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| Web site created by Erik |
| N A P O L E O N THE HISTORY CHANGER Erik S. Tavenner.-Acosta |
| Introduction Did Bonaparte�s wars help Europe, modernize it, make it a better place, or did it weaken Europe, killing tens of thousands and separating thousands of peoples into smaller divided groups? How he lived and died explains a lot to us about why he did things. We all have different ideas but all that has been done will always have a positive part, even if it is a small one. So I point out the different views so that you will see my opinion, but ultimately there is no right decision but opinions. Was Bonaparte good or bad�you decide with what you will read. Napoleon�s early years Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio Corsica to a low ranking Noble family. His father was a Noble called Carlo Maria Buonaparte, and his mother Letizia. He had a big head which would often catch him off balance. When he was born the French were trying to make the Corsicans celebrate the 1st anniversary of Frances� takeover of Corsica. Revolts broke out but were put down. Before Napoleon was born, his mother would say that Napoleon would be the avenger of Corsica, and indeed he stood up for Corsica. When he was at the military school in Briene, Napoleon would say that �if the French would have outnumbered us (the Corsicans) 3 to 1 we would have defeated them, but they outnumbered us 10 to 1!� With Napoleon�s father supporting the French, the French made Napoleon�s father assessor of Corsica. Using this post, he convinced the French to give his sons free school education. Napoleon was sent to a military academy school in Brienne in Northern France. Then at age 15 Napoleon was sent to the Ecole Militaire School in Paris. He was unsociable, and he was made fun of because of his accent and of his social class. They looked at him like an uncivilized person who was of a lower ranking class. He had few friends. At age 16 he planned to join the Navy, but the inspections to see who could go were postponed for the next year and Napoleon did not want to stay another year at his school so he joined the artillery in1785. Later in the artillery he ranked 42nd out of 56 students commissioned that year by King Louis XVI and was promoted to 2nd lieutenant. While in the artillery, he was given many leaves to his homeland in Corsica. The last home leave he got was for 21 months. A year later after he came back from his home-leave, the French revolution started. French revolution Napoleon hoped that during the French revolution he might be able to play a part in Corsica�s independence. The French independence started Napoleon�s career. On his way to his post after a home leave, he decided to stop by at the port city of Toulon to visit one of his few friends. The revolutionaries had killed the king and had sent soldiers to take over the port-city of Toulon from the English. Napoleon most probably joined in the fight because he found that with the revolution the law that said petty or low ranking nobles could not get promoted higher than a general, had been abolished along with the king. Napoleon assumed command of the artillery at the siege and saw that his cannon was useless where it was. He then moved his cannon and his men to a safe place and trained them until they were ready. Napoleon then took his cannon and his men to where he saw was the enemy�s weak spot in the fort. He drove the English out of the fort near Toulon and was promoted to Major. He then took the rest of the forts in a few days. Five days after he assumed command of the artillery, he was promoted to General. Napoleon lied on his sheets to get the promotion saying that he was 24. (In France you had to be at least 25 to be able to be a General.) Napoleon helped take back Toulon from the English, and he was welcomed to Paris along with his superiors as revolutionary Heroes. After the battle of Toulon Napoleon got more home-leaves to Corsica and joined in the fight against the Corsicans who wanted to separate against France. He now had more loyalty to France than he had had before. Napoleon finally returned to France and decided to �tie his destiny to France�. World leaders, past and present NAPOLEON, pg.21. He was sent to Frances� army in Italy as inspector of the coasts. There he met a pretty girl named Desiree Clary. Napoleon liked to have high goals and aimed for higher things or challenges as you can also see here. He aims for a girl who is of a higher social class and of a very rich family. This might also indicate that he was trying to marry someone of a higher social class in order to be able to rise in power. He proposed marriage to her, but her parents refused to accept, even though they let Napoleon�s brother Joseph marry Desiree�s sister Julie. Napoleons rise to power In 1795 (a few years later), Napoleon moved to Paris and met Josephine de Beauharnais, a widow of a nobleman, whom he fell in love with and helped him rise a little, making him know powerful people. One of these was a general named Paul Barras (he really was only a general by name). During this time, the convention (or the governing people of France) drafted a new constitution in which a group of five people, called the convention, would be the ruling group of France. The royalists (the other political group of France that wanted to re-establish a monarchy) saw that this would destroy their chances to restore the monarchy. The royalists and royalist peasants stormed into the streets and marched towards the convention. They fought and may have won had it not been for Napoleon. Barras was the commander of Paris or the forces in Paris. When the Royalists attacked, he did not know how to fight them so he called on Napoleon since he had experience. On October 5, 1795 Napoleon fired his artillery towards the rebel crowds. He injured nearly 600 rebels and saved the convention. Barras promoted Napoleon and made him deputy commander of the army of the Interior. Then Barras became a director and Napoleon succeeded him as commanding general of the army of the interior. Napoleon had never really been involved in fighting rebel groups, nor in the French revolution, but he probably did this, this time in order to get Barras� favor. He knew Barras was rising in power quickly and that he could raise him into a higher post. Having so much influence, some of the other Directors decided to get him out of France or at least out of Paris, in order to keep him out of politics. In March 1796 Napoleon was named commander in chief of the army of Italy. At the same time Napoleon married Madame Josephine de Beauharnais, on March 9, 1796. |
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