Napoleon vid detail

• Napoleon Bonaparte


  A prominent French military leader and emperor
• Napoleon Bonaparte was born


  August 15, 1769
• Ajaccio, Corsica


  Birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte
• Carlo Buonaparte


  Napoleon's father, a prominent attorney
• Letizia Ramolino


  Napoleon's mother, a noblewoman
• Napoleon's upbringing


  • His mother instilled in him a sense of being special
  • He had a very good sense of his own importance
• Napoleon's key traits


  • Charismatic and generous
  • Pride and sense of honor
  • Determined and realistic
• Napoleon received a scholarship to attend the Brienne Military Academy in France


  Age 9
• Napoleon's abilities at the military academy


  • Showed great promise as a soldier and leader
  • Organized and led fellow students in snowball fights
  • Displayed extraordinary intelligence
• Napoleon's leadership abilities


  • Ambitious and determined
• Napoleon continued his education, studying politics, philosophy, and military tactics


  Paris
• Brilliant artilleryman


  Napoleon became an officer at the age of 16 after passing through the two-year program in one year
• Napoleon met Josephine de Beauharnais


  1795
• Josephine de Beauharnais


  A beautiful and ambitious young woman, a member of Parisian high society who had lost her husband in the Revolution
• Josephine's characteristics


  • Ambitious, intelligent, and calculating
  • Knew what she wanted and how to get it
  • Looked on the relationship with Napoleon as a business-like arrangement
• Napoleon married Josephine


  March 9, 1796
• Italian Campaign


  Napoleon took command of his troops in Italy, where France was battling other European powers
• Napoleon's military strategies in the Italian Campaign

  • Divided and conquered enemy forces
  • Led charges from the front, creating a myth of invincibility
  • Used every shot in his arsenal of man management to motivate his troops
• Napoleon's rise to power was meteoric, driven by his intelligence, ambition, and leadership abilities
• Napoleon's love affair with Josephine was a complex and passionate one, but it was also a key factor in his success
• Napoleon landed in Egypt


  July 1798
• Battle of the Pyramids


  Napoleon destroyed additional Egyptian forces near Cairo
• Scientific Expedition


  Napoleon brought a cadre of scientists to understand Egyptian science and history, leading to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone
• Napoleon seized control of the French government in a bloodless coup, becoming the First Consul of France


  1799
• Napoleon's personality and work habits

  • He was a complex personality, both inspiring and exasperating
  • He had incredible work habits, getting up in the middle of the night to work, even while taking a bath
  • He was both cold and friendly at the same time
• Napoleon's marriage to Josephine


  It was rocky, with rumors of infidelity, but Josephine seemed born for her role as the most visible woman in France and had an enormous influence on French society
• Malmaison


  Josephine's prize project, a country estate where people could go and relax
• Napoleon's actions


  • Extremely paradoxical - he would play the prince of peace but also be the god of war, always in the name of peace and the revolution
• Napoleon's troops


  Marched out and dominated Europe, with the support of bayonets and cannons
• Napoleon's lure of glory and power


  He knew better than most the lure of glory, and he offered it as a prize for all of France
• Napoleon became Emperor of France, taking the crown himself and placing it on his head


  1804
• Continental System


  Napoleon's mistake, which barred British ships from all ports under French control and also barred neutral nations from carrying British goods to the continent
• Blockade running and smuggling


  The Continental System led to fortunes won and lost daily in this high-stakes game, as allies became foes and war broke out
• Nationalism


  Rose up in Spain and elsewhere, coming to destroy Napoleon's empire
• Invading Russia in 1812


  One of Napoleon's mistakes, leading to a catastrophic defeat
• Leaving the task of fighting Wellington in Spain to his marshals


  Another of Napoleon's mistakes
• The French army suffered heavy losses in Russia, with 500,000 men dead, deserted, or captured
• Battle of Leipzig, where Napoleon's enemies tore into his weakened army, leading to his defeat


  October 1813
• Napoleon's attempted suicide


  He had a poison potion made in case of defeat, but it had lost its potency, and he became violently sick instead
• Napoleon abdicated the throne, and was replaced by King Louis XVIII, marking the return of the Bourbon dynasty


  April 11, 1814