NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

• Napoleon was born in Corisca in 1769
• napoleon was the son of a minor aristocratic family and was sent to France for education
• Napoleon was entered into the Ecole Millataire in 1784
• Napoleon was an outsider as he had a Corsican accent and an italian appearance
• he trained as an artillery officer and was the first Corsican graduate
• in 1789 Napoleon returned to Corsica and became involved with revolutionary politics
• Napoleon had become a Jacobin supporter and established a friendship with Augustin Robespierre
• Barras, one of the directors had a mistress Josephine who Napoleon had become interested with her social and sexual sophistication. this helped him establish links with Barras
• Napoleon married Josephine in march 1796
• napoleons political links gave him his first military lead and took a leading role and devised a plan for the siege of toulon
• the defeat of the British at the siege of Toulon won him fame and he was put in charge of the coastal defences on the Mediterranean
• In 1795 Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the artillery in an army sent to Italy
• in October 1795 the convention was under attack from royalist mobs and napoleon was put in charge of suppressing the crowds
• the whiff of grapeshot was musket balls bundeled clos3e together and fired at close range
• the whiff of grapeshot mad him a candidate for promotion
• In March 1796 he was appointed to command the french army in Italy