Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (or Napoleone in French) was born on the 15th of August 1769 in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, just three months after it had been defeated by the French. He was the second child of eight children of Carlo (Charles) and Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte (or Buonaparte), both of Corsican-Italian gentry. Through his father's influence, Napoleon was educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the École Militaire, in Paris. Napoleon sat foot in France for the first time in the winter of 1778, a thin, washed-out nine year-old, used to the warmth of the Mediterranean. He was barely able to speak French. At the age of fifteen, Napoleon was promoted to the Royal Military Academy in Paris. At sixteen, he began his apprenticeship as a lowly second lieutenant, training with the best artillery in the French army. His ambitions soared way beyond a military career, but in French society- power and achievement was reserved for the nobility, and not for an unsophisticated Corsican soldier.After the outbreak of the French Revolution he attempted to join the Corsican patriots led by Pasquale Paoli, but his family was believed to be pro-French. His family was condemned for its
After his victory at Lodi (May of 10), he entered Milan (May of 14) and laid siege to Mantua (July of 1796). More or less, false sayings and stories about Napoleon, are as many as the books written about him. British sea power, however, had grown stronger than ever through Nelson's victory at Trafalgar (1805), and Napoleon promised to defeat Britain by economic warfare. By the treaties of Tilsit (July 1807) King Frederick William III of Prussia lost half of his territories and became a vassal to France; Russia recognized the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, created from Prussian Poland, and other territorial changes. His victors were still considering the Congress of Vienna, when Napoleon, with a handful of followers, landed near Cannes (March 1, 1815). While fighting began to lessen, Napoleon took advantage of Georges Cadoudal's plot to kill him, and thus seized and executed the duc d'Enghien, and had himself proclaimed emperor of the French by a obedient senate and tribunate (May of 1804). On land, war with Russia continued. He was beyond doubt one of the greatest military leaders in history and dominated his times so completely that European history between 1800 and 1815 is often described as the Napoleonic era. Great Britain had never surrendered, and the Continental System proved difficult to enforce. The success of his Italian campaign was based on three things: Firstly, his supply system, which he made almost seperate of the "financially challenged" Directory, by letting the troops live off the land; Secondly, his dependence on speed and massed surprise attacks by small but compact units against the Austrian forces; and Third, his influence over the morale of his soldiers. Napoleon swept across Northern Italy, forcing Sardinia to sign a separate peace in May of 1796. So, in a nutshell, the constitution established the dictatorship of Bonaparte. Napoleon crushed the Austrians at Ulm, occupied Vienna, and won (December 2, 1805) his most brilliant victory over both the Russians and the Austrians at Austerlitz. The constitution of the year XII kept many of the features of the previous two constitutions, but its liberal conditions were gradually restricted. Napoleon said that France had finished with the period of the revolution.
Common topics in this essay:
Louis Napoleon,
Pius VII,
Napoleon France,
Beauharnais Assuming,
Moscow September,
British Toulon,
Church Concordat,
Continental System,
Convention Bonaparte,
Academy Paris,
napoleon returned,
continental system,
returned france,
napoleon entered,
war france,
pope pius vii,
december 2,
napoleon promoted,
returned military,
military duty france,
emperor francis,
declared war france,
military duty,
napoleon returned france,
returned military duty,
|