Napoleon Bonaparte

Early Life Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15 1769 on the island of Corsica Napoleon was the second of eight children. Christened Napoleone di Buonaparte Napoleon had left Corsica when he was ten years old. Napoleon had attended school in France, but was bullied because of his size and his thick Italian accent. Even at a young age, Napoleon had showed signs of greatness and great potential. At the age of sixteen, Napoleon had become the head of his family.

Military Background Napoleon Bonaparte attended a military school called Brienne in France Napoleon had excelled in his studies at school Napoleon Bonaparte graduated forty-second in a class of the top fifty students at the age of 15. His first well known military act was at the defense of the national convention with a “whiff of grapeshot” In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte had received his first three brilliant victories in Italy, Lodi and in Castigliogne. Although Napoleon had won many great battles, his luck would soon run out as he would go to fight the once “mighty” Egyptian army. Although he won, the British came next and sunk all of Napoleons ships so he was stranded in Egypt.

Thinking slide Napoleon’s early life did in fact prepare him for the leadership of France Napoleon did in fact show signs of greatness, intelligence, and many other great qualities at a very young age. Napoleon also showed huge amounts of leadership skills and some great interests in the works of artillery. This interest lead Napoleon to become a great military officer.

Napoleon in Power The first consul was a more conservative auditorium, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state Napoleon had helped overthrow the government of France, then known as the directory After overthrowing the government of France, Napoleon had adopted the title of first consul and set about improving the French life in many ways.

Achievements as First Consul When Napoleon had become first consul, he had reordered his officials to reorganize laws into the civil code The “Civil Code”, also called the “Napoleonic Code,” was one of Napoleons great achievements. This would guarantee the right of equality, the right to hold property, freedom for religion, and the freedom to pursue one’s choice. However with all these great things changing, women lost their rights under this code Napoleon also increased the economy by improving the roads.

Napoleon as Emperor Napoleon knew that Britain needed to trade with other countries to prosper. He tried to stop all trade with Britain and with his continental system that was pretty possible Through his continental system, countries in Napoleons empire were not allowed to trade with Britain or any of its colonies such as Canada The battle of Ulm was a series of minor skirmishes at the end of Napoleons Ulm campaign, culminating the surrender of the Austrian army near Ulm inWurttemburg

The Rise Of Nationalism When Napoleon went to Africa to eliminate the British Colonies, he found a lot of people that he could use on sugar plantations Approximately 500,000 African men and women worked on sugar plantations in Haiti After winning in Haiti, Napoleon decided to end slavery and set al slaves free from anywhere he had been victorious By the time every enemy of Napoleon had com together to from the “Treaty of Tilsit” Napoleon had already gained a lot of ground in Europe

Thinking Slide Napoleon had not carried out his ideals for the French Revolution because he said he would end slavery, however in Haiti, there was still tons of slavery Basically Napoleon said he could free slaves and end slavery, but he could not stand and deliver Because Haiti was a colony, the British had occupied it wanting the resources and to get these resources, they had to have the slaves cut sugar cane, gather cocoa beans, and make coffee. Napoleon did not like this one bit, so he decided to attempt to from an alliance with the Haitians Napoleon said he would free the slaves if they helped him and his army get rid of the British in Haiti After getting rid of the British, the Haitians killed the French people Napoleon had sent 20,000 French soldiers to Haiti to get it back The Haitians tricked the man who was leading the French into getting them to go back home

Military Losses Napoleon had won many great battles and been victorious in many campaigns but his luck would not last forever All other nations thought of Napoleon as a tyrant In attempt to conquer more of Europe, Napoleon had brought his men to Spain When Spain had been accompanied by the British Napoleon and his army had found themselves fighting a five year war that they could not win In this war, Napoleon lost many great companions, tons of soldiers and his morale

More Military Losses Also after losing in Spain, Napoleon thought that he would not recover from the war Napoleons ambitions had caused him to overreach himself and to lose the empire he had built The disastrous war in Spain did not stop Napoleon from fighting elsewhere One of Britain’s allies Russia, had agreed to stop trade with Britain Tsar had not trusted Napoleon so Russia continued trading with Britain One day Napoleon declared war on Russia because the Russians decided not to follow Napoleons policies Although Napoleon had knowledge that fighting on Russian ground would be difficult, it didn’t stop him Napoleon had good chances of winning the war in Russia because, he had assembled the largest army in Europe at that time After pushing the Russians back to Moscow, Napoleon had hoped that the Russians would give up Many of Napoleons soldiers died because of exposure to cold and the fact that the “Grand Armee” had no food

Life on Elba