Biography

He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte (in Corsican, Nabolione or Nabulione) in the town of Ajaccio on Corsica on 15 August 1769, only one year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa. He later adopted the more French-sounding Napoléon Bonaparte.

His family was minor Italian nobility living in Corsica. His father, Carlo Buonaparte, an attorney, was named Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI of France in 1778, where he remained for a number of years. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, Maria Letizia Ramolino^{[citation needed]}. Her firm discipline helped restrain the rambunctious Napoleon as a boy, nicknamed Rabullione (the "meddler" or "disrupter"). He despised these names^{[citation needed]}.

Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background and family
connections afforded him greater opportunities to study than were
available to a typical Corsican of the time. At the age of five he
attended preschool. At age nine, Napoleon was admitted to a French
military school at Brienne-le-Château, a small town near Troyes, on 15 May 1779.
He had to learn to speak French before entering the school, but he
spoke with a marked Italian accent throughout his life and never
learned to spell properly^{[citation needed]}. He earned high marks in mathematics and geography, and passable grades in other subjects^{[citation needed]}. Upon graduation from Brienne in 1784, Bonaparte was admitted to the elite École Royale Militaire in Paris,
where he completed the two year course of study in only one year.
Although he had initially sought a naval assignment, he studied artillery at the École Militaire. Upon graduation in September, 1785, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery, and took up his new duties in January 1786, at the age of 16.^[1]

Napoleon served on garrison duty in Valence and Auxonne
until after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 (although he took
nearly two years of leave in Corsica and Paris during this period). He
spent most of the next several years on Corsica, where a complex
three-way struggle was playing out among royalists, revolutionaries,
and Corsican nationalists. Bonaparte supported the Jacobin
faction, and gained the position of lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of
volunteers. After coming into conflict with the increasingly
conservative nationalist leader, Pasquale Paoli, Bonaparte and his family were forced to flee to France in June 1793.

Through the help of fellow Corsican Saliceti, he was appointed as artillery commander in the French forces besieging Toulon, which had risen in revolt against the Reign of Terror and was occupied by British troops. He formulated a successful plan: he placed guns at Point l'Eguillete,
threatening the British ships in the harbour with destruction, thereby
forcing them to evacuate. A successful assault of the position, during
which Bonaparte was wounded in the thigh, led to the recapture of the
city and a promotion to brigadier-general. His actions brought him to
the attention of the Committee of Public Safety, and he became a close associate of Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of the Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre. As a result, he was briefly imprisoned following the fall of the elder Robespierre in 1794, but was released within two weeks.

Contributions

An interlude of peace

In 1800, Bonaparte returned to Italy, which the Austrians had
reconquered during his absence in Egypt. He and his troops crossed the
Alps in spring (although he actually rode a mule, not the white charger
on which David famously depicted him). While the campaign began badly, the Austrians were eventually routed in June at Marengo, leading to an armistice. Napoleon's brother Joseph, who was leading the peace negotiations in Lunéville,
reported that due to British backing for Austria, Austria would not
recognize France's newly gained territory. As negotiations became more
and more fractious, Bonaparte gave orders to his general Moreau to strike Austria once more. Moreau led France to victory at Hohenlinden. As a result the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February 1801, under which the French gains of the Treaty of Campo Formio were reaffirmed and increased; the British signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, which set terms for peace, including the division of several colonial territories.

The peace between France and Britain was uneasy and short-lived. The
monarchies of Europe were reluctant to recognize a republic, fearing
that the ideas of the revolution might be exported to them. In Britain,
the brother of Louis XVI
was welcomed as a state guest although officially Britain recognized
France as a republic. Britain failed to evacuate Malta and Egypt as
promised, and protested against France's annexation of Piedmont, and Napoleon's Act of Mediation in Switzerland (although neither of these areas was covered by the Treaty of Amiens).

In 1803, Bonaparte faced a major setback when an army he sent to reconquer Haiti and establish a base was destroyed by a combination of yellow fever and fierce resistance led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Recognizing that the French possessions on the mainland of North America would now be indefensible, and facing imminent war with Britain, he sold them to the United States —the Louisiana Purchase—for less than three cents per acre ($7.40/km²). The dispute over Malta provided the pretext for Britain to declare war on France in 1803 to support French royalists.

Napoleon is cred with introducing the concept of the modern professional conscript
army to Europe, an innovation which other states eventually followed.
He did not introduce many new concepts into the French military system,
borrowing mostly from previous theorists and the implementations of
preceding French governments, but he did expand or develop much of what
was already in place. Corps
replaced divisions as the largest army units, artillery was integrated
into reserve batteries, the staff system became more fluid, and cavalry
once again became a crucial formation in French military doctrine.

Napoleon's biggest influence in the military sphere was in the
conduct of warfare. Weapons and technology remained largely static
through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th century
operational strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became
infrequent to the point of near-irrelevance, a new emphasis towards the
destruction, not just outmaneuvering, of enemy armies emerged, and
invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts, thus
introducing a plethora of strategic opportunities that made wars
costlier and, just as importantly, more decisive. Defeat for an
European power now meant much more than losing isolated enclaves; near-Carthaginian peaces
intertwined whole national efforts, sociopolitical, economic, and
militaristic, into gargantuan collisions that severely upset
international conventions as understood at the time. It can be argued
that Napoleon's initial success sowed the seeds for his downfall. Not
used to such catastrophic defeats in the rigid power system of 18th
century Europe, many nations found existence under the French yoke
difficult, sparking revolts, wars, and general instability that plagued
the continent until 1815.

In France, Napoleon is seen by some as having ended lawlessness and disorder in France, and that the Napoleonic Wars also served to export the Revolution to the rest of Europe; the movements of national unification and the rise of the nation state, notably in Italy and Germany, may have been precipitated by the Napoleonic rule of those areas.

The Napoleonic Code was adopted throughout much of Europe and remained in force after Napoleon's defeat. Professor Dieter Langewiesche of the University of Tübingen describes the code as a "revolutionary project" which spurred the development of bourgeois society in Germany by expanding the right to own property and breaking the back of feudalism. Langewiesche also crs Napoleon with reorganizing what had been the Holy Roman Empire made up of more than 1,000 entities into a more streamlined network of 40 states providing the basis for the German Confederation and the future unification of Germany under the German Empire in 1871.

In mathematics Napoleon is traditionally given cr for discovering and proving Napoleon's theorem,
although there is no specific evidence that he did so. The theorem
states that if equilateral triangles are constructed on the sides of
any triangle (all outward or all inward), the centres of those
equilateral triangles themselves form an equilateral triangle. There
has been discussion about the significance of the theorem.^[3]

Critics of Napoleon argue that his true legacy was a loss of status for France and many needless deaths:

After all, the military record is unquestioned—17 years of wars,
perhaps six million Europeans dead, France bankrupt, her overseas
colonies lost. And it was all such a great waste, for when the
self-proclaimed tête d'armée was done, France's "losses were permanent"
and she "began to slip from her position as the leading power in Europe
to second-class status—that was Bonaparte's true legacy."^[4]

Napoleon was in many ways the direct inspiration for later
autocrats: he never flinched when facing the prospect of war and
destruction for thousands, friend or foe, and turned his search of
undisputed rule into a continuous cycle of conflict throughout Europe,
ignoring treaties and conventions alike. Even if other European powers
continuously offered Napoleon terms that would have restored France's
borders to situations only dreamt by the Bourbon kings, he always
refused compromise, and only accepted surrender.

Nevertheless, many in the international community still admire the
many accomplishments of the emperor as evidenced by the International
Napoleonic Congress held in Dinard, France in July 2005 that included
participation by members of the French and American military, French
politicians, scholars from as far away as Israel and Russia, and a
parade recreating the Grand Army.

Moreover, many probably wish Napoleon had achieved his unrealized goal

‘to make it a law that only those lawyers and attorneys should
receive fees who had won their cases. How much litigation would have
been prevented by such a measure! For it is quite obvious that there is
not a lawyer who, after a first look at the case, would not turn it
down if it seemed doubtful. It need not be feared that a man who earns
his living from his work might take on a case for the simple pleasure
of hearing himself talk; yet even if he did, he would harm no one but
himself. . . . I am convinced to this day that the idea is brilliant.’

Napoleon was hated by his many enemies, but respected by them at the
same time. The Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, when asked who
he thought was the greatest general that ever lived, he answered “In
this age, in past ages, in any age, Napoleon.”

Achievements

The "whiff of grapeshot"

For more details on this topic, see 13 Vendémiaire.

In 1795, Bonaparte was serving in Paris when royalists and counter-revolutionaries organized an armed protest against the National Convention on 3 October. Bonaparte was given command of the improvised forces defending the Convention in the Tuileries Palace. He seized artillery pieces with the aid of a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat,
who later became his brother-in-law. He utilized the artillery the
following day to repel the attackers. He later boasted that he had
cleared the streets with a "whiff of grapeshot"
(musket balls fired in cloth bags from the cannon, a devastating
anti-personnel munition), although the fighting had been vicious
throughout Paris. This triumph earned him sudden fame, wealth, and the
patronage of the new Directory, particularly that of its leader, Barras. Within weeks he was romantically attached to Barras's former mistress, Josephine de Beauharnais, whom he married on March 9, 1796.

Days after his marriage, Bonaparte took command of the French "Army of Italy", leading it on a successful invasion of Italy. At the Lodi, he gained the nickname of "The Little Corporal" (le petit caporal), a term reflecting his camaraderie with his soldiers, all of whom he knew by name. He drove the Austrians out of Lombardy and defeated the army of the Papal States. Because Pope Pius VI had protested the execution of Louis XVI, France retaliated by annexing two small papal territories. Bonaparte ignored the Directory's order to march on Rome and dethrone the Pope. It was not until the next year that General Berthier captured Rome and took Pius VI prisoner on February 20. The pope died of illness while in captivity. In early 1797, Bonaparte led his army into Austria and forced that power to sue for peace. The resulting Treaty of Campo Formio gave France control of most of northern Italy, along with the Low Countries and Rhineland, but a secret clause promised Venice
to Austria. Bonaparte then marched on Venice and forced its surrender,
ending over 1,000 years of independence. Later in 1797, Bonaparte
organized many of the French dominated territories in Italy into the Cisalpine Republic.

His remarkable series of military triumphs were a result of his
ability to apply his encyclopedic knowledge of conventional military
thought to real-world situations, as demonstrated by his creative use
of artillery tactics, using it as a mobile force to support his infantry.
As he described it: "I have fought sixty battles and I have learned
nothing which I did not know at the beginning." Contemporary paintings
of his headquarters during the Italian campaign depict his use of the
world's first telecommunications system, the Chappe semaphore line, first implemented in 1792. He was also a master of both intelligence
and deception and had an uncanny sense of when to strike. He often won
battles by concentrating his forces on an unsuspecting enemy by using
spies to gather information about opposing forces and by concealing his
own troop deployments. In this campaign, often considered his greatest,
Napoleon's army captured 160,000 prisoners, 2,000 cannons, and 170
standards. A year of campaigning had witnessed major breaks with the
traditional norms of 18th century warfare and marked a new era in
military history.

While campaigning in Italy, General Bonaparte became increasingly
influential in French politics. He published two newspapers, ostensibly
for the troops in his army, but widely circulated within France as
well. In May 1797 he founded a third newspaper, published in Paris,
entitled Le Journal de Bonaparte et des hommes vertueux. Elections in mid-1797 gave the royalist party increased power, alarming Barras and his allies on the Directory.
The royalists, in turn, began attacking Bonaparte for looting Italy and
overstepping his authority in dealings with the Austrians. Bonaparte
sent General Augereau to Paris to lead a coup d'etat and purge the royalists on 4 September (18 Fructidor).
This left Barras and his Republican allies in firm control again, but
dependent on Bonaparte's military command to stay there. Bonaparte
himself proceeded to the peace negotiations with Austria, then returned
to Paris in December as the conquering hero and the dominant force in
government, far more popular than any of the Directors.

In March 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military expion to seize Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, seeking to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. The Directory,
although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, readily
agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular general from the
center of power.

An unusual aspect of the Egyptian expion was the inclusion of a
large group of scientists assigned to the invading French force: among
the other discoveries that resulted, the Rosetta Stone
was found. This deployment of intellectual resources is considered by
some an indication of Bonaparte's devotion to the principles of the Enlightenment, and by others as a masterstroke of propaganda obfuscating the true imperialist motives of the invasion. In a largely unsuccessful effort to gain the support of the Egyptian populace, Bonaparte also issued proclamations casting himself as a liberator of the people from Ottoman oppression, and praising the precepts of Islam.

Bonaparte's expion seized Malta from the Knights of Saint John on June 9 and then landed successfully at Alexandria on July 1, eluding (temporarily) pursuit by the Royal Navy.

After landing on the coast of Egypt, the first battle to take place was against the Mamelukes,
an old power in the Middle East, approximately 4 miles from the
pyramids. Bonaparte's forces were greatly outnumbered by the advanced
cavalry, about 25,000 to 100,000, but Bonaparte came out on top, mainly
due to his strategy. Men formed hollow squares, each side facing out.
This made it possible to keep cannons and supplies safely on the
inside, while the soldiers could fire in every direction on the
outside. This made a very strong defense, but left it possible for many
soldiers to escape to fight again. In all only 300 French were killed,
while approximately 6,000 native Egyptians were killed.

While the battle on land was a resounding victory for the French,
the British navy managed to compensate at sea. The ships that had
dropped off Bonaparte and his army had sailed back to France, but a
fleet of battleships
that had come with them stayed and supported the army along the coast.
On August 1, The British fleet found these battleships anchored in a
strong defensive position in the bay of Abukir.
The French believed that they were open to attack only on one side, the
other side being protected by the shore. However, the arriving British
fleet under Horatio Nelson
managed to slip half of their ships in between the land and the French
line, thus attacking from both sides. All but two of the French vessels
were captured or destroyed. Only the Guillaume Tell with rear admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and the Généreux escaped. The Guillaume Tell was caught not much later in the course of the British conquest of Malta. Many blame the French loss in this Battle of the Nile
on the French admiral Francois-Paul Brueys, who came up with the failed
defensive strategy. However, the French ships were also undermanned,
the officers were demoralized, and Nelson's attack was a surprise. In
all, about 250 British and 1,700 French were killed. Bonaparte became
land-bound. His goal of strengthening the French position in the Merranean Sea was thus frustrated, but his army nonetheless succeeded in consolidating power in Egypt, although it faced repeated nationalist uprisings.

In early 1799 he led the army into the Ottoman province of Syria, now modern Israel, and defeated numerically superior Ottoman forces in several battles, but his army was weakened by disease and poor supplies. He was unable to reduce the fortress of Acre,
and was forced to return to Egypt in May. In order to speed up the
retreat, Bonaparte took the controversial step of killing prisoners and
plague-stricken men along the way. His supporters have argued that this
decision was necessary given the continuing harassment of stragglers by
Ottoman forces.

Back in Egypt, on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir. This partially redressed his reputation from the naval defeat there a year earlier.

With the Egyptian campaign stagnating, and political instability
developing back home, Bonaparte abandoned Egypt for Paris in august
1799, leaving his troops behind under mashall Kleber. It has been
suggested that Sir Sidney Smith and other British commanders in the
Merranean helped Bonaparte evade the British blockade, thinking
that he might act as a Royalist element back in France, but there's no
solid evidence in support of this argument.

The remaining troops, angry at Bonaparte and the French government
for having left them behind, were supposed to be honorably evacuated
under the terms of a treaty Kleber had negociated with Smith in early
1800. However, British admiral Keith reneged on this treaty and sent an
amphibious assault force of 30,000 Mamelukes against Kleber. The
Mamelukes were defeated at the battle of Heliopolis in March 1800, and
Kleber then suppressed an insurrection in Cairo. But Kleber was
assassinated in June 1800 by a Syrian student, and command of the
French army went to general Menou. Menou held command until August
1801, when, under continual harrassment by British and Ottoman forces,
and after the loss of 13,500 men (mostly to disease), he eventually
capitulated to the British. Under the terms of his surrender, the
French army was repatriated in British ships, along with a priceless
hoard of Egyptian antiquities.

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