrative foundations for most countries of Western Europe.
