Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte, officially known as Napoleon I, is one of those people in history who, love him or hate him, was responsible for making our world today a very different place.
I confess that I first thought of him as mainly a military man whose armies won repeated victories across Europe.
But as I studied him more, I came to appreciate that here was a man of many different aspects. He was a soldier and scholar. He loved power, but was still capable of being very much in love.
So step into your time machine - we have an appointment with history.
Humble beginnings
On August 15, 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the small island of Corsica, located between France and Italy.
It is said his mother had some difficulty disciplining the young and wild Bonaparte. Later he would say, "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother." Corsica had been a part of Italy, but it was given to France just before he was born. His family, including Napoleon, strongly supported Corsican independence for the first several years of his life.
Painting of Carlo Bonaparte, Napoleon's father.
Maybe it is a bit funny, because we think of Napoleon as French. But he didn't learn French until he was ten and at a military academy in France. There, the other children bullied him for being short for his age and speaking French with an accent.
In 1785 he graduated as a second lieutenant and began his military career.
Napoleon at age 23, a lieutenant colonel.
As a line in a movie goes, "In confusion, there is profit."
France was about to descend into confusion, and Napoleon was about to profit big time.
The winds of change
Trouble was brewing in France, then came the American Revolution.
The war proved very expensive for France – King Louis spent a lot of money supporting the American colonies in their fight. This support meant higher taxes. Adding to this was that people looked at the new United States and wanted to get rid of their own king.
Tension grew.
At first, people called for a change, with the king having less power, such as in England. Then things got out of hand, and the royal family was sent to the guillotine to be beheaded. This was just the beginning of the chaos called the “reign of terror.”
Scores of people were tried and sentenced to die, sometimes in whole groups, with very little evidence. When all was said and done, some 17,000 people would go to "Madame Guillotine." (Think that's bad? One of the leaders, Jean-Paul Marat, wanted to send 260,000 to their death!) Adding to those troubles was that England and other nations decided to fight over the matter.
Life in France had gotten pretty bad!
When all these problems popped up, Napoleon was only 20 years old. As I said earlier, he grew up supporting the fight for Corsican independence, but he converted to the ideals of the revolution and decided to fight for it instead.
His first job was being in charge of the artillery (cannons) for the French army fighting the English at Toulon. His was the plan that won the day and, in recognition, he was made a brigadier general.
Napoleon at Toulon.
Rising star
Not long after the victory at Toulon, Napoleon went to Paris. This was a crucial point in his life for several reasons.
First, in 1795, a convention was being held to draft a new constitution. An army of angry citizens was preparing to march on the convention, revolt against the temporary government, and put a king back on the throne. His job was to stop them. Napoleon used his artillery to effectively and brutally stop the revolt.
This made him very popular with the government.
Napoleon's second important Paris event was his marriage to Josephine (Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie).
Josephine was from Martinique, in the Caribbean. At 16, she moved to France and married her first husband. Sadly, he was beheaded in the revolution, and later she married Napoleon. The date is March 9, 1796.
Love and marriage are all very well, but Napoleon was a man on the make – and a couple of days later, he was off to war.
Becoming king of the hill
Napoleon was now quickly going up the ladder. A couple of campaigns, and he would be on top.
Sunny Italy
As I said, this was a time when France was at war with many of its neighbors. Two of these were Italy and Austria, and the fighting in Italy was not going as well as hoped.
Through friends of Josephine, Napoleon was named commander of the French army in Italy. In two short weeks, his army defeated the Italian army, then began fighting the Austrians.
Painting of Bonaparte during the Italian campaign in 1797.
The following year, Napoleon signed a peace treaty with Austria. He would return home a celebrity.
Painting glorifying Bonaparte crossing the Alps.
The land of the pharaohs
At this point, Napoleon turned his attention to attacking Egypt to weaken the English trade to India. So in 1798, he set his army out for Egypt. But this was not just a simple campaign of conquest; it was to be a scientific expedition as well (He was president of the French Academy of Sciences). The army had 167 scientists, mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, geodesists, and people to make a map of "bad air" (important in a day when it was thought this was the cause of sickness) along for the ride.
The French army fought well but ended up unsuccessful – in part, being stopped by the British navy. He would leave his army in Egypt and return to France without a victory. But the expedition was not in vain.
He brought ancient Egyptian artifacts back to Europe, inspiring a fascination with ancient Egypt we still feel today.
One of the items returned was the Rosetta stone, from which people discovered how to read the writings of ancient Egypt.
By the way, have you ever wondered how the Sphinx lost its nose?
It was accidentally blown off by one of Napoleon's cannons.
Whoops!
Just one more thing about the Egypt campaign. Even though it wasn't a complete victory, Napoleon used it to help him become crowned emperor of France.
Taking care of business
As emperor, Bonaparte continued fighting a series of wars that expanded his empire – the Napoleonic Wars.
War of the Third Coalition – France fought against Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, Naples, Sicily, and Sweden.
War of the Fourth Coalition – France against Prussia and Saxony (both part of today's Germany), Russia, Sweden, and Great Britain.
War of the Fifth Coalition – War between France and her allies against the Austrian Empire, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain.
Peninsular War – A continuation of the War of the Fifth Coalition, being fought in Spain and Portugal.
When all the dust settled, over 3 million died (estimated).
But the mark Napoleon made on the world is not entirely violent.
Have I got a deal for you?
The War of the Third Coalition is a big deal in the history of the United States. Napoleon, needing cash, sold his claim in North America to the young United States – the Louisiana Purchase.
A new sheriff in town
Napoleon significantly updated and modernized the laws of France, now known as the Napoleonic code. Also, as he extended his empire, he spread both this law code and the principles of a republican government across Europe.
Being fresh
During these wars, more soldiers were fighting than ever before. How were they to be fed while out in the field? Napoleon commissioned a contest to find an answer.
The solution, the canning process that allows food to be canned and stay fresh – something we benefit from today.
What did you learn in school?
Napoleon made major reforms in education, expanding its access to more people. But his wars did have an interesting side influence on education in the United States.
Prussia, at the time, was the most powerful army in the world – and yet was defeated by France. How can this be? Their response was to change their education system to increase discipline and dedication to the state. Reformers elsewhere saw these as needed changes for students in school to prepare them for factory work.
The result, the modern public school system we are familiar with.
The crown – here today, gone tomorrow, etc.
Things started to fall apart in 1812. Russia wasn't "obeying" Bonaparte's rules. They needed to have a lesson taught to them.
So he invaded.
On the battlefield, the French beat the Russians. But the Russians weren't ready to give up so easily.
As he pushed his way across Russia, the Russians harassed his army constantly. Lastly, he arrived in Moscow to find it burned down. He had a hungry army he couldn't feed, and the fierce Russian winter was coming on fast.
He had no choice but to retreat. He was defeated.
Now Napoleon's enemies could see he wasn't unstoppable. His friends started abandoning him. Under pressure, he was forced to give up the throne and go into exile to the small island of Elba in 1814.
How miserable must it be for a former emperor of France to live a dull, tiresome, meaningless existence on Elba? But within a year, he would escape back to France to regain his throne.
He sat on the throne again for 100 days. The allies sent another army and defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was finally finished.
Note: Even today, someone “meeting their Waterloo” means they're done, defeated.
Back into exile he went, this time to the island of Saint Helena. He spent the last six years of his life there, dying on May 5, 1821.
Napoleon on His Death Bed by Horace Vernet (1826).
The official report was that he died of stomach cancer, but later research suggests he was poisoned.
Napoleon quotes
Here are some notable quotes by him:
“A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.”
“Imagination rules the world.”
“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”
“Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.”
"If you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a lion, all dogs will fight as a lion."
“The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.”
“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.”
Without a doubt, Napoleon was one of those people who put their stamp onto history. Butcher, promoter of science and learning, power-seeking egomaniac, spreader of republican ideals – a man worth studying.
Great movies
War and Peace
(1956) OK, I confess that I never read the book. But this is a good movie that takes place in Russia during the time of Napoleon's invasion.
Horatio Hornblower
This miniseries follows the adventures of Horatio Hornblower, an English seaman in the royal navy during the Napoleonic wars. The first half is our favorite.
Great music
1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky's famous song celebrates Russia's victory over Napoleon. The song's theme goes as follows:
It begins by playing a version of the Russian hymn “O Lord, Save Thy People.”
As Napoleon's army approaches, the French anthem "La Marseillaise" is played. As his army approaches, the anthem gets stronger.
As the Russian people get called into action, the music changes to folk-style music.
Napoleon is defeated. The music reaches a climax, and cannons are fired off.
In the spirit of rejoicing, the hymn comes back.
On the web
Napoleon Bonaparte: Crash Course European History #22
A short video lesson about Napoleon.
On the web
Napoleon Bonaparte: Crash Course European History #22
A short video lesson about Napoleon.
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