Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769. He was born on the small Italian Island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. He was born at a very hectic time. Corsica was trying to gain independence when French troops invaded. He was born during a war, and he will die because of one.
             When he turned ten his parents sent him to a military school, just outside of Paris. He devoted himself to learning and gaining experience to military tactics. All of this work eventually paid off. When he was sixteen, he became a lieutenant in the artillery. By the time he was twenty-four, he was a general. Revolution broke out the same year. He joined the military of the French Republic.
             In October of 1705, a government official told Napoleon to defend the palace where the National Convention took place. He, with his small army, defeated the thousands of royalist in minutes. He is declared a hero. In 1796, the Directory appointed him to command a French army. He marched into Italy and liberated it from Austria, although some say he conquered it.
             The Directory was not doing very well. In 1799, it accused the French people of being corrupt. Napoleon seized this opportunity to take it over. On November 9, 1799, he staged a coup d' état and 500 soldiers took over one chamber of the National Legislature and drove out the members. The second chamber voted to end the directory. France was now in the hands of three officials. They were known as consuls. Napoleon modeled his government after the ancient Roman government. Napoleon named himself First Consul. In 1800, he and his fellow consuls set up the plebiscite in which the citizens had the right to vote yes or no on an issue.
             On December 2, 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor. The plebiscite made this so. The Pope crowned him himself. People thought he was a godsend. He greatly changed the economy of France by making many of reforms. He set up a bank, le...